Q1 conventions in my thriller
- 1. Jordan Crookell Media Evaluation Q1 – In what ways does your mediaproduct use, developor challenge forms and conventions of real mediaproducts? Shot types: Close-ups For our thriller we used a wide range of different shots including close-ups mid-shots and long shots. The most common shottype that we used was the close-up. This is because it showed the audience the emotion of the victim and gave them an insight into what he was thinking. As well as this, it creates atmospherebecause the audience can clearly see the fear on the victims face. As well as this, the extreme close-up was used quite a few times. This was so we could get the detail of the victim’s facial expressions and accurate detail of the blood that was on his face. Mid-shots: Another shotthat we used a lot was the mid-shot. We used mid-shots because they allowed us to show the audience the character’s body languageand sometimes gives hints about whathe is thinking at the time. Mid-shots of the victim were effective because they allowed us to show himstruggling as he was tied to the chair. This created an element of fear in the victim’s eyes and the audience picked up on this instantly feel scared for him. Long shots: Whilst we werefilming the flashbacks, we included some long shots of the victim walking down a country track. Using these long shots allowed us to show the location and set the scene to let the audience understand whatwas happening around and where the character was. This is typical in mostthrillers.
- 2. Jordan Crookell Media Evaluation Narrative When we wereconstructing the narrative, wehad to be carefulabout no being cliché and similar to other groups. Weused flashbacks to show whathappened to the victim and give an insight as to why he is tied in a dark room. Instead of using one long flashback in our opening, we edited it so that we had lots of shortflashes in between shots of the victim being tied up with the torturer. This made it a lot more effective as we were able to me each shot really fast- paced and sharp. This helped to create atmosphereand tension between the audience and the victim making them want to carry on watching to find out what happens. As well as this, using the flashbacks helped us create enigmas for the audience and they had lots of questions that they were asking themselves. Sound To create the soundtrack, wehad to research lots of different soundtracks onlineand look for one that we thought would be appropriateto the visualof the film. When looking into different soundtracks, wehad to make surethat we got a royalty free piece of music. This is because all music is protected by copyrightfromPRS for Music and it is illegal to use other people’s work for our own when it is copyrighted. The royalty free music that we eventually chose to use stated that the producer was fine with us using the music so long as we gave him recognition in the credits of the thriller so that people knew it was not our work. The piece took a long time to find as there wereso many different soundtracks available. However, eventually we found a recording that suited our filming. After this, weput the soundtrack onto Logic Pro and edited it. We changed the pitch and frequencies of the notes so that it sounded moresinister and creepy. When we had finished editing the sound we added it to the opening. Then we wereable to edit the filming so that the notes in the soundtrack match with whatwas happening on screen.
- 3. Jordan Crookell Media Evaluation Editing When we had got the soundtrack onto ‘Pinnacle 19’ (the softwareweused to edit), we edited the actual filming so that both the music and the filming matched up. This involved moving each shot, either forwards or backwards, so that if there was a sharp sound in the music something on screen happened. An example of this is where the torturer puts his hand on the chain. When he does this there is a really sharp, high-pitched noise in the soundtrack. Another thing we had to do whilstediting was shorten each shotdown. This was so that the film was shortand sharp creating tension for the audience. Making each shotonly one second or less was very effective. Itsped up the whole opening and created a lot more suspenseadding to the effectiveness of the film. Mise-en-scene Setting At the beginning of the opening, we see a bit of the setting and wherethe character is walking. We can see that he is walking in a fen and around the countryside. This is contrasted when we suddenly seehim tied up in a chair in a small and lifeless-looking room. This contrastcreated dramatic effect with enigmas being created about the characters and the storyline. When we see the victim in the torturer’s room, wedo not see much of the roomand it is kept secret fromthe audience. This builds the suspense atmosphereand helps to create tension as the audience are left questioning wherethe victim actually is and what is going to happen to him. Costume The costume that we used was fairly basic but was very effective. The victim was wearing a white t-shirtwith someblack skinny jeans on. This is symbolic of a victim
- 4. Jordan Crookell Media Evaluation because they are justcommon everyday clothes than anyone would wear. On the other hand, the torturer is wearing an overall and black heavy duty gloves. This is also symbolic of a killer who a lot of the time wears something baggy and not smart. As well as this, normalpeople wouldn’twear a boiler suit and heavy gloves on a daily basis. This shows theaudience that he is clearly disturbed and out of the ordinary. Props For the props, wegathered between the four of us some tools that we had at home that would be typical of a torturer to have with him. As well as this, we added three replica items to the collection. These included a knife, gun and a crossbow. Obviously we couldn’t use anything but replicas for these three items because the risk was too large and they would have been too dangerous to have around no matter how sensiblewe were with them. However, I fell that they look very realistic and have added extremely well to the props section of mise-en-scenevery well. They have helped to create a lot of tension and fear for the audience but mostly the victim. Lighting When it came to lighting, there was a limited amount of things that we could. In the end we choseto use a simple garage light. We used this at the startof the scene when the victim first opens his eyes to symbolisehim waking up. After experimenting we decided to only have one out of the two garage lights on throughoutthe opening. This was becausehaving both lights on made the roomtoo light and destroyed someof the atmospherethat was created with a low level of lighting. Adding to this, the darker the roomwas the moremystery
- 5. Jordan Crookell Media Evaluation we with the torturer wecreated as he was shadowed by the dim lighting. This showed that our thriller was a low budget production compared to other thrillers such as James Bond who are sponsored by hugeproduction companies such as Lionsgatewho give the film massivefunding enabling them to create the perfect lighting for a given scene. To show how I have used and developed the thriller conventions, below are some screenshots fromboth my thriller and a ‘real’ thriller. They show the comparison between them and ways in which they are similar. To find a thriller that was similar to ours in a few ways I had to do some research. I watched many torture scenes on YouTube. Because our thriller very different, the best torture scene that I analysed was Casino Royale. These two shots comparedifferent props that the torturer uses. On the left we see Le Chiffre. The weapon that he uses to torture Bond is a rope with a large knot at the end. On the right we see the the victim with a knife being run across his face by the psychopath/torturer. Both of these props are extremely significant to the effectiveness of each film as they instantly have a negative effect on the audience meaning that they might be frightened or anxious. They are also key to creating suspensein the scene because of the mystery they create as the audience does not know what will happen which draws them into the film and engages them. These types of props arevery typical and conventional of a thriller and they representthe genre of a thriller to the audience. When they see the props that are used they can instantly know the genre and in some cases the sub-genreof the film. Props are one of the main conventions in a thriller as they are so symbolic of the genre and style of the film. Both our production and James Bond use key props such as guns and knives which shows a link between the two productions of thriller.
- 6. Jordan Crookell Media Evaluation In these two shots wesee the two characters in each scene; the torturer and the victim. These two scenes are similar because they both havetwo characters in them. The audience can clearly tell the relationship between both characters in the shots through the body language of the victims as they are both slightly bowed down compared to the torturer who is standing up above them. This symbolises power and controlover the situation like in Casino Royale. The use of levels is very effective in both shots as the audience can immediately see that the torturer is higher up symbolising dominanceover the victims. The fact that there are only two people in each scene gives the victim and the audience a senseof entrapment and claustrophobia as they know that there is no escape or get-out of the situation they are in. These two shots givethe audience an idea about the setting of the two thrillers. They also show us the atmosphere that has been create through the use of lighting and set. On the left we can see that the room is very dark with only a lantern and somemoonlight streaking through the roof. This is a fantastic example of how to professionally createa sense of mystery and atmospherethrough the useof lighting.
- 7. Jordan Crookell Media Evaluation Obviously, wedid not havethe availability of choosing froma wide range of options about the set and location of filming. Because of this, we had to settle for a garage to shoot our opening. Oneof the downsides to this is that we only had basic lighting and only had the choice of one or two standard garagelights. This meant that we werenot able to create the maximum amount of impact that having a really dark and mysterious roomwould haveon an audience. However, westill thought wecreated this through our use of editing and shot pace throughoutthe opening. Lighting is a very representative element of thrillers and dark and cold-feeling rooms symbolisethe thriller genre quite significantly. Leading on fromthis, I feel that we havedeveloped the different conventions of a thriller well by effective useof narrative, sound and Mise-en-scene. These elements ca be compared with real thrillers such as James Bond, as shown above, to see the similarities between the two.