updated without utube posts Q1 media cs work power point
- 1. In what ways does your media product(opening sequence to thriller) use,develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products(real thrillers)?
- 2. I think our thriller opening sequence mostly uses but also challenges conventions of Thrillers. Our group carried out a lot of research into conventions of many different thrillers and we each came up with different ideas and plots for our thriller,infact I for example, came up with the initial idea of having a Wealthy and corrupt Russian family and wrote a full/story plot .The daughter of a rich ex-mafia man getting kidnapped, this is a very typical thriller idea, so i thought it would be more interesting and original to make it someone who was very close to the little girl ,and for this person to be in on the kidnapping and make it very unexpected that the main antagonist (kidnapper) Dimitri, is infact Ilya`s brother! Our group then developed different ideas for what we were going to and wanted film.
- 3. • I would say that my key link to our thriller would be Along Came A spider and Taken. My initial idea of the nanny Patricia , came from the character Jezzie Flannigan in Along came A spider.
- 4. • In Along Came a Spider the audience believes this character is good, this is challenging the stereotype that a female character must be good.We aren't suspicious of her at all throughout the film.
- 5. If i was going to make Snatched into full ,what are some how could I challenge conventions of a real thriller and what have i researched to help us do this? First of all, I thought it would be a good idea to use a similar character to Jezze in Along Came A Spider, but I thought it would be a good idea in our thriller to take more advantage of this stereotype that girls cant possibly be evil or the antagonist. Our group decided that if we were to make "Snatched" into a full film, we would challenge this stereotype, we intend to sometimes make the audience feel slightly suspicious of the female character and at other times make the audience feel like she is really helping the little girl and that she couldnt possibly be evil , when infact in our thriller the nannys main task would be to fool the little girl and even when she is getting kidnapped to make the little girl feel as if she is scared but also in the comfort of the nanny who in her eyes is still good and that she has rapport with. Adding enigma,confusion and mystery to the thriller which is a convention and code of real Thrillers.
- 6. Our opening sequence generally conforms to conventions of real thrillers and we decided this because these conventions our useful in keeping the audience hooked to the film, its more commercial and keeps the audience hooked due to conventions, we aimed to create tension for the audience and we wanted the audience to constantly be asking questions and wanted them to be curious about what is going to happen next.
- 7. The Music/sound • We added a soundtrack to the begining of the clip,this non-diagetic sound heightens the tension and enigma and makes the audience feel alert and interested.I think our chosen soundtrack goes well at the start of our opening sequence because i like the way the speed of the soundtrack matches the slow panning shot of Ilya and his slow paced walking goes perfectly with the mysterious and quite slow paced music. • The music also helps introduce the Father,Ilya and that he is quite a serious man. • I love how it makes us feel slightly suspicious about the gift on the table and the note,the music has done its job in adding enigma and tension and stops as the dialogue begins and the little girl Sophia is introduced . This leaves the audience wanting to know what the parcel and note was but they purposely get slightly distracted which was our intension so that the phonecall then adds more tension and is more unexpected. • We added in the sound effect of a phone ringing ,it is diagetic as it seems realistic and as if it is actually happening,it is important in triggering the tension and to make Ilya pick up the phone.
- 8. • When Ilya answers the phone, we hear Dimitri threaten him.We used adobe audition to warp the sound to make Dimitri seem mysterious and creepy. We wanted the audience to realise that Dimitri would have purposely warped the sound so that Ilya could not recognise his own brothers voice and it also makes the antagonist Dimitri seem as if he has been plotting this call for ages and that he has thought about it carefully. • We got this idea of warping the phonecall from the film Along Came A Spider.
- 9. • The music which creates mystery at the begining of our opening sequence turns on again when there is a close up of Ilya sweatting, we did this to create tension and to show how Ilya is feeling,we decided to use it at the begining with Ilya and when he is worrying/sweatting in deep thoughts to portray to the viewers that whenever that music plays,that they should associate the music with tension and that something bad is going to happen/happening. • There is ambient sound which makes it seem realistic thus more scary,sounds of wind,cars etc. • I enhanced some of the actual sounds by increasing/decreasing their level in Adobe premiere Pro.Such as the door slamming which makes it more dramatic, and the sound of the car.This makes it more dramatic and thus conforms to conventions of thriller films. • In the scene where you can see Sophia banging on the window the sound of her banging on the glass is effective and creates tension and a dramatic effect.We added in a recorded sound of Sophia screaming "Daddy" to make the audience feel like something really bad is happening and it definitely makes it more dramatic and adds tension.
- 10. • In the scene of the car the music starts again which tells the audience that Sophia is not necessarily safe, even with the nanny saying "I`ll take care of everything Darling" it makes us suspicious of the nanny,then we see that she messages Dimitri who is bad but we still arent quite sure if the nanny is being set up by Dimiri and that she is still good or that she is bad and has bad intensions. • As the nanny does an evil smile a change in tone of music occurs subtly, two notes signify the end and it cuts to the title sequence "Snatched" and the music playing with the titles is the same music which we used in our opening sequence to create tension but we used the part of the music without any high pitched notes to give the thriller opening sequence a more dramatic /suspicious ending and slighty different to signify it is the end of the clip.
- 11. I was mostly involved in editing the sound but i did a bit of everything and enjoyed it all. We tried out everything so we could decide who was best suited to doing what and we did on the whole work well as a team. I was extemely happy from the audience feedback from the online audience feeback questionnaire which I made because people liked the "music” as it “..created tension.." and someone said "I absolutely LOVED this thriller! The music made it really suspense and the dialogue was really exciting! I particularly liked the 'warped' voice of the kidnapper - it made the kidnapper seem really frightening and put me on the edge of my seat!! I could tell it was a thriller right from the beginning because of the suspense of the music“ This person and many more agree that it seemed like a thriller due to conforming to many conventions of a thriller genre. I am extremely happy with our overall feedback and most of the people who watched it wanted to know what was going to happen next and thought it seemed like a real thriller!
- 12. Camera angles,props and Mise-en-scene I was extremely happy with our mise-en-scene,the setting was all very realistic and looked as if it was a wealthy Russians home. It does not look fake but looks like it really is Ilya`s office. For example in this medium/long shot it shows the setting of a wealthy business mans office and this was what we intended. The bar in the background shows wealth and contributes into creating the stereotype of Russians and that they love to drink and that they are flashy.We can see Ilya opening a note with a gift but he looks confused ,the combination of this and the sound adds mystery to the scene as we want to know what the note says yet it doesnt give away too much, conforming to conventions of real thrillers.
- 13. Also an important part of making this scene look like a thriller was also using over the shoulder, shot reverse shots between Sophia and Patricia (the nanny) and the father Ilya.At first Sophia comes across as a sterotypical teenager being demanding and spoilt and this is contrasted with the father and nanny being authoritive , making Sophia the little girl seem vulnerable which is a stereotypical convention of Thrillers that girls are vulnerable in general. For example: ^ Coming across a sterotypical teenager and juxtaposed with a shot below of her Father ,low angle to emphasise Sophias anger and fustration.
- 14. ^ This over the shoulder shot makes Sophia seem vulnerable because she is between Patricia and her father who are both in charge of her. We purposely did this to meet a convention of Thrillers in general that normally the little girls need protecting and are in more danger than anyone else.The father says "no i told you before,we cant just go to the shops like everyone else..there are people who are not our friends Sophia" Telling the audience that perhaps the daughter is in danger or that the family is infact corrupt. This is conforming to conventions of a thriller. Patricia then makes Sophia seem even more young and vulnerable by combing back her hair, conforming to stereotypes in many thrillers of Women having an expressive,mother type role as seen below in the still of the clip.
- 15. Sophias costume,the dress and pinned back bow in her hair also conforms to the stereotype of an innocent,vulnerable little girl.We chose her as the role and i was paticularly inspired by the look of the girl who got kidnapped in Along Came A Spider. As seen below:
- 16. Both the blonde hair in Along Came A Spider and in our thriller Snatched is relevant because a stereotype of blondes is that they are desirable and little girls with blonde hair our often stereotyped as even more vulnerable and young.This is conforming to the conventions of a thriller because in many films, the vulnerable girls who get kidnapped have blonde hair. A very tragic and real life,very famous example of a kidnapping case of a little girl with blonde hair getting abducted is the Madeline Mccann case. People often associate girls who get kidnapped with blonde hair.
- 17. After Ilya answers the phone we purposely shot a close up of him.This is done to show Ilya`s worried reaction to the person on the phone saying "listen very carefully" and the close up helps to build up tension which also conforms to a convention of a thriller.
- 18. After the close up shot of Ilyas worried ,suspicious reaction we cross-cut to a shot of Dimitri. This definitely conforms to conventions of a thriller because it implies that as they are on the phone that Dimitri can see Ilya. Dimitri`s costume is all black and it emphasises the fact that he is bad and the antagonist.
- 19. We the cross-cut back to Ilya while he is being threatenned. An important shot is a long shot of when Ilya slowly stands up and we think he is going to do something to escape but then we cross cut back to Dimitri as he says "sit down Mr Brodski" which implies he can see Ilya and Ilya feels as if he is being watched which adds enigma and tension to our thriller and thus again is conformng to the thriller genre.
- 20. One of my favourite shots is the shot below, when Sophia and the nanny leave and the door slams.The loud noise of the door adds a dramatic effect and because it is such a low shot it makes Patricia the nanny seem more authorative and intimidating.We enhanced the sound and increased the level of the sound of the door using Adobe premiere pro. It also creates a tension when the door slams that they have gone and the audience are curious about where they are going to and want to see what is going to happen. We then intercut to a close up of Ilya sweatting.
- 21. Itook quite a few times to get the right shot of the sweat (eye drops) because we had to quickly pour eye drops onto Ilya`s four head and then cut it so that we couldnt see the person pouring the drops on his fourhead. I love this bit because it really shows we have thought about creating tension to show how nervous Ilya is . Tension is a very important convention in most thrillers.
- 22. Title : I think it was much more effective having the title "Snatched" at the end of the opening sequence becuase if it was before i think it would make no sense, firstly as no action has taken place. It think it also gives away a lot so i think if it is at the beginning the audience would be too suspicious of the characters and it would be far too obvious. I like how the title comes up after the nanny Patricia smiles and a fade to black transition is used, so it leaves us thinking Is Patricia really kidnapping Sophia or is she being tricked,what is going to happen next,where are they going to in the car? Red outline of “snatched” signifys fear and danger and this is a convention of a thriller genre.
- 23. The ending ,when it fades to black after Patricia smiles is a cliff hanger and leaves us wanting to know what is going to happen next, and makes the target audience excited and want to know what is going to happen next .This tells me that we are successful in matching the conventions of a thriller. We purposely did a medium two-shot of both Patricia and Sophia to show the relationship between the two and that Sophia was worried and scared and that Patricia felt perfectly comfortable and mysteriously satisfied.
- 24. The texting between Patricia and Dimitri was also a "good twist" and unexpected. I think it made it exciting because we find out she is probably dating the kidnapper and it makes us want to know what is going to happen next. Lastly we definitely used forms and conventions of real thrillers in our opening sequence and i think one of the main reasons we achieved this was from knowing what makes thillers thrillers and from research. The questionnaire which i made took me ages but it paid off because it gave us many reasons why teenagers were attracted to thrillers and we could adapt and use these conventions and reasons in our own thriller. Out thriller follows a clear Todorovian linear narrative in the thriller genre closely following the conventions, quick paced editing and angled shots add to the convention of thriller editing.