In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge the
forms and conventions of real media
products?
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Our title sequence conforms to the thriller
genre. We know this because we set our piece
in an urban setting, had mystery to the
narrative and in post-production we increased
yellowness and de saturated scenes. These are
all typical thriller elements. Furthermore we
presented the lead character as psychotic and
had elements of crime. Our piece is a typical
thriller. It doesn’t question or challenge the
normal thriller codes and conventions.
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The title of the film
Setting / location
Costumes & props
Camerawork & editing
Title font & style
Story & how the OTS sets it up
Genre & how the OTS suggests it
How characters are introduced
Special Effects
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We used two settings/location. One was joshes house, the
second was a few streets in Hurstpeirpoint. In joshes house
we used his attic. We used this room because it was quite
gloomy, chilling and mysterious. Which describes our piece,
as well as our lead character. Benedict Black. It was all
filmed during the day, however the first shot was filmed at
night. All the shots inside the attic are supposed appear as if
they are at night, but in reality their filmed during the
evening. In thrillers it’s typical that they are set in an urban
locations, like how in Se7en, its set and filmed in a city. Both
our locations are urban, sticking to that convention. It hints
at being a thriller by being set at night, which is when most
crimes take place. This could suggest that a crime is
involved in the narrative. Also hints at being a thriller
because the protagonist (Sam Cooke), knows less than the
audience. This could be to suggest that there is more to
narrative than the eye can see.
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For the antagonist we used a black
suit. This confuses the audience and
makes them think he’s the protagonist.
The suit also shows intelligence like
Tom Cruise in Collateral. Whereas the
protagonist, is also wearing a black
suit. Sam Cooke is wearing one
because of his job, an estate agent.
Benedict Black is wearing one because
it implies intelligence and reflects his
personality. Serious and links with his
name.
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We used a variety of shots in our O.T.S. A lot of them where
close ups, this is typical of the thriller genre convention
because it’s used to show the emotion of the character on his
face. We used typical thriller camera work such as quick,
short shots. When we were editing we did several things to
make our O.T.S. conform to the thriller genre. We added
dark, gloomy and thrilling music, to create a tense
atmosphere. This conforms because most thrillers, such as
“Se7en”, use music like that to thrill the audience. Also in
the edit suite we de saturated the colours of our O.T.S, to
make them more bluely and yellow. This is one of the most
typical thriller genre traits. Thrillers such as “Shutter
Island”, do this because those colours make it appear more
dull and normal, which reflects thrillers settings. Their
usually set in ordinary places.
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We found two fonts we liked, “bad coma” and
“Hacked”, off a free online site (Dafont).Then
we downloaded them and decided one would
be used for the title and one would be used for
the credits. Bad coma is typical of the thriller
genre because it is distorted, messy and
incomplete. This reflects our O.T.S and
Benedict black personality.
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Our narrative uses and sticks to typical thriller
conventions. Our character identity is hidden like
the location of his hideout. This sticks to typical
thriller codes because in thrillers, such as Se7en,
the antagonist location is hidden. Also sometimes
is the identity. The story also sticks thriller
conventions because it involves mystery and
violence. This is a generic narrative them for
thrillers. The O.T.S sets the story up by showing
how the situation has occurred. The reverse
chronology updates the audience so they know
what’s happening.
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Our OTS suggest the film is a thriller in several
different ways. One is by using the typical
thriller convention of being set in an urban city.
This develops our understanding of the film.
Also it challenges typical thriller conventions
because it sometimes crosses over to a horror
film because of some of our scenes.
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Black’s introduction is in a mysterious, dark
attic. This conforms to typical thriller
conventions because his identity is hidden. It
uses the typical thriller convention of making
the audience question the character. Cooke’s
appears in the flashbacks of black’s. This
introduces him as someone from the past
which happens in some thrillers.
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Slow motion is used in one scene, this is typical
of the thriller genre because it is often used.
Also we made the flashback scenes black and
white. Another use of typical thriller
conventions. And “Cross fades” at the end of
certain scenes. This was used to make scenes
end smoothly.