AS Evaluation Question 1

Question 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

There are many generic conventions that feature in the thriller genre, these include, low key lighting, hidden identity, tense music, female victim. The generic conventions of a thriller film are the elements that make it fit in that genre. The generic conventions of a thriller film are used to set the scene, create suspense and make the audience feel uneasy. We see strong representations of these conventions in the following thriller films: The Strangers, in this film there is a strong focus on the hidden identity convention, all of the antagonists are dressed in strange masks. This convention allows the audience to imagine who they want the antagonist to be. There is also a strong use of conventions in Shutters Island, this film shows a lot of low key lighting and there is an enigma that runs throughout. The low key lighting is used when Leonardo Di Caprio is walking through the prison and there is very little light, this is used to disorientate the audience making them feel lost. The enigma that runs throughout this film is also another strong convention of the thriller genre and it makes the audience want the character to solve the mystery.

To ensure that our opening sequence followed the generic conventions of the thriller genre, we analysed the most successful thriller films and looked at the most prominent conventions. We found that the most generic conventions that featured in these films were tense music, an enigma, female victim and low key lighting. We tried our best to fit these conventions into our thriller but at the same time we didn’t want to over use the conventions. We decided that tense music was vital to our thriller film, this was used when the antagonist was walking down to the shed and there is a tense disturbing non diegetic sound used. We wanted this sound to go parallel with the unsteady movement of the camera, to portray that the antagonist is unstable. The next convention that we decided to use was a female victim in the form of Cara Gaffney. We noticed that a female victim was prominent in most of the thriller films that we analysed and we thought it would be a good way to create a relationship with our target audience as well as depicting our victim to be vulnerable. To make our female victim seem as vulnerable as possible we tried to enhance the fact that she is isolated and gave her stereotypical clothing.

Our opening sequence defines the thriller genre as it includes a lot of the codes and conventions of the thriller genre. It makes the audience feel tense through its hidden identity and tense music, and it also shows a superior antagonist compared to the vulnerable victim. It does what you would expect a film in the thriller genre to do, it thrills the audience, leaving them wanting to know what is going to happen next. Our opening sequence uses a variety of different micro elements in order to define its genre. There are a lot of different camera shots used in order to emphasise the positions of each character, for example low angle to make the antagonist seem superior. The opening sequence is also packed with different edits to create suspense and tension.

My opening sequence vs. Scream

I believe that my opening sequence shows similar codes and conventions in comparison to the film Scream. Both sequences have used the convention of a hidden identity for the antagonist. In the case of Scream, the antagonists face is covered with a white eerie looking mask, my antagonist is similar to this with a white mask. The reason the masks have been used is to symbolise who the antagonist is, making them more recognisable to the audience. Another similarity of both sequences is the use of the female victims, both films have a blonde attractive female victim. The victim is used to symbolise vulnerability, and therefore it is important to portray them in this light. As a result of this both sequences have used a female to represent this vulnerability. There are differences between my sequence and Scream, the most notable one is the location. Scream has used a typical location for a thriller film, a family home, this enables the audience to relate much easier as it is a relatable location. This makes it seem as if it could happen to them. I decided to use a much less conventional setting for the first half of my sequence, an underground car park, I opted for this as it is unique and although it is not a convention of the thriller genre I believe that it is an eerie location. In the second half of my sequence I wanted to use a much more conventional location, like Scream, so I used an abandoned shed. The sound that is used in Scream is very typical of the thriller genre, there are a lot of jumpy non diegetic sounds used when the antagonist appears. My sequence also uses these sounds to strike fear into the audience and make the antagonist seem far superior, as if he could jump out of anywhere at any time.