Question 1: In what way does your media product use, develop and challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Question 1: In what way does your media product use, develop and challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

A thriller is a movie that uses suspense, tension and excitement. These three things give the audience stimulated moods and heightened sense of anticipation, suspense, anxiety and maybe even horror. There are many different types of thriller sub genres, but the most common and favourable sub genres tend to be action thriller, horror thriller and crime thrillers. There are some more uncommon sub genres such as a religious thriller or a si-fi thriller. For my  work I chose to use a horror thriller. This is because I felt I could make a better atmosphere and all round a better sub-genre to create on a low budget. Because I chose a horror thriller my audience will be expecting to see suspense and atmosphere. As well as blood and maybe a scary or mysterious character. I challenged the conventions of a horror thriller by having my main character as a woman. This challenges the conventions because the audience tend to expect  the main character to be male as a stereotypical man would be to be seen as stronger and more evil where as a stereotypical woman would tend to be seen as delicate and feminine. I developed the standard conventions of a horror thriller by using appropriate props. My props developed the conventions because I used lots of blood and gave everything in the shot a specific meaning.

I followed the conventions of a thriller by using a scary looking setting, it was dark, derelict and abandoned. I also used appropriate props and costume. I think my soundtrack also makes my thriller fit the conventions of a thriller.  

The shot types I used fitted the conventions of my chosen genre because there was a lot of close up shots and over the shoulder shots. The over the shoulder shots are good because not only do they create a feeling of being watched and followed but it also allows the audience see the characters surroundings.

I also made the editing face paced so that the audience felt jumpy, and the editing tended to ‘fade to black’ quickly which sets a fast tempo. The mise-en-scene lighting was very blue, this gave my opening an eerie feel. For the costume I decided to use a tight fitting black dress and a black cloak. I chose the dress because my main character is quite slim. And the cloak gives her an air of mystery as the hood very much covers her face. I got my inspiration for this costume from ‘eyes wide shut’ as I thought this character looked scary and mysterious. This is the effect I had hoped to create.

For my title I had the name written on an old looking piece of paper and burnt it away, at the end of my opening I used the same clip but played it backwards. I feel this looked effective because it isn’t something usually seen in a movie I challenged the usual convention of having writing written in blood by having it on paper burning away.

 This made my thriller different and unique. I composed my shots so that you can see the setting my character in and in some shots you can see the ‘weapon’ This again used a common convention to create threat but then I developed this convention by using a sharp shard of glass as a weapon instead of an actual knife or gun perhaps.