BY B A I L E E B R O O K S

QUESTION 1 EVALUATION IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE,

DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

INTRODUCTION• Conventions are particularly important when considering producing a

media text. There are many elements that contribute to the conventions of each genre such as characters and particular stereotypes, audio, themes and narrative etc. There have been many influences and theories on the ideas of conventions such as the ‘Metz Genre Theory’ That suggests each film within a certain genre repeats conventions in different stages, such as ‘experimental’, ‘classic’ , ‘parody’ and ‘deconstructive 'which makes it easier for audiences to identify what type of film they are watching within the genre. The main influence of Thriller conventions would be the work ‘Alfred Hitchcock’ who inspired many to follow the same type of conventions within the genre which created the recognisable conventions we see within movie theatres today. I will be evaluating how well my thriller opening sequence production conforms to these conventions created within the thriller genre.

ICONOGRAPHY• Iconography is a very important part to

consider when producing a thriller genre. The iconiography we chose within our production portrayed the genre particularly well, this can be seen through the dark and gloomy setting of an alley. This suggests dark themes as an alleyway is particularly scary setting, especially when dark /during night time. This would increase intensity for audiences watching and automatically suggest to them that the genre is a thriller as small enclosed area’s suggest no way of escape and could suggest surprises whatever way you turn. The overall setting conformed to the thriller genre however I feel perhaps the scenes could have used a lower key lighting as the use of daylight retracts the fear elements, however audiences still managed to understand that the narrative was a thriller suggesting it would not be an issue.

ICONOGRAPHY • I Find that we conformed to the iconography of

the thriller genre particularly well within our opening sequence production suggesting that the opening sequence was indeed a thriller genre. This can be seen through the dark costumes worn by the ‘Villain’ That is 'Alex's Brother as well as the main character ‘Alex himself. This portrays enigma codes to the audience as they would question why the characters are wearing dark clothing, perhaps they would be ‘hiding’ information. This shows we conformed to the thriller genre conventions as the genre is particularly known for it’s dark mysterious elements. This can be proved by our audience feedback who claimed the genre was easily recognised as a ‘thriller’ which shows the iconography increased the recognisability of the genre.

CHARACTERS• The characters within the Thriller genre tend

to be mysterious and have many secrets, such as a dark past etc. Within my production we decided to conform to this convention and create our main character Alex very mysterious with many secrets that he refuses to tell his friend Sophie. This not only suggests the genre due to enigma codes but similarly keeps audiences interested as the will engage with the production and continue watching to see the narrative unfold and see Alex’s secrets slowly unfold. The audiences we asked to review this production claimed they could notice that Alex seemed ‘mysterious’ meaning we managed to clearly follow the thriller conventions.

CHARACTERS• Another way in which we conformed to the conventions of

thriller genre through the portrayal of characters is through the use of Binary opposites, first introduced by Levi Strauss. Within our production we have the belief of Good VS evil which is shown through the ‘good’ of Sophie and Alex and the ‘evil’ as the kidnapper. This helps to push the narrative forward as well as conforming to the usual conventions of binary opposites shown within thriller films. This would take into account Steve Neal's repetition and difference theory as we took into account previous binary opposites and combined it with our own production. Similarly, the ’Good VS Evil’ would play the experimental role in the Metz Genre theory as the binary opposite sets the theme for all thriller genre.

NARRATIVE

• Within our production we decided to chose a narrative that conformed to the conventions of the thriller genre. This can be seen from the use of ‘kidnapping’ as well as psychological themes making our production a sub genre. This is typical of the thriller genre as it has been combined to make a psychological thriller sub genre many times before e.g. in films such as ‘Shutter Island’ which is a particularly popular film. Our evaluators revealed to us that they could similarly follow this narrative as they recognised it as a ‘psychological thriller’ This was clearly shown to audience members as they claimed that the genre was a ‘thriller’ and claimed it was particularly ‘gripping’

CONCLUSION

• So, in conclusion we can see that our group managed to conform to the conventions of the thriller genre however challenge and change some to suit the style of our production. This question will help me when it comes to creating future productions as I can see which conventions I would like to include/challenge and whether I can conform to theories such as the Metz genre theory.