Media Products - Use, Challenge and Develop Forms and Conventions - Screen Grabs

8/2/2019 Media Products - Use, Challenge and Develop Forms and Conventions - Screen Grabs

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In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of

real media products?

Real Media Products

1) 2) 3) 4)

5) 6) 7) 8)

Our Media Product

1) 2) 3) 4)

5) 6) 7) 8) 9)

Our media product conforms and subverts the conventions of real media products

through the psychological thriller genre as the narrative is not stereotypical of this genre as

usually in this genre of film the protagonist typically allows herself to be placed into

vulnerable situations ultimately resulting in psychological deterioration. However in our

case, the drugs are the central cause of her psychological turmoil, therefore it is the drugs

not the situation that renders her a vulnerable victim. Furthermore, our media product

challenges conventions of the psychological thriller genre through the involvement of

romance within the narrative allowing the audience to relate to the theme, shown in screen

grab number 1 on our media product. Despite this not being the stereotypical psychological

thriller conventions, “Love is the Drug” demonstrates loves as a counterpart to the drugs,

highlighting that love can influence you to do things that you wouldn’t think you were

capable of, this is evident in screen grab number eight of real media products. However, our



product develops this by accentuating the power and influence leading to psychological

deterioration; challenging the stereotypical psychological thriller genre.

Furthermore, our media product presents the recurring binary opposition of fantasy vs.

reality, conforming to the psychological thriller genre due to the fact that the audience are

unable to establish whether the protagonist is in fact hallucinating these events or whether

these experiences are truly taking place; blurring the boundaries of what is known and

unknown. Additionally, this is demonstrated in “Requiem for a Dream” (screen grab number

one of real media products) which we constructed some of our product on, uses this binary

opposition through the potential fantasies of the characters within the film because as the

audience you are unaware of what is in fact real, creating suspense. Our media product

attempts to develop and reinforce this idea of fantasy and authenticity to highlight the

psychological turmoil, creating a sense of confusion demonstrated through the use of the

blurred effect after the consumption of the drugs demonstrated in screen grab number two

of our product. Moreover, within my media product we conform and develop the genre of

the psychological thriller through our conflicts with threats that are sometimes abstract or

unseen, as in our media product the audience is constantly unaware of the threat that is not

far behind the main protagonist. Additionally, we have developed the traditional compelling

question of who did it, by allowing the audience to be misled into believing that the

opposing person committed the offence, creating tension and providing narrative enigma.

The domestic setting we used in our media product developed the conventional idea of

females trapped in the constraints of male patriarchy, as the male antagonist has more

power over the female through her passive reaction to the male influencing her into taking

drugs – male characters typical of psychological thrillers. Fundamentally, males are

predominantly the foundation of the female’s fragmented psychological state, through the

male’s drive for power and the women’s denial of supremacy, shown through films such as

“Pulp Fiction” where the male character manipulates the vulnerability of the female (screen

grab number two of real media products). Furthermore, the open grass area that we

employed to develop the experiences of paranoia demonstrates how isolated settings on

the peripheries of society have a great impact on the behaviour of the protagonist and their

psychological state; we constructed this to conform to the psychological thriller genre,

shown in screen grab number three of our media product. This is due to the fact that in



stereotypical psychological thrillers, the setting is usually in an ordinary suburban setting

and desolate areas to enhance the vulnerability of the female victims.

When focusing on the construction of the female character we decided to conform to the

stereotypical ‘trembling victim’ as most psychological thrillers construct the female

character as complicit and vulnerable, they are also purposely made to make mistakes that

fundamentally lead to their downfall into psychological turmoil – in our case her taking the

drugs. Furthermore, the male character is constructed to conform to the conventions of the

psychological thriller genre as without the presence of the male, there would be no

manipulation of the female character and consequently no deterioration, therefore we

constructed the characters to conform to a psychological thriller and create tension within

the audience. The construction of our character helped us to execute the genre of a

psychological thriller as the male character maintained qualities of a Byronic Hero as he

seems to be charming on the outside yet manipulative on the inside, highlighting the binary

opposition of appearance vs. reality and the concept of “looks can be deceiving.” This is

demonstrated in screen grab number five of our media product. Furthermore, the

appearance of the female character challenges the conventions of the psychological thriller

as typically the female victims are of a Caucasian ethnicity, however in our media product

the female is of mixed ethnicity therefore transgressing traditional boundaries. Additionally,

in real media products the female character is typically a “girlie girl” and we subvert this by

constructing the character to have short boyish hair and clothes that are not stereotypical of

females.

Costumes and props as I have mentioned previously both challenges and develops forms

and conventions of real media products. For example in many psychological thrillers employ

phones as a predominant part of the narrative, this is demonstrated in “Se7en” as it

provided the audience with suspense as he was told on the phone “not to look in the box” –

a vital part of the narrative. Furthermore, the style of the female character is crazy and

unique, which to an extent subverts the typical vulnerable victim who wears make up to try

and conceal the façade of vulnerability, evidenced in screen grab four of our media product.

However, our costumes conformed to the forms and conventions through the male

character’s style as he dressed normally, fitting in with the ‘fashion’ deceptively fooling

others with his charismatic style used as a concealment of what lies beneath. This isdemonstrated in “Orphan” (screen grab number three of real media products) where she



dresses up as a child to mask her true character of middle aged woman, creating suspense

and confusing the audience. Moreover, the drug props were a fundamental part of our

media product that challenges forms and conventions as it is usually a bad event that

triggers the female’s spiral into psychological instability but in our media product the drugs

are the cause of her downfall. Furthermore, the drugs are essential in creating narrative

enigma seeing as it is the main cause for the binary opposition of fantasy vs. reality that

enhances the tension and intrigue of the narrative.

The special effects employed in the trailer (the blurry effect), this is used to accentuate

the turning point of the narrative, showing the deterioration of her psychological state. This

employs the conventional psychological thriller genre as they use the blurry effect to

demonstrate the vulnerability of the female and her fragmented mental state. Moreover,

the “fade to blacks” used demonstrates the loss of her former self to the negative effects of

drugs and this is shown in many psychological thrillers such as “Black Swan” (screen number

four of real media products) where they are used a lot to highlight her emotional and

psychological state, presenting audiences with the enjoyment of a stereotypical,

suspenseful thriller. The quick cuts used by us conformed to real media products that create

a climax by utilising these effects to enhance the tension within the narrative. Initially, we

attempted only to use “cross dissolves” but we felt it didn’t correspond with the thrilling

circumstances in the narrative, so we changed it to the “fade to blacks” highlighted in

screen grab six of our media product, so the audience was able to recognise the turning

point or the change in mood of the trailer, discovering the change in the protagonist’s

behaviour.

The titles we used challenged titles of trailers from this specific genre as we used a simple

font to demonstrate the binary opposition of appearance vs. reality as it suggests that

although it looks simple there is something malicious behind the beauty of its simplicity, this

is demonstrated through screen grab seven of our media product. This is dissimilar to

trailers such as “Black Swan” where the font of the title corresponds noticeably with the

narrative, allowing the audience to link the narrative and the font together whereas our

product encourages the audience to work out the association, this shown in screen grab five

of real media products. Furthermore, the positioning of the title in our trailer uses the forms

and conventions of trailers from this specific genre as similarly to other products such as“The Stepfather” the title is placed at the end of the trailer this enables us to be held in



suspense due to the compelling question that is typical of the majority of trailers in this

genre “who did it” and the title allows us to mislead the audience to believe that the male

was the fundamental cause of the female’s psychological state. The institutional information

employed in our trailer uses the forms and conventions of trailers from this specific genre by

appearing after the main title which is stereotypical of the psychological thriller,

demonstrated through “Orphan” where the institutional information appears instantly after

the title enabling the audience to ponder upon the outcome of the trailer and creating

suspense through the quick cuts and the instantaneous appearances of titles and

institutional information. Furthermore, the inclusion of the institutional information itself

enables it to conform to the conventions of a trailer in general making it appear more

professional, intriguing the audience as a result.

The structure of our trailer is reminiscent of Freytag’s narrative pyramid and uses the

forms and conventions of real media products such as “Black Swan” where the exposition of

the trailer demonstrates the equilibrium, in our case the joy of moving house, meeting the

boy and falling in love, (screen grab number eight of our media product) similar to “Black

Swan” where she is enjoying her life as a professional ballerina, highlighted in screen grab

six of real media products. Then as the trailer progresses (as stereotypical of all trailers)

there is a climatic point of the trailer where the attitudes and behaviours of the main

protagonist changes, creating a state of disequilibrium. This is evident again in “Black Swan”

as the pace of the editing increases and the music becomes more intense, creating tension

and suspense within the audience (screen grab seven of real media products). The state of

disequilibrium is also amplified through the blurry effects utilised, accentuating the change

in mood of the trailer demonstrating the deterioration of the protagonist’s psychological

state. However, there does not seem to be a resolution to any of the problems faced by the

protagonist highlighted in the trailer, which is similar to real media products such as “Black

Swan.”

Initially, within our media product we attempted to use music to accentuate the turning

point and the change in mood of the trailer, but the original music we chose “A Team by Ed

Sheeran” did not correspond with the bleak circumstances such as the moment where the

drugs begin to take effect, this would have challenged the conventions of a trailer as the

audience would not have been able to establish the turning point. However, we changedand developed the music to conform to other media products and trailers who employ



dramatic music to amplify the tension that is demonstrated within the narrative.

Furthermore, the music was developed to set the mood of the entire trailer and like other

media products it helps the audience to fully understand the narrative and recognise where

the problems will occur. The calm, tranquil music to begin with and then the change to the

climatic music corresponds with the tension felt by the audience at each scene of the trailer,

enabling them to, like other media products empathise with the protagonist. We used the

heartbeat sound effect to highlight the suspense building up to the eventual climax; this is

stereotypical of real media products in this genre as they often use heartbeats to

demonstrate the terror and eventual horror as the audience are left to believe that the

antagonist is the main suspect. This to an extent subverts the forms and conventions of

other trailers in this genre such as “Orphan” where music is the central focal point of the

trailer and there are no complexities or recognisable misleading information as the audience

through the music and sounds are able to establish the majority of the narrative. However,

our media product uses sound effects to demonstrate the extreme emotions of the

characters and enhances the confusion of the audience.

Documents

Media Products - Use, Challenge and Develop Forms and Conventions - Screen Grabs