Evaluation Question 1

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

Setting

The setting we decided to use for the hostage/protagonist to be held was a castle. Inside the castle are many caves and small rooms to add to the feeling of being held captive from the rest of the world. Using the castle also meant the protagonist was far away from other people so he could not be heard.

Setting

The inside of a cave is where the protagonist was held hostage. The cave was dark and we filled it with rubbish to give the effect that people never really enter the castle, therefore giving the assumption that he would never be found. This sort of location is typical for a thriller genre.

Antagonist

The antagonist is an archetypal man who is uncaring, focused, mean, power hungry and oblivious to the Hostage’s feelings. He is the bad guy and in that sense it shows I followed the conventions.

Antagonist

The antagonist is shown here above the hostage; this shows a sense of power to the antagonist. The antagonist is dressed smart in World War II clothing showing he is part of that era. We used levels when thinking of showing both actors in the same frame, this is to show the more powerful person would stand higher than those of a lower power.

Protagonist

We are challenging the convention of a protagonist as it is not clear here whether Toby (Hostage) is the victim or who will be the protagonist. Being only 3 minutes we are uncertain as to whether the protagonist is someone who could possibly come and save the hostage from the antagonist in the cave.

Protagonist

We dressed the victim, who could possibly be the protagonist in work clothing and made him seem very ordinary; except for the fact he was covered in blood, bruises and debris. Again we are uncertain if the protagonist is another person maybe entering later on to save the hostage.

Theme

Themes of entrapment and escape as well as illegal imprisonment and justice prevailing, this shot when the possible protagonist/victim is trying to escape are conventional themes in a thriller film; such as The Shawshank Redemption. This shot is a pastiche from the classic Film Noir Thriller ‘The Third Man’.

Theme

Our thriller’s theme of entrapment is also shown well here; we can see the hostage trying to call for help and make his way of of the cave in the castle. This is showing the theme of imprisonment and shows the protagonist/victim is isolated from the rest of the world.

Enigma

The mystery in this shot could be many things. From who is he? Why is he there? Why is he covered in blood? Etc. When filming this shot our idea of this frame was to keep the audience in suspense and wonder ‘What will he try next?’.

Enigma

The enigma/mystery here is who is this man and why is he lying on a cave floor covered in blood? This keeps the audience interested and keeps the guessing at the beginning of the thriller. The enigma near the end of the film is will they ever escape or will someone rescue them at all?

Visual Style

In our film we wanted to reflect the disorientation and confused experience that the hostage/victim is going through. To do this we used canted angles and did not put the camera in focus; this gave the film a fuzzy start as if it being the opening of the possible protagonist’s eyes.

Visual Style

We used quite a few point of view shots to show the victims perspective on the imprisonment. This shows the hostage reaching up to the bars trying to escape from the antagonist. This is particularly good here because we see the darkness of the cave then the brightness of the outside with a point of view shot.

Iconography

The iconography used here is the rubbish and debris around the cave to add a sense of isolation as not many people obviously ever enter there. Another use of iconography is the rope of which is tied to the victims legs, this shows a sense of imprisonment and shows the hostage could not escape.

Iconography

The iconography used here is the cigarette to which the antagonist is holding. This shows the antagonist is relaxed and does whatever he likes.