Evaluation Question 1

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

Media Platform and ancillary:

Media Platform = Youtube.com (posted short film ‘Morning Ride’)

Ancillary= (poster and magazine)

Genre Conventions:

The conventions of a genre include specific features in which films which are categorized, enabling the films to interact with the audience and get across an idea as well as giving the audience a specific experience, such as being on the edge (shocked/scared) when watching a thriller movie. This can be broken down into - there is a mystery, crime or puzzle that must be solved by the end of the narrative. This genre is also likely to contain abuse, violence and questions of identity. Examples of this genre are Shutter Island (dir. Martin Scorsese 2010) and The Game (dir.David Fincher 1997)

In our situation, the short film ‘Morning Ride’ is a psychological thriller that include features which leave the audience ambivalent, only assuming what may potentially happen or has happened. Being a ‘Thriller’ it also keeps the consumers on edge during the film, with moments where the audience may be shocked.

By containing such conventions this allows the producers of the film to create verisimilitude throughout their media product. The use of technical conventions is used to create a specific atmosphere. Cross cutting is used in the scene where James the main character is waiting on the sidewalk for a ‘ride’ very early in the morning. This form of editing is used to create tension and excitement as this makes the audience think about what is going to happen which relates to the the genre-type of this short film.

The use of different camera shots is used to emphasize the importance of specific scenes or/and characters. The use of close ups are used to signal the importance of the character and their facial expressions, while the use of long shots (in some cases establishing shots-start of scene) are used to either set the scene.

The short film ‘Morning Ride’ doesn't really challenge any forms and conventions, however its a mixture between two genres; thrillers and drama.

FORMS AND CONVENTIONS:My film follows the conventions of a thriller in that the protagonist is picked up from the streets by an unknown minicab driver who then drugs him and kidnaps him. Thus a mystery has been established. All is not as it seems. The films begs the question why has the taxi driver drugged the young man and brought him home? this is a question that needs answering and in the final moments of the film he is revealed to be a lonely psychopath who picks people up for his own pleasure by posing as a taxi driver and drugging them. So we have a mysterious crime whose motive is not revealed until the end. This leave the audience with some questions such as what is he doing with the young men he picks up?

I drew inspiration from Misery (dir. Rob Reiner 1990) adapted from Stephen King’s thriller where a lonely woman (Kathy Bates) kidnaps a stranded writer and takes him home (James Caan). At first she seems to be a kind and helpful individual but as the film unfolds we discover she is a lonely psychopath desperate for company.

In edit I used non diegetic sound to heighten the suspense and feeling of drama by using music and suspense accents that create the mood of this short thriller drama. THis is in keeping with the conventions of a real media product such as a thriller like The Game or Shutter Island that use these audio effects to heighten suspense and drama. In fact as well as the synchronous sounds we recorded I use sound from the opening to create the mood that tells you this is a thriller. I also fade in a suspense accent when the young man finally goes under the drugs effect. I then bring in the last piece of heavy dramatic music when he wakes up in the strange bedroom with his belt undone to emphasie the creepy nature of his discovery.

Technically this is shot in a very straightforward way using a simple camera and sound without using any effectsand using natural light throughout. I shot a lot of this in close up to heighten the claustrophobic feeling of the cab ride which I tried to portray in as naturalistic a way as possible.

So the conversation back and forth between the cabby and the young man starts off fairly normally and we wonder where this is heading and then a turning point comes after he has offered his passenger some water and he pulls over and remote locks the back doors so the young man cannot escape all in close up. The taxi driver then talks about how he would like to go to the zoo and the scene fades, posing questions that will only be answered in the next scene. I purposely shot the driver so that he was in shadow and slightly indistinct to add to the creepiness and mystery of his character as opposed to the passenger who is in full light signifying innocence.

When the young man wakes in unfamiliar surroundings the first thing both he and the audience notice is his belt is undone - without any verbal clues we acknowledge that this is a symbol of transgression which begs the question who undid his belt and why?

CHALLENGING FORMS AND CONVENTIONS:It was decided to stick closely to the forms and conventions of a thriller as we felt we did not have enough experience to make radical challenge to an established and successful format. We felt that our story was strong enough to stand on its own without trying to be too clever so when I was editing the film I laid down the narrative very simply and didn’t try and do anything other than tell the story.

However in the cab scene I tried to play around with the narrative convention of film and create something that felt almost like reality TV to create a naturalistic feel almost like a documentary or fly on the wall such as you get in Made in Chelsea or TOWIE to give this some verisimilitude and a sense that this is actually happening so for a moment you are unsure if you are watching a fly on the wall sequence or if this is actually scripted. Because I was filming on a Nikon D3200 this meant that I could get the camera up real close to the actors and shoot close ups and extreme close ups. This is a convention of thriller cinematography because it creates this intrusive kind of feel to the footage that makes you feel uncomfortable and adds to the mystery and sense of danger. This use of uncomfortable close ups was developed and mastered by Alfred Hitchcock in films such as Psycho (dir. Alfred Hitchcock 1960).

There are some similarities between Misery and my film. In my film the creepy driver turns to the young man and says ‘there’s nothing to worry about everything will be fine’ which echoes Kathy Bates character when she tells her victim ‘there’s nothing to worry about you’re going to be just fine’ except in our film we have switched things around so that the driver is the predator and not the victim.

Mainly though, I used Todorov’s film theory as a guide although you could say that the hero is already in a state of disequilibrium at the beginning -

- not just because he is drunk but because he went to a nightclub that was too extreme and it was this that threw him off balance. So the disequilibrium turning point is in the backstory - the hero is already in a state of disequilibrium which only gets worse until he is told by his abductor that he is free to go. But we are left with the question - has the the hero been sexually molested or not. Normally a thriller answers questions at the end and solves the main riddles - but in my film it was decided to leave it open and I think that works.

HAVE THEY PROVEN SUCCESSFUL?

Morning Ride is a successful media product that follows the conventions of the thriller genre, with twists that genuinely provoke and shock. Our film plays with a note of ambiguity throughout and as previously mentioned leaves this ambiguity open right to the very end and as such proves itself to be worthy of the conventions of the genre.

Where we have developed existing conventions is in the mystery. On a first reading of this film we are surprised at the abduction twist and maybe didn’t see the sexual sub text coming but are even more surprised that the lonely psycho says he can go “I hope that when you leave we can still be friends - keep in touch maybe...”. And that is how the film ends.

This could be read on two levels - is this the end of the narrative - will the young man just go home - having escaped with his life or is this some sick and twisted ploy to lull him into a false sense of security. So the film asks questions all the way up to the end and leaves us with a question which I think is why the film is so memorable.

However there is another reading. Just as Shutter Island (dir. Scorsese 2010) needs to be views a second time to reveal the second narrative within more clearly, Morning Ride also hints at a second reading. The young man is not as innocent as he seems. At the start of the film he is drunk or on drugs - it is never specified and we find out when he picks the taxi driver up that he has been to the notrious club - The Box - where all sorts of perversions are rumoured to take place. He says it was too extreme but he had obviously gone out of curiosity - maybe he had been looking for some sort of danger all along.

So this is where we extended the convention by leaving the audience with question upon question as to what the outcome will be and whether the young man was so innocent after all. But it needs a second viewing to get that.

HOW DID YOU DEMONSTRATE THIS?

I was cinematographer and editor on this film so basically the look of the finished product is down to my input. I really enjoyed framing up the shots and playing around with the light and shadow that natural light gives so that I was able to create a sense of innocence on the young man in the car and make the driver look creepy by keeping him in shadow and in such close up that he goes slightly out of focus which also represents how the drunk young man sees him as he turns his head round in the car.

I was very inspired by Misery - it’s a great film and I am glad we had the opportunity to make our own thriller. I particularly enjoyed sourcing the sound track to add to the tension when I was editing the film and I was inspired by the quality of the film idea to try and make sure that my contribution did it justice so I took a lot of time over the edit to make sure I got it right. It was a big learning curve but I am satisfied I did a good job and would be interested in editing more short films.