Evaluation: Question 1

EVALUATION: QUESTION 1)In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The task. Our task was to create two minute thriller production which needs to show something which will create tension and suspense when the audience is watching it, within a small group. In my group there was Trang Dillan and me. As at first when we recorded some scenes it was not that creative but after getting used to the camera and what thriller actually meant we were able to create something which would make the audience fell the tension and suspense mixed with excitement with the edit we have done to the two minute thriller opening scene. As before we had started with the thriller opening scene shots we had a bit of a knowledge that we had taught ourselves when doing the preliminary task. As the part of the thriller had came out from the research and planning we had done which was in the task as this had made us come up with our thriller production.

Does my thriller follow conventions of a thriller?

I believe that my thriller does follow the conventions of a thriller which is seen throughout my narrative.Lighting:I used low-key lighting and high-key lighting throughout the whole opening scene. The reason I used low-key lighting is to show the thriller within the characters, the high-key lighting is used to show the details in that shot. The low-key lighting was mostly used when the antagonist was by him self to show the audience that he wasn’t the protagonist or the victim.Characters:The characters that I have chosen for the thriller production also does follow the convention of thriller genre as there are the same characters which there would be in thriller movies such as the protagonist, antagonist, anti-hero and the victims. Although my anti-hero is a female she does suit her role, even though normally anti-hero would be a male she does get in to the role of a anti-hero, which it does not really challenge the convention. So my characters do follow the convention of thriller genre.Setting:The setting that my thriller is set in a grave yard street and in a house. As in each setting there is reasons for him to be there as the people that he has killed are all around his house. The grave yard shows that he's lonely and represents him as well because he has taken life's from females, as it is conventional to thriller genre.

Generic conventions of a thriller..

The thriller film ‘Inception’ has a protagonist which is a industrial spy who does find out things by investigating he finds information by going into other peoples mind when they are dreaming and takes the information from there. How this character is similar to our protagonist is that there are things in his way to figure things out. As the costume make-up and hair is like the protagonist in my thriller production. What is the convention of the thriller is that we are not challenging anything as protagonists both are boys and etc.

The thriller film ‘The Grudge’ has a young female antagonist which similarly does represent our anti-hero which a bit of the body language and the facial expression not to forget look wise as well. The female character has been murdered as her spirit has came back because she has refused to not get her revenge, as this is because of her anger. As our character has came back as a spirit the same way but she isn’t back as an antagonist because she isn’t making everyone live hell she's only back for the person which has killed her. Both of the characters look the same as they both have long black hair a pale skin with a creepy body language and facial expression putting the audience in a tension feeling.

Using generic conventions

within my thriller.Lighting.

In my thriller low-key lighting was used a lot in the opening scene as this creates suspense and tension to the scene as the audience will feel it.We used low-key lighting when he was walking through the graveyard as this had then given the feeling that he was lonely. As the weather looked miserable which shows a type of threat that something could happen which would take there attention.The second low-key lighting was used when he was walking pass the second antagonist as this showed that he actually didn’t care about the dead bodies as he had killed them.The last one was used when he had left the house, which creates tension and suspense also mystery on what's going to happen after with the victims. As this will leave a question to the audience on what's going to happen next.

Using and challenging

generic conventions

within my thriller.Costume, hair and make-up.

In my thriller every character had a costume which represent them and what they are going through. Except from the victims all of the characters were wearing dark clothing so the ‘antagonist’ he was wearing a suit this showed that he is hiding his identity so no one would except that he would kill people as he looks the same as the other people but he still left clues as he was very scruffy. The anti-hero has black clothing which even though she was once the victim like the other girls in his house she has changed because she want6s to get her revenge so she wont be that innocent as we see from her outfit. Her hair is dead straight and black which pulls her face because her make-up was done really pale, as it showed that she is dead.


within my thriller.Facial

expressions and body language.

In my thriller we see each character as they all have a different reaction to the audience. So my antagonist had a neutral face expression and body language. Even though he walks pass the victims which he had killed he does no9t change the way he walks or the way he looks he dead serious on every step he is taking. He creates questions within the audience with the actions he takes.The anti-hero has a facial expression which shows the audience the tension as she shows that she has came back to get revenge with the actions she takes as she shows the audience how scary she is but doesn’t take that action to show the antagonist yet. She leaves the audience questions because we see the anger n her face but nothing else. As her body language and facial expression is conventional to the thriller genre.


within my thrillerCinematography.

To create a successful thriller, cinematography was used as it is very important for my opening thriller scene. To make this work I had to use various shot sizes, movements and angles, which would match the event and characters as well. Such as we used a close-up at the beginning showing the audience that he was getting ready to go somewhere. As we then see him in a graveyard which created tension between the characters and the audience.In a different shots we had used a high-angle jumping on to low-angle making him look bigger than he is with these shots as this shot also had showed the audience hat the victims he had killed he really didn’t care about them, which questions the audience.Towards the end we have a panning shot from the antagonist closing the door and walking off and then the anti-hero at the window with a creepy face expression which creates suspense and tension within the audience.


within my thriller.Editing.

At the start of the scene there was a lot of jump cuts which was used as we don’t want the audience to see a guy walking through a graveyard for the whole of the opening scene. When you watch this shot you are able to seethe jump cuts as they are conventional to the thriller genre. As these shots contains excitements which it reflects to the audience but this isn’t a joyful excitement its mixed with tension as well.We also used slow motion at this scene as well this is because we want to create tension but when there wasn’t a slow motion the only thing we had created was excitement but with this edit it does seem like he is in a graveyard.As we was doing the editing we had made sure that we did follow the generic conventions as it was conventional to the thriller genre.


within my thriller.Sound.

In thriller conventions to create thriller they always use sound which matches the scene not only that its always something which would make the audience sit on the edge of there scene as even though the scene isn’t creepy the sound makes it creepy. As its conventional to the thriller genre.The sounds which was used in my thriller was conventional to the thriller genre as there were really sharp tones as you listen to it as it matches to the scene as well which shows the audience that they are watching a thriller opening scene. The sound gets even higher and deeper when there is another character than the antagonist in the scene.


within my thriller.Setting.

My thriller film is first set in a graveyard as he walks through the graves which are surrounded, from this we could straight away suggest that he is a antagonist. The second setting is in a house which is no different from a ordinary house, this makes the antagonist hide his identity as no one would understand that he had killed females. As he comes out of the house we capture a miserable weather which suits the character himself because he isn’t a innocent person.As my thriller is conventional we know this from other conventional thriller settings as they are normally in urban areas such as graveyard, alleyways.

Using conventions of

opening credits.

Before we have added our opening credits to our opening scene we have first check other thriller opening scenes to see what type of typography they have used. The different fonts and colours, as we have used neutral colour which is white. As it represents innocent as we have a lot of innocent characters which were killed by the antagonist which seems innocent but isn’t.

Target audience. Our target audience is young adults which are above the age 15, this is because 15 and under are not able to watch thriller films but if we are saying a specific age I would say 17 as they are the ones which like and understand thriller conventions.The target I am talking about likes tension, suspense and mystery as that is what we have through out the whole opening scene.Were we have chosen the age groups are from the other thriller conventions which are similar to our thriller opening scene such as ‘The Grudge’ Which was released in 2004.I believe that the age group we have picked as a group which was 15 and above is the correct one as they are the ones which watches thriller films the most.

Education

Evaluation: Question 1