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

products?

Our film, Out of the Woods aims to use traditional conventions to establish our thriller genre and to intertextualise other films of the same genre. For the main part of our opening, we stuck to the

conventions of our sub-genre, a psychological thriller through the use of mise en scene. This allowed us to explore the themes used in these types of films to create ours and allow it to be memorable and tense. To achieve this, we emphasised certain aspects of mise en scene to both challenge and reflect the generic

conventions.

Location We used Tyrrells wood for the location and we used it because it was

close to where we live and it provided enclosed spaces which

creates claustrophobia (like in shot 2) and internally entraps the

character within the nature surrounding him.

The wood also had a river which we used for the build up scene and

where the girls body would be. A juxtaposition is created between

the river and the dead body. The river connotes freedom and

movement where as a binary opposite, Lauren is dead still and can’t

be free because she is dead.

The wood was in the middle of nowhere which conforms to the

conventions of thrillers through using an isolated setting to make

George seem more vulnerable and alone.

Costume Josh (Who plays George) was supposed to be dressed in primary

colours to reflect his childishness however due to weather

conditions, we had to choose clothing that would keep the

characters warm while we did the shoot rather than choosing

costumes for the colour of them. Josh wore a black coat which

reflects the death of the girl and the idea that not everything is as

perfect as it seems.

Josh wore a red scarf to reflect primary bright colours. This idea is

also used from the blue on his coat and the green laces. Although

it is subtle, the message is there and shows his age. The red scarf

connotes danger but links George and the glove of the dead girl

together. It is not mentioned in the opening scene but the two

characters could be related which makes the

Lauren wore dark clothing to reflect death and her non existentfuture but also the idea of evil and dark power which was the

reason the she died.

Lighting

The lighting is very soft which reflects George as a child but has a

cool temperature which connotes the weather and the situation in

the narrative which will unfold.

We didn’t use any additional lighting, only natural lighting and used

certain areas of our location to create the right shot, like the first

long shot.

The lighting is very soft which reflects George as a child but has a

cool temperature which connotes the weather and the situation in

the narrative which will unfold.

Props

We used the bow and arrow to show the intertextuality of hunger

games but go against its themes because instead of using the

bow to hunt for animals, George is using it for fun and to play. It

shows how the bow can be a symbol of different things

depending on what type of character is using it.

We used the scarf as a tension builder which conforms to the

thriller conventions and the scarf also brings uneasiness to the

audience because it is unusual to see a scarf in a wood draping

from a branch.

The glove is also iconography used to build tension and suspense

in the scene and the colour red connotes danger and death.

Sound

We kept all original diegetic sound in the clips to make the scenes seem

natural and organic rather than a complete made soundtrack over the

top.

We used one soundtrack for the main underscore that ran through the

whole opening and then added on top other small non diegetic noises

and sound effects over the top to layer and create one whole original soundtrack. For example, we added the sound of crows at intervals in

the scene where nature was the main part of the shot, like in the pans of

the wood and the build up to the river scene.

Furthermore, we used a sound-bridge with the sound of the crows at the ending going from a close up of George’s face to black and carried

that one sound effect to make the idea of the dead girl stick in the

viewers mind before cutting to the main part of the film.

Characters George is the only main character through the film which allows

us to become close to him and understand why he does certain things through the film. We chose the name George because it is a traditional name and has no time definition which will make people think this film is trying to based in a certain era. We tried to make the film in a way that it could be based in 1990 or 2015, it doesn’t matter because the storyline would be the same.

He is a 9 year old who is very active and likes to run around, shown in the opening scene and is very intuitive, shown through him finding the scarf and following the trail to the dead body.

George isn’t a typical genre character type for a thriller but we tried to represent him through similar conventions as in ‘The sixth sense’. George is supposed to be shown isolated from normal life which raises questions to whether these are real dead bodies in the wood or whether it’s his twisted mind portraying it and we are seeing the whole film through his mind. It allows the audience to make their own decision about which one it is.

Narrative We used a narrative structure for our thriller because we wanted it

to reflect a psychological thriller which revolves around story telling.

Our film is about a ‘thing’ that goes around killing and creating

havoc in a forest, that George plays in regularly. We wanted it to

reflect a twisted fairy story and how they create such a perfect

world in the books but in reality are just as corrupt and twisted as reality.

For the majority of editing we looked at continuity editing and trying

to perfect our shots and cuts to create clean movement between

shots without breaking editing rules and having certain things

exactly the same in different shots like props and costume.

Camerawork We used cinematography to reflect the thriller genre and create tension and

suspense.

We used canted framing to disorientate the audience. We used it at this part in the opening because George has just seen the body and the audience hasn’t. This makes the viewer confused to what George has just seen and makes the scene feel unsettled.

High/ low angle shots and tracking were used to show George running and playing in the woods. These angles and shots make him look small and innocent but isolated which implies that he is in danger. The low angle shots are binary opposites to high angle shots but they both create a suspenseful and tense scene.

POV shots, close ups and tracking shots were used to connect the audience to George. The tracking shots make the audience feel like he is leading them through the forest because, this is his place. The POV shots allow us to see us exactly what George is seeing at the same time which brings us closer on both emotional and physical level.

In addition, we also used panning and tilt shots to allow the camera to reveal more of the scene without having to break the 30 degree rule and have a cut.

We also used a range of types of shots like using a tripod and still to hand held camera and to experimenting with moving the camera around while on the tripod to create a stedi-cam effect without having to buy one.

Intertextuality Camerawork We wanted to intertextualise our

opening to subtlety hint to the audience that we are reflecting

another film. We chose Hunger

Games because it shows how from

a distance nature and the forest

looks harmless peaceful, but really

they are dangerous and unsafe.

We chose this scene because Josh

could use the bow and arrow to

play in the woods and ironically reflect Katniss hunting.

We tried to replicate it as closely as

possible. We weren’t able to

recreate the low angle because

their weren’t any high up stable branches to stand up to produce it.

Titles Our original font ended up not fitting into the background shot we

wanted. We also wanted the font on the tree while a panning shot

was happening, but even though we used key frames to keep the

title on the tree while it moved, it looked very cheesy and non-

professional, so we changed it to the same font as the names to

make it work.

The main title is internally framed by two canted trees. It forces the

audience to look at the title and shows them that not only the words

of the title but the meaning are significant to the film.

The name titles are shown up at long shots in the opening. I tried to

make them fit and be spaced out across the shots but have finished

before the intertextuality of hunger games and the tension build up

at the end of the opening.

The font is a generic thriller font because it looks messy and rushed which connotes the tension and suspense built up within the scenes.