Question 1

Question 1-In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? 

My media brief was to produce a 2-minute opening thriller sequence consisting of thriller conventions, such as; jumpy scenes to build suspense and shock the audience when something pops out to frighten them when they least expect it, gory scenes to get the audience feeling frightened and feely sympathetic for the victim as they would understand what emotions and feeling the antagonist is putting them in through the gory scenes shown, low key lighting to set a sinister atmosphere to get the audience feeling spooky and as they are in a thriller film, antagonist to deliver the narrative to the audience through using this character to harm and set out to hurt the victim which the audience would be wanting the best for and many more other conventions, in order for it to be a successful opening thriller sequence. 

An example of low key lighting is in the picture on the right and this is used to create a dark atmosphere to make the audience feel as they are in a spooky scene and feel engaged and part of the film to make their experience of watching it a better one. As we can see in the picture on the right, low key lighting is used on a cat and a cat is normally portrayed as a cute, fluffy pet however the lighting makes it look evil and twisted which is the same affect it has on the antagonist and the settings.

I used many conventions in my thinner sequence such as; female victim, tense music, iconography, low-key lighting, silence and an isolated setting.

The first convention i used was a female victim. I used a female victim instead of a male victim because stereotypically females are smaller and weaker so they wold be portrayed to the audience as more helpless, powerless and vulnerable than a male victim would. You see this in my thriller when the victim is not aware that the antagonist is standing behind her with a knife. The fact that the positioning of the antagonists hand is way above the victims head shows him as being bigger than her which would straight away portray him as being stronger which would make the audience feel even more scared for the poor victim. This would build a stronger relationship with the victim and audience as the female victim would seem as she can not protect herself therefore, the audience will feel more sympathetic towards her and feel sorry for her as they know she is more likely to get hurt or even die. This is conventional as it makes the audience want to watch more to see if the female victim get killed. 

The second convention i used was tense music. I used tense music throughout the opening of my thriller sequence because it would engage the audience more as they feel as something scary or bad is about to happen. Tense music is used in my thriller when the victim is walking around the isolated room seeing pictures of herself targeted on the floor. This use of music at this time makes the audience wonder what is about to happen as they link the targeted photos of the victim and the sinister atmosphere through the music together and the tension and suspense being built leads them to thinking something really bad is about to happen to the victim to harm her safety. The tense music builds up suspense and tension which makes the audience focus more. This builds a relationship with the audience and the characters because the fact that the tense music enticed the audience more will get them more shocked when something jumps out or something horrific happens to the victim which will make them even more sympathetic. This convention is conventional to the thriller genre as it builds on the elements of shock, suspense and surprise which makes the experience of watching the film a better one for the audience.

Another convention i used was iconography, and in this sequence the main one was a knife. I used a knife for the antagonist to use to harm the victim because this weapon was the most realistic and horrific weapon to use. The knife is seen in my thriller on the floor when the victim is starting to wake up and notice she has been kept hostage. This is evident when we look at the picture on the left. When the audience see this dangerous weapon at the beginning it foreshadows a death for them making them think something bad is going to happen to someone from that knife. A death by a knife would mean more blood as the victim would be in a critical state and this would build a strong relationship with the audience and character as the would know that the vicim is really hurt and is about to die so would be more upset. This is conventional to a thriller genre as this weapon would lead to loads of blood which thriller audiences would love to see as it makes the sequence more realistic and more scary.  

Low key lighting was another convention i used. I used this convention to make the atmosphere more sinister and more thriller like. A sinister atmosphere would make it more scary for the audience as it would build on the elements of suspense, shock and surprise which would entice them more as it would mean they are feeling scared but still watching and looking around the dark room to see if they can spot the killer. This builds a relationship with the audience and character as the audience are looking around the room to find or spot anything that is harm to the vitim as they feel sorry for her and want to help her. This is conventional to the thriller genre as it engages the audience and makes them on edge when watching waiting for something bad to happen. 

Furthermore, silence was another convention i used. I used silence so that it can build on the element of suspense. You see silence in my thriller when the victim escapes and is walking around the room and steps in a broken picture frame of herself. The build up of suspense from silence will entice the audience more so that they are more on edge waiting for something to jump out and scare them. This builds a relationship with the audience as they feel more engaged into the film because of the suspense being built so they expect something to happen. This is conventional to the thriller genre as not only does it build on suspense but it also surprises and shocks the audience when something happens which makes the experience of watching the thriller more enjoyable. 

Lastly, i also used an isolated setting as another convention in my thriller. I used an isolated setting so the audience straight away assume something bad is going to happen because no one is about. For example; my isolated setting was a basement of a house which nobody knows about. This is evident from the picture on the right. This would build a relationship with the audience and character as they feel more sympathetic to the victim as they know she will be in danger and no-one is around to help her or for her to escape. This is conventional to the thriller genre as it engages the audience to waning to watch the rest of the film as they want to see and find out if the victim escapes safely and lives or if she is trapped and dies a horrific death without anyone knowing.

I got my three inspirations of the female victim, low-key lighting and iconography of the knife from the very successful thriller sequence, Scream. I used this thriller film as my inspiration as it has become very successful but also because the fan base is huge and a lot of people all over the world love it. I was also inspired by it as this thriller is very good at creating and building on the elements of; suspense, shock and surprise which engage the audience from the beginning and the more of it there is the more the audience enjoy the film and the more successful the sequence will be. I used the knife from this film as it is very realistic as any killer can just get a knife and hurt someone as the antagonist in this film had done. A knife would also do a more gruesome death compared to another weapon, like a gun, which the audience would like more as it is aimed at a target audience that prefer to see gory scenes in a thriller film. I used low key lighting from this film as it engages the audience more as they feel as there is something lurking in the dark about to jump out and harm the victim. This would create more suspense and tension for the audience and when something did suddenly happen they would react more as they would of been on the edge of their seats expecting and waiting of it. I also took the female victim from this film as the audience saw how she was helpless and powerless compared to the victim which made this film more scary and successful. It would also make her look more fragile and make the antagonist look more bigger, more stronger and more dangerous. Having the female victim looking small and the antagonist looking big would set the difference between the two characters and intrigue the audience more by making them want to see what the most the antagonist is capable of doing to the victim. These conventions that inspired me from this film are very conventional as they all are realistic and create a sinister atmosphere which engage the audience and makes them want to watch the rest of the film and find out what happens. 

The conventions i chose to use in my opening thriller sequence are all conventional as they all create the elements of; suspense, surprise and shock which engages the audience more and makes them want to watch it more which leads to the film being more successful. This is evident through the reaction of the audience when something ends up happening and also is shown through how much the audience is enticed into the film and feel as they are part of the film going through the same experience. Moreover, the sounds i used such as; diegetic, music and sounds from a soundboard are all also conventional and helps make the movie flow creating even more suspense for the audience to enjoy. 

A very successful thriller film is; Hannibal. Hannibal is more of a physiological thriller whereas my thriller focuses on the narrative more and is not a physiological one making the audience want to find out what is going through the antagonist head the whole time and not wanting to solve the problem each time a clue is given or something is foreshadowed. On the other hand, Hannibal focuses more on mystery making the audience want to solve the problems and also focuses on the antagonist more and not the victims. However, one thing they both have in common is the fact that they both engage the audience in different ways and build a relationship between them and the characters. My sequence makes the audience want to help the victim and want her to be safe whereas, Hannibal makes the audience want to solve what is going on in the psychotic killers brain and why he is doing what he is. My thriller along with Hannibal also contain some of the same micro elements such as; sound when when we both use tense music. I think that this leads to both our film becoming more successful as it makes it more tense for the audience which makes them more engaged and more happy to watch it. Overall, my sequence and Hannibal are very different but also very similar in a way.