'In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?' (Part One)

Here are nine frames from the thriller opening Mayday

1. This is a shot of the girl who is going to be kidnapped running and playing in the forest. The fact that the girl is running signifies her innocents and her childish characteristics. This is a convention because the one thing that you normally associate with children is that they are very active. At this point in this thriller opening, we are firstly introduced to the girl. The point of this shot is to show the main character of the title sequence and also to show the purity of the girl. This is shown by the girl’s white attire. The particular clothing that the girl is wearing allows the audience to know that the thriller opening is set in the past.

2. This particular shot is a mid-shot of the girl with bright lighting. This particular shot typifies the way in which modern day culture portray women. As vulnerable innocent women. The use of bright lights shining on her face again portrays the innocence of the girl.

3. The third shot is a long shot the girl riding her bike. This shot again emphasises the naivety and childishness of the girl in the sense that she is riding a bike.

4. In the fourth shot, there is a close up of a rocking chair with the same flowers that the girl was wearing before when we last see her. This particular shot eludes to the idea that

1 2 3

4 5 6

7 8 9

the girl has gone missing. Evidence of this is seen by the fact that the same lighting and flowers are used when we see the girl.

5. The fifth shot is an extreme close up of the villain. This shot perfectly illustrates the way that we portray sinister people in a historical sense in the past. In this shot there is an extreme close up on the villain’s eyes and also cheeks. Also, the lighting in the particular shot is entirely dark and black. The association that we make we make with the colour black is evil and darkness .The fact that we

6. This shot is a long shot of the area where the thriller opening is set. The contrast in lighting is black and white to symbolise the two characters. The black symbolises the evil character and the white symbolises the girl. To a certain degree, you could say that this is a conventional use of Levi’s Strauss binary theory in the sense that the only reason why believe she is a victim is down our own interpretation on what believe a victim should look like.

7. The seventh shot is a long shot of the whole area created as a fantasy world. The reason why the shot is created as so is because it allows the audience to have a completely different perspective on the opening. The lighting is also creamy also to give it a fantasy effect. The use of the cream bright lighting can also to a certain degree is seen as a symbol of heaven. The reason why this is because the normal association that you make with heaven is bright calm colours. And as seen in this shot, these are the colours evident.

8. The eighth shot is a mid-shot of the chair that the girl is sitting on. The chair that is in the shot is symbolic of the girl because it has all the flowers that the girl wears and also you can’t see it clearly because a vignette has been used, just like you can’t see the girl because she has been kidnapped.

9. The final shot is a mid-shot of the title of the thriller drama. The lighting in the shot is red and black. The title of the thriller is in red and the black ground is black. The reason why the lighting of the colours is presented in this is because it adds emphasis to the title and makes it stand out clearly to the audience. The particular way in which the typography is presented gives the impression that it is trying to alert the audience. The affect that this would have on the audience is that it would make them think that something exciting and scary is going to happen.

In the majority of thriller movies, the colours that are most evident are black and red. The reason for this is because the conventional associations that you make with these colours are danger, action and death. Because of these reason, both black and red are evident in these thriller movies.