Q1 - In what ways does your product develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Forms and Conventions of the Thriller Genre

Thriller is a genre of film that uses suspense, tension and excitement. Sub-genres include mystery, psychological and crime. I chose to make my own bit of each including different elements from each. My film opening shows society in a bad way through different cinematic elements. Thrillers are known for plot twists and cliffhangers as well as feelings of anxiety. A “successful” thriller is one that keeps the audience on edge and keeps that feeling of anxiety which is what I have tried to do.

How did I use these conventions in my product?

I made sure to include as many of these conventions in my work as possible by focusing on different thriller films. For example, setting and lighting were empty and dark (I purposely filmed in the early morning). I built tension using the sound/sound effects in order to make the reveal at the end seem more horrific which acted as a kind of plot twist.

Forms and Conventions I have challenged

I generally stuck to the typicality of the thriller genre apart from the protagonist who is a young female rather than a confident male. I did this purposely as thrillers are usually male based films so I wanted to appeal to a larger target audience; applying to women. From now I will be comparing my final product to Gone Girl, another popular thriller.

Shot distance/Angle

Shots were actually very similar. My inspiration for shots was Gone Girl and because of this I made sure to include many establishing shots to build the setting and the scene rather than characters which is why I didn’t include many shots of the protagonist in the film opening.

Camera Movement

Gone girl’s shots were mostly filmed with a stationary camera with the odd panning shot thrown in. In my opening I kept the camera completely stationary, although that would be one of the things I’d change if I had the chance I would add a lot more movement to make it seem more interesting and so the audience can get a better idea of the surroundings that the main protagonist is in.

Framing decisions

A lot of open framed establishing shots were used in the opening of Gone Girl so I decided to do the same in order to set the scene and establish the emptiness of the setting. However during both openings there were the odd closed frame shots for example the one I used on my main protagonist in order to display how they feel.

Editing Pace

The editing pace remained slow on both film openings to relate to the popular thriller convention of suspense. The slow pace of the shots worked well with the soundtrack that both my opening and Gone Girl used because both are good at gripping the audience and building suspense.

Lighting

Another thing both mine and Gone Girl’s film opening has in common is the lighting used, its natural. Gone Girl’s lighting gradually gets lighter as its demonstrating how morning is coming however mine remains low key as I filmed all in the early morning and to demonstrate a feeling of depression and sadness as well as mystery.

Sound

We both used sound in order to build suspense within the sequence to leave the audience feeling anxious and on edge. We both used very basic, but effective soundtracks but I added sound effects to my piece to make it more creepy and so the audience can feel more threatened.

Number of Titles

Overall Gone Girl had around 30 titles while my opening only had 18 titles. This is because mine is more of a basic film compared to Gone Girl which is a lot more complex and mainstream while I see mine as a more indie type of film therefore wouldn’t need as many people working on it.

Font/Placement of titles

Similarly both main titles were placed in the centre of the shot clearly and other titles were placed in the corners of the shot so that they are still clear to see but so they don’t get in the way of the main shot or the scenery. Font as cleverly used in both so that it suited the seriousness of the genre but also so that they were clear to see against the dark colours.

Logos

In my opinion I feel my logos weren’t as good as they could’ve been, I believe they suit the thriller genre perfectly but in terms of animation I could have experimented with photoshop a bit more and come out with a result as good as Gone Girl’s titles rather than what I have.

Costume

In Gone Girl they wear neutral coloured clothing and they wear pyjamas to signify its morning and they are at home or in a comfortable place while in my opening my protagonist is wearing dark colours and is well covered with the mask connoting mystery which is typical of the thriller genre.

Props

No props were used in either of the film openings.

Locations

Most of Gone Girl’s setting takes place in an urban area at a time with no people making it look abandoned while my areas go from urban to rural showing that my protagonist is escaping or running away which makes the audience curious and on edge, a popular theme of thriller.

Character Type

Overall there is not much we can tell about the characters because they aren’t shown doing much in the opening which is purposely done as this makes the audience want to learn more about what’s going on. From physical appearance in Gone Girl we cannot tell much but in mine the protagonist gives off quite a mysterious vibe through costume and body language.