Group 33: Evaluation - Forms and Conventions

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

Before we began making our film, in order to make our opening as successful as possible, we made sure to include all the conventions of a real opening. These included:

Titles
Music
Name of film
Production and distribution logos
Names of cast
Something that grabs the audience attention
Establishing shot

The conventions of the title sequences were:

Production and distribution company labels
Film titles
Casting
Costume
Music supervisor
Music by
Editor
Production design
Director of photography
Writer
Director

In our opening, we wanted to both follow and challenge the normal conventions.

The main way in which we followed the conventions was through our use of the title sequences. We imitated the basic order of names/companies ect. that we found in other films. We also made sure that the font and the sound effects as the text appeared matched the rest of the film. We also tried to incorporate them into the image in an interesting way by using the typewriter effect.

One of the other conventions that we used was our use of music. We settled on an eery, humming sound in the background because it added to the creepy atmosphere that we wished to create, without distracting from the foley sound.

However, mostly, we tried to go against the usual conventions so that it would be more interesting and hopefully draw in the audience. We didn't have any immediate action, choosing instead to go with a final shot of a extreme closeup of the murderer's changing pupils that was hopefully used to shock the audience. Also, instead, of having some sort of shocking action sequence, we also based our opening around the introduction of the chess board without offering an explanation, which - we learnt from our research - are the conventions of a 'discrete opening'.

We also went against conventions in the way that both of the characters were kept, overall, as a mystery to the audience. We specifically chose to reveal only parts of the murderer (for example, her eyes, her hands, her feet) so that there was a sense of intrigue. Also, because we decided on the subgenre to be psychologically, we thought that leaving the audience with questions would build towards a sense of unknown that most psychological thrillers have. We did this, too, with the victim, choosing not to reveal her face to add a sense of vulnerability to her.

From our previous research, we also learnt about the use of intertextuality that thriller's often incorporate. We decided to do the same. From one of the films we gained inspiration from, X-Men, we imitated one of the shots of the chess board.