1. Evaluation
1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media products?
Title cards:
One of the first conventions that our thriller
opening has challenged is the title cards. The
title card that we used was is the following
picture:
B.E.A.T – stands for Ben, Ed, Alex and Tom.
We are hoping that this will give our film a
personal feel, and conform to such film titles as
‘Warner Bros’. if this is achieved we believe that
we will have effectively engaged the audience.
For the visuals of the title card we decided to use
an organic moving visual theme, we are hoping
that this will help connotation the natural
conventions of our film, as well as show that over
the film the audience will hopefully become more
engrossed throughout, as connotated by the
ever-growing vines on the title card.
A filming production company that often
conforms to this idea is ‘LIONSGATE’, who produce films that are thrillers that are
similar to the one that we have made. By doing this we hope that our film has used
and developed a typical thriller convention.
Another convention of the title card that our one represents is through sound. The
sound that we have used in our title card is a ‘thunder clap’; this is a non-digetic
sound that we hope will engage the audience and create an element of suspense
early on in the film. Other production companies that use similar themes are Disney
Buena Vista Movie Intros; follow this link for an example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64aM_1FROVI&feature=player_detailpage

2. Lighting:
Throughout the first part of the film – i.e. the
sequence when Alex is not inside the house, we
chose to reduce the saturation to 40%. We were
hoping that this would create a sense that the
action earlier in the day compared to the other
events. We have also used it in the scenes just
before Alex enters the house – this is because we
are hoping that the transition from not being in
the house (saturation reduced) and entering the
house (normal saturation) will have connotations
of leaving the environment of risk and entering a
safe place. This is an appearance of
Verfremdungseffect, as the audience believe that
‘Alex’ has entered a safe place, when in fact he has
entered an unbeknownst violent and hostile environment.
Another case of when we have used lighting to great effect
include when we, the audience, see the evil characters. The
evil characters start of by being seen in a fairly light
position, but as the sightings of the evil characters continue
throughout the film we see them in a more and more
darker light. This could have connotative conventions to
the audience in that they believe that as the opening goes
on a very violent act is going to happen.
We also used light to good effect when Alex answered his
phone in his bed. We kept the lighting very dark, so as the
audience would focus on the digetic sound, and the light
occurring from the phone. We hoped that this would create
an element of suspense, and we believe that we have
achieved this.
Throughout the lighting phase we mainly used most of the conventions for lighting in
thriller films, but we also challenged and developed our own ideas.

3. Characters:
The characters that we have used in our opening conform and use typical
conventions of thrillers. The ‘evil’ characters do this by acting secretively and for
large parts of the opening remaining hidden, they also act how you would expect a
bad character to move – this being hiding in the shadows in darkness. The nature of
the ‘evil’ characters also conform to conventions of thriller films, this being that they
are very aggressive, brutal, silent, and scheming.
The good character in our opening, ‘Alex’ also conforms to the conventions expected
of him as a victim in a thriller film. This is done by Alex appealing very vulnerable
throughout, and also seeming confused to the situation at which he is in. ‘Alex’ also
dresses fairly normally, this once again makes him seem vulnerable because of the
strange situation that he is in – he seems out of place, and so more vulnerable.
Clothes/props:
Once again we
conformed to
conventions of
thriller films with the
clothing that we used within our opening. The bad characters were all seen wearing
very dark clothing with their faces obscured. What we hope this has succeeded in
doing is presenting these characters as very mysterious and dark in nature beings
that are dangerous and violent. The props that they use also conform and use typical
conventions of thriller films; ‘tom’ is seen as holding an axe – which connotations are
extremely dangerous violent, as well as represent brutality and most importantly
death.
The clothing of ‘Alex’ is very important as well because the clothes that he is seen as
wearing are a fairly normal outfit for a good character to, and this complies with
forms of the genre. We have further developed this by selecting all of the clothes to
be worn to be in a green colour – as green is often seen as a very neutral colour, and
so this uses typical conventions of thriller films as the victims are often seen as fairly
neutral in nature.
The clothing choices that we have used all conform to the convention of White hats/
black hats.

4. Camera shots:
For the camera shots we have used the typical conventions of thriller films – these
being that most of the shots were tracking or panning ones, but when ‘Alex’ was in
danger or near to it, there were shot angles that looked down onto him, creating a
sense of vulnerability. However, for one of the shots we see one of the bad
characters from a high angle, and so in this shot we have challenged the typical
conventions of camera angles.
We also have included a shot that is a hand-held close-up moving shot of ‘Alex’, that
allows the audience to engage with him through his view point. For this shot we
have also used a typical form of thriller camera angles.
Location:
The phone box scene conforms to the forms of locations because it is a very isolated
location that creates a sense of vulnerability for the victim.
We decided that we would try and develop our own ideas and even challenge some
ideas for the house scene. We did this by allow ‘Alex’ to enter a well lit house that
looked fully secure, and so it is presumed that he will be safe there. But, we
challenged this as the ability of the bad characters to get in, also by ‘Alex’ closing the
door on himself with the character waiting outside, makes the at first presumed safe
house, feel as if it is now a dangerous, violent environment where ‘Alex’ is now
trapped.
Synopsis:
Our synopsis has used some of the forms of thriller films, one of these being that we
end the synopsis with a cliff hanger. What we hope to achieve with this is that the
audience are left on the edge of their seat, and throughout the synopsis we have
created suspense.
Soundtrack:

5. In many ways the soundtrack that we used throughout our opening uses typical
forms and conventions of thriller film soundtracks. One of the main types of music
that we use that uses these forms is the wind howl used in the scenes outside of the
house, it portrays that something is hidden from ‘Alex’ and that when it falls silent,
the thing that has previously been hidden from him will arise.
Another main form that we use and develop is the use of eerie music inside the
house to create a sense of suspense and danger, as well as mask the impending
violence.
Script:
We decided to not use any dialogue for the bad characters, so as to use the
connotations of suspense and mystery in the phone calls – which are typical
conventions in thriller films. But, we chose for ‘Alex’ to use words repetitively to
represent his confused and inquisitive state – both of these being conventions from
thriller films.
2. How does your media product represent particular social
groups?
A social group that is represented in our thriller film is male adults. The male adults
in our film (evil characters) are represented as being smarter and more cunning than
the younger teenagers in our film (Alex). So the social groups that are being
represented here are adults and teenagers, with the adults being depicted as
smarter as and cleverer than teenagers.
The males are another social group that is represented in our thriller film, with the
opening being male dominated. Both of the evil characters are males, and this could
present them as being the more brutal/violent gender, as well as the ones that are
more capable of committing violence.
The final social group in our film is presented through our victim, 'Alex'. He is
depicted as being a vulnerable, confused person that is oblivious to danger. Which
could have connotations towards himself being obnoxious and naïve, which is a form
that teenagers are often associated with.
3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media
product and why?

6. 4. Who would be the audience for your media product?
I believe that the audience that we are targeting for out media product are males
between the ages of 15-30, who enjoy watching horror thriller films. I think this
because our film is a horror thriller and so the audience we are targeting must like
these types of film to be a success.
We believe that the ages that are most likely to want to watch these thriller films are
15-30 because in the questionnaires that we handed out the general age that we
received were between these ages.
We believe that males would particularly enjoy this style of film because at this age,
males are very interested in violence and suspense, and fully become engrossed in
their films, so by us creating a horror thriller film that conforms to these typical
conventions our target audience would enjoy our media product.
5. How did you attract/address your audience?

7. We attracted and addressed the audience by a fairly simple method. We made a
questionnaire for the audience to complete during our first/draft screening of our
thriller, with a variety of questions ranging from ‘Did you enjoy the thriller film you
have just watched?’ to ‘Do you think the sound track creates suspense?’
We hoped that by doing this we could tweak our thriller opening to appeal to the
audience. For instance, comments about whether sound track created suspense
were fairly low rated, so we decided to add the track ‘demented dreams’ to create
an element of suspense in the house scene, when we showed the modified version
to a new audience, they found that the sound track does create suspense.
Mise-en-scene:
2 3
1
4
1.
1. We have attracted the audience with a high angle shot looking down on
‘Alex’, to make him appear vulnerable and so the audience is attracted
because they feel suspense.
2. The light is shining directly down onto ‘Alex’s’ head, this is a technical aspect
and typical thriller convention, that addresses the audience that ‘Alex’ is the
centre of attention and shows that at this point he is very vulnerable.
3. When ‘Alex’ closes the door, this attracts the audience because they get a
sense that ‘Alex’ is now trapped, creating a sense of death and violence, as
well as huge suspense.
4. ‘Alex’ attracts the audience by appealing to the audiences target range and
conforming to their dress sense. (see question 4)
6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of
constructing this product?

8. We have learnt a lot about technologies from the process of constructing this
product.
Digital cameras –
Camera angles –
Movement –
Shot types –
Editing:
7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have
learnt in the progression from it to the full product?