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

Through my research of the thriller genre I learnt a lot of the conventions that are expected to be seen within the genre, such as specific themes, characters, narrative and Iconography and other expected conventions that are seen, I tried to incorporate these themes so that I can achieve an opening sequence that is conventional of a thriller genre.One of the first conventional aspects of the thriller genre that I tried to follow in my thriller opening sequence was the theme of suspense and mystery. Through my research I learnt that a lot of films used suspense and mystery as a conjoined theme, the suspense helped to add tension to the mystery of the film. One of the main themes that I saw in a lot of in thriller films such as ‘Side Effects’ was the use of the film leaving the explanation of the events seen throughout the film right to the end, which helped to build on the mystery. It leaves the audience questioning the events of the film throughout and helps to build a connection between the audience and the film as they try to work out where the film is going. I tried to incorporate this into my opening sequence as I thought this was a conventional aspect that many thriller genres had the theme of. This also supported Steve Neale’s theory of the repetition of conventions for an audience to recognise the genre as I wanted to create a unique storyline that still followed the expected conventions of the thriller genre so that the audience could recognise that it is one. Even though it is difficult to include this feeling of mystery to the audience in the first three minutes of an opening sequence I left it on a cliff-hanger which made the audience want to find out more, as the whole film is unknown I still tried to incorporate the theme of mystery throughout to help build on the fact that the audience will not find out why certain events are happening till the end. Steve Neale’s theory is important to consider as it’s important for the audience to recognise the genre of a film, and so by me using the repetition of the theme of suspense and mystery this helps for the audience to recognise which category my opening sequence belongs to and this helps to make my production follow the conventional aspects of a real media product.

Another conventional aspect of a thriller genre that I tried to develop within my media product was the use of characters that are expected to be seen within the thriller genre. One of the conventional character types that I saw within the thriller genre was that the main character or someone that was important within the film has a dark background or hidden personality that affected their life and how they lived within the film. I tried to incorporate this character type into my opening sequence through the use of the character ‘Gary’, at the beginning of the opening sequence it is seen that he is a normal man, but it is slowly revealed that he isn’t as normal as expected and this is seen in a lot of films such as ‘American Psycho’. This conventional character type helps to build on the expected theme of mystery, as this character is expected to have a hidden past or personality it helps to build on the mystery and suspense of how they are going to act throughout the film, and how this is going to affect the storyline. This is furthered by the theorist Propp who says there are common character types that help to drive the narrative, and this character type is one that does help to drive the story forwards and helps to develop the narrative. Also Levi Strauss theory of Binary Opposites is seen here through the use of Sanity vs. Insanity; this is seen in thriller films and particularly seen in ‘American Psycho’ through his hidden personality of him being a psycho killer. I tried to incorporate this theory and this character type into my opening sequence, thorough the use of editing I made it so my character was seeing things one minute and then not seeing them the next. This helped me to create the effect that my character was Sane and Insane at the same time and had a hidden personality that was going to affect the narrative. This meant that I had tried to create a character that has a conventional character type which is expected to be seen within thriller films, and this helps for my media product to follow the conventions of a real media product.

Another thriller convention that I tried to show within my media product was the use of titles that helped to affect the feel of my opening sequence. Within a lot of thriller films titles are effective in creating the right feel to the film and this is either mystery, spook, tension, suspense and other themes that are in relation to the thriller genre. Titles are used in thriller films to help the audience recognise what sort of the genre that the film comes under, this is seen in the film ‘Cabin In the Woods’ where the use of the red titles are seen to connote the theme of the film and the fact that there is a lot of blood and death throughout this film. From these titles the audience are able to make this prediction, and so I felt that the titles are important to show that the film is of the thriller genre and follows these conventional aspects of the thriller genre. I tried to create my titles to connote the title of the film which was ‘Gone’ so I made it so the titles fade and jitter and had a white glow to show mystery. I also got a lot of inspiration for the titles from a TV series that was recently on called ‘Remember Me’ which had titles similar to my own and these were effective in showing the conventional thriller genre that this TV series was in. These titles effected how I was going to present my titles; I wanted it to be clear that my film was within the thriller genre, so things such as titles and other smaller aspects all had to affect how the film was presented, so I had to make sure that my titles followed the conventional titles that are seen within thriller films.

Another thriller convention that I tried to display in my media product was the use of audio, within most thriller films the audio is essential to making the film complete and without the audio the film will not have the same effect as it would without it. Within my opening sequence I used audio that would connect with the audience and make them feel certain emotions which I wanted them to feel at that particular time. I chose audio that would build suspense and affect my audience in the way I wanted it to. Audio is one of the expected conventions that all audiences expect to see within a thriller film and it follows Steve Neal’s theory of repetition, I followed this theory as I wanted the audience to recognise what sort of genre my film was in and by using certain audio this helped to create this. From my research into thriller films such as ‘Orphan’ there use of audio was important to creating suspense at the right time and to let the audience know when something bad was going to happen. From this research I understood that I had to choose my audio wisely to be able to create the right effect and feel for my opening sequence. By using audio that was effective in making my audience feel a certain emotion or way this helped me to follow the conventional aspects of a real media product.

Another thriller convention that I used within my opening sequence was the use of iconography. As this was only an opening sequence not a lot of props are able to be used as it would against the conventional aspects of an opening sequence to show too much of the narrative at the start of the film. Therefore I only used basic props and iconography so that it would still be befitting to the thriller genre, one of them being fake blood. This prop was used near the end of the opening sequence to show the severity of the character ‘Gary’s’ family going missing, without the fake blood I think it would have been less befitting within then thriller genre, as expected the audience want to be thriller and have a sense of anticipation throughout the film. By using fake blood I think this helped to create this feeling within my opening sequence and therefore enabled me to follow the conventional aspects of a thriller opening sequence. Most of the other props and costumes seen were of an everyday basis such as a computer, kettle, work clothes and everyday basic clothing. As the setting was within an everyday home I wanted the objects and the costumes to demonstrate this, most thrillers are based on someone's everyday life and that means that everyday basic objects and clothing are expected to be seen. I wanted my opening sequence – like a lot of thrillers – to have a sense of realism to it and that meant using iconography that showed that this was realistic of someone's everyday life, creates a connection with the audience viewing and that means they are more likely to relate to the film. This results in the audience having heightened emotions and this what a thriller film should make an audience feel like, and I think through the use of iconography I have been able to create this too, therefore making my opening sequence conventional to the thriller genre.

One convention that I decided to challenge was the role of the mother, typically within thrillers women play a submissive role within films and are seen as the Princess of the plot and are seen as the prize for the hero, and this is a recognised theory by Propp. He believes that within every narrative certain character roles can be identified, although Propp’s theory is one that is based mainly on fairy-tale plots and not particularly valid for today’s society where different opinions of women are conveyed and in films such as Lara Croft the woman is sometimes stereotyped as the hero of the film. Within my opening sequence I challenged this theory and the typical conventions that are seen within a thriller film. In films such as ‘The Cabin in the Woods’ the women in that film are displayed as submissive females that needed saving by a strong male figure, within my opening sequence the character of Alison was made to be a strong character – even though she was not in it a lot, the dialogue used at the time and the tone of her voice is that of a slightly more dominant female than expected. Thrillers tend to use females as a character that is weak and can’t defend for themselves such as the film ‘Taken’, I differed from this and made Gary a strong character dominant male type but his crazy side could be seen as a weakness to this persona, even though it is not seen, I tried to make out the Alison is a character that is possibly stronger than expected and I wanted the audience to feel that there was more to her then what was being shown.

Overall I think I have created a conventional thriller opening sequence, through my research I have found interesting conventional aspects of the thriller genre that I have been able to incorporate into my opening sequence and make it befitting to the genre of thriller. My opening sequence provides conventional aspects such as a narrative which is conventional of a thriller, it keeps hidden the true meaning of the film right till the end and makes the audience wonder what is really happening and I think I have conveyed that well within my opening sequence by using a fade out effect to make the clip end on a cliff hanger to show the audience that a lot more is to come. Other conventional aspects include, the use of characters such as ‘Gary’ who have psychological issues that become apparent to the audience. I think through the use of editing I have been able to display this conventional aspect seen within many thriller films.I think one of the most conventional aspects that I have displayed within my opening sequence is the use of the titles. Through my research I have learnt that titles are important for the audience to receive a good understanding of what genre the film fits into right from the start. I think my use of titles fit well with the thriller genre and give the audience a good idea of what the genre of the film is, the use of my titles help the opening sequence to be conventional of a thriller and other aspects such as the character and narrative, audio, themes and iconography all help to make the thriller genre apparent throughout my opening sequence.