Evaluation Question 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

1. Evaluation
Question 1
IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR
MEDIA PRODUCT USE,
DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE
FORMS AND CONVENTIONS
OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?
MART YNA NOWAKOWSKA

2.  My product, the Thriller Opening Sequence, follows many codes
and conventions of real media, such as Mise en Scene,
typography, sound, camera movements, angles etc. and in the
group I worked with we have focused carefully to meet all the
‘rules’.
 Sometimes we unfortunately forgot to include these conventions,
and this will be explored throughout this presentation.
MY PRODUCT

3.  In my piece I have used motion tracking to make the text come
from he side of the screen into is place. I have also used After
Effects to make the title “The Broken Glass” appear as if it is
being written on the screen by an invisible hand. This made he
text stand out, as it was different from all the other titles. I have
used the same fonts for all the titles, except from the film title. I
have used 2 fonts for the other titles, such as ‘Director of
Photography’ and ‘Gabriela Sroka’.
 In my opening sequence I have taken inspiration from the O.S of
the 2002 film Insomnia. The titles fade in and out. I have used the
cross dissolve transition to make the title fade out smoothly, but I
also added the motion tracking so that it’s more interesting.
TITLES
AKA . T YPOGRAPHY

4. COSTUMES GESTURES FACIAL EXPRESSIONS
The costumes are based on my research.
In my research I have found that the
costumes are an important aspect of the
thriller, or any other film as a matter of
fact. It introduces us the character,
showing the viewers what they are like.
And because we associate certain pieces
of clothing with specific personalities, the
filmmakers follow those stereotypes.
We have done this too, making our
opening sequence, we have dressed Jade
(Ella, in the OS) in a whiter t-shirt, jeans,
and a cardigan. She was well covered up,
and this suggested that she is modest,
and not as confident, however in the
flashbacks, when she is still with the
‘Prince’, she is wearing a short, dark blue
dress, which is a lot more revealing,
suggesting she feels comfortable, and
confident about the situation with the
‘Prince’.
Gestures are also kept pretty
standard, with an arm grabbing, as
really the only one in the video. The
character stay still for most of the
scenes, except for the running, and
the actual arm grabbing.
The facial expressions can tell a lot
about how a certain character is
feeling, and focused on those quite
a lot.
We have a few Close-ups, and most
of the shot are Medium Close-ups,
and a Straight Angles, which clearly
show the facial expressions and
suggest to the audience what the
character is feeling. The facial
expressions are pretty standard,
and there aren't any extraordinary,
made-up expressions, and
therefore it wont be difficult for the
audience to get what the character
is feeling at a certain scene.
MISE EN SCENE
COSTUMES - FACIAL EXPRESSIONS - GESTURES

5. LIGHTING POSITIONING PROPS
For our opening sequence, we have
used natural lighting, from the setting
we were at. We have filmed the
majority of the sequence in he
evening, because we wanted the
lighting to be a bit more dim, and give
a mysterious vibe.
In one scene, where the ‘Prince’ is
grabbing Ella’s arm, he lighting is
focusing on Ella and her facial
expression. We did that to clearly
show what she’s feeling at the time,
and to eliminate as much of the
background as possible, in order to
make the audience focus on the
charters the most, and not what is
behind them.
In the scene where Ella’s arm is
violently grabbed, she is standing on
the right side of the screen. The right
side of the screen is usually the side
where the character that has the
power stands, however we have not
thought of that at the time of filming
it, and therefore she is on the right.
This is a mistake from our side, and we
did not want to show that she has
power.
In our O.S we did not to use any props,
and we did that in order to not move
the audience’s eyes away from the
action. We have also not used any
props because we thought they were
unnecessary. There was no need for
any items such as guns, knives,
candles, etc. and therefore we did not
use any.
MISE EN SCENE
LIGHTING - POSITIONING - PROPS

6.  I have used many editing techniques, such as transitions, cutting,
slicing, cropping.
 I have not used jump cuts, because there wasn’t nay major
actions, which needed to be represented through the abrupt
jump cuts, which are usually associated with tension. I have used
transitions such as Dip to Black, when changing the scenes, to
make them run smoothly, Dip to White wen the protagonist is
having a flashback, and Cross Dissolve mostly for the titles, as if I
were to use the Dip to Black/White, it would make the screen
black, and also I did not want the titles to just disappear from the
screen, I wanted them to run smoothly too.
 I have cropped some scenes, such as the one when Ella/Jade is
running and that camera follows her, as if running behind her, to
put another scene (a Close Up) in between, as if she’s thinking as
she’s running.
EDITING

7. Why did we use the camera angles and shots that we did?
CAMERA ANGLES AND SHOTS
Extreme Close
Up
Close Up
Medium Close
Up
Medium Long
Shot
Long Shot
/Wide Shot
Over the
Shoulder
Going into a
flashback, into
Ella’s head.
To clearly
show the facial
expression;
how the
character
feels.
To show the
costumes, but
also to make
the facial
expressions
even clearer
than in a
Medium Long
Shot.
To show the
costumes of
the character,
so that the
audience can
deduct from
that Mise en
Scene
element, what
the character
is like.
To show he
setting, where
Ella is, and
make the
audience
wonder where
could she be
heading.
To show he
actions of the
Prince, and
Ella’s reaction
to his abusive
behavior.

8.  In my opening sequence I have used non-diegetic and diegetic
sounds. The diegetic sounds were he birds and general nature
sounds at the beginning (even though they were added in after,
imported into Premiere Pro from Free Sound), and the non-
diegetic being the music composed for our group by a
professional composer.
 The nature sounds gave the audience a synthetic feeling of
innocence and purity, however when the low sound breaks that,
the screen goes black and there’s no music for a few seconds.
Then the music fades in as the scene starts.
 The music is quite dramatic and has a mysterious vibe to it.
SOUND

9. SUB-GENRES
 My opening sequence fits into the sub-genre of Mystery, because
there is a mystery element to it, of the Prince being an abusive
charcter, and at the beginning we don’t know what he will do to
Ella, and what Ella is planning to do to get away from him.

10. TRAILER VS. OPENING SEQUENCE
TRAILER OPENING SEQUENCE WHAT MADE MY PRODUCT AN O.S?
A trailer is a composed of a montage
of scenes from a film, which give the
audience an insight of what the
storyline and genre of the film are.
This attracts the viewer to watch the
whole film, to find out what happens
as trailers normally end with a ‘cliff-
hanger’. Film trailers are usually
much shorter then title sequences, so
that they can be advertised in-
between programs or before movie
showings in cinemas
An opening sequence is a scene or a
series of scenes, usually shown at the
beginning of a film, to show the
names of the key production and cast
members. These titles are normally
placed over a scene, allowing them
and the scene to be viewed easily.
These sequences may help to build
up the story plot or show a crucial
moment, building up anticipation and
atmosphere.
- Series of scenes
- Names of key production
members and cast
- Some titles are placed over
the scenes
- Builds the storyline and
atmosphere