The evaluation- Activity 1

1. EVALUATION ACTIVITY 1
Question 1- In what ways does your media product
use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of
real media products?
AS Media- Albiona Ramadani

2. THE TASK
The task set for us was to create a two-minutes opening for a film of our
choice. I worked with one other peer, Kadeen-mae to make our
mystery/drama be successful. The first step we were required to
research existing films of our genre as well as different genres to be
able to compare and contrast the variety of film openings. We also
created a narrative for our film and the conventions regarding the
mystery/drama genre of our film, and filmed a preliminary task. This
task allowed us to understand our strengths and weaknesses in
producing a film. The conventions of a thriller was made more aware
and increased our skills regarding our mystery/drama genre. This gave
me much more confidence in filming as I was aware of the mistakes
that I had made within the preliminary task.
Preliminary task
Scene from the opening
Research
Preliminary task

3. DOES MY MYSTERY/DRAMA FOLLOW THE CONVENTIONS OF A
MYSTERY/DRAMA?
Characters
The character that I have included in my opening follows the conventions of a mystery film as the characters is
evidently curious and confused. Her curiosity is shown as she decides to pick up an article form the ground, to
which normally people would ignore this. However, as she is a female, this slightly challenges the conventions
as females usually accompany the male who is the main character and questions the slightest oddities.
Another way my character follows the conventions of a mystery/drama, is that when the audience are first
introduced to the character, she is alone showing that she is an isolated and lonely character.
Setting
The settings used within my mystery/drama are conventional as it shows ordinary places making it become more
mysterious as it is not clear as to what is not normal. Within this long-shot, Mandy stands on the pavement
reading an article found on the ground. This shot allows the audience to see that the character is alone as the
street that she is on is empty. This adds onto the mystery genre as due to her being alone, shows that she is
much more vulnerable to danger. In addition, the audience are able to empathise as they can use their memory
of walking alone and feel what she is feeling
Lighting Within the second half of the opening, the lighting is slightly darker allowing the pathetic fallacy
to show as the dullness creates a depressing and uneasy atmosphere. This was done the next
day within the film as the next day is when Mandy finds a poster juxtaposing everything that
she had read the day prior making the audience feel as though something will go wrong.
Research

4. CONVENTIONS OF A THRILLER/MYSTERY: LIGHTING
Low lighting is conventionally used in a thriller as it reflects the dark events that occur throughout the film. The colours that are
shown are usually black, grey and red as they connote with danger. This is evident within ‘SE7EN’ which creates a dark and
dangerous atmosphere.
However within my film opening the low lighting is not as apparent. I chose to do this as the theme within this film is the hidden
meanings and challenges what is obvious infant of people. Due to this, the lighting will leave the audience without knowledge if
something good or bad will happen to the character making them emotionally involved in the film. There is a variety of colours in
my film as it will become easier for the audience to believe in the reality of this film. However, there is a subtle use of red within
some scene making the audience become observant of the littlest details.
As the genre of this film is a mystery thriller/dark drama, the use of special effects would take away the suspense and the ability for the
audience to relate to the story. Without the use of it, the story and lifestyle of Mandy, is much more familiar to them and will most likely be
affected by this theory within their everyday lives as they are able to research more about this as many people look into this theory.
However, I did use colour correction to bring the brightness down. This was done as the next day is when Mandy finds a poster juxtaposing
everything that she had read the day prior. The darkness is a use of pathetic fallacy showing that there has been a sudden change as the
colour creates a darker atmosphere.

5. USING THE GENERIC CONVENTIONS OF A
MYSTERY/DRAMA
 The low key lighting is a key generic convention as it helps reflect the characters state of mind making the audience
understand that she is depressed and lonely as well as showing that she gets overwhelmed by problems that is out
of her control which is why pathetic fallacy shows this as the change in weather is inevitable. As she is alone, it
shows that she will be in danger.
 I consciously decided to make it apparent that the film is set in a city where it is clear that she is of a working/middle
class background. This due to the intention of making the audience able to relate to the character making them more
intrigued.
 A sense of mystery is immediately shown with the opening as the posters contradicts the prior articles therefore
leaves the audience confused as to why there is no acknowledgment of the Paris attacks.
TITLE CREDITS WITHIN THE OPENING
When the title of the film appears on the screen it is situated on a black screen making the audience solely focus on
the title. The light grey colour allows the bold red ‘Mandela’ to stand out amongst anything within the frame. I made
the decision to use the red as it has connotations with danger showing that the genre is a thriller film. However, the
light grey colours represent the naivety and innocence about what most people within our society believe with the
red showing the audience that what most believe is true, is not the case as the hidden truth is much darker and
dangerous, to which most people do not take notice of this. The use of these colours are typical of the thriller genre.
Similarly to Insidious, the use of a very clear blood red colour, shows the danger within the film which makes the
audience feel uneasy.

6. SETTING/LOCATION OF MY THRILLER/MYSTERY
Within this long-shot, Mandy stands on the pavement reading an article found on the ground. This
shot allows the audience to see that the character is alone as the street that she is on is empty.
This adds onto the thriller genre as due to her being alone shows that she is much more vulnerable
to danger. The street shows that the girl is within London showing the lifestyle that she lives,
appearing as a normal life that she leads.
Pathetic fallacy is used due to the bleak weather reflecting the character’s mood appearing to be
upset, depressed and her surrounding implies that she also feels lonely. As the movements
towards Mandy are slow paced, shows the contrast between the movement within the film and
her lifestyle as Mandy is preferred to have a slow and quiet life but the camera does not follow this
showing that Mandy is unable to control the situation similar to her lack of control within this film.

7. CINEMATOGRAPHY AND EDITING
The use of the long shot of the school establishes the location in which the film starts allowing the audience
to understand that the character is a teenager which also shows the target audience for this film. As it is a
long shot the distance from the camera to the building implies that the character may feel distant showing
that she is not close to others. The loose frame shows that this building is the only thing within the frame
implying that the character feels lonely creating a theme of loneliness.
The use of dissolve after the new found images are shown, dissolves into an article on the floor
within a loose frame. I made the decision to use this as it helps the audience link the two scenes
shown allowing them to understand that the events of the Paris bombings has a link throughout
the film. Similarly to the Conjuring, the found images and articles creates more suspense within
the film making the audience feel more intrigued with the rest of the film.

8. SOUND OF MY THRILLER/MYSTERY
It is conventional of a thriller and mystery genre to include slow and dark music in order to
create suspense and intensity within the film.
My soundtrack follows this convention as the sinister music creates anticipation and makes
the audience feel uneasy about the further revelation within the film. The repetitive music
makes the audience feel unsure about what will be happen as it makes them feel as though
the events that will occur in the film are never-ending.

9. COSTUME AND PROPS OF THE THRILLER/MYSTERY
Within the next shot, our character proceeds to walk and pick up a newspaper article. I decided that the character must
wear ordinary clothing but it must consist of blue or grey. This was decided because the dark colours indicated that the
mood of this film will be mysterious and the dark colours shows that there is not much happy and uplifting emotions
throughout the film but rather sad, depressing and miserable emotions. As the character is wearing ordinary clothes, I was
able to show that she lived a normal middle class life which my target audience will be able to relate to. In comparison to
Mean Girls, a film opening that I have analysed, although the character is not shown we see them in pictures and the
colours they wear consists of bright pink creating a fun and relaxing mood, which is not the case to this film opening.
However, Furious 7 the character also wears a dark grey suit showing the danger and unknowingness within this film.
The main prop used within this opening is a newspaper article. The use of this is that the opening credits replaced the
headlines of the article. The article shown was regarding the Paris attacks to which prior to this shot, a news reporter
discussed the attacks over the display of new found images and article. This shows the audience that this event plays an
important role within the film. A reoccurring prop is the poster as it is everywhere emphasising everyone is affected by
this making the audience question if everyone believes the posters as the news report in non diegetic.

10. CHARACTER WITHIN THE THRILLER/MYSTERY
Mandy is introduced walking across the street. As she is alone, it shows that she is an isolated person and may feel lonely. The character also appe
My character is typical of the thriller genre as her inquisitive and lonesome characteristic is usually the type of character that is used within a myst
Mandy is shown, within the next day, that she has headphones on her. The decision for this was due to the main theme about this film
being that things are not what they seem like, the headphones and the music shows that Mandy is not aware of her surroundings. This
also implies that she is oblivious and is not listening to the truth but rather the music in which a controlled message is sent and due to her
ignoring the ‘real’ sounds, she appears to naïve as well as oblivious.

11. STORY AND HOW THE OPENING SET IT UP
The story of this film addresses a conspiracy theory called the Mandela effect. This is when a particular event or situation is
remembered entirely different to how it is in the present. This started off when Nelson Mandela died and many were shocked as
they remember him dying in prison.
The film opening sets this up as the character sees posters about the 12 year peace that has happened in the world however within
the final scene, he shows that he remembers the Paris bombing having taken place recently. The audience become aware that the
story will evolve due to this particular statement that the character has found. Prior to that, the sequence opens with found articles
and reports regarding the Paris attacks showing that this event plays a vital part within the film. This juxtaposes the bus stop scene
as it is clear that there has not been twelve years of peace within the world. The found articles act as evidence to the audience
showing that the event did take place.
Genre and how the opening suggest this
At first, I had decided to include a close up shot of the character. Her confusion is clear showing the
mystery genre of this film as she too, is uncertain and confused when she sees articles regarding the
Paris attacks, to which later in the opening, she comes across posters celebrating 12 years of peace
within the world which contradicts the prior articles. After, she walks away, within the centre of the
frame there is a red door. I intentionally decided to film in front of that as Mandy covers the door but
afterwards it is shown. This represents the thriller genre as it represents the danger that will occur. As
the character has not seen it, I am able to allow the audience to understand that the danger is not
obvious and that they need to focus on the under laying meaning and deeper understanding about the
events rather than going with the simplest explanations.