Q1 Conventions in my thriller

1. Jordan Crookell Media Evaluation
Q1 – In what ways does your mediaproduct use, developor challenge forms
and conventions of real mediaproducts?
Shot types:
Close-ups
For our thriller we used a wide range of
different shots including close-ups mid-shots
and long shots. The most common shottype
that we used was the close-up. This is because
it showed the audience the emotion of the
victim and gave them an insight into what he
was thinking. As well as this, it creates
atmospherebecause the audience can clearly
see the fear on the victims face. As well as
this, the extreme close-up was used quite a
few times. This was so we could get the detail of the victim’s facial expressions
and accurate detail of the blood that was on his face.
Mid-shots:
Another shotthat we used a lot was the mid-shot. We used mid-shots because
they allowed us to show the audience the character’s body languageand
sometimes gives hints about whathe is thinking at the time. Mid-shots of the
victim were effective because they allowed us to show himstruggling as he
was tied to the chair. This created an element of fear in the victim’s eyes and
the audience picked up on this instantly feel scared for him.
Long shots:
Whilst we werefilming the flashbacks, we
included some long shots of the victim walking
down a country track. Using these long shots
allowed us to show the location and set the
scene to let the audience understand whatwas
happening around and where the character
was. This is typical in mostthrillers.

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Narrative
When we wereconstructing the narrative, wehad to be carefulabout no being
cliché and similar to other groups. Weused flashbacks to show whathappened
to the victim and give an insight as to why he is tied in a dark room. Instead of
using one long flashback in our opening, we edited it so that we had lots of
shortflashes in between shots of the victim being tied up with the torturer.
This made it a lot more effective as we were able to me each shot really fast-
paced and sharp. This helped to create atmosphereand tension between the
audience and the victim making them want to carry on watching to find out
what happens. As well as this, using the flashbacks helped us create enigmas
for the audience and they had lots of questions that they were asking
themselves.
Sound
To create the soundtrack, wehad to research lots
of different soundtracks onlineand look for one
that we thought would be appropriateto the
visualof the film. When looking into different
soundtracks, wehad to make surethat we got a
royalty free piece of music. This is because all
music is protected by copyrightfromPRS for Music
and it is illegal to use other people’s work for our
own when it is copyrighted. The royalty free music
that we eventually chose to use stated that the
producer was fine with us using the music so long
as we gave him recognition in the credits of the
thriller so that people knew it was not our work. The piece took a long time to
find as there wereso many different soundtracks available. However,
eventually we found a recording that suited our filming. After this, weput the
soundtrack onto Logic Pro and edited it. We changed the pitch and frequencies
of the notes so that it sounded moresinister and creepy. When we had
finished editing the sound we added it to the opening. Then we wereable to
edit the filming so that the notes in the soundtrack match with whatwas
happening on screen.

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Editing
When we had got the soundtrack onto ‘Pinnacle 19’ (the softwareweused to
edit), we edited the actual filming so that both the music and the filming
matched up. This involved moving each shot, either forwards or backwards, so
that if there was a sharp sound in the music something on screen happened.
An example of this is where the torturer puts his hand on the chain. When he
does this there is a really sharp, high-pitched noise in the soundtrack.
Another thing we had to do whilstediting was shorten each shotdown. This
was so that the film was shortand sharp creating tension for the audience.
Making each shotonly one second or less was very effective. Itsped up the
whole opening and created a lot more suspenseadding to the effectiveness of
the film.
Mise-en-scene
Setting
At the beginning of the opening, we see a
bit of the setting and wherethe character
is walking. We can see that he is walking in
a fen and around the countryside. This is
contrasted when we suddenly seehim tied
up in a chair in a small and lifeless-looking
room. This contrastcreated dramatic
effect with enigmas being created about
the characters and the storyline.
When we see the victim in the torturer’s room, wedo not see much of the
roomand it is kept secret fromthe audience. This builds the suspense
atmosphereand helps to create tension as the audience are left questioning
wherethe victim actually is and what is going to happen to him.
Costume
The costume that we used was fairly basic
but was very effective. The victim was
wearing a white t-shirtwith someblack
skinny jeans on. This is symbolic of a victim

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because they are justcommon everyday clothes than anyone would wear.
On the other hand, the torturer is wearing an overall and black heavy duty
gloves. This is also symbolic of a killer who a lot of the time wears something
baggy and not smart. As well as this, normalpeople wouldn’twear a boiler suit
and heavy gloves on a daily basis. This shows theaudience that he is clearly
disturbed and out of the ordinary.
Props
For the props, wegathered between the
four of us some tools that we had at
home that would be typical of a torturer
to have with him. As well as this, we
added three replica items to the
collection. These included a knife, gun
and a crossbow. Obviously we couldn’t
use anything but replicas for these three
items because the risk was too large and they would have been too dangerous
to have around no matter how sensiblewe were with them. However, I fell
that they look very realistic and have added extremely well to the props
section of mise-en-scenevery well. They have helped to create a lot of tension
and fear for the audience but mostly the victim.
Lighting
When it came to lighting, there was a
limited amount of things that we could. In
the end we choseto use a simple garage
light. We used this at the startof the scene
when the victim first opens his eyes to
symbolisehim waking up.
After experimenting we decided to only
have one out of the two garage lights on
throughoutthe opening. This was becausehaving both lights on made the
roomtoo light and destroyed someof the atmospherethat was created with a
low level of lighting. Adding to this, the darker the roomwas the moremystery

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we with the torturer wecreated as he was shadowed by the dim lighting. This
showed that our thriller was a low budget production compared to other
thrillers such as James Bond who are sponsored by hugeproduction companies
such as Lionsgatewho give the film massivefunding enabling them to create
the perfect lighting for a given scene.
To show how I have used and developed the thriller conventions, below are
some screenshots fromboth my thriller and a ‘real’ thriller. They show the
comparison between them and ways in which they are similar. To find a thriller
that was similar to ours in a few ways I had to do some research. I watched
many torture scenes on YouTube. Because our thriller very different, the best
torture scene that I analysed was Casino Royale.
These two shots comparedifferent props that the torturer uses. On the left we
see Le Chiffre. The weapon that he uses to torture Bond is a rope with a large
knot at the end. On the right we see the the victim with a knife being run
across his face by the psychopath/torturer. Both of these props are extremely
significant to the effectiveness of each film as they instantly have a negative
effect on the audience meaning that they might be frightened or anxious.
They are also key to creating suspensein the scene because of the mystery
they create as the audience does not know what will happen which draws
them into the film and engages them. These types of props arevery typical and
conventional of a thriller and they representthe genre of a thriller to the
audience. When they see the props that are used they can instantly know the
genre and in some cases the sub-genreof the film. Props are one of the main
conventions in a thriller as they are so symbolic of the genre and style of the
film. Both our production and James Bond use key props such as guns and
knives which shows a link between the two productions of thriller.

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In these two shots wesee the two characters in each scene; the torturer and
the victim. These two scenes are similar because they both havetwo
characters in them. The audience can clearly tell the relationship between both
characters in the shots through the body language of the victims as they are
both slightly bowed down compared to the torturer who is standing up above
them. This symbolises power and controlover the situation like in Casino
Royale.
The use of levels is very effective in both shots as the audience can
immediately see that the torturer is higher up symbolising dominanceover the
victims. The fact that there are only two people in each scene gives the victim
and the audience a senseof entrapment and claustrophobia as they know that
there is no escape or get-out of the situation they are in.
These two shots givethe audience an idea about the setting of the two
thrillers. They also show us the atmosphere that has been create through the
use of lighting and set. On the left we can see that the room is very dark with
only a lantern and somemoonlight streaking through the roof. This is a
fantastic example of how to professionally createa sense of mystery and
atmospherethrough the useof lighting.

7. Jordan Crookell Media Evaluation
Obviously, wedid not havethe availability of choosing froma wide range of
options about the set and location of filming. Because of this, we had to settle
for a garage to shoot our opening. Oneof the downsides to this is that we only
had basic lighting and only had the choice of one or two standard garagelights.
This meant that we werenot able to create the maximum amount of impact
that having a really dark and mysterious roomwould haveon an audience.
However, westill thought wecreated this through our use of editing and shot
pace throughoutthe opening. Lighting is a very representative element of
thrillers and dark and cold-feeling rooms symbolisethe thriller genre quite
significantly.
Leading on fromthis, I feel that we havedeveloped the different conventions
of a thriller well by effective useof narrative, sound and Mise-en-scene. These
elements ca be compared with real thrillers such as James Bond, as shown
above, to see the similarities between the two.