Evaluation part 1

1. Evaluation Part 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Comparing our final thriller with other media products,
relating to our narrative, characters and genre.
By Megan Mackay

2. Conventions of a thriller
• A thriller is made to create suspense and excitement
for the audience.
• The narrative to a thriller normally trying to find or
investigate a situation and the hero is normally the
person who solves the situation or the truth.
• Violence is key in most thrillers as it normally brings in
certain institutions such as the police, special forces
(army), people from the government.
• The opening sequence we have produced is a thriller
so we thought by comparing our thriller with another
would be easier to find similarities between shots and
specific scenes.

3. The Dark Knight
• The first film we will be comparing is ‘The Dark
Knight’ release date 18th July in the USA and
21st July in the UK. Directed by Christopher
Nolan, studio is Warner Brothers and the big
stars in this movie consists of Morgan Freeman,
Christian Bale, Heath Ledger and many more.

4. Terminator 2
• release date was the 3rd July 1991 in the USA
and the 16th August in the UK. Stars that
appeared in the film were Arnold
Schwarzennger, Linda Hamolton, Edward
Furlong and more. The director of the film is
James Cameron and the film studio that
produced it was TriStar Pictures.

5. Special Forces
• Release date was the 2nd November 2011 in
France, stars that appeared in this movie
consists of Diane Kruger, Djimon Hounsou and
Benoit Magimel. The director was Stephane
Rybojad and was produced at East Company.

6. The Dark Knight

7. The plot for this film is entirely different to my thriller
opening, The Dark Knight is based around a bank robbery,
however one similarity is that the hero ‘Batman’ saves the
victim.
The Dark Knight is a good film to compare with my thriller
because it holds the same situation with someone being
held hostage and a bomb exploding.

8. Photos

9. Both these shots are similar in the fact that they
are both victims of a hostage unable to move and
you can see there facial expressions.
However in The Dark Knight they are adhering to
the stereotype as the female character is the
victim instead of in our final thriller we have a
male character acting as the victim which subverts
to the stereotype.

10. We have also placed duct tap on the victims mouth, which
I personally feel is more effective because it builds the
dramatic tension as the character can not release any
words. On the other hand in ‘TDK’ we get a clear idea of
the thoughts in the characters head, which helps increase
the suspense. We have placed our victim in a white shirt
with blood stains and black suit trousers, the shirt is
ripped at the arm to show previous violence. In our final
thriller we got in a make-up artist to show cuts and
bruising on the victims face, which I feel helps create
sympathy for the character.
However in TDK we are unable to view the female
characters costume as the shot is close up concentrating
on the facial expressions. There is no wounds on the
victims face in TDK.

11. The behavior between the two characters are similar,
they both have a sense of panic but on the other hand
trying to keep themselves calm while going through
this situation.
In TDK the victim is adhering to the stereotype by
showing tension and panic like a damsel in distress. But
in our final thriller the male victim shows the same
stress but instead on speaking the audience hear a
muffled scream, this subverts to the stereotype of a
male being strong.

12. Editing Techniques
Compared to TDK the pace of the scene is slightly
different as the shot duration. For example in TDK the
shots are alternating from the two characters giving each
character about 5 seconds each on themselves each shot.
However in my thriller opening the shots start off slow,
long shot duration, which helps give the audience an idea
of location. Then the shot duration increases in speed to
create suspense and tension, this also builds the
atmosphere of the action scene. In our thriller opening
we also involved slow motion in the action scene to add a
contrast in the action scene to show a clear contrast in
the two characters, the villain and hero.

13. Camera Techniques
In TDK the camera shots are always at one
angle, to show the simplicity of the scene, as
they wanted the audience to concentrate on the
words and emotion happening between the two
characters instead of our thriller where we
wanted the audience to be impacted straight
away. So the shots are changing all the time to
keep the audience intrigued and on edge.

14. I have used a lot of close up shots in my thriller,
which is the same as TDK as I wanted to show
and connect with the emotions of the
characters.
On the other hand we also had medium shots to
show the audience the characters costumes and
location (setting, old factor). Similarly TDK
shows close up, medium shots, which helps
shows the characters in clear view and also sets
the location.

15. Terminator 2

16. The plot for this film is also very different to my
thriller opening, Terminator 2 is
This is a good film to compare with my thriller
because it shows the panic and suspense of the
man holding the bomb, which is what we
wanted to achieve in our thriller.

17. Photos

18. Our set is very similar to the Terminator 2 film in
the fact that it looks like a factory as we are
shown yellow flammable barrels and we placed
tin metal bins and barbed wire around the set.
However our set is meant to seem abandoned
but in Terminator 2 this scene is set up looking
like it ahs just been destroyed moments before.
Differently though our lighting was a lot more
eerie and highlighting aspects of the space but
in Terminator 2 the lighting is bright all over.

19. Photos

20. Both these shots are similar in the fact that they
are both victims of a bomb and unable to move,
the facial expression are very clear in these
photos showing the agony and pain they are
both going through.
Also in both films they are subverting to the
stereotype in the fact that the male characters
are the victims.

21. We have also placed duct tap on the victims mouth,
which I personally feel is more effective because it
builds the dramatic tension as the character can not
release any words. However in Terminator 2 we
understand straight away the pain the victim is in,
because of his heavy breathing and sweat poring
from his head. This increases the tension in the
scene. Make-up was used on our character to help
create the elusion that he had cuts and bruising,
which I think helped create sympathy for the
character, so this is similar to the sweat from the
other victims face.
Another point is in Terminator 2 their male victim is
also in a white shirt, helping him be the point of
focus as all the other characters are in full black.

22. Between the two characters their behavior is
slightly different in the fact that in Terminator 2
we see the character unable to move and trying
to keep calm but the repetitive breathing
creates suspense, However in our thriller the
character begins with just able gaining
conscious, then when the action scene happens
the victim becomes more aware and agitated.

23. Editing
The pace of the scene in Terminator is slightly different
but has some similar moments. For example in
Terminator 2 the shots durations are longer, helping the
audience understand the situation the characters are in.
However in my thriller opening the shots start off slow,
which is similar to the other film, however then the shot
duration changes and increases in speed to create
suspense and tension, this builds the atmosphere of the
action scene.
Also in our thriller we have inserted some special effects,
which include gun shot lighting and sound effects to give
a sense of atmosphere and impact. None of this is added
into Terminator 2, which I personally don’t like because I
like the tension our thriller has created because of this
action scene.

24. Camera
In Terminator 2 the camera shots are changing
from side on to the victim to the hero (special
force men), to show the simplicity of the scene,
as they wanted the audience to concentrate on
the panic and suspense and emotion happening
in that scene. Our shots start of simple but then
during the action scene this changes and
increase in speed to create tension. So the
shots are changing all the time to keep the
audience intrigued and on edge.

27. Special Forces

28. The main plot for this film is again very different
from our thriller as it is about …..
However it is well put with my thriller as it
shows a long sequence of action, using gun
shots, which my thriller opening has a lot of. I
have gathered some photos that are similar to
my thriller to show the resemblance.

30. Both these shots are similar in the fact that they
are both working for the special forces and
holding a gun in a professional way
In both Special Forces and my final thriller they
are adhering to the stereotype as the hero is a
strong male character, however in Special Forces
they have many different men instead of just the
one hero character.

32. The set out our thriller is very different to
Special Forces as it is set inside and Special
forces is shot and made outside, so we have
challenged their idea. In Special Forces there is
one scene that is shot inside and the lighting is
very similar, highlighting some aspects of hall
way, and this light is coming from the outside
and some dim lights around the edge. In our
thriller we have outside light but mostly the
lighting is given light set up by us.

33. We have put our special forces male character in an
all black costume to make him seem professional,
he also wore a body suit for protection and hand
and elbow covers, this is very similar to the
characters in Special Forces in the fact that they
wore body armor and hand and elbow covers.
However in Special Forces they wore a helmet for
protection, this added a element of professionalism
and security. However in Special Forces they do not
wear all black but they wear camouflage, which
means they are from a different organization, as
camouflage represents the army but all black
represents special forces so I think I challenged
their costume idea in the fact that the film is called
‘Special Forces’

34. Between the two characters their behavior is
slightly different, as the hero in our thriller is
very secretive and unknown but in Special
Forces we are immediately attracted to the
characters as they interact with each other
having convocations. But looking back at our
thriller we don’t know anything about our hero,
so the audience can not have a immediate
connection with him like they would in the other
film.

35. The pace in the scene of Special Forces is very similar to
our thriller, as it is full on action but some shot duration.
There are some long duration shots to help the audience
understand their surroundings. So looking at our thriller
opening it starts off slow, which is similar to the other
film, however then the shot duration changes and
increases in speed to create suspense and tension, this
builds the atmosphere of the action scene.
Also in our thriller we have inserted special effects, which
include gun shot lighting and sound effects to give a
sense of atmosphere and impact, this is also added into
Special Forces in the action scenes when the gun shots
are fired and also sound effects to give the audience a
sense drama and action.
Editing

37. Camera
In Special Forces there is a verity of different shots
especially in the action shooting scene, so you get
all the different angles of the situation. They used a
view shot from inside the camera, which I thought
was very well thought-out and I think we should
have added this into our thriller opening. Our shots
start of simple but then during the action scene this
changes and increase in speed to create tension. So
the shots are changing all the time to keep the
audience intrigued.