1. My Product Typical Horror/Thriller
Conventions
My Production – Use,
Develop or Challenge
Comparison to Existing
Products
Titling
- Colour
- Font
- Style
Production titles on a black
background in a dedicated
title screen
White fonts - Pure, contrast
to thriller genre and to black
background
Capital letters
Bold, simple font
Later titles cut into action
Red titles represents fear,
danger, anger
An example of white titles
on a black background can
be seen in the opening titles
of ‘Possession’
In my production we used
the convention of a title on
a black screen with plain,
white font which was bold
and in all capitals
We went with this rather
than red titles, as we
discovered that this was
more common
It’s also more simplistic and
doesn’t give away any of the
film which gives the
audience less information
and adds to the uneasiness
of the film
This is an example of my
production, with the white
titles on a black background
– Using the conventions of a
real media product
We got our ideas for titles
from a variety of different
films including ‘Possession’,
‘The Cheap Detective’, and
‘Panic Room’. These films all
featured bold, white titles
and here we learnt the
conventions
Putting it on a black screen
allowed a break up from the
action and titles, as well as
allowing the titles to stand
out
Camera Movement
- Pan
- Track
- Crab
- Cane
Begins with an establishing
shot of the environment
Tracking shot to give a sense
of the victim/antagonist
We began our production
with a menacing
establishing shot of spiked
fence to show a sign of
danger. This doesn’t give
away much information
about the environment
We also used tracking shots
to follow the antagonist, but
mostly we kept the camera
in a fixed position on a
tripod as we felt this was
the most effective way to
film our production
This challenges the
conventions of a real media
product as we didn’t begin
with an establishing shot,
but started with a
production title and then
the action straight away
We didn’t really use a film
template to base our
camera movement. This was
a more determined on
location
We used the movement that
we felt best conveyed what
we wished during filming
and was not pre planned
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?

2. Framing a Shot
- Extreme Close Up
- Close Up
- Mid Shot
- Long Shot
- Extreme Long Shot
Mid shots/Long shots to
introduce a character
Close ups to make the
audience focus on objects
This can be seen in ‘The
Cheap Detective’, as the
opening 2 minutes includes
mostly mid shots and close
ups
As can
be seen
here

We used a variety of
different shots including:
Close ups
Mid shots
Long shots
Extreme long shots
We used these on both the
victim and antagonist to
show the full costume of
both characters or to
concentrate the audience’s
attention on a particular
area
We used a series of close
ups on a series of objects to
set the background of the
film, which was shown
throughout in the ‘flashes’
and at the end in the shed
scene. This also helped to
give the background of the
character and what may
happen in the film – Slightly
giving away content
Here, our film resembles
‘The Cheap Detective’ as it
involves a variety of shots
including mid shots and
close ups. We felt that this
was a good use of angles
which enabled certain
details to be focused on
throughout the sequence
Camera Angle
- High
- Low
High and low angels are
common in thrillers
High angels are used to
show superiority over
another character, often
used in conjunction with the
villain
Low angles are used to give
a sense of powerlessness or
weakness, often used in
conjunction with the victim
Low angels can also give
added height to a character
which can help inspire fear
and insecurity in a viewer
We used both high and low
angles in our production,
and in no particular order.
We didn’t use any particular
angles to represent
superiority/inferiority in
regards to a certain
character
We also used a cantered
angle to suggest imbalance
and instability
We used and challenged
conventions as we used the
same angles, but not in
relation with what they’re
typically used for/to suggest
Below is the example of
cantered angle used
We decided to use own
camera angles depending on
what fit the moment best,
we didn’t use them in
comparison to any real
media product, but just used
them when appropriate
throughout our production

3. Mise-en-scene Often quite dark
surroundings and at night,
to represent an uneasiness
and fear of the unknown
Villain is often in dark
clothing to show the darker
side of their nature
Victim often in warmer,
brighter colours to reflect
their personality
Props used to help give a
sense of the villains/victims
character
Horrors/thrillers are often in
black and white to help add
to the eeriness
An example of this is Alfred
Hitchcock’s Psycho – Filmed
in 1960, it was deliberately
made in black and white to
add to the mood of the film
Another example of a
different type of mise-en-
scene can be seen in the
‘Woman in Black’ – This is
filmed in colour, however
the settings are quite old,
shabby and run down
looking. The scenes are
always quite dark, reflecting
the genre and gives the
audience an idea of the
surroundings and what is to
be expected in the film
We put our film in black and
white and added an effect
called ‘keying’, which made
the product even darker
We believe that this adds an
easiness to the product
The dark also creates the
‘fear of the unknown’ and it
allows products to lose
certain details and not be as
clear, again adding a feeling
of mystery and eeriness to
the product
The antagonists
costume was a
big, baggy coat,
a hat and
leather gloves,
which we
thought fit with the
conventions of the genre
and aided in showing who
the character was
The victim was
dressed in typical
teenage clothes of
a hoodie and jeans
which also helped
to establish they’re
character
We also took advantage of
the sunlight on the day and
used this to create our
‘stalking silhouette’ scenes
We filmed on an empty
street which makes it seem
more menacing as you get
the impression that there
would be nobody around to
help the girl if she got into
danger
We also used the spiky
fence, and look out sign to
help the audience get an
understanding of the film
The villain is filmed through
a thorny bush, to show that
there is a danger to them
For the ‘shed scene’, we
used an old, run down
looking shed to add to the
feel of the character, all the
props inside (newspaper,
hair, photos) help to give an
We used a variety of
different techniques for our
mise-en-scene
The black and white effect is
similar to Psycho with the
effect used to add a veil of
mystery
The characters clothing and
age is similar to that of the
Lovely Bones, and although
this film was set in the 70s,
the victims clothing was
common for teenagers of
the time, as is our victims, in
a hoodie and jeans
The building use in the
shabby shed scene was
similar to that of ‘The
Woman in Black’, in which
the run down exterior of the
building sets a feeling that
bad things will happen in
there and also that the
building is quite foreboding

4. It can be seen in the images
above that colour is just as
effective to portrays the
eeriness, and is becoming
more common/conventional
of modern day thrillers
insight
into the
character
and the
film
At the end the antagonist is
placing pictures on the wall
which spells out the name of
the film which helps to show
that he is stalking her
We mostly stuck to the
conventions of a thriller in
our mise-en-scene, however
we did develop them quite a
bit, and challenged them as
ours was mostly filmed in
daylight rather than at night
Editing
- Jump Cuts
- Match Cuts
- Reverse Shots
- Cutting Rhythm
Jump cuts are common to
increase pace and give a
sense of the distortion
Cutting rhythm is fast paced
in scenes of actions to
increase tension and
suspense, but slow and
drawn out for the majority
of the film to help set an
eerie mood
This can again be seen in
Possession, in which the film
starts on a series of jump
cuts which help to set the
scene. This appears in a
series of flashing
photographs from a police
report giving away the
nature and background of
the film, which is cut up with
the title scenes
An example of one of the
images can be seen below,
giving away some
background and context of
the film, as well as shocking
the audience
We used a sequence of
jump cuts throughout our
production in the form of
the ‘flashes’ to show the
nature of the film and give
the audience a sense of the
context and to build up
tension in order to put the
audience on edge
We used various different
images to do this and placed
them throughout at
irregular intervals to
challenge when they would
be expected by the audience
Our flashes are split up with
action from our film rather
than titles
This is similar to real media
products, and we used this
as we believed it was an
effective way to create the
feeling of our film
This is an example of one of
the flashes from our
production
Our editing jumps from fast
to slow; fast moments for
the flashes in a series of
jump cuts, to slow periods
when the characters are on
screen
Our aim was to make the
audience jump and realize
that not all is as it seems,
and although something
quite dark s going on with
this young girl being stalked,
in actual fact, something
much darker is at play
This also helps add to the
uneasiness of the film as it
jumps from fast to slow
Here, it is similar to the film
‘Possession’, as these jump
cuts also feature in the film
quite heavily

5. Sound Low toned
Eerie
Quiet
Strings are a common
instrument to help build up
tension
Slow paced at times to put
the audience on edge
Fast paced during action to
create an anxious feel and
increases with drama
Digetic sound is also
frequently used, and in
particular footsteps, often of
the villain to signify
someone’s being followed
Gives an inside to contents
of film and what is going to
happen
We used eerie, low toned
music, which contained a
series of different sounds
It began with a series of
clicking sounds, which
gradually progressed and
gained more instruments
such as the piano, which
signified a change is the
type of scene. This piece of
music also contained words,
which is very rare for the
thriller genre, however the
words were appropriate as
they were quite dark and fit
in with the nature of the
film
All thrillers use this style of
music as it help adds to the
tension and creates the feel
of the film and the genre
Such films include ‘The
Grudge’, ‘One Missed Call’,
‘Silence of the Lambs’ and
many more
Narrative Theory A thriller normally contains
an older, highly intelligent
male antagonist, and a
young, vulnerable, innocent
female victim. The male is
often hunting the girl and/or
performing horrendous
crimes. There is also
someone trying to uncover
who the ’bad guy’ is and
expose him for who he
really is
Our production normally
contains the same basic
narrative theory as it is a
typical thriller
We have what is portrayed
to be an older, male
antagonist, whose
intelligence is unknown
We also have a young,
female victim who is being
followed by the antagonist
In the ‘shed scene’ we see
the crimes he commits and
what he does to his victims,
showing he commits these
horrendous crimes
The opening two minutes
does not reveal if someone
is trying to uncover his
identity, as this would be
shown later on in the film
The narrative theory is
typical of most films in the
thriller genre
We chose to introduce the
victim and main antagonist
in the opening 2 minutes
We didn’t go straight into
any action as we didn’t want
to give away too much of
the film in the first two
minutes, but just wanted to
introduce the plot to the
audience in order to them
the feel of the film