Question one to evaluation of my media product.

1. 1. In what way does
your media product use,
develop or challenge
forms and conventions
of real media products?

2. Conventions of thriller
Thriller is a genre filled with suspense and
curiosity, as I have continued to mention in my
previous post.
Conventions of thriller consist of; Diegetic sound,
tension music, changes in angle shots,
protagonist, shadows, low key lighting, montage
of shots.
Protagonist: This is the main person of the
movie, usually known to be the ‘hero’ or the
person who ‘saves the day’. This is also most
common to be known as a man. The man is
known to often achieve the equilibrium.

3. Did we include these
conventions
In terms of the protagonist, we did not want there to be a main
character, who was on full display. We wanted this to be a
mystery, so the viewers would be curious as to what the person
may look like. This was really important for use to achieve, as we
did not want it to be a typical thriller opening of a ‘stalker following
someone’. Most thriller openings will set the scene by introducing
at least one protagonist, but we did not this to be a part of our
opening sequence.
We had a wide range of
lighting, we made sure to
make it dark and light. This
reflected on the different
moods expressed by the
character. In some shots, I
had to change the lighting
with the software, to make it
dark and therefore have an
effect of suspense.

4. Range of camera shots:
As I have previously mentioned, Se7en was a
major influence for my group and I. Therefore,
the shots used in that helped us think of different
ways we could portray the kidnapper.
We varied from different shots, from long shots to
close ups, we used close ups to make the scene
more intense and intimidating.

5. Jump Cuts
Thriller movies usually have many jump cuts, this
builds up to suspense and allow the audience to
feel more curious and intimidated.
We had a variety of jump cuts, as we did not
want to include any main characters. We used
jump cuts as way of planning a kidnap and to
represent the different ways the kidnapper is
planning his next kidnap.
This made the opening sequence flow much
easier, the sound also continued and at some
points went with the jump cut of the scene.

6. Tension music
The music was very
alerting, we had a range of
sound on the media
product. However whilst
editing, I wanted to keep
the sound flowing and
reoccurring, this is so it
could build tension and a
great build up to the ending
as the music got louder.
I then went back and tried
to change to music without
changing the original track.
I took out some of the
original sound and added in
ambient sound, so the
sound will be silent and
flow at the same time. I
then asked them to view it
again, this time they were
able to appreciate the effort
and responded with, ‘much
better’.
There was a problem trying to
make the music flow, I had a
volunteer to view the opening
sequence and they
suggested to change the
sound, as at one point they
‘lost interest’ in what was
happening, because the
sound did not change and
therefore made them bored.

7. Overall
We made sure to focus on the sound and lighting
the most, as thriller usually has a build up of an
event, with the sound that is used.
The titles were also picked out with a thriller
genre, this added a much better effect to the
entire sequence, as the titles were not simple or
boring.
There are many conventions in real media
products and I feel my group and I have
achieved many of theses forms and challenges
of conventions.