evaluation of my thriller

1. G321 Evaluation
Amy-Jane Curtis

2. In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?
Location
The location we chose for our thriller ‘The Crawford Killer’ was Town Close House school, this was
in order to be in keeping with the 1950s British noir feel we wanted for our film. The establishing
shot of the room connotes the theme as the setting fits perfectly. The upper class looking room
represents the generic convention that females in the 1950s were all about glamour in order to
please the more dominant and powerful men who perceive them as simply an object or
possession. From our establishing shot it is clear from the tilt shot used that the male character is
higher up in the shot than the female, this is used to represent how the male character is more
authoritative whereas the female is lower down and is seen to be more submissive, this conforms
with the generic archetype of the femme fetale. The female character ‘Eve’ is only seen to move
around when the main male character ‘Frank’ is seemingly distracted by something, this shows
that only when a male character is weak can a female character truly attempt to take control and
gain power, this shows that the character is challenging the generic archetype of the femme
fetale by challenging the dominance of the male. The room that we used contains many
windows, this connotes how Eve could escape the powerful clutches of Frank but the curtains
over the windows are the barrier to stop the changing roles of women, typical thriller’s like Once
Upon A Time In America show that women should conform to what the man wants and should be
seen to be innocent, of which our character Eve challenges.

3. In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?
Characters and Costume
Eve Crawford
The name Eve has connection to the bible, in which Eve is portrayed as being innocent and the
perfect partner for Adam, at first our character is also so supposed to conform with these
characteristics and therefore follow the generic convention of women. However Eve starts to
disobey, so does are character, she becomes deceitful and untrustworthy in betraying the man in
her life, this is where our character challenges the generic stereotype of a female character in a
thriller, Eve could also be compared to Marion crane from ‘Psycho’ as she goes against what is
expected of her for her own selfish gain. Our character Eve was dressed in a more seductive style
of clothing in the form of a shorter tighter skirt and blouse, this was in order to show that she
was the femme fetale and that she was trouble, the shorter skirt is also used to represent that
she is not conforming with the female stereotype of the time, she is attempting to escape the
clutches of the stereotypical male in a thriller who can be seen to oppress women. Eve is wearing
pearls, this is not only to conform with the glamour stereotype but to also represent tears, these
tears may be due to her oppression or the tears of those who are going to be affected by her
actions. We took the main inspiration for our name from ‘Once Upon a Time in America’ as we
wanted our character to be similar to Eve in this, we wanted to copy some of her characteristics
like deviance.

4. In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?
Characters and Costume
Frank
We chose the name Frank as the name seemed to be in fitting with the theme of our thriller.