Question 1 media thriller opening evaluation

1. Question 1
In what ways does your media products use, develop or challenge forms
and conventions of real media productions?

2. Introduction
From the research which I conducted on thriller conventions which I looked at
popular thriller films and how they are all similar and how they fit the typical
thriller conventions (you can see this blog post: Genre Conventions: Thriller). I
also studied sub-genres and how there isn’t just one set genre but can be split
into other categories depending on the film which can be hard to generalise
conventions.
Click to open blog post

3. Sound
Sound is a huge factor within all films; through my research I found that specifically thrillers in
many ways rely on the sound to create atmosphere and build tension, of which a video clip may
be very dull without sound effects. Alfred Hitchcock has examples in his thrillers of this
technique including Psycho (click here) which is possibly most famous for the eerie violin sound
effect during the shower scene. Through our own research into these films and how much sound
has an impact on the final outcome we focused a lot on sound. In our opening we added many
sound effects which built up over the course of the video as tension begin to rise. We decided to
have a constant tension build in the background when the victim began to walk alone to set the
atmosphere, then we gradually built upon this such as when the protagonist is seen hiding a
higher pitched sound effect is used to create further tension and create the atmosphere for the
type of character the protagonist is and that they’re dangerous. During the running scene we
followed typical thriller genre conventions with the fast pace and high pitched piano non-
diegetic sound effect which isn’t a continuous sound like the violin sound effect in Psycho.

4. Lighting
Through my research of thriller films I found that lighting is another
key aspect in creating and building tension. Lighting is also an
important factor for creating mystery, for example keeping the
antagonist in the dark if the character is chosen to be kept unknown,
which is how we used this technique we kept the kidnapper in the
shadows so the audience was unaware who it was to keep suspense
and mystery. We also chose to film the footage during the evening in
the winter when it was darker, however we had to be careful with
this so the darkness didn’t effect the overall quality of the footage. In
the end we decided to edit the lighting and contrast so it was darker
to create atmosphere of the girl being alone in the woods on a dark
evening rather than a sunny one as this wouldn’t fit the mood we
was aiming for (as you can see in the contrast pictures on the right)
Horror films are often set within dark and eerie atmospheres which
through our research we found this to be effective and so we used
this particular lighting convention within our opening. Through my
research I also found that thrillers often play on fears of ordinary
people, for example in this case, the dark which allows the audience
to relate their emotion to it more.
Street Lighting
Woods Lighting

5. Mise en Scene
During the production of the opening we decided to keep the antagonist a mystery as we
believed this would be more effective, especially after looking into other thriller films where a
popular convention was to use this technique so the antagonist could be an unexpected
character later on in the film. To help keep the mystery we opted for all black clothing, a large
black coat, black gloves and black boots. The gloves were important within our opening as
there’s a clip where the gloves are shown, this shows the audience that they’re not willing to
reveal their identity or their fingerprints also a hint that the protagonist isn’t messy and may
have done this before. We didn’t decide to hide the protagonists face with clothing, hats or
other accessories because this allowed the protagonist to be face to face with her kidnapper but
the audience will be unaware of the identity. Through my previous research I also found that
many other thriller films do this too, creating frustration for the audience and mystery. The
clothing used fits the thriller conventions as you often see the protagonist wearing black
disguised clothes.

6. Editing
Thriller genre conventions of editing are often fast pace and use quick cuts between clips. This is
used to create suspense and as an element of surprise, for example jump scares is popular
within thriller-horrors. We decided to use this research to our advantage and chose to
incorporate fast pace clips, for example during the running scene this is a fast paced clip but it
then challenges the thriller convention when the antagonist trips over and his point of view
becomes blurred and disoriented, slowing down the pace dramatically (see that here). This
creates the illusion that the victim may possibly be safe as she tries to reach a hiding spot and
call for help, however, another fast pace clip is used at the end through the protagonists point of
view as she gets kidnapped.

7. Camera shots
Often in thrillers a range of camera shots are used for example, close ups and low angle shots to
make the antagonist seem more intimidating. During our thriller we decided to avoid these
particular shots of the antagonist because we wanted to keep the character a mystery. This is
why we always chose to do shots of the antagonist behind (over the shoulder) or in his point of
view. Choosing to do the point of view shots really creates and idea of their perspective and the
atmosphere, perhaps putting the audience in an uncomfortable and curious position as to who
he is.
Point of view of antagonist Point of view of protagonist

8. Location
Thrillers are known for their choice of location a lot of horrors usually have something in
common, for example, it's usually a dark location such as an abandoned house or the woods. We
decided to go ahead with the convention and set the location beginning on a street which seems
like a normal and homely neighbourhood however then moves into the dark eerie woods. This
helped a lot to set the atmosphere because many people associate the woods, especially alone,
as a “no-go” area. The location was important for us, as we wanted to create a realistic
atmosphere and create an ordinary everyday event of walking home into something
extraordinary. The fact that this location and plot is perfectly plausible makes the audience feel
even more uncomfortable as it’s something that could possibly happen in real life.

9. Binary Opposites
Through research I found that, Levi Strauss created this theory as he believed that certain words
could only understood if they knew the opposite. For example, good and bad, he believed if you
hadn’t experienced bad things how would you know what’s good?
Typically within thrillers there’s the use of the binary opposite of good/evil or hero/villain. We
used this binary opposite within our opening and clearly established which was the good and
the evil through the kidnapping of the innocent. Through research I found that using binary
opposites allowed the audience to make a quick identification of the characters within the film.

10. Hermeneutic/Enigma code
Through research I found that there are multiple codes that describe the meaning of a text. One
of these is the Hermeneutic/Enigma code, this code refers to mystery within a text, and no clear
answers are given this makes the audience want to carry on watching and find out what
happens.
We incorporated this into our thriller because we kept the antagonist as a mystery to the
audience, this helps to create tension and make the audience feel the need to carry on
watching.