1) The film's title "Barcode" suits the sci-fi genre as it references the barcodes on the characters and is similar to titles from other sci-fi films like The Matrix. 2) The main location of the character's house is used as many sci-fi thrillers are set mostly in houses, and it looks modern fitting for the film's style. 3) The costumes of "the government" characters in dark suits are similar to the superior factions in other films like Divergent to show their power over others, supporting genre conventions.

1. Evaluation
Question 1
IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR
CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

3. 1
The name of our film is ‘Barcode’ which suits the Sci-fi genre as it’s
futuristic and is the main theme for our opening, so we therefore chose
to use it as a title. We lay the title out like this as it appears to be similar
to the barcodes the characters have in our opening. To make the title
more obvious, we then made it bold. The layout of the title for our media
product is similar to the title for ‘The Matrix’ as the name appears a long
side a list of numbers. We chose to do this as it would then be
recognised as a Sci-fi, as that is typical of this genre.

4. 2
The main location for our opening is in the character’s house, as many Sci-fi
thrillers, such as ‘I am Number Four’, is set mostly in their house. However we
also chose this location to film as it is modern and minimalist, which looked
best for the type of film we were aiming to create.

5. 3
The costumes are typical of our genre as the characters that play
‘the government’ are similar to the ‘Erudite’ characters in the film
‘Divergent’. In both films, these groups are superior to the majority
which is made clear through the stereotypical use of dark suits and
ties. We chose to do this as this supports conventions of many real
media products. (For example The Hunger Games and The Host.)

6. 4
This low angle shot is not a typical angle to use in a thriller, as
the most commonly used shots would be a pan or close up.
For example ‘The Host’ begins with a close up of the main
character’s face. However we challenged this convention by
intentionally not showing the character’s face straight away in
an attempt to create an enigma almost immediately, by
prolonging his introduction. The opening begins with longer
shots lasting a few seconds until they gradually get shorter,
making the pace of the opening faster as we switched
between the main character and the government, adding
suspense.

7. 5
The editing fits the conventions of our genre as, for the flashbacks, we used a
dissolve transition between the present time and the flashback to clarify to
the audience the difference between the two time brackets. We also chose
to place the first flashback after the character is looking in the mirror as it is
typical in a thriller genre that the character is looking in the mirror to reflect
their inner feelings and think about what it is they may have just done, or
what they’re about to do.

8. 6
The font we chose to use for the opening titles is a typical convention
as it is similar to the font used in the opening titles in the thriller film
‘Taken’. We also decided to use this font as, out of the options we
had, we felt it was the one that looked best for a Sci-fi thriller, as it is
bold, simple, effective and similar to the font used in ‘Gravity.’

9. 7
Clues to the narrative are set up in the opening as it is made clear that
a group of superior characters are tracking down an outcast
character, who is preparing to run away. This creates an enigma as
the audience are left wondering if the government catch him, what
will happen to him and why is he getting chased in the first place.

10. 8
Our opening immediately introduces the main character with the first
shot, however to begin with you only see the barcode on his arm and
then him attempting to rub it off. This creates mystery and intrigue as the
audience want to see what he looks like. From the opening, the audience
can see that the main character has the capability of killing someone, but
it is unclear why he’s done it which leaves the audience wanting to know.

11. 9
The only special effect we used was making the flashbacks slow motion.
We chose to do this as it emphasised ‘the killing’ scene, which is the main
cause for him missing curfews, the reason why the government are after
him and is the cause for the rest of the story throughout the film.