Evaluation

1. EVALUATION QUESTION 1 –
IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT
USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORM
CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?
Created by Gemma Smith

2. Before creating our opening title sequence I looked into Pete
Fraser’s feedback on Opening Title Sequences and found that
this helped us a lot when it came to knowing what not to
include in our opening title sequence and what to include to get
the most marks. According to Pete Frasers opening title
sequences should address five main aspects, these are genre,
enigma, character, atmosphere and setting.
Overall, I think that our opening title sequence
includes aspects of character and atmosphere the most. I
feel this because we have made an opening title sequence
where the main character is a teenage girl, by doing this
already makes our target audience feel as if they can relate
to the main character. Secondly we have targeted atmosphere
very well by the back-story behind our main character,
Harlow, which creates an eerie atmosphere.
By choosing these two main areas to make sure we include in
our opening title sequence will make sure that we grab our
target audience, 12A, as well as making sure that they enjoy
our opening title sequence and make them want to watch on.
By creating an engaging opening title sequence again relates to
convention of opening sequences as main aspect behind an
opening title sequence is to give an insight to the audience a
section of the storyline and want to draw them in so that they
want to carry on watching.
Pete Fraser’s Feedback on Opening Title Sequences

3. Our media product uses forms and conventions of real media products as we have looked
into thriller opening title sequences and our own titles have been placed in the order of a
typical thriller film.
When researching into other opening title sequences we found that we liked the ‘Man of
Steel’ opening title sequence which also consisted of a news report in which we have also
created in our opening title sequence.
We have made sure that when adding the titles on to our opening title sequence we added
them in the correct place so that they don’t cover any main parts of the clip which needed
to be seen.
We wanted the titles to be easily read yet subtle so that they fit well with the specific
clip being shown at each specific time.
When choosing the font to use in our opening title sequence we needed to make sure that
it fitted with the correct genre of our OTS. We tested out many different fonts and
then finally chose this font because we felt that it was easy for our audience to read and
we put it in the colour white on a black background so that it stood out.
Title font and position

4. Credits
Our opening title sequence is again conventional in
terms of credits, as shown with any opening title
sequence the average amount of credits shown is
around 20, we have shown this in our opening title
sequence as we have roughly the same amount. We had
to look into other opening title sequences to find out
this information.
Our media project follows the conventions of the
ordering of credits by placing the production company
and the studio at the beginning, as well as this the
actors and actresses. Then followed by production and
ending with the name of our opening title sequence.
Within the project we wanted to go with the
conventions as much as possible but keep some aspects
unique, for example the name of the film is usually
placed after the cast, however it is shown at the end
which breaks the conventions. I believe this creates
enigma and tension by the audience wanting to know the
name of our opening title sequence.
We felt that we wanted to create our own production
and distribution company as there were no specific
production and distribution companies in which stood
out to us in producing and distributing our media
project.

5. Location of Filming and Lighting
Our opening title sequence mostly takes
place in and around London as well as a
house and an alleyway, by filming part of our
opening title sequence in a house is a
convention of a thriller film by representing
a dark atmosphere as if anything to happen
at anytime to our main character.
The filming throughout our opening title
sequence is mostly natural lighting, which
usually contradicts thriller openings as they
are stereotypically very dark with a slight
artificial light source.
We chose to shoot in London on a dark day
as this also helped portray the aspects of
Thriller in our opening title sequence, as if
the weather would have been sunny then
this wouldn’t have set the mood of our
media project very well.
Typically most thriller films have very dark
lighting, the thriller in our opening title
sequence is very subtle however we portray
aspects through the mystery and thriller of
finding out Harlow’s past.

6. Mise en Scene
Mise en scene in our media project was
conventional due to the clothing in which Harlow
wears throughout our media project by our
character dressing in ‘normal’ clothes suggests
that she is trying to fit in, even with her
abnormal powers. A prop in which is used a lot in
our opening title sequence is Harlows phone,
which is conventional to most teenagers. Harlow
is shown at various points in the opening title
sequence to be walking around on her phone, we
wanted to make our main character come across
as normal as possible however, this isn’t the
case and she wants to get to the bottom of her
abnormality.
Sound
The sound in our opening title sequence isn’t very conventional to typical thriller films
due to the fast pace music which does build tension however typically thriller opening
titles usually have slow pace music which builds tension. We felt that this type of
upbeat fast pace music worked best with our opening titles as we did try a slow pace
soundtrack and it didn’t sound as good with the news broadcast. In our opening title
sequence we use forms of real media products as we created our own news broadcast in
which is played over the top of our clips with a soundtrack quieter in the background,
we felt that the news broadcast helped give our audience a better understanding of
our media product.

7. Camera Shots
Certain camera shots were conventional because thriller films usually involve around
shots to show power. Such as a high angle shot suggests a powerful character where as
a low angle shots suggests vulnerability and weakness. We used a slight high angle shot
of our main character Harlow to show that she is a powerful character in our media
project, in the aspect that she has special powers.
In our media project we used long shots to show the location in which Harlow is, this is
so the audience see how her special powers can appear at any time when she is public
as well as at her own house.