This document provides a guide for a media studies evaluation assignment. It outlines four parts that must be addressed: 1) A 200-word blog post introducing the brief, title, and opening sequence through reference to genre and treatment. 2) Discussion of the target audience including habits, lifestyle, media consumption beyond just age/gender/ethnicity. Research conducted and how it was used. 3) Analysis of how the media product uses, develops or challenges conventions of real thriller texts through signs, codes, narrative, genre, camerawork, editing, sound, mise-en-scene, typography, and iconography. 4) Discussion of a real media institution that might distribute the product

1. A/S Media Studies – Write up Guide
G321 – Evaluation of ‘………’ Opening Sequence
Part 1 - Brief (200 words) (Blog Entry)
• What brief were you are working to?
• Explain the title and what happens in your opening sequence making reference to
the treatment? (don’t be too descriptive)
• Explain the sub genre
Part 2 – Who would be the audience for your product?
• Who are the target audience - habits/lifestyle/media consumption (not
just/age/gender/skin colour)
• What pre- production research did you conduct with them?
• How did you use it?
Part 4 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
(500 words or equivalent /Annotate on You Tube/ Directors commentary)
This is a textual analysis section demonstrating how you have used the codes and
conventions of thrillers.
You need to link this to real texts you watched as part of your planning and research
Here you highlight the main features/signs/conventions of your text to demonstrate
to the examiner that you have understood the role of an opening sequence and to
show that you understand thriller codes and conventions.
You might wish to deal with some of the following:
• Narrative (how have you established a plot?)
• Genre (where does it look like a thriller?)
• camera, angle, shot movement and position
• continuity & editing (verisimilitude?)
• sound
• mise-en-scene/ expressionism (lighting; colour)
• typography
• iconography
• anchorage
• indexical/ iconic/ arbitrary signs
Part 3 – What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
• Use real examples of companies
• Use examples of thriller films/ same audience films they have distributed
• Use your knowledge of film distribution you learnt for Film4