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

1. 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions
of real media products?
USE
The filmopening itself conformsgeneral conventionsof a thriller.
The title throughoutthe openingwas inspiredbythe filmopening‘Se7en’. Ourfilmopeningwas
intendedtobe anexpositionof ournarrative,usingabstractclose upstodraw the audience intothe
microcosmicworld,astyle evidentinDavidFincher’s ‘Se7en’.
The openingtitle sequence of ‘Se7en’consistentlyused The HermeneuticCode; we wantedtocreate
suspense andkeepthe audience interestedduringthe titlesequence,sowe decidedtouse this
technique.
Firstsequence of textwasmyproductioncompanylogo.Havinga productioncompanyportraysa
settingstone conventionforanyopeningsequence letalone the thrillergenre.Itjusthopestoadd
professionalismof the film.

2. An example of ourmediaproductconformingtothe conventionwillbe the colourgradingof our
mediaproductcomparedto otherthrillers/filmsyoucansee bothshow dark and coldfilterswhich
helptoconnote tensionandsuspense. Titlesappearinthe darkestmomentsof the screenasseenin
‘Se7en’
DEVELOP
We developedthe conventionsbyincluding stylisticfeaturesof the directorTimBurtonwhois
renownedforhishorrorfilms;the twogenresofteninterlinkbutprovide some distinction.
Featureswe includedfromhisworkswere patterns,lightingandthe music.

3. Burton’sworkhas become iconicforthe simplisticpatterns,hismostnotoriousbeingthe swirl upon
the hill inThe Nightmare before Christmas.We incorporatedthisintoouropeninginthe shapesthe
‘poison’made asitenteredthe flasks;we attemptedto place emphasisuponthisbyreversingthe
clipand makingitmore visuallycompelling.
Burton’sworkis alsorecognizedbythe gloomydemeanour,afeature we incorporatedintothe
lightingof oursequence;we artificially.
We were inspiredbythe musicformBurtons‘Edward Scissorhands’andchose our instrumentsto
replicate the piece fromthe opening,however,unlike hisfilm, we retainedmostof ourdiegetic
sound. We stayedwithinthe restraintsof thrillerconventions
CHALLENGES
Our thrilleropeningalsochallengesthe formsandconventions.
One example of thiswouldbe the fact we didnotuse anydialogue in ourthrilleropening. This
wasn’ta mistake,we recognisedthisfactorandmentionedin ourresearchandplanningthatwe will
not be usingdialogue inouropeningtrailer.Thisisbecause we hadvariouslimitedequipmentatour
hands.We hadto use a DSLR to create veryclose up shots;recording high quality sound can be a
little tricky with DSLR cameras. The voice itself would’vebeen fromanormal personandnot a
voice actor; itwas much easiertosacrifice the dialogue toensure aprofessionallookingfinal
product.
Anotherconvention challengeris thatwe foundourselvesinaposition where ourchoiceswere very
narrow. This isbecause we hadno budget- actorsinour filmhadto be voluntaryandwe needed
standardto lookeffective,astheyhave neverhadexperience withactingbefore.
We basedournarrative ploton a poemby RobertBrowningcalled‘Laboratory’.
Our imaginarywasinspiredbyRobertBrowning’sLaboratory;adramatic monologue writteninthe
personaof a jealouswomeninspiredbythe life of the psychoticserial killer,Marie Madeleine
Marguerite D'Aubray,marquise de Brinvilliers.

4. We feel thatthere if alot more flexibilitywithourshottypesandthusa largervarietyof waysto
disorientate the audience.The coloursfromthe vialsandswirlingsolutionsprovide wouldprovidea
far more appealingand visuallyenticingopening.
Overall ourfilmopeningconformsandchallengesitsexistingmediaproducts.Ihave foundthose out
mostlythroughmyresearchand planningbypreparingthe rightinformation.