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

2. Our product uses themes like mystery which is seen in man real media
products associated with the thriller genre, like films including ‘Se7en’ and
‘Zodiac’. This is conventional as it is a theme that is commonly used in real
thriller products. We used thriller in scenes like when Mitch found out about
the letter when you can clearly see his face is shocked and the soundtrack
drops. This creates a strong amount of tension which we are using from real
thriller media products. This worked well in our product because it created an
atmosphere of mystery, leaving our audience confused, which highlighted the
thriller genre heavily. To improve, I think we should’ve added further mystery
through the dialogue. This could’ve been done by Mitch conflicting with his
workmate about the letter and trying really hard for him not to read it, making
the audience even more uncertain to what is so secret about it.

3. We also used storylines that real media products would have used. For example, we used a
similar narrative to the film ‘Memento’ where the narrative is to figure out an uncertain
mystery. This is also a thriller film like ours. This is also known as the Enigma Code by
Barthes, meaning how tension is built up and it leaves the audience guessing what’s
next, like our narrative. This influenced us to use these ideas as we wanted our product to
fit conventions and display it’s genre efficiently. Our narrative was displayed when Mitch
opens the letter and the audience is uncertain of what it means and we are trying to figure
out a mystery of what the letter means along with Mitch. This creates a strong connotation
of real thriller media products as it is a typical narration of thriller films. Our audience
feedback said it was original showing that it was new to the audience, meaning they were
unaware of what was going to happen, showing that we worked well with a mysterious
narrative. To improve, I think we could’ve used something more clear. The drawing doesn’t
impose as much mystery or threat as it should. I think that using something that really
shocks the audience would add more tension and mystery like a severed foot or
finger, rather than a drawing.

4. The titles we used were also very similar to real media products. They were featured in
a style that were very typical of a media product like ours to have. For example, the
font we used was typical as it is used in a lot of real media products and the way it was
presented also matched many other real media products. The titles displayed names
and their assigned roles, which is very conventional of other real media products. This
creates a high amount of realism and professionalism to the product we made. This
can be reflected in our audience feedback when they said it did look like an opening
sequence because of the titles showing that it was the start of a product. This shows
that our titles were heavily effective as they represented the opening of the film and
made the audience aware, alike a typical film. To improve, I think I could’ve added
transitions on the titles to make them disappear and look mysterious create an early
impression and atmosphere of mystery for the audience.

5. We also used conventions from real media products from our genre to create
feeling and emotion to be displayed through the audience, a lot like other films
like ‘Fight Club’. For example, we used a typical convention of the thriller genre
from real media products, being the feeling of uncertainty. For example, this can
be displayed via the audience when Mitch is decoding his letter, the audience will
not know what he is doing and are left confused and uncertain. This adds to the
professionalism of our product as it follows the conventional feelings of real
media products in our genre. Our audience feedback said that they could tell that
he didn’t want to see the letter but they didn’t say they knew what it was about, so
this evidently hosted uncertainty and seemed to have worked the intended effect.
This could be improved by creating a more personal message to Mitch on the
letter so they can see that something personal is occurring to him and that it
directly effects him.

6. We challenged real media products in our genre by the characters. For
example, we used a work mate as the person the lead role shares a house with.
This is not typically seen in real media products in our genre, for example in
‘The Box’ it is a married couple, a lot like most real media products.
Challenging this is strong because it creates difference like Steve Neale’s
theory suggests all movies should feature. In our audience feedback this was
picked up upon when they identified that it wasn’t a man and wife but two
workmates. However, there was no comment on how this is different to
typical thriller products. This could mean that this wasn’t as effective as
planned and if we were to re-do the piece we would emphasise that it isn’t
stereotypical through dialogue.

7. Overall, I think that we worked well in creating a thriller opening sequence as
we used many conventional forms and even challenged it to an
extent, meaning it will be interesting to the audience. Even in our audience
feedback, we were told that they thought it was very original and they could
spot the themes we tried to input, so the audience was clearly affected by this
in a positive way. Also when we asked what genre they thought it was, they
told us thriller, showing that our themes and ideas we added had efficiently
worked to show our genre, so it worked well in my opinion.