a2 media studies evaluation question 1

1. Question 1

3. As part of my research and planning I looked intensively into
existing thriller films, this helped me to uncover the codes
and conventions they follow.

4.  Taking inspiration from the film ‘Orphan’, which is
based on the main character Esther, a young
Russian orphan, adopted by a family who uncover
some haunting secrets about her past. This film
falls into the sub genre ‘psychological thriller’, the
conventions then differ from thrillers, as they
emphasise the mental states of characters, their
thoughts, preconceptions and distortions. This
convention influenced me to base my film on one
protagonist, because I felt it would allow more
focus on her mental states and her emotions.

5.  Another sub genre I have merged into my
film plot is ‘conspiracy thriller’. This focuses
on the idea of one protagonist investigating
something in which they unravel a vast
conspiracy. I have reflected this convention
by incorporating the well known conspiracy
theory symbolised by ‘The Eye of Providence’.

6.  My film ‘Eyes’ is set in the current time period,
this meant that costume was fairly simplistic.
However, during my research and planning I did
look into the costume used in thriller films. I
found that especially in the film ‘Orphan’ the
main character wore clothes of a very basic
colour palette, mainly black and white. As it is
set in everyday life, standard clothes are worn.

7.  I used the codes and conventions of the
costume from ‘Orphan’ and combined this
with teen clothing to create a character
profile. My main character is 16, she attends
college, so to create a sense of realism I have
used a mixture of everyday clothes and some
that suggest more clinical connotations.
The white
jumper
reflects the
conventions
of basic
colours used
in ‘Orphan’.
Whereas this
clothing is
very realistic
of what a
teenager
would wear.

8.  In order to ‘thrill’ the audience, the editing pace in
most of the thriller film trailers has been very fast.
 I found that especially with the thriller genre, it was
previews of characters more than giving away too
much narrative.
 When analysing the ‘Orphan’ trailer, I noticed the
transitions are very sharp, mainly utilising the fade
to black and fade to white transition.

9.  I have adhered to the transition conventions like in
‘Orphan’, as I felt it was the best way to create
suspense. I mainly utilised the fade to black
transition as I felt this worked with my dark colour
scheme in the trailer.
 Along side this I have used a fast editing pace to
convey drama and tension. I have not used any
dialogue in the trailer, so I have utilised a variety of
shots of my main character.
 However, I did incorporate some slower transitions
that allowed the audience to focus more on my
protagonist. The slower editing pace is similar to the
trailer ‘Shutter Island’ which is another trailer I
analysed.

10.  When I analysed a variety of thriller films, I saw a
reoccurring theme of the music being very eerie.
The sound used in Orphan, is a mixture of string
instruments, that build in dynamics and texture
to create tension. I think as a convention, the
sound used in psychological thriller is similar to
horror films.
 I felt that the sound I chose was very important
for the success of my trailer, to create the right
mood. So I adhered to this generic convention, as
I felt it challenging it would of created the wrong
atmosphere and mood for the trailer.

11.  A convention of all teaser trailers is to leave the
ending on a cliff-hanger, this is to make the
audience want to watch the film, to find out what
happens.
 I feel that I have adhered to this convention but
perhaps challenged it further. My trailer features
minimal narrative; I felt that giving too much of
the story would ruin the suspense. Instead I have
featured several character profiles of my main
character. My plot is about the ‘unknown’
targeting, controlling and watching the teenage
population. So by keeping the trailer very
ambiguous creates a sense of mystery and the
unknown.

13.  When researching film posters I began to see the
variety of different layouts they follow.

14.  I chose to use a portrait layout for the
poster. I used generic conventions
like, the title, tag line and billing
block. I wanted to use a medium close
up, as I felt this captured to actors
features best.
 The direct
eyesight, even
though there is only
one eye visible, is a
common convention
in thriller film
posters, as you can
see on the right. I
think it has a more
haunting
effect, which suits
the genre.

15.  When researching into existing movie posters, I found
that almost all of them had a billing block, this is
credits featuring the people who have worked on the
film. Therefore I knew from this research that It was a
vital part of the poster.
 The credits are placed at the bottom of my poster, as I
felt this was conventional and it suited the portrait layout
of the poster.
The font is also very
conventional in the
billing block, very tight
spaced with a similar
weight.

16.  I challenged the layout
of the title, placing it at
the top of the poster.
From looking at existing
portrait posters, this is
unconventional, but I felt
it suited the main image
better.
But I have used a conventional tag
line, I noticed as a code of thriller
posters most incorporated a
question. This queries the audience
and creates a sense of mystery.

18.  I placed the main image
so it is covering part of
the masthead, as this is
a common convention
of magazines. After
looking at the Total
Film magazine I noticed
that each issue was
different in
conventions. This allows
more creative freedom
depending on the film
and its genre. I felt
mine work better with
the masthead covered.

19.  Finally after looking extensively into the film
magazine Total Film, I realised that a convention
of film magazines is that they are all different.
Unlike music magazines which stick to the same
genre, film magazines explore the latest films
regardless of their genre, so each issue is
different. The only feature that stays the same is
the title font, it differs in colour in each issue.
 Because of this convention I felt I could use a
colour scheme that worked best with the other
products, thus creating a promotional package.