1. Question 1: In what ways does your
media product challenge forms and
conventions of real media
products?

2. Female lead
My media product both challenges and develops the crime thriller
genre, it does this through a number of different ways, for instance the
female lead within our media product was quite unique compared to
other females in crime thriller films, this is because it is very rare for a
woman to be a leading protagonist within the crime thriller
film, especially considering the conventions of ours, they are usually
seen as the victims within the film. Where as our female lead is
feminist and has as much power and authority as the male lead, this
both develops and challenges the genre as women have gained a lot
more equality through the years and our film is building on that, but
still challenges the genre as it is not yet seen as a norm. Not only this
but the female is clothed adequately rather than promiscuous, she is
wearing a shirt and a blazer rather than a short dress. This challenges
the conventions of the crime thriller genre as women are usually seen
as sex objects with little self respect for them selves.

3. Male lead
The male lead also challenges the conventions of the crime thriller
genre, one way in which he challenges the genre is through his skin
colour, he is one of few black protagonists within the crime thriller
genre, there are few other examples in which a black male climbs his
way through the mafia hierarchy through being a hit-man, the only
other relevant example is Samuel L Jackson in pulp fiction. This isn’t
the only way in which he challenges the genre, his reckless attitude
goes against all the conventions of the crime thriller genre, the
conventions usually consist of the crimes being organised and the hit-
men listening to their hierarchy, whereas ‘Reece Savage’ is reckless and
sometimes disobeys the orders given to him by his hierarchy. Also
rather than having a casual one level hair style, he has a Mohican this
wouldn’t usually be seen on a hit-man, therefor challenges the
conventions of a crime thriller.

4. Dialogue
Also you can denote from the characters dialogues
that they’re not conventional hit-men, they are
seen as lower on the social ladder then the average
hit-men within the crime thriller genre. Rather than
using a phrase correctly Reece Savage seems to use
acronyms throughout all his sentences, we can
connote from this that he wasn’t educated properly
and therefore isn’t organised, meaning he isn’t the
archetypal hit-man as they usually speak formally
and are a lot less reckless in what they say and do.

5. Music and sound
The music we have used within our media product is also
quite challenging of the genre, it isn’t the stereotypical classic
Italian music you would here within a crime thriller
film, instead we have used synergy and made an instrumental
specifically for our film, this instrumental is up beat and
fast, this challenges the conventions of a stereotypical crime
thriller film as the music is usually slow paced rather than
fast, even during scenes of action. We also used a song by the
Arctic Monkeys which is an English indie rock band, rock music
is completely against the crime thriller conventions. There
was also a form of non-diegetic sound used within our
film, this was when Reece Savage shot the character in the
boot, a large bang sound had been added to create an affect
and leave the audience with an empty atmosphere.

6. Clothing
The clothing we have used on the male lead
supports the conventions of the crime thriller
genre, he is dressed adequately and black is the
predominant colour in his attire, this is seen as
stereotypical clothing within the crime thriller
genre, as the colour black connotes mystery, also
many people within organised crime wear black as
it can also connote submission to god. However the
female lead goes against conventions in what she is
wearing as she isn’t dressed in a promiscuous
fashion.

7. Camera shots
The camera shots we have used within our media product are
stereotypical of the crime thriller conventions and support all
the conventions of the crime thriller genre, both the male and
female lead have big close ups, and the product also consists of a
crab shot which is seen a lot within crime thriller films, it is a
camera shot taken in a confined space, such as a boot, another
media product in which a crab/trunk shot has been used in is
Goodfellas.

8. Editing
The editing within our media product consisted
of transition shots at the start, the editing was
fast paced throughout to match the tempo of
the music, this develops the genre as most crime
thriller films consist of slow paced editing. Also
when Reece Savage shot the character within
the trunk there was a fast transition to a black
screen as if to say the bullet had hit the camera
and the audience were in the boot.