The document discusses the opening of the student film "Skylark Grove" and how it establishes conventions of the thriller genre. The opening introduces the title at the end in a way common to thrillers. It establishes the mysterious setting of a normal neighborhood with a strange house. Chloe is introduced as a naive teenage girl who is pressured by friends into investigating the house, where she discovers something frightening. The opening leaves clues but also mysteries or "enigmas" to engage the audience and set up the story of obsession and danger that follows.

1. IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA OR
PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE
THE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL
MEDIA PRODUCTS?
By Holly Marvell

2. THE TITLE OF THE FILM ‘SKYLARK GROVE’
 In our film ‘Skylark Grove’ we left it till the end
of the opening to be introduced to our
audience the title. We done this because we
researched other films and they also
introduced the title to the film it was mostly at
the end of the openings for example like
‘Copycat’. The title was introduced with a rise
up to a street sign then it goes into an
animated title with lights in the background.
The lights worked well against the title because it reminds me of a
torch when someone is looking for something in the dark. This links
to the film well because it links to the fact that the girl is looking
round the house. The idea was that the title would create the effect
on the audience to keep watching because it is introduced after an
enigma. This is a known convention for thrillers as the title comes in
after an enigma to break it up from the rest of the film. We picked as
a group to call the film Skylark grove because it was the name of
the street where the house is located. This links with other films like
the house at the end of the street. This is because it leaves mystery
because the audience does not know what the main character saw.

3. THE SETTING/LOCATION
 The setting and location are important
to a thriller film. Like Arlington road the
film involves children that have doing
something that is not responsible or
about to do it. Most thrillers are
usually set in an urban area or
somewhere unexpected. We used a
lot of our ideas from ‘Arlington road’
because we started the idea of it being
about obsession and a mystery house
we wanted to locate the setting for the
film what looks like a normal area with
what looks like a nice area but
obviously there is something going on
that no one knew about and the young
girl has discovered. Also like the film
death sentence the people involved in
the film are just normal people and
unexpected characters.
 I have used the shot of Chloe
walking down the alley because it
makes the area look like a normal
area but however strange cause
the road is really quite and she is
the only one that is down there.
Also when you see the house it
looks so ordinary it creates the
enigma of why is she going in
there what is so important about
this house.

4. COSTUMES AND PROPS.
 The props and costumes that we needed were
easy to get hold of we just needed Chloe to
look like a stereotypical teenage girl. Chloe
wore a hoodie and trainers we also made sure
to have dark
 Clothes because she needs to look like she
was breaking in if she wore bright clothes in
the film it would have looked odd. Other props
we used were the pieces of papers that were
turned over so you couldn’t see anything
leaving another enigma for the audience.
These were the only props and costumes we
needed.

5. CAMERAWORK AND EDITING.
 The camera work we used in the thriller opening
was appropriate for the opening because we used
shots like low angle shots to give the character
power and make her look in control and
determined and know what she is doing this is
stereotypical to the main character of a thriller film
because the characters are always been pushed
to this. We used close up of her face to show this
to the audience to present to the audience how
she is feeling and create suspense because she
looks worried.
 When we start out the film the pace starts out
slow, we done this to give the audience the time
to work out what is going on and to introduce her
audience. The slow paste the film was used to
build up the suspense to the shot when she walks
to the room and is shocked by something and the
music picks up and the pace gets faster and
shots become slower and make the audience get
caught up in the chaos and the suspense from
when she runs away

6. CREDIT FONT AND STYLE
 As a group we researched different thriller films and there titles.
Again like ‘Arlington Road’. The titles where quite big and bold and
came in fast. Also because we wanted ours to be like the ‘Arlington
Road’ because it was already like the film because they are set in the
same kind of location. We made our font stand out by making them
yellow and big with italic writing. The effect of this is that the writing
looks quite creepy and scary adding to the affect to suspense
towards the audience. The style and the font for the titles matches
the rest however we did not add to a shot like the others we thought
it would be better if its own introduction and was bigger white bold
writing.

7. STORY AND HOW THE OPENING SETS IT UP
 The opening sets up the film by introducing Chloe walking down a dark alley by herself
this sets up her character to be naïve girl that is not thinking straight. The fact that she is
dressed in dark clothes and is walking every slowly presents to the audience that she is
about to do something very dangerous and sill. The voice overs in the background show
that her mates have pushed her and teased her towards showing to the audience why
she looks so determined to do this and not even turning back. The music gets louder and
louder as she gets further and further into the house suggesting something bad is about
to happen or something is about to be revealed. When we see Chloe running away from
the house from what ever she has found she drops it this shows that maybe in the rest of
the film she will return to get proof from whatever she has found or whatever she had
found comes back to haunt her.
 Our story is about a stereotypical
teenage girl the characters follow
all the typical thriller conventions.
She’s a victim of peer pressure
from her mates and goes along
with a silly dare that goes too far
by breaking into what looks like
an ordinary house and finds
something that she didn’t expect
and left so scared she runs away
as fast as she could.

8. GENRE AND HOW THE OPENING SUGGESTS IT
 Our opening to the film is a typical thriller. This is because it contains the
stereotypical conventions of a thriller film, for example the main character being
a young, pretty, irresponsible teenage girl. This is shown through our film by the
fact that our character is caught up in a situation they cannot control by going
long with being peer pressured into doing a dangerous dare. Our film also shows
it's a typical thriller film by the fact that it's placed down a dark alley and the girl
goes into a dark house that is placed down an alley. Also the film contains a lot
of enigmas which leaves the audience unsure who the villain is and what to
expect. The props we use also suggest this because the way she is dressed like
a normal teenager in her hoodie and jeans and that the fact that she is out late
on her own suggests she is up to something and also the photos she drops on
the floor that you cannot see cause they are turned over show that the film s
about obsession and crime.

9. HOW CHARACTERS ARE INTRODUCED
 Chloe -
Our film starts off with introducing
the main character as being silly
and naïve by introducing her to do
something that puts her life at risk
and because she has not thought
it through she does not realise the
position she is putting herself in.
 The friends –
The audience are introduced to Chloe's friends by
there voices first of all. They are introduced as
daring there friend to do something that can get
her into a lot of trouble showing them to be typical
teenagers that do not think about what the actions
can lead to. Then the audience see the friends for
the first time sitting together in one of there
room, showing concern for Chloe's safety realising
they may have pushed her to far?

10. SPECIAL EFFECTS
 We hardly used any special effects in our film expect from the echo
on the voice overs. We did this because it made it sound the that was
what was going through Chloe's head as she was walking up to the
door creating an creep atmosphere because she is hearing these
voices in her head. We also used a slide in effect on the titles to
make them stand out when they was introduced.