evaluation for my media coursework.

1. P A R T 4 - I N W H A T W A Y S D O E S Y O U R M E D I A
P R O D U C T U S E , D E V E L O P O R C H A L L E N G E
F O R M S A N D C O N V E N T I O N S O F R E A L M E D I A
P R O D U C T S ?
Evaluation - Part 4

2. What actually is a thriller?
When thinking about ideas for our title sequence we
thought about what a thriller actually was. We found
that a thriller usually consists of a battle between the
protagonist and the antagonist characters. This usually
happens when there is a disruption in the equilibrium.
The narrative in a thriller then shows a chain of bad
events that build tension and suspense for the
audience. In these narratives, the aim of the
protagonist is to restore justice within the film and the
antagonist's is to destroy.

3. Conventions of a thriller:
 low lighting
 quick cuts
 shadows
 tense music
 changes in the angle of shots
 black and white shots
 montage of shots

4. Explaining STINCS
 When thinking about the narrative for our film and how were going
to show the codes and conventions of a thriller in our title sequence
we thought about STINCS. Where the S stands for setting, T stands
for theme, I stands for iconography, N stands for narrative, C stands
for characters and S stands for style.
 In a thriller film, they would usually use stincs to develop the genre
of their film. For example the setting in a thriller film would usually
be low lighting and dark or dark buildings. The theme of a thriller is
that the narrative makes the audience think that these events can
happen to them which will make the audience feel scared. The
iconography of a thriller are usually knives because they are usually
associated with a thriller as they have connotations of death and
pain. More iconography that are associated with thrillers are
shadows, confined spaces, woods, running water and street lamps.

5. Narrative
The narrative of our title sequence matches the codes and
conventions of a thriller film as the protagonist (Leonardo
DiCaprio) is up against the antagonist (Paul Dano) because
he needs to find the antagonist as he has kidnapped a
young boy. In the film Taken, the storyline is based on a
protagonist trying to catch an antagonist. Another thing
that our narrative relates to within the codes and
conventions is that in a thriller the protagonist usually
gains justice and the protagonist is usually caught. In our
film, the protagonists gets justice because he catches the
antagonist.

6. Cinematography
The cinematography that we use in our title sequence
matches the codes and conventions of a thriller film as
in thriller films there is usually tense music and black
and white shots. In our title sequence we have made all
of our footage black and white and used music that
adds tension to the title sequence as a whole. Also in
some points in our title sequence we have used quick
cuts to add more tension and suspense to our title
sequence.

7. Editing
When editing our title sequence, we decided to cross
dissolve most of the shots. Our title sequence looks
similar to a montage of photos because from these
pictures the audience can understand what our
narrative is and what our film will be about. Most of
our shots that we use are shot in very low lighting to
add more suspense to our title sequence and adds the
effect of the film being a thriller.

8. Music/Sound
At the start of our title sequence the music starts off very
slow and eerie as more things start to happen the music
starts to build up. This matches the way music is used in
thriller films because the music is used to create tension
and suspense within the audience to make them feel scared
and frightened. Also music in thriller films start off at a
slow pace then gradually the music speeds up the pace
which helps create the tension of the film. This is what we
have done in our title sequence.

9. Mise-en-scene
In our title sequence the mise en scene that is used
matches the mise en scene that is used in thriller films
because usually in thriller films there is naturalistic
costumes used so it makes it more believable as how we
present the characters is how the audience
will perceive them. In our title sequence, we haven't used
any fake props we have only used a pair of boots meaning
some of our audience would be able to perceive our title
sequence the way we have perceived it when filming. We
also knew when filming our title sequence that the make-
up and props that we used would be important for the way
the title sequence came across to the audience.

10. Typography
The typography that we used in our title sequence fitted
with the codes and conventions of a thriller film. This is
because most thriller films have eerie typography which
reveals the themes that are going to be associated in the
title sequence. When picking our typography for our film,
we looked at many simple but affective fonts. We chose a
simple font because it revealed the genre to the audience
but also didn't take all of the attention away from all our
cinematography that we have filmed.