This document discusses how a media product uses conventions of real thriller films in its opening sequence. It uses a dark background and non-diegetic music for the title to set an eerie tone. For the antagonist character, it uses slow footsteps, handcuffs, and spotlights to indicate he is dominant and has done something wrong. For the protagonist, it uses brighter clips, fragility, and injury to show she is not the villain. It includes close-ups of the characters to provide insight but not reveal too much. It also uses slow fades between clips rather than quick cuts to increase tension. The document analyzes how these techniques develop and challenge conventions of the thriller genre.

1. In what way does your media product use,
develop, or challenge forms and conventions of
real media products?
Katy Gopsill

2. We used a dark background as we wanted to set the scene as this is the first
thing the audience would see in relation to the film. We used non diegetic
music over the top of the title to add a eerie effect which started off loud and
slowly faded out into the opening scene. We wanted to use a black
background as it fitted into our film better as in the opening scene the
majority of the shots fade into black so it matches the title. We made it
fairly simple as we didn’t want to over complicate the opening as it is
already quite complex.

3. This character is the antagonist. We showed this by having him walking
very slowly with loud footsteps to represent his dominant presence. We
had him in handcuffs to tell the audience that he has done something
wrong, this makes the audience want to know what he’s done as they can
hear the protagonists voice over. Also the fact that he is wearing handcuffs
sets the scene that they are in a police station. We used a spotlight effect
on the clips to focus the attention on the antagonist, the dark effect shows
that he is a villain and represents the dark eerie side of the film.

4. This is the protagonist character. We have shown this by brightening the
clip so it wasn’t as dark to represent the fact that she isn’t the villain. This
is also shown as she is very thin which symbolises being fragile and
vulnerable, also she is limping which implies that she has been hurt. As
both the protagonist and the antagonist are in the same setting but at
different times it shows that they have both been in the police station
which links the two characters together and shows a contrast between
them. This makes the audience wonder what has happened between the
two characters.

5. Throughout the scene we did one close up of each character so that the
audience get a better insight into the film. We originally wasn’t going to
show any of the characters faces as we wanted to leave the audience in
suspense however we felt like it didn’t work as it wasn’t allowing the
audience to get a sense of what the film was about therefore we thought
that if we shown a glimpse of the characters face it wouldn’t give too
much away and suit the opening of the film better.

6. In the same genre of film The Silence of The Lambs show similar conventions as our film.
For example throughout the film there are several close ups of the characters face which
create tension and helps the audience understand the characters thoughts and emotions.
In the majority of the close ups they are dark and mysterious which is a typical thriller
convention as it brings eeriness to a scene.

7. Mid scene we decided to use a match-on-action shot to bring diversity to our scene as
we used similar shots and angles all the way through therefore we chose to do this
shot to change it up a bit. Also we thought that if we didn’t use this type of shot then
the audience might get confused to what is happening.
Another shot we used to change it up was this one
which we filmed through the glass section of the
door of the protagonist. We felt this was a more
interesting shot and angle than just filming her
walking to the table normally.

8. We challenged the typical genre of thriller by using slow fading
transitions between each clip rather than using quick cuts to
increase the pace. As our cuts fade to black it enhances the thriller
type as it represents mystery and darkness. We decided to make
the transitions slow to give it a more intense, creepy feel.
The sound we mainly used was non-digetic sound as the voice overs was
more of a running commentary of what happens between the
protagonist and the antagonist. However we do use some other sounds
like glass smashing, screaming, running noises ect. We feel like this
made is more atmospheric as it leaves you in suspense as you cant see
the actions happening therefore you wonder what has happened.