1) The film 'The Lake' follows conventions of a thriller genre such as using claustrophobic spaces like attics to create tension, but also challenges conventions through an ambiguous ending and non-linear narrative. 2) The film represents age through the protagonist, a young male adult, and uses color like red to represent danger when introducing the antagonist. 3) In terms of style, the film challenges conventions through sudden changes in pace compared to typical slow buildups in thrillers, and uses non-linear editing compared to typical linear narratives.

1. EVALUATION QUESTION 1
In what ways does your media products use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?

2. THRILLER CONVENTIONS• My film ‘The Lake’ predominately follows conventions of a thriller short film, however subverting the Equilibrium
theory as the ending is ambiguous, a technique made more famous by Christopher Nolan in films such as Inception
and The Dark Knight Rises, the use of an ambiguous ending helps the audience create their own interpretation of
events and helps them feel more invested and given a more unique experience for themselves. Furthermore, my
film starts at the end of the film, causing a break of conventions and create a non-linear narrative
• Conventionally in thriller films there is an idea of threat, this is present in films such as the icon Se7en where Jon
Doe is the villain, however he is not revealed from the start and the audience are not aware of his existent or
motives until later on. I tried to replicate this in my film by having the antagonist cover his face, he is not seen until
mid-way through the film and also is ‘true’ identity is hidden, thus creating a enigmatic puzzle for the audience.
• In terms of location my film was conventional , the beginning and end of my film takes place is attic, a tight,
claustrophobic place in which is dark and mysterious. This sort of location is present in 10 Clover field lane,
another thriller film. The idea of a claustrophobic space can help the audience emphasise with the character.
Furthermore, my secondary location is in a wooded area; these areas are commonly used in thriller films as they
have a sense of eternity and threat in which the audience can relate to, this is shown in the film Blair witch project,
where a majority of the film takes place in a wood and the film is a horror/thriller. I used a range of shots, including
a variance in close ups and long shots. The long shots give a wider sense of scope and allowed for the audience to
see the size’s of the location.
• These aforementioned films helped me form my own film as the conventions and icons present inspired certain
elements in the film to take place, allowing me to broaden what I include in my film.

3. REPRESENTATION• Firstly, in my film I represented age. This was done by representing a
young male adult in the protagonist role. The character adhered to this
archetype well, one example of this is his costume, the costume includes
black jeans, a hoodie as well as trainers. These are all icons of the
archetype of young males as they tend to be more relaxed about their
appearance. The character also represents the independence that is
closely associated with this archetype, he solely seen interacting on his
own or with the antagonist, in all locations he is present on his own at
some point. Connoting his independent nature and his capability, which
represents his archetype.
• I used colour in some scenes to represent certain elements. One example
of this is when the antagonist is first introduced he is wearing a red hood.
Much like the film Sixth Sense, red is used to show up coming danger in
the film. Red has connotations of danger and threat.

4. STYLE
• To try and subvert conventions and to try and make my film stand-out and be unique I tampered with the
conventional pacing and editing techniques mostly found in thriller films. One example of this is the sudden
change in pace. The build up (equilibrium) of the film is very slow paced, this is not usual for normal thriller films
as they are conventionally tension and action filmed, as well as this the turn of pace is very sudden. Where as
conventionally the turn in plot of pace is built up slower. An example of this slower build up is 10 Cloverfield lane,
which is a recent thriller that has a slow and consistent build up of tension towards a climax.
• Another challenge of style is the non-linear style of editing, I also challenged conventional editing in my AS
project, where I did crosscuts and a dual narrative. In my A2 however my narrative was non-linear, much like a
Tarantino film, I felt this created more intrigue for the narrative and poses more questions, causing a puzzle for
the audience and therefor they get their pleasure by trying to solve the puzzle. I used editing to show location
and represent the narrative, for example when the chase occurs there is a variance in shots to show the speed
as well as grit involved within the chase. The camera angles also adapted to the location that was used, fro
example I used more long shots in the woodland area, to show more size and openness which represents the
characters worries, as they are limited during this stage. However in the attic scenes the shots are closer
proximity to represent claustrophobia as well as the characters feeling of being smaller as he is trapped.
• In my ancillary products I found it more difficult to break conventions, as audiences are more inclined to a poster
or magazine as the icons have to be more apparent to identify the medium. For my poster, I used most
conventions, these included Title, tag line, credits and actors name. However I did not include age rating or
release date, however the poster produced is not intended for promotional use to advertise the product, more of
a side product to the film it’s self.

5. MEDIA PLATFORMS
• To present my film I used YouTube and blogger, YouTube allowed me to
present my film for free and on a massive scale. Furthermore it allowed for
ease of access and ability to share the film with anyone I could. YouTube also
allowed me to easily research existing Media texts which helped influence my
film. To edit my film I used Adobe Premier Pro, which I had previously used
for my AS previously, however this time I was able to use more skills and
learnt new things such as end titles, as well as volume effects.
• To present my poster and magazine page I used Blogger, blogger is again
easy to share with audiences and it easy to use and present images. To
create my poster and magazine I used Adobe Indesign as well as Adobe
Photoshop. Fortunately I had previously used both these programmes and
had a basic understanding of how these worked, however throughout the
process I picked up new skills that I had not previously had, such as colour
grading.