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

2. • After watching a variety of real thriller openings I aimed to create a
product which follows many of the conventions of real media
products. One of the ways my thriller opening sequence does this, is
the location. My product is set in an eerie place under a bridge,
giving me the opportunity to film in low key lighting to make the
location look even more daunting. The narrative of my opening
challenges the convention of thrillers; suspense and building
tension, as I focused more on the element of mystery and building
suspense as the audience don’t know who he is and why he is there,
therefore I didn't get to develop the narrative any further to clearly
establish the genre, I think this is typical of thrillers to create
mystery and enigmas.

3. • The opening titles constantly appearing on the screen
during the opening sequence is a feature I repeatedly
noticed when carrying out my research and due to my
narrative being simplistic I believed this was
something I would like to develop upon within my
product. I put lots of effort into the font as I needed
something which can be clearly read yet has the
characteristics of a thriller, so I chose a bold slightly
old fashioned and faded font.

4. • A common convention of thrillers is the climax after the build-
up of tension and this is something I tried to achieve during my
opening sequence; all the slow paced shots with lack of
movement work effectively to build the tension and begin to
lead up to the end of the sequence which is where my actor
begins to panic. The light flashes across the screen to resemble
a headlight to suggest someone has found him, he begins to
rush and panic until he suddenly freezes looking directly at the
camera, as though he is staring into the eyes of the new mystery
character. The change in pace throughout these shots works to
catch the viewers’ attention and brings in the major ‘what
happens next’ mystery convention of thrillers.

5. • Throughout my opening sequence I try to establish the
Todorovian theory by beginning with equilibrium, however
thriller films often adapt this theory to fit the narrative usually
by establishing the confusion right from the beginning. This
is something which was relevant with my opening sequence
as I showed the cliff hanger at the start to establish the thriller
genre. To help build up to the opening equilibrium there is a
long piece of music playing continuously in the background,
made up of eerie tones helping to create a unnerving
environment.