The document discusses how the media product uses and develops conventions of real crime thriller films. Specifically, it used low-key lighting in scenes involving death to create tension, included a murder mystery for detectives to solve, and revealed the killer's identity upfront to create intrigue. It also featured a mental conflict between characters instead of a physical one to challenge editing abilities. Overall, the opening conformed to crime thriller conventions regarding narrative, including a recent murder, and use of dramatic music and screams to emphasize drama.

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop, challenge forms of
real media products
In the media product we have created we have included codes and conventions of a
stereotypical crime thriller film that are used in real media products.
For example, in most of the scenes we used low-key lighting, especially in the scenes where
there is a death or connotations of death, which is stereotypical of thriller films. This is used
a lot in crime thrillers that we researched such as “Se7en” because it creates a tense
atmosphere that keeps the audience intrigued. It is also a connotation of death, that it is
likely to happen soon or it has just happened hence the darkness.
There was also a death included in our product which is stereotypical of crime thrillers as
that is usually the crime the detectives have to solve, who killed who. This is used in “Sin
City” in the first scene we see the death of a woman on a balcony in the rain. We took this as
inspiration for the death that we would include. We were to assume that the male and female
character in Sin City were partners so we decided to include a death between a couple
where the man kills his wife with no remorse such as the man did in Sin City.
We also included a conflict between our characters as it was another convention we could
use to our advantage. We decided to use a mental conflict instead of physical conflict to
make it seem a bit different than other thriller films and to challenge our editing ability to
make it easy for the audience to realise that it was a mental battle both the man and woman
were facing between each other rather than showing a physical fight, and a mental fight
between the man’s thoughts and his actions.
Revealing the killer’s identity was a major part of our opening because it created an enigma
right at the beginning of the film and ensuring the audience were intrigued. In “Disturbia”,
another crime thriller, the murderer’s identity is shown fully so the audience can recognise
this character when he appears again throughout the film whereas we decided to make the
murderer a mysterious character in order to keep the audience intrigued and to not make it
obvious if the character appears again during the rest of the film, creating an enigma straight
away.
We have conformed to crime-thriller conventions of the narrative of a film shown in our
opening. For example, like many crime-thrillers, there is a serial-murder case that has just
happened or is being solved; we have shown the death in our opening which therefore
means there will be some detective work to be done which is stereotypical of films of the
crime thriller genre. This part of the narrative is similar to that of the crime thriller Se7en
where they are first seen to be solving a murder.
With the sound of the opening, we have used dramatic non-diegetic music which is a
common convention of thriller films as it creates tension and emphasizes the drama. We
also included a non-diegetic scream to connote the death of the female, which is also a
stereotypical feature of crime thrillers as it is dramatic and grabs the audience’s attention.
Matthew Pumphrey