The media product uses many conventional forms and conventions of the crime thriller genre. The locations, costumes, props, characters, plot devices, sounds, camera techniques, editing, titles, and credits are all highly conventional. However, it challenges some conventions by showing the victim in a non-sexualized way and revealing the killer's identity very early through an extreme close-up. While most conventions are followed, some are broken to create a similar effect of mystery around the killer's motives rather than their identity. Overall, the piece draws heavily from genre conventions to create a sense of realism and familiarity for the audience.

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

2. Our media piece was very conventional in the mise en scene. The
locations are conventional of thriller as the locations were dark but
suburban or urban which is typical with a crime thriller as the genre tries
to create a certain verisimilitude achieved by using these locations.
Mise en scene
Our costume was very typical to the conventions of
the genre. The hero is shown in a suit connoting his
role as a police detective. He is also shown in his home
office to create the conventional feel of him being
isolated.
Furthermore the victim is shown in casual cloths but we challenge
the conventions of the genre in the fact she is not shown in a
sexualised nature which is very dissimilar to the film noir style we
tried to adopt.

3. Mise en scene
The props we used were very conventional to the
genre. Torture tools, crime tape and SOCO suits are
some of the main props which use the conventional
iconography of the crime thriller genre.
Again the location of the serial killers torture
chamber connotes the close to home psychotic nature
of the killer which is key to achieving verisimilitude.
which is very typical to the genre

4. Plot conventions
Connected
Connected
Characters were highly conventional in the use of a white
isolated male protagonist, female victims and scary male
antagonist.
Thriller films always have an element of violence and consists
of female characters being killed and left to be discovered.
Similarly to Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme, 1991) the
detective and the killer have some kind of connection and the
killer knows more about the detective than first thought.
Further conventions are that the killer seems to be psychotically
unstable or deranged which again occurs in the film Silence of
the Lambs (Jonathan Demme, 1991)
Enigma is conveyed by positioning the audience to want to
know who this killer is? This is very conventional to the genre
of crime thriller

5. Sound conventionsSound was crucial for positioning the audience. The non-diagetic sound track was very
conventional with a constant droning sound which created the eerie theme of the film. (Easily
heard in first few seconds)
Further sounds were recorded to add to situations where extra suspense was needed, these
crescendos are very conventional to thriller. The diagetic sound throughout is very
conventional with sounds modified to make them sharper or more echoed. This is done in the
opening to Memento (Christopher Nolan, 2000).
Sharp and echoing diagetic sounds

6. Form - Camera and Editing
• The camera technique used where conventional to the genre in that there were many panning shots and
close ups of key shots. Similarly editing was conventional as the cutting rate went from face paced
frantic cutting to slow paced pans to build tension.
• We used extreme close up shot to show the killers face, this is fairly unconventional and you know the
identity of the killer within the opening. This destroys the sense of enigma that is usual associated with
the character but instead form the enigma of why is the character doing this. But some films break this
convention to again create a similar effect, for example Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme, 1991)
• We used canted angles to suggest discordance or emphasis actions this is very conventional to the
genre and is used in Trance (Danny Boyle,2013)

7. Title and Credits
A basic white font was chosen a it had
the iconography that we felt reflected
the clean cut nature of our film. This
is very conventional to the genre as it
connotes the precise way in which the
kill often operates.
Secondly we overlaid the text on the
footage and kept it stationary to not
distract from the actions on screen.
This is again very conventional to
crime thriller as they are often also
psychological thrillers and so are
aimed at a more intellectual target
audience who don’t need garish titles.
The final title used the font 1942
report which emulates a type writer
and we overlaid it onto a film reel.
This obeys conventions by giving a
gritty feel to the piece.