Media evaluation

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

2. Todorov’s Narrative Theory
Todorov’s Narrative Theory suggests all media texts follow a similar pattern.
This pattern both starts and ends with equilibrium, allowing whatever
‘’problem’’ or ‘’conflict’’ that has arisen to be solved. This equilibrium at the
end forms a resolution allowing the audience to believe the text has come to
a comfortable ending where there has been a big reveal on who was the
protagonist throughout the text. This is known as the denouement.
The pattern follows a graph as shown below...

3. Our Film...
Our film follows Todorov’s theory to a certain extent, however we chose to
deliberately subvert this theory and go against what is expected of a media text. We
decided to subvert this theory as we did not want our film to be like many other
thrillers, and so decided to have a false denouement in the middle of the film to
keep the audience guessing. We decided the entirety of our thriller film would look
as follows on a tension graph...
Beginning/Opening Middle End
Equilibrium
Tension Rising
Conflict
Rapid
Decline to
Denouement
Sharp Tension From
False Denouement
Ending still in conflict

4. Example...
This can be seen in the opening to our thriller when the hand grabs the females ankles
from underneath the bed. This shows a contrast to Todorov’s theory as it has already
created a climax within the film that is unlikely to be solved.

5. Rick Altman Genre Theory
Rick Altman suggests that there is no such thing as a ‘’pure’’ genre any more.
Contrasting with Chandler’s Theory, he says genre is progressive and will always
change. Altman suggests that generic conventions do not exist anymore and suggests
audiences are tired of the same formula that Todorov suggests.
Altman suggests that genre is surviving due to hybridisation – the ideology of genres
‘’borrowing’’ conventions from one and thus making them harder to categorise.
Our thriller adverts to this as it follows the themes of both psychological thrillers, and
horrors which combined make a thriller more interesting than just the singular
convention. This joining of conventions allows our thriller to make the audience
experience both fear and mind games, creating the ultimate storyline to confuse and
intrigue those experiencing the film. Many films of modern day adhere to Altman’s
theory, and often hybrids are more exciting and often target late teens to early 20’s.

6. Chandler’s Genre Theory
Chandler suggests that within a thriller film, we connection with the audience through
6 different conventions:
• Narrative
• Characters
• Themes
• Settings
• Iconography
• Filming techniques
Narrative:
We subverted to Chandler’s idea of narrative as we used a rather rare and
unusual storyline which has not often been used before. Our storyline relates to the idea
of child hood fears and plays on the idea of peoples comfort and everyday life. Our thriller
also includes the main event of the film within the opening, showing how we are not
creating a lot of tension before we throw the audience into the event and led them to the
denouement.
However, we adhered to the theory by Chandler as we used similar conventions to entice
the audience and keep them watching. We used similar ideas of a vulnerable girl being
taken/murdered and played on the idea of her vulnerability and innocence.

7. Characters
Our thriller opening only shows one character, therefore already subverting to Chandler’s
theory. By only showing one character before she goes missing we are not giving the
audience a chance to relate to and sympathise with her, we are instantly removing the
empathy and replacing it with curiosity and fear.
We also adhered to Chandler’s idea of characters as we used a young female as our main
character and showed her as vulnerable. In modern day, more and more TV shows and
films are showing women as strong, independent and leaders, rather than the way of the
past where they were seen as weak in comparison to men and as always needing to
support of another role model/ figure in their life. The female character is also not shown
to be overly girly, showing that it is acceptable for any type of person to be represented
fairly in TV and film.
Setting
We strongly adhered to the idea of setting as we used a dark, lonely street which was
dimly lit and used a town setting at night which instantly creates tension and fear within
thriller films. Thrillers are often set on empty, vulnerable streets and show the most
vulnerable characters here which is what we have attempted to do in our thriller opening.
By adhering to this, we are already identifying with the already established approach of
causing tension and leading the audience down one path, before introducing a plot twist
and changing the importance of the setting and the narrative.

8. Themes
Our thriller adheres to Chandler’s theory of themes as we clearly create the idea of a
vulnerable victim and a strong, unknown protagonist in which the audience presume they
will be caught. We also adhere to themes as we are trying to create tension and fear
within the audience by the theme we have given our thriller opening.
Iconography
We adhered to the idea of iconography as we used pentagrams and satanic symbols in the
background of our thriller opening to hint towards a hidden meaning. Many thrillers use
the idea of long lasting family curses and satanic cults to scare the audience and try and
hint a specific path that they should believe the film will lead down, despite the typical
plot twist or false denouement.
Filming Techniques
Our filming techniques actually agreed with Chandler as we tried to use a varied range of
shots to get across the type of person the character was and to try and create tension
within the audience. We also tried to use different angles to create different feelings at
certain points, for example, the under the bed shot of the young girls feet and the close
up of the young girls face outside on the street.