This document discusses how a media product followed and challenged conventions of real thriller films. It followed conventions like using themes of suspense, mystery and crime. It included characters like a female victim and stalker. It used elements like low key lighting, blood, and tension building music. However, it challenged conventions by revealing the murderer was female, subverting the expectations of the typical male villain/murderer in thrillers.

1. Q1- In what ways does your media product
use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media product
Megan Childs

2. Plan
Conventions we followed:
Themes- suspense, mystery,
Characters- female victim, stalker
Narrative
Iconography- low key lighting, blood, urban setting,
tension building music
What we challenged:
Villain/murderer was a female- find out later in the
film.

3. One thriller convention I identified through
research was the typical themes of thriller films.
They usually are related to mystery, crime and
suspense. In my opening sequence, I included all of
these themes. The main character, Chloe, gets killed
by an unknown person which adds the mystery and
crime elements. We included suspense by building
up the footage and music. For example, as it got
closer to Chloe’s death, you see the stalker getting
closer and closer. This adds suspense as the
audience know something is going to happen. We
included this convention because they are familiar
to the audience and are usually things that scare
the audience. Our audience feedback showed us
that

4. Another thriller convention that I identified in
my research was the specific characters used.
Alfred Hitchcock was known for using females as
his victims and so we tried to follow this. Our
female, Chloe, was shown as a vulnerable
person as she was alone with no one to help her.
We followed this convention because, it’s a
stereotypical and familiar thing to see in a
thriller film. Women are typically seen as more
vulnerable than men so it’s the ‘normal’ thing to
see a woman in this situation.