Our Thriller opening 'Clean Cut' challenges conventions by presenting religious themes and supernatural wounds without showing an antagonist. It adapts Thriller conventions like showing the protagonist in peril and including crime-related sounds to isolate her. Manipulating perspectives through mirrors and TV effects adds to the supernatural theme. The sequence fits the Supernatural Thriller subgenre through its inclusion of religion and themes of physical pain. The protagonist Anna follows conventions as a weak victim who will overcome challenges. The plain white bathroom location and polaroids used in credits maintain a cold, hostile atmosphere in line with genre conventions. Unusual camera techniques like stop motion bleeding create an unsettling tone.

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

2. Thriller conventions in our narrative
Our Thriller opening product ‘Clean Cut’ challenges a few Thriller conventions. First of all, our group had to look carefully
at a sub genre our opening would successfully fit in to, due to possessing some conventions often seen in the Horror
genre.
However we have adapted our opening to present more conventions of a Thriller. For example, as seen in many Thriller
films, our protagonist is seen in a ‘peril’ before anything has been resolved. Our sequence shows our protagonist bleeding
out from two wounds in her hands, conveying vulnerability and pain. However because we wanted our Thriller to consist
of religious themes, in this case Stigmata, there is no visual antagonist and religious imagery is shown throughout so an
audience will make a connection from the wounds to the religion.
Also seen in many Thriller films, we have aspects of crime through sound effects of police sirens, police radios, and
camera sound effects to convey the idea of a crime scene being investigated. However, there is no actual crime in our
opening, it is just the view point of the world around the protagonist, isolating her further because authorities would not
believe the cause of the wounds is supernatural. This point also links to the idea that the protagonist would be trapped in
a complex web, and must figure it out before the end of the film.
There is a constant manipulation of perspectives throughout our opening, shown both through bad tv effect – conveying a
supernatural theme – and uses of mirrors –suggesting two different views on the same thing, this being the protagonist
knowing it was supernatural and the outside world not believing her. This is often seen in Thriller films and worked very
effectively with the narrative of our opening.

3. Supernatural Thriller sub genre
In terms of the Supernatural Thriller sub genre, our opening sequence fits well with conventional aspects. For
example, religion is normally in some way incorporated with Supernatural films, normally shown through
possession, exorcisms and sacrifices. All of these themes include some sort of physical pain, which is shown in our
own opening.
The narrative of our thriller follows a conventional storyline, in which the protagonist faces peril that will eventually
be sorted at the end, facing many complex problems throughout. In our narrative, most of the problems revolve
around a social upset, in which the protagonist must convince people of this seemingly impossible occurrence.
The mise-en-scene in our opening sequence supports the Supernatural Thriller sub genre. For example, the
protagonists in religious films are usually young girls, as is ours in ‘Clean Cut’. We have focused on costume to convey
signs of purity through the white, feminine dress, which is a sharp contrast to the vibrant colours of the wound and
blood. To make the wound and blood stand out as much as possible our location of a completely white bathroom
adds a cold and almost hospital like atmosphere to the scene.
We have used sound clips of buzzing and beeping, connoting both the feel of a hospital that can be seen in the white
and sterile location and also a supernatural interference with the camera, seen in films with supernatural intent such
as Paranormal Activity. Because there is no dialogue and all sound used in ‘Clean Cut’ is non-diegetic, this creates an
isolation surrounding the protagonist, mirroring the isolation she feels from the outside world.

4. Character
The only character seen throughout ‘Clean Cut’ is the protagonist and main character, Anna. In
terms of conveying on-screen isolation, visually only having one character provides an
understanding to an audience that she is on her own.
Anna follows the conventions of a weak victim protagonist, through both the wounds on her
hands and in shots where she is laying down as if she is too weak to do otherwise. However
because this is still a Thriller film, an audience would expect her to overcome this weakness and
transform into more of a hero towards the end of the film.
Very little information is clear about Anna from the opening of our sequence, done purposefully
to add mystery and interest to her character development for an audience member. However, the
pictures seen of religious imagery have been taken in her home, which conveys that her past or
family involves religion. This provides links to an audience they can connect as the film
progresses, a convention often found in Thriller films centred around Crime.

5. Font and Titles
One thing our group has really wanted to achieve since the start of this project was to film a
credit sequence in an interesting and unique way, and I think we have achieved this. The credits
consist of someone slamming polaroid photographs onto a metal surface, the polaroids all
being pictures of the protagonist or parts of the location in which we filmed. The polaroids
create the idea of a crime investigation, backing up our earlier aims with sound clips of police
alarms and sirens.
These polaroids were made on a picture making website, then printed out in photo paper to
create a realistic effect. Some photos have a red tint to them as if they are still developing. This
red also connotes the pain and anger of the protagonist, Anna. The shots convey a more angry
side of Anna, foreshadowing events later in the film.
Because we have made our opening sequence so intricate and have added lots of effects, we
decided that when the actual title ‘Clean Cut’ appears on screen, it should be simple and
plain, greatly juxtaposing what has been seen of the credits so far.

6. Location
The location we have chosen for our opening is a plain stair case and a small, white
bathroom. We have been careful to keep the location as plain and cold as
possible, conveying a hostile and hospital like atmosphere. We decided to do this
because I wanted every part of the mise-en-scene to give a message to the audience
and make our Thriller opening look as professional as we could make it. We also used a
setting that would be found familiar to an audience member because it brings them
closer to the action; a lot of supernatural films are set in someone’s home because this
is scarier than if the location holds no meaning to the protagonist. This provides the
audience with a connection they can make from themselves to the protagonist and
creates an uneasy atmosphere that an event so violent can be held in someone’s
home. This in some ways challenges the conventions of a Thriller because most
Thrillers are set in elaborate places such as large elaborate buildings, which is much
less personal.

7. Techniques we used
My personal aim behind ‘Clean Cut’ was to create an uneasy atmosphere when watched by an audience.
Our Thriller opens with a lot of high angle long shots of the protagonist, so that her identity is not immediately clear, creating
mystery. When the protagonist has walked up the stairs the camera angles turn to eye level and mid shots, slowly revealing more
aspects of her features. More high angle shots come into play when the protagonist is seen in pain, lying in the bath to convey
her fragility to the audience, as they are looking down at her. However because there is only one character in our Thriller
opening we have decided to use a range of shots normally used when two or more people are in the frame, such as an over the
shoulder shot of her staring into a mirror. Over the shoulder shots are normally used in conversation between two
characters, however because our protagonist is on her own this suggests a lack of mental stability in the character because she
might be talking to herself. This shot further conveys the idea of a confusion in identity, because there are two images of her in
shot. This is an example of a confusion of identity and perspective manipulation we have used, both techniques conventional to
the Thriller genre. The only extreme close ups throughout ‘Clean Cut’ are of blood or the wound itself, which brings focus and
importance to it, conveying it is the cause of the character’s weak behaviour.
My favourite technique we have used in our Thriller opening is the use of Stop Motion to show blood escaping from the wound.
We purposefully waited longer than usual before taking each photograph so that when the sequence was put together, the
blood flow down the protagonist’s arm wouldn’t be smooth but more unnatural, suggesting a supernatural influence.
We have used a particularly conventional soundtrack over our opening that adds suspense and unease to the images on screen.
Other sound clips used include police radios and sires, the sounds of a camera taking a photograph and one we found by
accident, but agree it works well: the sound of a photograph developing. The last sound clip creates the sounds of beeping and
what sounds like a tv on static. These sounds are very high pitched and difficult to listen to, which adds effectively to the
uncomfortable atmosphere we have been aiming for.