The document discusses the various elements of a short film titled "Outsider" and how they conform to or challenge conventions of thriller films. It summarizes the title, locations, costumes, props, camera/editing, story/opening, and genre used in the film. While many elements conform to thriller stereotypes like a female victim and nighttime scenes, the film challenges expectations by leaving the story open-ended after "the discovery" and hinting the main character may have superpowers, blending thriller with science fiction genres.

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

2. TITLE
These are my titles for my film ‘Outsider’. I chose this
name because it can mean many things so the
audience can make their own conclusion for what
the film is about. Because the film is only 2 minutes,
the audience will naturally guess what happens after
the two minutes and I think this title adds a twist onto
what you may naturally think in a stereotypical thriller
film. I chose this font because its bold and strong.
White writing on a black background makes it really
stand out and easy to read in a short time as the
titles are only on for about 2-3 seconds each. During
the titles there is ‘boom’ sound effects for a more
dramatic effect. The titles fade in and out black
because it is more smooth, but thinking back on it
maybe it would have been better to have them flash
in and out as that would match the sound effect. This
kind of simple large title conforms to the
stereotypical thriller opening.

3. LOCATION
The locations in my film are in the street,
house and mainly the forest. I chose these
locations because they're normal places to
be, compared to somewhere not normal for
example a warehouse or a basement. The
shot in the street suggests it’s late at night
and is eerie because it isn’t safe for a young
girl to be out in the street at night especially
as she is drunk. a scene in the forest is quite
stereotypical to thriller films, it’s a good
location because its easy to film there, its
quiet in terms of its not common for the
public and it seems mysterious in the film.

4. COSTUMES
The first time you see a costume is on Becky in the night
time when she is walking back from the party. She is
wearing normal clothes for a girl of her age- jeans, plain
top, jacket and scarf because it is the night time and is
cold. When she wakes up she is wearing the same thing
from the night before except for the jacket and scarf.
This is because she was really drunk and doesn’t even
remember getting home. She leaves the house wearing
the same thing except again with the jacket on as she is
going out for the day. The abductors in the forest are
wearing all black/grey with their hoods up or wearing a
beanie. This is because they want to covered up to be
disguised. This conforms to stereotypes of
gangsters/thugs/kidnappers in films and the audience
will understand straight away what they are and that
they are bad guys. It wouldn’t make sense to have the
bad guys in for example blue jeans and a check shirt
because the audience would be confused as who
would take a bad guy seriously if he was dressed like a
normal guy.

5. PROPS
I do not have many props in my film because
most of the film is spent outside and the film is
more about what is happening to the
character than what the character is doing.
The props I do have is first in the party scene
she is drinking alcohol from a cup. The cup
represents a party as there is always cups for
alcohol and it also shows that she is getting
really drunk because if she was just dancing
without a cup she could be at a gig or
something. The only other prop is the rope
that they use in the forest to tie her up in the
forest. The rope is used quite roughly and
represents being tied up for a long time. Rope
is used in many films where someone is being
tied up because it is more obvious than say
something like tape.

6. CAMERA/EDITING
Most of the shots in my film are fast shots and
some close ups. I think the most effective few
shots are the ones in the forest where the
camera is filming Becky’s feet getting
dragged through the forest and the camera
is shaking to show chaos and almost showing
what Becky might be seeing. I did the editing
on Premiere Pro. There aren’t many fancy
special effects partly because I wanted to
keep the film simple and partly because I
don’t know how to do a lot on premiere.
Some of the effects I did do include video
transactions like fading from and into black,
slow motion and ghosting which I think is
really simple yet effective. Watching my film
back I may have used too much ghosting
because I don’t want it to look like I was
depending on the ghosting.

7. STORY/OPENING
The opening of film after the titles are shots
of Becky at a party. The party is
represented by the strobe lights, music
and cup drinking alcohol. This scene is
conforming to stereotypes of a party
where a young girl is drinking and is out of
control too drunk. The point of this scene is
to establish how it starts that the victim is
drunk and is going to be the main
character in the film. This opening
conforms to the stereotypical thriller/horror
film where the clear victim is a female
(and young) who generally gets in some
kind of trouble or even dies and the rest of
the film is going back on what's happened
before all of this seeing how she got there.

8. GENRE
The genre of my film is a thriller. The film
conforms to the stereotypes of a thriller film in
terms of the victim being a young pretty girl
and some of it being in the night time with
fast pace shots. Just before the end of the
film in the voiceover the girl says ‘I remember
the discovery’ which may challenge the
stereotypes of a normal thriller film because
normally it may be that the girl victim dies
and the rest of the film is how she got to that
point but my film is more about what
happens after ‘the discovery’ and leaves the
audience guessing what it is she discovers
and if its good or bad. This and the fact that
the film is called ‘Outsider’ helps with maybe
the idea that she may have super powers
and therefor also makes my film slightly sci-fi.