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

1. 1
IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA
PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR
CHALLENGE FORMS AND
CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA
PRODUCTS?
Lucy Bish

2. INTRODUCTION
Before Stacy and I started our production, we had to research the
conventions that go into making a thriller genre movie. This helped us as we
were able to include most of them; so therefore, we knew that we would be
creating a media production with the correct elements and know how to
approach this. For example, we watched the openings of different thriller
movies that related to our desired sub-genre of sci-fi. Here, we were able to
brainstorm the ideas and things we liked and we would go on to develop on
or change them if needed in order to use them ourselves.

3. USE
In 28 Days Later, the audience
only see one human survivor in
the opening sequence. Stacy
and I used this as our main
character is seen as a lone
warrior, where she is looking
around and exploring her new
life, getting used to
boundaries and how to live.
World War Z inspired us due to the use
of showing everyday life and modern
society before disaster struck. The way
that the normal lives of many people are
shown, and how it was almost taken for
granted. In our media production, Stacy
and I used a flashback and showed
everyday life of our main character
where she is seen laughing,
accompanied by her best friend.
Resident Evil is also a film
that we got inspiration from,
where we wanted to use a
female as the main character
just as they do in this film. We
have evidently used this, as
our main character is played
by a female - Sian Ferguson.
She is portrayed as brave
and independent.
28 DAYS LATER WORLD WAR Z RESIDENT EVIL

4. DEVELOP
Stacy and I were interested in the
use of voice-over in this particular
film. We did end up developing
on how they used this though, as
our voice-over use is restricted to
the first 30 seconds to 1 minute of
the opening, whereas, Wild uses it
throughout the whole movie. The
restriction is there for us due to
the importance of also knowing
other characters too in our
production.
In 12 Monkeys, the audience are
informed of what has taken place
before the time that it begins
from. We wanted to use this idea,
however, we decided to develop
on it instead. This was because 12
Monkeys used a typewriter and
physically showed the audience
with this effect. We, on the other
hand, used voice-over for this as
it shows a wider emotional
connection with Maria.
Lastly, another example of
development would be how
destruction was shown in
Stacy and I's media
production compared to
Dawn of the Dead. We used
the idea of deserted areas
and showed lack of human
life with silence. However,
Dawn of the Dead used
scenes of riots, death, and
mass destruction.
WILD 12 MONKEYS DAWN OF THE DEAD

5. CHALLENGE
TYPICAL THRILLER
FILM CONVENTIONS
For Stacy and I, the main challenge that we took on was going against the typical element of using a
male actor in our production. During our research of films, we came across an article that said: "When
we go to the movies, women are rarely the leads unless it’s a “women’s” movie – and sometimes, even
when it is, we still aren’t the ones doing most of the talking. Research from the University of Southern
California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism shows that for every one woman who
speaks even in films with less than an R rating, there are around three male speaking characters and
that crowd shots have an average of 17% women (a ratio that hasn’t changed since 1946)." Reading
this, we wanted to fight what the typical standards of women are and by making a woman have the lead
role in our production, we believed that it would gain more attention and also be giving out a positive
message.
Part of this challenge was using a male as the 'damsel in distress', which is hardly ever seen in thriller
movies due to the need to show men as strong, independent and even aggressive. However, the roles
are reversed in this case. Also, this challenge could be seen as controversial but it was our way of taking
a very obvious convention and turning it around to suit our media production.

6. USE,
DEVELOP,
CHALLENGE.
In conclusion, this presentation showcases how Stacy and I gained
research on ideas and conventions of real media products and how we
then went on to use, develop or challenge them. Depending on what
message we wanted to get across in our media production, we included the
appropriate conventions that we knew would allow us to do this and sell a
good opening sequence.