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1. QUESTION ONE: IN WHAT WAYS
DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE,
DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS
AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA
PRODUCTS?
JOSH AND CHARLIE P

2. INTRO
• Through independent and group research we have discovered
different codes and conventions used throughout thriller films. I have
used my previous knowledge of conventions from the horror projects
last year and tried to use thriller conventions in the same way. To get a
real understanding of these we watched openings from professional
thriller films and by watching previous student films. Additionally, we
researched different directors and how they would use these
conventions and whether they would follow certain stereotypes.

3. EXAMPLE OF SOME THRILLER
CONVENTIONS AND TECHNIQUES
• Setting
• Themes
• Character-types
• Narratives
• Special Effects
• Sound
• Ideology
• POV
• Tracking shot
• Low key lighting
• Exaggerated Sound
• Silence
• Iconography
• Visual Style
• Dramatic Angles
• Jump cuts
• Obtrusive Editing
• Off Screen sounds

4. ADDITIONAL RESEARCH
• We also researched into different thriller sub genres and we decided
to take on the Mystery Thriller genre as it would leave the audience
guessing throughout the film. We chose this as we wanted to use a
stalker in our film and this sub genre made it perfect for us to choose it
• We didn’t have much inspiration from choosing our film but we did
have a few shot ideas that we liked the look of on previous student
and professional films.

5. IMPACT OF OUR RESEARCH ON OUR FINAL
IDEA• We made a survey monkey which we needed people to answer as we
were still were unsure of different parts of the film.
• The main answer we wanted from the questionnaire was whether the
stalker was to remain anonymous or not. The audience (80%) voted
that we kept him anonymous which we also agreed with as it keeps
the audience guessing throughout the film.
• After watching openings, and sequences we wanted go with a dark
theme as this also is very typical of a thriller film and we didn’t want
choose an unconventional convention.

6. SUB-GENRE: MYSTERY
• This a sub genre of the thriller genre.
• It differs from a regular mystery by being much more fast paced, with
the protagonist is in trouble from the antagonist.
• Storyline- we made the stalker anonymous to create the ‘mystery’
genre
• Location- We chose to have an abandoned barn as it also adds to the
mystery sub genre of a thriller film.
• Clothing- The stalkers clothing is very dark which again creates the
mystery to the sub genre.

7. FILMS SIMILAR TO OURS
• The Call (2013)- Our film is very similar to ‘The Call’ as it has used the
same idea as a stalker and the use of mobile phones having a big
impact on peoples lives.
• Kidnap(2017)- Our film is very similar to ‘Kidnap’ as we have an
anonymous stalker who captures another character.

8. UNCONVENTIONAL CONVENTIONS
• We decided not to use any unconventional conventions as it would go
against the thriller genre and we wanted to have a film that you could
tell would be a typical thriller film.
• We kept the characters, locations and mise en scene all stereotypical
of a typical thriller film as it makes the narrative slightly easier to
understand as we have quite a complex storyline.