The media product uses conventions of real thriller films in its opening sequence. It establishes its own production company in the title sequence to seem professional. It starts the film in the morning with the main character waking up, subverting the expectation of showing their daily routine. It also places titles around the action and includes a scary bathroom scene, both of which build audience expectations of danger common to the thriller genre. It only follows one character, subverting the expectation of introducing other people. A revealing tracking shot shows the character's reaction but not what they see, breaking the usual expectation of showing a killer or abductor and instead revealing loneliness.
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Times of crisis are dangerous moments for brands. Often hasty decisions are made and result in actions that could potentially harm their brands in the long term. We are facing an extraordinary turbulence resulting from the global economic recession. We must be vigilant, not being caught in the maelstrom of uncertainty.
Companies that manage to take this time of crisis as an opportunity to grow their busines will gain valuable competitive advantages. Since brands are the most important asset a company owns, companies that focus on their brands and identify opportunities to continue building brand equity during this period are companies that emerge stronger from crisis.
From our experience in the Asian economic crisis in 1997, and numerous projects with our customers during the current crisis, we identify the nine critical success factors that can help a company and its brands to take advantage of turbulent times.
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1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media?
2. We incorporated the use of our own production company in the opening title sequence. This keeps a realistic professional expectation. We used a traditional theme of having the start of a film starting at the beginning of the day, in a bed. This allowed us to subvert the norm as we unfold the unusual occurrences rather than the daily routine. We continued to carefully place titles around the running action of the opening sequence. We had previously watched several opening thriller sequences and found this was a style we liked most. Whilst using this style we were able to clearly state who was involved in making the film.
3. Like many products in the thriller genre we increased audience expectations by making the surroundings darker giving a feel of danger and fear. We also incorporated an expected horror bathroom scene. This use of showing a shower and bathroom increases the audience expectation of fright, as it is a negative connotation used in most films in the thriller and horror genre. We constantly follow one character. This is subverted to many films as we never introduce another person. The audience would initially expect someone to appear in the house or street.
4. We built the audience expectation of a revealing shot by using the tracking shot to only show the actor’s reactions, not what she’s actually looking at. Our revealing shot broke the usual expectation of a killer/abductor. We showed abandonment and emptiness, playing on everyone’s inner fears of loneliness .