1. 1. In what ways does your media
product use, develop or
challenge forms and
conventions of real media
products?
Tatjana Harrington-Steward- S1-08

2. Location
My opening uses the
conventions of a thriller opening
in many ways.
• There is no strong sense of
location, so audience must
think about it. This is similar
to other thrillers as there is
an element of mystery.
• The sense of the location
being unsafe is also a
common element in thriller
films, and we have achieved
this through our props as
well as our establishing shot
of the location (see picture).

3. Props
The opening both uses and develops conventions of real
media products in terms of props. The props used are
typical possessions of a doctor, however we use camera
close-ups to our advantage and make the props look
threatening, similar to the opening credits of the US
television show „Dexter‟.
Props used include:
• A notepad with writing in, camera focuses on the
word “murder”.
• A half-empty pill bottle and labelled sample tube.
• Doctor‟s scissors, scalpel, clippers, and tongue
stick.
• A half-empty tablet strip and a full syringe.
• A calendar with a suspicious circled date with
information.
• Red stationary with connotations of red such as
blood, murder, danger, incorrectness.
• Bandage.
• Batteries- these fall down in the opening, showing
someone is in the office, doctor then enters office
and places them upright- shows OCD tendencies.
• Photo board with circled people and dates. Perhaps
the creepiest prop, used to establish scene.

4. Characters
The only character we included in our
thriller opening is the Doctor of the
film. We used the conventions of a
typical thriller in the way that at first
we see a character but he is not
completely revealed. The audience
only gets a glimpse of his mouth and
his eyes, and his voice. This provokes
the audience to wander who this man
is and why he is saying “Don‟t worry.
Everything will be okay.”, and who to.
This again uses the typical convention
of a thriller film which is mystery.
From what the audience sees and
hears, they can expect him to be the
antagonist/bad guy.

5. Cinematography
All of the shots in our thriller opening
our close ups of objects, the Doctor‟s
facial features, and one open shot of the
Doctor‟s corkboard. This is similar to
other thriller films and television shows
such as „Dexter‟ where the opening
titles consist of close ups of everyday
activities/objects made to look
threatening. This is what we wanted to
achieve in our opening. Camera work
was essential to be successful in this,
and I believe we did well. For example,
the shot of an everyday half-empty pill
bottle looks rather intimidating as the
camera pans slowly upwards. Perhaps if
the audience were being shown a full
view of the pill bottle it would be a lot
less mysterious, exciting, and scary.

6. Editing
IDENT
Upon creating the ident I hoped to achieve a slightly chilling image. I
believe I was successful in this. I named our production company
„Shaded Productions‟ as this uses the typical mystery convention of
thriller films. Although the ident isn‟t an important aspect of our opening
and only helps to make it look more authentic, I believe we have used it
to our advantage. It is the very first thing the audience see when
viewing our opening, and I believe it establishes a thrilling mood.
CREDITS- FONT
The font used is „De Walpergen‟s Pica‟. I created the credits in
photoshop and used a transparent background so they could easily be
added in Final Cut. I think the font looks mysterious, and similar to that
of an old typewriter. I got the idea to use a font like this from Stanley
Kubrick‟s „The Shining‟. In this film there is a very haunting scene with a
typewriter, so for this, a typewriter font became very symbolic of fear.
TITLE SCREEN
(Our title is in the same font as the credits, for continuity, as many
movies have their own unique font.)
VIGNETTE
In our opening we put a black vignette around the screen, this helps
establish the thought of the audience being the ones looking in the
doctor‟s office. It also draws interest to the centre of the frame which
is helpful in some shots e.g. the word murder in the centre of the
doctor‟s notepad.

7. Narrative
In our thriller opening, the
main media convention of a
thriller film used is there
being the identification of a
problem. The audience knows
there is a problem as the
Doctor is telling someone not
to worry. This then creates
an enigma, again using the
conventions of a typical
thriller film.

8. Sub-Genre
The characters, mise-en-
scene, and narrative are
conventional in terms of the
sub-genre we are working
within, which is a medical
thriller. However I believe
our location challenges the
conventions of a typical
medical thriller film as this
would usually be a hospital.
The very beginning of our
opening shows a rushing
though of a hospital corridor,
but the majority of it takes
place in a Doctor‟s home
office.

9. Music
The music of our thriller
opening is creepy and
definitely has a strong
haunting quality. Bethany
created the music for our
opening in Garage Band,
making it easy to add whatever
sounds we wanted to it. After
it had been created and I
listened to it, it reminds me
very much of the opening
music of „The Shining‟ with the
increasing of the tempo and
high pitched undertones
contrasting with the strong
sounds.