YM- EVALUATION (1)

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

Throughout the planning stage of our project, research was a key element to get to know the main conventions associated with thriller films. (For example, titles, plot, characters, mise-en-scene, sound, camera and editing). To produce the best possible opening of our genre, we used these conventions and real film openings that we had looked at in our own work.

Plot


One incredibly important convention of a thriller is the plot. People enjoy watching thrillers for the thrilling storyline, which needs be faultless.
Our plot is conventional to thrillers aimed at the same target audience (core audience) as us.
It relates to teenagers in society today, and the troubles and problems they face. It includes a lot of fast-paced action to keep the audience interested in watching the rest of the film.
In thrillers, the use of big stunts etc aren't crucial to make this happen as the plot itself is often relatable to the lives of the target audience so they feel they want to continue watching. This also helps to keep the budget down. Many of our ideas came from the research we did in 'Shank' (Ali, 2010) where the action and tension was created with a fast cutting rate and fast-paced storyline.
The plot of our film revolves around a typical young male who got himself involved in drugs and shows how dodgy deals to help him keep his family together lead to severe consequences.




Characters


Our protagonist who has the majority of the screen time, is a teenage male. This is conventional of thriller movies because they include a lot of action and stereotypically males are seen to be stronger and more able to handle such situations than females, hence why it is males who are often seen in thriller films where there is a lot of action.
Teenagers aren't necessarily conventional of thriller protagonists as they are seen to be
too young to find themselves in situations which often reveal themselves in the plot. Films such as the Bourne Series (Liman/Greengrass, 2002-2007) and 'Taken' (Morel, 2008) have males protagonists, however they are shown to be older, often in the thirties. However, while having a teenage protagonist may not be conventional, there are other thriller films such as 'Shank' (Ali, 2010) that follow suit.


Our villain is also male, which is conventional because stereotypically males are seen to be stronger and more powerful than women.




Mise en Scene


Considering all aspects of mise-en-scene while planning our opening sequence was vital. In terms of location, all our research showed that thrillers are located in busy places, most often cities, so we decided to film in London so we could get a real city atmosphere coming through to the audience.
Heygate Estate already has a reputation that backs up our reasoning for picking such a location and we decided it was the best location we could find.We chose the Heygate Estate within London to be our main shooting location after we analysed our protagonist and decided we needed a run down area of
London to film, as he was presented as being poor and into drugs which suggests that he needs the money so therefore couldn't live somewhere where the location looked expensive. The

In terms of costume, we again had to consider the protagonist and how we are presenting him. Due to the location we selected, it was obvious we couldn't pick a costume that had connotations of wealth in any aspect as it wouldn't fit with the rest of the opening sequence. Therefore we decided to select tracksuit and a hoodie as stereotypically this is what teenage boys in the city, especially those who are 'trouble' wear.




Props


We used as little props as possible in our opening sequence. This was for several reasons: Firstly, we had to think carefully about how we were going to take all the equipment and props to our location as we were travelling by train, therefore we knew we had to keep props minimal. The props we did have however, was a mobile phone so the protagonist can be contacted by the villain, and a half full beer bottle and a cigarette packet on the table in the flat. This is to show how little he has.




Sound


Choosing a non-diagetic soundtrack to play through our opening sequence proved to be very difficult. We used our research to narrow our choices down so the soundtrack was conventional to the thriller genre. We needed a track that was in a major key and was upbeat so it anchored the running sequence. The track we chose in the end we though was appropriate because it was almost chaotic which is very representative of the life of our protagonist. The voice of the singer sounds almost discordant which adds an almost uneasy edge to the music building the tension for the audience while they wait to see what's going to happen. This music isn't typically conventional of thriller films as lyrics aren't a predominant feature of the soundtrack, especially during action sequences such as our running scene. However we felt the voice gave our piece the right feel to it and therefore challenged the conventions in this respect.


The diegetic sound of the phone ringing is amplified to create an enigma: Who's on the phone? Why? Many questions are raised using such simple sounds, and this is extremely conventional of thriller films, particularly the ringing phone as this is a common theme in thriller movies for the villain to communicate with the hero.


Camera


In thrillers a range of camera distances is extremely conventional. We saw this as an easy opportunity to conform to the conventions of thriller movies and many distances are used within our opening sequence, mainly during the running sequence.


We used a few close ups to show the protagonist's reaction to events, such as being told his family have been taken and seeing a dead body in the estate. Reaction shots are seen very often in thrillers, for example, 'Panic Room' (Fincher, 2002). These shots help the audience understand the characters better as they gain an insight as to how the character is feeling at that particular moment.




We used a couple of extreme long shots to set the scene and to show the audience where the protagonist is. The extreme long shot we used to show the protagonist running across a bridge lets the audience see where he is headed, while emphasising the grubbiness of the location. Again, this shot can be seen in many thriller movies, often during a running or chase scene, to see one or more of the characters running through a crowded city like in the Bourne Series (Liman/Greengrass, 2002-2007).


The positioning of the shot was an important factor we had to consider. As our opening sequence is from from the thriller genre, this meant there was a lot of movement and we decided that central shots of characters wouldn't work. Because of this we use the rule of thirds throughout our sequence to give more of a moving feel to the piece.


Towards the end of the running sequence we used a dutch angle to emphasise the speed at which the protagonist was running. Another reason we chose this shot was because it almost represents the character himself and the way in which his life is slowly being turned upside down.


We use a point of view shot during the running sequence, from the perspective of the protagonist to place the audience with him so they can feel his fear. This shot isn't so conventional of thriller movies however as a group we decided the audience needed to feel more involved if they were to continue watching the rest of the film, and a point of view shot seemed the perfect shot to use to create this effect.


Another technique we put into our opening sequence was shallow to deep focus as the audience was introduced into the flat of the protagonist. We used this effect to show how he was asleep and the sound of his phone was slowly bringing him into consciousness.




Colour


Colour isn't necessarily the most important factor to consider when filming a thriller movie. However, we found that due to the nature of the storyline that the lack of colour is important. Therefore we had to plan when we went to film carefully as we wanted a dull, cloudy day so colour would be minimal and would fit anchor the location we selected. The costume of the protagonist and antagonist is very plain and dark continuing this theme of minimal colour. We chose to keep the colour very dull and grey because this is the conventional colour scheme of thrillers, while at the same time being extremely representative of the life of our protagonist.




Editing


Editing was extremely important for us in many parts of our opening sequence.


To start with we needed to find a way to tell the audience which parts of the opening sequence was a flashback and what was present day. In the end, we decided to make the flashbacks appear in black and white so the audience knew they were different and on top of this we added titles to show the change it dates, to further reinforce the difference in time.


Also, we had to edit all the shot of the running scene using continuity editing, so that the audience couldn't see the cuts and it would appear invisible and seamless. On top of this, the running scene needed to have a fast cutting rate to keep the audience interested and to help build the tension, therefore conforming to the conventions of a thriller.

Titles

Our opening sequence needed us to add titles in to inform the audience of the change in dates, between the flashback scenes and the present day footage.
In terms of font and size, we went for something plain and quite bold so it seemed almost masculine therefore attracting the attention of our target audience. Also, films we had looked at during our independant research showed that many thriller films went for plain bold font. Such as The Bourne Series (Liman/Greengrass, 2002-2007) and Panic Room (Fincher, 2004).