Question 1 Evalution

Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Thriller Film is a genre that revolves around anticipation and suspense. The aim for Thrillers is to keep the audience alert and on the edge of their seats. The protagonist in these films is set against a problem – an escape, a mission, or a mystery. No matter what sub-genre a Thriller film falls into, it will emphasize the danger that the protagonist faces. The tension with the main problem is built on throughout the film and leads to a highly stressful climax. Some examples of a thriller genre are The Great Escape - A large group of POW’s (prisoners of war) plan an escape from a German camp in World War II. The Silence of the Lambs - An FBI agent develops a relationship with the notorious serial killer, Dr. Hannibal Lector, in order to gain Lector’s assistance in the hunt for another serial killer. North By Northwest - Mistaken for a government agent by foreign spies, an advertising agent travels cross-country trying to survive. There are 16 main sub genres coming of the thriller genre such as:

Action Thriller- Take any other thriller subgenre, give its defining elements a back seat, and focus on the action, and you have an action-thriller. This is more common in movies than novels because of the visual appeal of explosions and violence. This sub-genre would be connected with ours because of our setting and Mise-en scene used.

Conspiracy Thriller- In this subgenre the protagonist must confront a large, powerful organization whose threat only he sees. Usually he must do so alone. This sub-genre is not connected with out thriller therefore we won’t use this.

Crime Thriller- This subgenre focuses on crime, and is usually from the criminal’s point of view. Physical action and eluding the police take the place of gathering evidence and trying to. Crime thriller does connect with our thriller because it is all about someone committing a crime but there isn’t a strong connection.

Disaster Thriller- In this subgenre a (usually) natural disaster is taking place, and the antagonist is either trying to stop the disaster, the extent of the disaster, or just save

themselves before time runs out and the disaster has run its course discover the criminal.

Eco-Thriller- In this subgenre the protagonist must stop a threat to the environment (man-made or natural) that will have consequences for society if left unchecked. The damage could be local, but nation or even world-wide stakes are more dramatic.

Forensic Thriller- In this subgenre the protagonist(s) is forensic scientists whose involvement in an unsolved crime threatens their lives.

Legal Thriller- This subgenre takes place in and around the courtroom. Usually the protagonist is a lawyer who has found their case threatening death for either them or their client.

Medical Thriller- This subgenre involves something usually used for medical purposes becoming a deadly weapon. Often it is a virus that is leaking out to the public. The protagonist or antagonist or both are doctors.

Mystery Thriller- This is a subgenre of both mysteries and thrillers. It differs from a regular mystery by being much more fast-paced, with the protagonist on the run and the threat of another crime serving as the “ticking clock.” This thriller fits our genre the best because our thriller is based round people finding this guy that’s committed an awful crime and they are mysterious to where he is and want to find him.

Political Thriller- In this subgenre political relations or the whole government is at stake, and the protagonist is employed by the government to stop the decline. The protagonist may have been low-level before having attracted attention.

Psychological Thriller- A personal favourite. In this subgenre a lot of the conflict is mental, rather than physical. The protagonist has become involved in a dangerous situation which literally threatens their sanity. They must use mental prowess to overcome their opponent, whether the battle is inside their own head or it a battle of wits.

Religious Thriller- This subgenre uses the history and myths of religion. Usually a religious artefact or historical secret is discovered, and different people and groups vie for control.

Romantic Thriller- This is a subgenre of both thrillers and romantic novels. The plot line follows a typical thriller’s tension, suspense, and excitement, but a main element is the growing relationship between two characters.

Spy Thriller- It’s hard to call this a genre mash-up when spy novels almost have to be thrillers. At any rate, this subgenre focuses on the high adventures of field agents. It is usually set against the backdrop of some war.

Supernatural Thriller- In this subgenre otherworld elements are introduced, usually as an antagonistic force, but just as in the romantic thriller, the plot line and feel or distinctly that of thrillers. Some characters may have psychic abilities and other supernatural novel elements may be present.

Techno-Thriller- these genres are a cross between near-future science fiction and thrillers. Cutting-edge technology plays an important role, either as something to obtain, or working for or against the protagonist.

For our thriller opening we decided to use sub-genre Mystery Thriller we choose this because we think it is the most effect thriller genre and it differs from a regular mystery by being much more fast-paced, with the protagonist on the run and the threat of another crime serving as the “ticking clock.” Also thinks sub-genre fitted our location in where we had an idea of setting it because it was in the middle of nowhere and was very mysterious because it was an abandoned bridge. These are types of films known to promote intense excitement, suspense, a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, anxiety, and nerve-wracking tension. Thriller and mystery thrillers are virtually synonymous and interchangeable categorizations, with similar characteristics and features. An example of a thriller that is similar to ours would be

se7en and waking dead this is because of the conventions we used such as the camera shots and Mise-en scene such as the props.  

If the genre is to be defined strictly, a genuine thriller is a film that relentless pursues a single-minded goal - to provide thrills and keep the audience cliff-hanging at the 'edge of their seats' as the plot builds towards a climax. The tension usually arises when the main character’s is placed in a menacing situation or mystery, or an escape or dangerous mission from which escape seems impossible. Life itself is threatened, usually because the principal character is unsuspecting or unknowingly involved in a dangerous or potentially deadly situation. Plots of thrillers involve characters which come into conflict with each other or with outside forces - the menace is sometimes abstract or shadowy. The elements of this genre that we used are elements such as mystery element we did this by understand the word mystery and really analysing how to create the perfect mystery. After doing research such as questionnaires we decided to create the perfect mystery opening titles by quick landscape shots mixed with extreme close ups. We decided this would work because the viewer wouldn’t know what’s going on. We also kept the thrill by keeping that cliff hanger so we left the viewer at the end of the titles not knowing if the killer found the runaway convict. We were inspired by films such as se7en and walking dead so we followed their genre and conventions.

The soundtrack used in our thriller product is called Candles by Natalie Lungley, it is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFrljyqU6i0&index=10&list=FLblZDoCSBGmemF1AG5EudcA

This track is mainly acoustic guitar with singing, which had a slow tempo, this added to the suspension. Its lyrics also worked well with the subgenre we had chosen. We had watched many thrillers during our research and action/ horror thrillers hand more of an upbeat soundtrack for example walking dead and training day. Whereas we challenged the conventions because we wanted something slower to create more suspense, but we did like the strings used in the walking dead opening, so we wanted to find something which combined the two. In the end the soundtrack we used was prefect for our opening. Sound and a soundtrack are very key to the thriller genre. We removed all of the diegetic sound from our production and just added a non-diegetic sound song. We did this because we liked the walking dead opening and its opening only has music and no sound effects. We think it worked very well. Because the string instruments are very good at creating drama and making the audience felt on edge.

 The typical shot types that we used were close ups and extreme close ups we decided on this because it is the most effective thrilling shot because it gets the viewer involved and out of their comfort zone because it is to close and will lead the viewer into confusion because they don’t get the full picture. When researching other successful shot types we decided also that the long shot will create a good thriller opening because it does set the scene as well and gives the viewer an idea of the location of the movie through the opening titles. We decided people needed to understand the movie throughout the opening titles and give the audience a sense of feeling for the movie and we believed that these shot type did exactly that.

 

The editing used was very quick editing this was to create tension for the viewer because if it is quick editing it shows that there is a lot going on and the viewer will get the idea that the movie is action packed and thrilling. The Mise-en-scene was clinical in our thriller opening because we had to find somewhere where it was creepy and didn’t send of a good vibe this is to set the scene and also gives the viewer a good understand of the genre if they didn’t already know. We didn’t use much  props but the props we did use such as knifes, guns and bullets give the viewer a clear understand on what was going on and these props also add excitement to the opening title because they are thing you wouldn’t normally see on a normal day. The narrative in which we used was a man that had been convicted of multiply murders in his home town and many people are after him and he has to run away but whilst on the run he realises that they’re getting very close to killing him and knows where he is. This is an interesting story line because it fits the thriller genre very well and connotes action.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are three main codes and conventions which are shown in the opening of thrillers, to make the audience ask questions and give a mysterious feeling to the audience. These are editing, sound, camera movements/shots and Mise en scene.

Editing, The use of quick cuts. Thrillers often use quick cuts to create tension and quicken the pace. A good example of this is seen in the thriller Psycho, when the woman is stabbed in the shower. Fade to black. This is used in thriller films usually when someone is unconscious or dying. This is effective in psychological thrillers as it allows the audience to be in the characters position. Fade also adds suspense to a thriller as the audience are unaware of what is about to happen next. Flashbacks are used for the characters to see characters past. An example from ours which compares to the psycho fade to black is when we showed the gun we kept on fading it to black so it looked like a blink.

We decided to use such as the telegraph pole purely because of the effect it gave the audience it gave the audience a creepy feeling which suited the thriller genre.

The way in which we used the conventions in our work used was because we used the walking dead as a good template with some of the props that we used some examples are below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These screenshots are examples from the walking dead season 5 opening titles and ours. These screen shots represents how we used the conventions from the walking dead and expanded on them by adding different effects. We believe that these particular shots really did create a good atmosphere that is why incorporated they into our opening titles.