EVALUATION Q1)IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT

USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF

REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?AMANI SWEENEY-FENTON

GIVEN TASK

I WAS PLACED IN A GROUP OF PEOPLE AND WAS GIVEN THE TASK TO MAKE THE OPENING TO OUR OWN THRILLER MOVIE THAT HAD TO LAST TWO MINUTES LONG. THROUGH RESEARCH OF PREVIOUS BOX OFFICE THRILLERS WE HAD TO LEARN WHAT IT TAKES TO CREATE A OPENING THAT WOULD FILL THE VIEWERS WITH TENSION AND KEEP THEM ON THE EDGE BY USING THE THRILLER CONVENTIONS.

WE THEN HAD TO TAKE ALL WE HAD LEARNT AND USE IT IN OUR PLANNING STAGE, WHERE WE HAD TO PLAN OUT EVERY ASPECT OF THE THRILLER SUCH AS COSTUME, SOUND, LOCATION, LIGHTING ETC. WE ALSO HAD TO BASE THE STRUCTURE UPON THE REGULARLY USED NARRATIVE STRUCTURES.

AFTER THE PLANNING WE HAVE TO RECORD THE FILM AFTER ASSEMBLING OUR OWN CAST AND PRODUCTION CREW. ONCE WE SUCCESSFULLY FINISHED ALL THE SCENES WE HAD TO FINISH PRODUCING THE FILM BY TAKING THE RECORDINGS TO SOFTWARE EDITING PROGRAMMES SUCH AS FINAL CUT PRO X AND GARAGE BAND TO BRING ALL THE ELEMENTS OF THE FILM TOGETHER AS A FINAL WHOLE PRODUCT.

DID THE THRILLER FOLLOW THE INTENDED CONVENTIONS?

I believe that the use of characters in my narrative ‘Propp’s Characters’ is conventional to the thriller because of how the character changes the whole originally assumed plot twist and how the portrayal of the character is quickly changed by the viewers through the use of the idea of a false hero. Which plays out the idea through a majority of the narrative to make the audience or the people in the narrative believe the false hero is good, however we put our own spin on this idea and made it out so that the false hero is actually the protagonist and the antagonist which confuses the viewers.

Our antagonist from ‘That One Night’

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde character concept

I believe that this thriller followed the intended concept of this character in order to successfully capture the viewers attention because the method used to follow the character in the narrative. By initially showing the good side of this characters personality only makes the viewers believe that he is not the one who should be suspected of the murder.

Often the actor to take on the characters of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are male, as these fictional characters concepts are male, which is why choosing a male character as the main character to play both protagonist and antagonist was the best choice.

FURTHER CONVENTIONS - CHARACTERS

WE ALSO STUCK TO THE CLASSIC CONVENTION OF THE FEMALE VICTIM WITHIN THE 2 MINUTE OPENING AS THE SISTER OF OUR PROTAGONIST IS MURDERED. THIS IS A COMMON CONVENTION FREQUENTLY USED IN HORROR FILMS AS THE USE OF GENDER ROLES USUALLY DETERMINES WHO IS A VICTIM, HERO AND ANTAGONIST.

CONSIDERING THE IDEA THAT MOST FEMALES ARE LESS MUSCULAR AND PHYSICALLY STRONGER THAN MALES ALONG WITH OTHER IDEAS PUT THEM IN THE ROLE IN THE NARRATIVE AS THE VICTIM. THIS IS BECAUSE THEIR LACK OF STRENGTH MAKES THEM VULNERABLE AND MEANS THAT THEY CANT PROTECT THEMSELVES.

Scream Victim

That One Night Victim

Nightmare On Elm Street Victim

The character of Ruth conventional to a thriller character because of the gender

and also the age of the character (a young girl cant protect herself.)

FURTHER CONVENTIONS (LIGHTING)

Use of lighting used to identify the use of iconography. (Red flash of

light on the knife represents it was used for harmful purposes.)

Sin City use of colour and lighting to make blood stand out.

The use of lighting in this thriller was conventional as it was used to connote the idea of the iconography used in the thriller and justify it’s meaning in the film. This is used in the black out scene after Amani kills his sister Ruth and there is a brief freeze frame displaying the knife in a dark background with a red glow along the Blade of the knife (red glow of the blood on the knife.) This is similarly used in ‘Sin City’, a film which has a 80’s comic book/strip theme which has a consistent black background and only uses other colours such as red and white.

We also used lighting as a method to manipulate the mood of scenes to affect the viewer. (Dark lighting used to represent the darkness of a character.) Which is also similar to sin city and how they represent all characters as dark and sinful.

FURTHER CONVENTIONS (SETTING)

THE SETTINGS USED IN MY THRILLER WAS CONVENTIONAL AS THE SETTINGS IN THRILLERS ARE OFTEN USED TO KEEP THE VIEWER ON EDGE IN ORDER TO GIVE THEM A THRILLING EXPERIENCE. WE DECIDED TO KEEP BOTH OF OUR LOCATIONS FOR OUR SCENES ORIGINAL TO THRILLERS AS THEY ARE FOUND AS RELATABLE TOWARDS THE AUDIENCE WHICH CAN HELP THEM TO FEEL MORE OF A CONNECTION TOWARDS THE SITUATIONS IN THE NARRATIVE.

That One Night House Scene

Scream House Scene

Using a house in a thriller scene is seen as conventional because it is as a setting that can best create fear. This is because a house (place of someone's living) is where people would feel most safe. So in horror films when a characters house and initial safety is breached through relation the audience would too feel that their house can also be broken into which detaches the idea of safety when being at home. A film best known for doing this would be Scream, when the masked killer attacks people in their own place of residence.

Blackout scenes in Thrillers are used to shift the mood of the film and the viewers because it can be used to create a darker depiction of a character and reveal a more sinister side. This is used in our thriller when we are introduced to the split personality of Amani.

Black out Scene In That One Night

CONVENTIONS OF TARGET AUDIENCE

DURING THE STAGES OF RESEARCH BEFORE PLANNING OUT THE IDEA OF WHAT WE WOULD MAKE A THRILLER ABOUT WE CREATED A QUESTIONNAIRE WHICH ASKED THE VIEWERS ABOUT CONVENTIONS AND WHAT THEY LIKE IN A THRILLER MOVIE. THIS IS GOOD BECAUSE WE GOT TO FIND OUT ABOUT THE SPECIFIC CONVENTIONS THAT THE VIEWERS BEST LIKED AND WANTED TO SEE IN A THRILLER.