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

Evaluation - Question 1

I have chosen to talk about a couple of particular frames from my film opening that portrayed and challenged the generic conventions of thriller films. 

Flashbacks:

We chose to use the flash back stereotype which is used within a thriller movie. They are used to create a feeling of space and time disorientation , this therefore creates a feeling of confusion within the audience.  The reason we chose to use this convention is due to the message and effect that comes across with it. It displays what has happened in the past, which could emphasis why the characters are in the situation they are presently. By having a flashback it overall provides the audience with an insight into the characters past and provides the viewer with info ration they need to understand.

The placing of the flashback within the opening scene to our thriller film was incorporated in to provide the audience with answers for how she was kidnapped in the first place, our flashback was used within a thrilling scene that was cut right before her friends got to rescue the victim. Although it wasn't a flashback that went years back it still indicates and providers the a audience with answers, and filled in any gaps that weren't previously answered.

A thriller film that influenced us to use flashbacks  within out seized film opening was 'The Butterfly Effect' - flashbacks are used within this film to show a glimpse of the backstory of the film , by showing fragments of the story it allow the audience to piece together what it actually going on, much like a piecing al the parts to a puzzle together. Therefore within out storyline we chose to incorporate this flashback idea so that we could keep with the thriller genre that a flashback upholds, and the mystery behind solving a puzzle that a flashback 

Lighting:

Low key lighting is a convention that we chose to stick with throughout the filming process, Dim lighting is used within certain scenes in a thriller movie. This type of convention ties in with shadows, within our film we chose to use little lighting when filming the the garage kidnapping scene, this allowed us to pick up on a  majority of different shadows .We chose to stick with a conventional thriller as shadows were used within our storyline to represent the inner darkness and evil that we wanted to emphasises the kidnapper to have. This print screen from our movie shows the eeriness and increase of tension that having shadows creates for the film.









Camera work and editing:

The most typical shot used in thriller films seems to be the close up, greatly used in both films Se7en and Kill Bill , by ding this it builds up suspense and mystery in the beginning which is what we wanted to incorporate in our opening, therefore we kept with this thriller convention. 

To create an interesting and effective thriller opening, we made sure to include a variety of different camera angles , the most commonly used shots were medium an long shots ,this was to show the location surroundings the film was set around and the costumes used which separated the victims and kidnapper. We also included close up's although not as many of these shots were included we did find that using a close up was our best way to represent the facial feature for the person speaking especially during the phone call conversation.
When it came down to editing we stuck with the fast cuts and editing like we had scene in previous thriller films , such as 'inceptions' opening fighting scene. By placing transitions on parts that we wanted to represent there being a time different or a change in the location . The editing is cut quick and begins to increase in speed along with the non-digetic sound incorporated into the film as well. The speed of the cuts gets progressively faster to emphasise the tension that is being built up as the characters rush through the house to save their friend.

A point of view shot that we used is conventional within a thriller movie, although we only used one point of view shot we still found that it was necessary to have , the reason for this is because it puts the audience into the characters shoes.  The jutting and shaking of the camera represented the panic that was going through the kidnapper and being reflected within the cameras movement.  Something that this type of shot allows you to do is add heathy breathing during the editing stage,by doing this it adds to the suspense and tension which is being created in this scene. Another thing which can be incorporated into t appoint of view shot when editing is footsteps, stereotypically you can hear shuffling of feet and sometimes the body language and emotion can be highlighted through someones walking paste.





silence of the lambs pov shot

The silence of the lambs was where we became inspired to use a POV shot in our opening.   Within this scene they used the camera to represent the girl looking into the jail cage. Afterwards the camera cuts to an other the shoulder shot of the boy looking directly at the women. This is something that we chose to incorporate into our film, the use of an over the shoulder shot gives the illusion and perspective that the audience are within the scene swell. So by using the POV and over the should shot together creates an interesting and feel of the audience being at the location swell.

We stuck with the convention of using a typical low camera angle shot, of the girl (victim) looking up at the kidnapper who stands tall and very serious informant of her. This  type of angle is used to portray the victim to be vulnerable and innocence with a very weak status compared to the kidnapper. This there for emphasises that the victim had a much lower status compared to the kidnapper.


Film Title
This next frame I have chosen to talk about is how our film incorporates conventions in the film title. The title of a film plays an important role of providing the audience with a teaser of the storyline without revealing too much of the plot. Therefore as a group we chose the name 'Seized' we tried placing the title on a backdrop but didn't think it was as effective and was against this idea, it cut away the tension which we was trying to build up to the title name appearing. Therefore we agree on placing the tittle overlaying the film as it continued to play. Placing the name above the kidnapper shoulder and entering with a ding drop sound with a transition of the text forming into one.