1) In what way does your media product use, develop and challenge forms and conventions of real media products, e.g. existing films, hybrid?

The media product we have created is in the ‘thriller’ genre which is ’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.’ (source: http://thescriptlab.com/screenplay/genre/thriller) .Our media product revolves around classic conventions inspired by real media products such as ‘Se7en’, a thriller starring Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman. We were inspired by Se7en due to its very original opening sequence with a long line of close-ups of the anonymous Antagonist, and detailed close-ups of props including books, papers etc. Before filming, we composed a list of conventions and props in which we would like to include as the centrepiece to our product. This included:

Colleague of Se7en- shows some key props

-          Cameras – makes audience think ‘what is on the camera?’ and ‘why is he taking photos?’

-          Laptop – raises the question of ‘what is on the laptop?’

-          Messy room – suggests the Antagonist is losing the plot

-          Antagonist close ups- reveals the identity of the mad-man, makes the audience now when this face appears, danger is in the offing

-          Prop close-ups – to highlight the importance of the props to the product

-          Voodoo doll- shows the ambition and want of the antagonist (bloodlust), as well as creating suspense and a sense of intimidation.

However, since the progression of our media product from the rough cut to the final piece, there has been a slow change in the choice of conventions. Originally, we had used the Protagonist (Laura) scarf as a main enigma code by placing it upon a barbed wire- which has a connotation of imprisonment and danger, due to the sharp aesthetics of the wire. Nevertheless, after reanalysing the rough cut and getting feedback from our class and other media students we felt that there was a great deal of work needed to develop and improve our product. First of all, prior to the making of our product we as a group concluded that our conventions needed developing, and decided to also implement more props and enigma codes, whilst footage of Laura walking was slowly eliminated as it seemed irrelevant and didn’t suit the purpose of our product: to thrill. Consequently, we decided to compile a new list of conventions. We decided to keep the camera as a prop as it made the audience query what the Antagonist may be using it for/have on it, the messy room was to be used more as it created an element of madness, however we decided that the main convention of our product should be close-ups of the Antagonist and Protagonist. We believed that the convention of the close-ups (similar to Se7en), possibly overlaying for the audience to establish the link of danger, would be very effective.

We feel that our development of props, enigma codes in the form of conventions has made our production far more effective and successful, as we feel it has achieved its main purposes: to thrill and produce clear, precise titles. Each and every convention employed has a purpose behind it from props to the titles used, which reflect the type of product our film is…a crime/thriller.  A crime/thriller is a thriller hybrid which combines an element of crime such as murder, theft as a centrepiece of it but an element of thrill is added in to create suspense and make the film seem much more dramatic. Our product revolves around the criminal activity of the Antagonist and death of the Protagonist Laura (with more to follow in the rest of the film), therefore our film easily fits into the category of the crime thriller hybrid.  With the murder of Laura depicted within the opening sequence it is clear that our product is a crime thriller hybrid. Furthermore, the merge of two genres into one means that we can broaden our audience as some people may prefer crime to thriller (vice versa), but our product enables to compliment both genres. Each prop, title and camera shot reflects the crime thriller hybrid of our product. The conventions we have assembled have reflected the crime element in our thriller.