EVALUATION – QUESTION ONE

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

My Product Typical Thriller/Horror Conventions

My Production – use, develop or challenge?

Comparison to Existing Products

Titling – colour, font and style

Usually colours that are traditionally associated with evil or mysteries are used such as black or red. The font usually relates to the film for example in Psycho the font is distorted and twisted which relates to the psychological problems of the character in the film.

In our film we used the idea of a child’s handwriting to subtly give the impression of innocence meanwhile the contents of the film is quite dark and twisted.

In Se7en the font of the titling is a persons handwriting which makes it feel a lot more personal and especially with it over the titling sequence shots it makes the audience feel quite uncomfortable.

Camera Movement- pan, track, crab, crane

Often in thriller/horror films establishing shots are used, this is a pan of a setting which lets the audience understand the setting of the film. Camera movement may also be quite shaky for some films as if it’s being filmed by a handheld camera which gives the effect of a more scary personal film.

We decided to challenge the traditional ways of opening a film and instead jump straight into the first shot however with transitions which makes it calmer to go with the non-diegetic sound.

Similar to “The Butterfly Effect” which opens quite abruptly we decided to start our opening two minutes like this, it can cause confusion however traditionally later on in the film this confusion is often resolved when the plot is explained, which was the idea of our film.

Framing a shotECU, CU, MS, LS, ELS

Typically thrillers use a mixture of framing shots, close ups are used to make the audience feel uncomfortable, extreme close ups may focus on specific objects or emotions. Extreme long shots focus on settings and may be used in different styles such as Psycho which takes a long shot and gradually focuses to an apartment which is quite discomforting for the audience.

We used a variation of framing shots however didn’t challenge the conventional methods of using these shots. There’s a variation of close ups medium shots and long shots. The most effective shot is the close up of the girls face at the end of the clip. It allows the audience to focus on characters face which looks quite evil and intrusive as if she’s staring straight into the audience.

In ‘Secret Window’ a mixture of all these framing shots are used to portray the emotions and also importance of actions or emotions. Important shots may use ECU whereas less important shots may use LS however LS can also be important for example when looking at an establishing shot, this can sometimes tell us a lot about the film for example in ‘Panic Room’ which uses a busy city – this suggests wealth.

Camera AngleHigh, Low

Typically high and low angles are used to present power or higher social status. In horrors the victims will usually be lower (high angle) then the villain/murderer who will be shot from a low angle to show them towering over the camera and presenting them as superior. This is used the same way in thrillers.

We used a high angle when shooting the empty cot – this shows the possible vulnerability of the baby and children in the film.

Secret Window uses a low angle shot to show the power that the character

has at that point in time.

Mise-en-Scene Conventions of a thriller when looking at mise-en-scene include editing, costume, lighting, position/character movement, and facial expressions. Commonly costumes for the typical ‘bad character’ will be quite dark i.e. black and red which denote evil. And its opposite (the good) is usually in bright pure colours such as white.Low-key lighting is a connotation of evil, whereas higher levels of lighting can denote the good character.

In our film we didn’t consider low key lighting because we didn’t want to give away who was good and who was bad straight away, however the facial expression of the girl at the end tells the audience straight away that she has a very malicious side to her. We used dark coloured clothes i.e. black jumpers etc. for the girl as a connotation for evil, we also gave her quite pale make-up to give her a much more chilling look.

Secret Window uses typical mise-en-scene methods to show characters good or bad side, for example shot of Johnny Depp near the end where he is dressed in dark clothing and low key lighting is used. The effect of the shadow adds to the sinister and strange aspect of the film.

Editing – jump cuts, match cuts, reverse shots, cutting rhythm

Traditionally thrillers use a lot of jump cuts, reverse cuts, match cuts and the cutting rhythm can vary depending on the pace of the film at that time. A fast pace and fast cutting rhythm might be used for the ending of the film where the problem is resolved or in a chase scene such as se7en when they’re chasing the villain.

In our film we challenged this traditional method and instead we used a slow cutting rhythm to match the non-diegetic sound of the lullaby in the background. The jump cuts are used un sudden parts of the movie such as the ending where the girl is collecting images of little boys and the ending shot of the close up on her face.

In the Se7en chase scene a fast cutting rhythm is used and a lot of jump cuts and match cuts are also used to help the audience quickly understand unexplained sounds such as gunshots or doors slamming.

Sound The sound in a film is very important typically in thrillers there’s non-diegetic sound which subtly tells the audience something about the scene, usually thrillers use quite mysterious music in the opening sequence of

In our film we challenged the typical convention of sound in thrillers by using a lullaby, which is very innocent whereas the film itself isn’t. This juxtaposition is very effective especially because we use children

In Se7en, The Butterfly Effect, Secret Window, Taxi Driver, and Panic Room they all have their own non diegetic sound for the title sequence, however none of them use a lullaby to present innocence while maintaining the creepy plot.

the film. in our thriller and the main character is a young person who’s victims are babies.

Narrative Theory Traditionally binary opposites such as good and evil are always apparent in thrillers, there’s usually an enigma code – a murderers identity is left unknown until the end of the film - this leaves the audience questioning who the murderer is.Sometimes thrillers also have an equilibrium, which is disrupted and then resolved, at the end of the film.

In our film we challenged the convention of Barthes enigma code theory, instead we revealed who the villain was at the start of the movie near the end of the opening 2 minutes. We used the equilibrium idea, which is resolved and returned to the original equilibrium.

Se7en uses the traditional idea of Barthes enigma code by revealing the bad character and keeping their identity hidden until the typical ‘good guy’ solves the mystery and finds out who it is. However in our film we reveal the bad character in the beginning which makes our film more about ‘is she going to get caught?’ and ‘what happens next?’