Question1- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Question1- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

I constantly looked to develop the generic conventions of the thriller genre within my media project in order to replicate the effects created through the use of these conventions in the hope of achieving the same success of the films that used these conventions in a similar if not identical way. 

The most frequent convention associated with the thriller genre is that of a female victim. This convention is generally used to elevate the level of vulnerability portrayed by the victim, as females are considered more submissive and weak as apposed to men. The more the audience perceive the victim to be vulnerable the greater the relationship between audience and character. So when the victim is being stalked all effects are heightened such as tension when she is hiding from the antagonist, as the audience feel more involved with the characters and what they are feeling. A popular example of a thriller film with a female victim would be ‘Taken’ where a former CIA operative’s daughter is kidnapped and trafficked into the world of sexual slavery. The use of a female victim within this film (the kidnapped daughter) helps to elevate the effect of vulnerability that comes with the thriller convention of a female victim as a young female (a image of which can be seen on the right) are weaker and therefore easier targets for traffickers. Which creates allot of tension and suspense within the narrative as the CIA operative has less time to get to her and save her.

I used the convention of a female victim in my thriller opening in the hopes to achieve the desired effects of vulnerability and therefore increase the tension and suspense the audience feel as a result as they begin to build a relationship with the female victim, building the sympathy they feel towards her. An example of which would be the high angle shot used at 2:10 as it is vary effective in perceiving the female victim in a much more vulnerable way as the high angle shot portrays our female in a way that makes her appear small and helpless. The female victim is also blonde and tied up in the ‘shed’ leaving her helpless building on the idea of vulnerability that the thriller convention of female victim possesses. The quotations of a blonde female victim make the female victim appear more pure, beautiful and innocent and therefore more vulnerable to antagonists. Taking inspiration from popular thriller films such as ‘Psycho’ by respected Thriller director Alfred Hitchcock the thought a blonde female in particular was an essential within our narrative as when used in generic thriller films in was effective in conveying the themes of tension and suspense which make a thriller film so effective.

The next generic convention of a thriller film is a masked antagonist. This is commonly used to represent how anybody could potentially be the killer created an atmosphere of mystery. This mystery in turn makes the thriller more effective in portraying the conventional effects of tension and suspense as we as an audience an afraid of the unknown. However the way in which the antagonist conceals his identity within a film is detrimental to the effect they are looking to covey. An example of a thriller film in which this example is used would be ‘Scream’. The ghostly mask seen on the right connotes characteristics of stealth and death within the antagonist and therefore increases suspense, as the audience are unaware of when and where he will strike from.

Contrasting the Scream mask would be clowns mask in the film ‘IT’ which can also be seen to the right. This is contrapuntal as a clown is suppose to signify happiness and laughter however in this thriller it has be used to produce more sinister effects such as fear as a clown is a common relatable childhood fear.

I have followed this convention within my thriller opening through the use of concealing the antagonist with a mask that can be seen bellow. As a group we agreed that the clown mask in ‘IT’ was scary and the contrapuntal effect was one that we hope to replicate in some way into our work. The antagonist’s identity being concealed also enhanced suspense and tension as it creates an enigma. Viewers are unaware of who the killer is and so they continue to guess who it is throughout the film keeping them enthralled in the narrative. I was always looking to make my themes relatable to thriller conventions such as hidden identity as the thriller conventions create the effects that all successful thriller have, tension, suspense and fear.

 My thriller film shows massive similarities to ‘Halloween’. They both share the same general conventions as I took massive inspiration from it as I identified it as a generic thriller film, one if which that defined the thriller genre. One of which was a female victim. The female victim used within Halloweens opening is naked suggesting that she is defenceless to the antagonists attack. Although we could not replicate this idea into my work as I thought nudity was inappropriate for my target audience of young teens and I wanted to maintain an age certificate of 15, so I looked for other ways I could make the female victim appear more vulnerable and I used a blonde female victim to do this. This effect was also used within Halloweens opening.

The POV effect that was utilized by both my thriller opening and Halloween. This shot makes the film feel more realistic and insights more fear as the viewers become increasingly aware that anyone is capable of murder. This particular camera shot is relatable to the thriller genre as it creates tension through seeing the murder through the killer’s eyes and tension is what thrillers always look to achieve in the filming

Angles are also a significant point of comparison within both works. Different camera angles help to create different effects and make the film feel more dynamic. For example a high angle shot is used within the opening to adopt the convention of vulnerability and portray the female victim in a more vulnerable way. This then creates a relationship between the audience and character on screen. Helping build more suspense as it is furthering the audience's ideas of the characters feelings/emotions making them feel more sympathy for her. Their uses within Halloween make the film feel more real and believable, helping the audience to build a relationship with the characters on screen, as does my thriller opening.

I would argue that my thriller film is that of a conventional one as throught planning as well as production I constantly looked to use inspiration taken from other conventional thriller films such as Halloween. An example of this would be from point 1:21 to point 1:36 during my thriller film as the point of view shot is similar to that of Halloweens, (see image bellow).

I hoped to replicate the tension taking inspiration from Halloween, as I found that a POV shot on the antagonist, particularly when watching the victim, was really effective in making the audience feel uneasy, as if they where being watched themselves and therefore increase the suspense within the film. Similarly I used iconography in the form of a knife to elevate the sense to vulnerability on top of the antagonist watching the victim. Therefore I would argue that I was able to make my thriller opening conventional through researching and taking ideas and conventions from previously successful films in the thriller genre.