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

Crime Our thriller is based around a mass murdering, so we used the convention of crime. At the beginning, we did this by giving hints to the audience that the character shown is a murder. This was done by showing objects that could be used to kill somebody throughout the credits and the colouring-in of the faces of the victims on the wall- almost like a check list. All the objects chosen were on purpose, as they can be everyday household objects. This was done to frighten the audience, as they are more familiar with these objects than they would be with a prop like a gun, it might make them worry that absolutely anyone could get hold of these weapons used. All of the objects are also framed in the picture so they take up a lot of the room. This is to show their significance in the movie.

Framing of Shots The framing of our shots, especially on the weapons, were close up. Used in films like ‘se7en’ and ‘Kill Bill’, this was done to show these objects significance. They also help to build mystery and suspense. As these objects were shown so closely, the audience raise enigmas like: ‘what will these objects be used for?’ ‘who will using these objects?’ and ‘who will these objects be used on?”

Mistaken Identity / Doubling / Amnesia The first way our thriller shows mistaken identity is through the pictures on the wall. Some of the pictures have pen coloured over their faces. This is to hint to the audience that these people are now non-existent. This is backed up by our flashbacks. They are low in saturation, blurry and dark to show they are a flashback, but also to hide the identity of the people in them. The flashbacks also link to the theme of amnesia. It shows the antagonist figuring out the past for himself, as he cannot remember. The audience also has this ‘Amnesia’ feel, as they have to use all the hints given to work out the current storyline. All of these develop the overall theme.

Protagonist has an ‘Achilles Heel’, exploited by the antagonist– Usually the title of the film. In our thriller we put a twist on this. An Achilles heel is a weakness. ‘Mnemophbia’ means ‘the fear of memories’, but in this case, the one who has the memories is the antagonist. The antagonist then uses his memories against the protagonist, therefore the protagonists weakness is not knowing what the antagonist has remembered. This is how we are developing this convention in our thriller.

Suspense Through using microelements, we help to build suspense in our thriller. The best example of this in our thriller is using the two knifes, and scraping them together. This creates a very high pitched sound that is very unpleasant to listen to and we found it makes people cringe and feel uncomfortable. This, mixed with the music in the background makes the audience fear about what will happen with the knifes. They are in the centre of the frame all the time as the camera moves down slowly to follow them. This lets the audience know they will play a key role in the movie.

Optical Illusions We create optical illusions through use of shadows. We did this by having a light source on an object and walking past slowly. The audience cannot see what is going on, who is there etc. This means they start to guess and try to figure out what the antagonist may be doing. The audience immediately assumes the worst, even though it may not be.