In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Our media product is a thriller opening sequence, so in order to create our own product we had to analyse and research typical conventions found in a thriller movies opening sequence...
Sound: The non-diegetic music we had playing in the background of our opening fits in well with the typical convention. Usually, music played in a thriller includes high pitched sounds and clashing notes, which are both aspects of our piece used. As well as this, some soundtracks are used as they resemble the tune of a child's nursery rhyme, and again our soundtrack does the same as it is repetitive. This could perceived as a way of exaggerating the characters repeated actions (of killing and applying make-up) or to show that the girl is deranged and psychotic at such a young age.
(nursery rhyme used to create tension and suspense in 'A Nightmare on Elm Street')
Narrative: Unlike the sounds used in our opening titles, I personally think that the narrative for this film isn't a conventional storyline (or at least isn't from a typical perspective). Yes, there are many conventions in the story line, - for example the killer being driven by jealousy and attention from the opposite sex (both shown in the movie 'Orphan') - the point of view this movie is shown from isn't typical of a thriller movie. If we were to stick to 'Orphan', though our storyline is slightly similar to this films, the point of view is not of the killer (like in ours) .
Although this may lead to the audience creating a 'soft spot' for the killer in our movie - instead of focusing on hoping that the girls being targeted stay alive - this will give anotheroutlook on the story, hopefully showing why the murderer is killing people, rather then just who she is killing. Hopefully, this will then lead to killer becoming someone the audience want to help, rather than just be afraid of - which will then lead to the character and movie being on the viewers minds, even after the film has ended.
Above: camera seen to be trying to pry into killer's life. Wide shot used.
(Taken from 'Orphan')
Below: camera involved in killer's life. Point of view shot is used.
(Taken from our film)
Audience Pleasures: Though it is hard to add a range of audience pleasures within the first 2 minutes of a film (for example, it cannot be said at this stage if the audience will be confused and left in the dark about the characters until the end of movie), we have tried to add as many conventional audience pleasures as possible, while still keeping to the group aim of seeing this from the killer's perspective.
One way this has been done is through the use of lighting. The movie is from the murder's point of view, but we have still made the opening hide the characters identity, making her seem like an ambiguous and interesting character. We are a part of her life (as we see her den/dark room from her perspective), but we still know little about the character (as if the character herself knows little about her own personality and hobbies, and her life only entails killing others).
Another way we have tried to create pleasure for the audience is through tension. Right at the end of the clip, the screen goes black but the soundtrack playing still remains. By the sound continuing, it creates suspense for the audience as they automatically feel that something is lurking in the darkness of the screen, or that someone is in danger. The sound acts as the killer's soundtrack, so the audience feel that they can hear the killer, but cannot see her.
Iconography: There is a lot of iconography used in our opening sequence as we have tried to hide our characters identity by showing the objects in her den/dark room rather then the character herself. A popular choice of iconography used in thriller movies is a scrapbook, and this is no exception in our movie...
Scrapbook used in 'Se7en'
Scrapbook used in 'A Night At The Dance' (our film)
To make our killer look obsessed with her victims, we tried to also include as many shots of photography equipment as possible in our opening. To do this, we had shots of her developing photos, a chain of drying photos, and a shot of a camera (shown below).
In this shot we also had an image of a tiara to show the characters main goal (to be prom queen). By having the tiara and camera shown together in this shot, it suggests that the camera is needed - as in she needs to stalk her victims - in order to achieve her goal.
We did have many typical objects/iconography in our piece, but didn't have one of the most popular and conventional iconography - we didn't have any weapons. This was purposely done so that the audience do not know how the murderer kills her victims. It is assumed by the audience that a female character who is obsessed with her physical appearance wouldn't be the best at planning a murder, so by having no signs of how she kills her victims - only proof through her photos - keeps the audience in the dark, which makes her seem more powerful (as she knows something the audience doesn't).
Editing: The only editing we have used in this piece that is conventional of other thrillers is the use of slow paced editing and the use of slow motion. By having shots stay on screen for such a long time (shots being 4 seconds long on average), it gives the viewer a chance to register what is being shown on screen (as it can be quite hard to see what things are in the lighting used), but it also creates suspense for the audience - as when things are calm in a shot, it automatically makes the audience feel that the next scene will have something shocking in it.
Mise-en-scene: Shadow and light is a popular choice used in thrillers, and was used throughout our whole opening sequence. I really like how shadow and light was used in our piece as the black room lightened by the red tint added to the suspense that the shots and the music created. Out of all the features to our piece, my favourite feature is the shadow and light made in the dark room. We began our piece hoping to use a black and white tint on our shots, but after coincidentally finding red tints, we decided that this creating an even more tense atmosphere (and now I couldn't imagine the opening without it). The shadow and light used in our piece not only hides that the setting of our plot is in a school darkroom, but it also helps to hide the main characters identity and forces the audience to focus on what is being shown on screen (rather than the shots being shown easily on screen and not being taken in by the viewer).
Shadow and light used in 'Sin City'
Shadow and light used in our film opening
Another conventional aspect of a thrillers mise-en-scene is to have the setting in a isolated place - which we have also done. The dark room in our school is already quite a small area to film the whole of an opening sequence in, but seems even smaller when the dark room is shot is low-key lighting. This again makes the audience feel uneasy, as it creates a claustrophobic atmosphere for the viewer.
Shot taken from 'The Birds' - scene shot is small and claustrophobic hallway
Camera: The camera shots used in our thriller have been mainly used either to hide identity, or focus the audiences attention onto a certain detail on screen, and these are both typically used in thrillers.
Here is an example from the movie 'The Box'. In this scene there is a car screeching past making a lot of noise, but the camera is telling us to focus on the box that has been left on the porch by the driver - instead of focusing on the drivers identity and appearance.
We have also used point of view shots so that the audience can relate to the characters better. Again -sticking with 'The Box' - the audience is forced to be in the main characters shoes by showing a point of view shot of what she can see through the peep hole. We have done the same (as shown below) by forcing the audience to see what the killer is looking at...
Characters: Again, the characters used in our piece are all conventional of a thriller opening. Our main character for example has a psychological illness and intrigues/attracts the audiences attention by having a hidden identity (the camera never shows the characters full face, or when it does it is in a dim lighting). The characters seen in the scrapbook also have conventional characteristics as they are all attractive females, which makes the audience assume that they are victims/ easy targets for the killer, and therefore damsels in distress.
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