Evaluation Question 1

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

Number 1.- 

The first image shows an over the shoulder shot. Such shot is used to allow the audience to focus on the facial expressions of one character in a certain scene; in this example it is clear that the character is irritated after the person, behind who the camera is, tells him something. It represents the character as someone easily angered, therefore sends a message to the audience that he is not someone to be messed with. In our media product, The Forest, we use similar shot type to express the facial expression of a certain character to represent him in a specific way.

 

In the above image, the investigator has a worried facial expression, therefore the audience aged 16-24 will be surprised about the fact that a police investigator is of similar ethinicity to them and, moreover, is worried about the victim. This would be caused because the media has injected different audiences with information that the black community will be unlikely to be in the law enforcement. We chose to break this stereotype because the younger generation is less likely to be segmenting different races into their stereotypical role, therefore will be more engaged with the movie as they will be able to see themselves as one of the characters.

Number 2.-

The freshly created movie "Split" has used lighting to represent the same person as different characters. In the example given half of the face of Hedwig, one of twenty-three personalities, is enlighted more than the other. Unsurprisingly, this has been done to create a specific effect. It represents the character as friendly and pure(bright side of the face) and at the same time it foreshadows that the character might not be who the audience thinks. This is a common convention in thriller movies because it allows the director to keep the audience on the edge of their seat as they will not know who to trust and who not to trust.

We have chosen to use this technique similarly to the big blockbuster thriller movies such as Split because lighting works more subconciously on the audience than anything else. Due to the fact that audiences such as males aged 18 who watch a lot of horrors or thrillers have previously seen the half-shadowed faces, they will subconciously reference our movie with a different movie such as Split. This will be extremely effective because such movie has grossed a lot of profit, therefore being similar to it is a guaranteed success.

Number 3.-

Extreme close ups have been a huge convention of thriller movies throughout the years due to their magnificent effect that has clear message or meaning: "This is important!" The movie Se7en has used an extreme close up on the razor blade so the audience can infer that within the movie there will be a lot of pathological violence.

This shot shows an extreme close up of the eyes of the main character which follows the convention of extreme close ups in thrillers. This has been done because teenagers aged 15 might not be able to infer the fact that the person sitting in the room is worried or scared, therefore it also has a clear message: "The situation is serious." Moreover, this is a way of simplifying the product to the youngest target audience so that they will be able to enjoy the movie as much as anyone else, which will enable us to generate higher profits.

Number 4.-

In many thriller movies such as Don't Breathe a big convention is mystery, this is usually created through the use of a shot where a camera is behind an object, making it seem as if the audience were there and were hiding too. 

This convention has been followed in our media product as it is an amazing way of making the audience feel that the movie is interactive which will appeal to all social classes and areas of the United Kingdom because everyone enjoys to feel as if they were inside the movie. This is a good way of replacing the fact that the movie will not be released in theaters in 3D, however it also allows all audiences to share the same experience which they will talk about, generating free marketing through the word of mouth which is crucial for a low budget movie like ours.

Number 5.-

In any thriller where there is an investigation it is impossible to miss out on the convention of brutal stereotypes, which somehow appeal to a certain target audience. In the image number five, the convention has been broken as the black protagonist is at the same or higher hierarchical level, they both wear suits and are walking shoulder to shoulder, implying they are equals. This is breaking the convention of the African ethnicities not being able to work for the law enforcement because they are usually represented as gang members.

We have followed the lead of Morgan Freeman's role and decided to make our investigator, who is from the Bangladesh ethnicity, wear a professional suit and a hat which completely breaks the stereotype and convention of the minoritiy people being the rebels and gangsters. This will highly appeal to the part of the audience who are 18-24 because at this age they will realise that what the media injects them with is absolutely not what reality is, making our product appealing to those who have realised that the "hypodermic needle" is not what they should follow.

Number 6.-

The idea of the "defenceless girl" has been around in many different genres such as thriller or horror, an example of this is within Paranormal Activity 4 where the blonde character is all alone in her room where something bad is bound to happen, however the audience know it making them more engaged.

One of the conventions that we have followed was that we chose our actress to walk in the middle of the forest, alone and in the dark when there is a killer on the loose. It gives the audience the idea that she is the stereotypical "defenceless girl". This, however gives our movie a spice of horror which widens our target audience which ultimately will bring higher revenues as more people will be willing to watch the movie.

Number 7.-

Some may wonder why the huge rivals, Batman and Joker, are sitting in the same room? A few thriller movies such as Batman use this convention to create a fake sense of safety or to create an enigma; the fact that two of the rivals are in the same location at the same time makes the audience wonder why and what will happen.

We have decided to follow this convention because it has allowed us to create an enormous enigma: "What will happen next?" It is one of the most used cliff hanger enigmas and is so popular because it makes the audience want to watch the full movie. This will ultimately persuade more audiences to watch the movie in cinemas which will generate higher profits for us.

Number 8.-

Phones and phonecalls have been often used to represent uncertainty and suspense in thriller movies just like in the movie Phone Booth(2002). The phone has connotation of bad news in thrillers due to the fact that every time the viewer sees the phone, they can be almost certain that something bad has or will happen, for example the famous quote "I will find you..." from the movie Taken has been transmitted through a phone, making it a unique convention of thrillers.

This convention has been followed by out product because it has allowed us to create a very short enigma within the opening sequence, therefore there will be a build up of suspense and then, as the audience might expect, bad news: "They're dead." This will appeal to audiences who enjoy to be kept on the edge of their seat every moment of the movie. 

Number 9.-

Specific production company logos are used depending on the type of movie that is being produced. For example, in the movie Inception the Warner Brothers logo has a somewhat visible maze inside of it which represents what the movie has in store for the audience. It is a good way of preparing the audience to know what happens within a movie, however it is not what we wanted to do with our media product.

Our media product challenges this idea as we have a production logo which does not give anything away- a burning candle. This creates enigmas from the beginning of the movie as the audience will be wondering what will happen as a candle has connotations of death if burned out or suspense. This makes our movie more suspensful and more appealing to all audiences who enjoy thrillers.