In what way does my media product use, develop and challenge conventions?

My thriller opening challenges conventions as well as use conventions. An example of my opening using conventions is the fact that the victim is female, which is very common in thrillers, for example, the film "Night and Day" consists of a female victim and male hero.

However I did go against conventions in some ways, as my film did not feature any hero at all. this is unusual as there is usually a battle between a protagonist and antagonist when there is disruption of the equilibrium, but in my thriller, the main character is battling herself as this is a psychological thriller.


I also challenged conventions by including a female lead which is uncommon in thrillers.

The shots/ camera angles I chose in my thriller piece use some conventions of thrillers, for example the last shot of my thriller (the low camera angle shot) was inspired by a scene from the film "What Lies Beneath." Although this shot is a low angle shot which usually implies that a character is in charge, it has the opposite effect in both my thriller and "What Lies Beneath" and shows that the character feels uncomfortable and scared.

The music I used in my thriller uses conventions of thrillers as it creates tension because of its slow- slightly off key tune. The strings at the end of the opening also emphasizes the anxiety that the character is feeling. similar music is used in other psychological thrillers such as shutter island.

This character and the character from my thriller are similar in many ways, for example they both lack confidence in themselves and are introverts, these characters are also both psychologically disturbed hence being the main characters in psychological thrillers. Both Nina Sayers and the main character from my thriller are very paranoid for no apparent reason.

I chose this shot to highlight to the audience the importance of the phone. I also thought this shot looked interesting as and conveyed the characters feeling (unsettled) by the awkwardness of the shot and the fact that the characters head isn't in the shot. This shot also creates tension by hiding the characters expression.




I chose this shot to convey how my character is feeling (disorientated) it also creates tension and mystery as the shot is not steady.
An example of a similar shot to this is in the "Bourn" films, where it was used to exaggerate the hectic situation.

How does my thriller represent certain social groups?

The only Character in my thriller opening is a female character who is between the ages of 26 and 34 and is also from a middle class background. This is a typical character choice seeing as she is nothing out of the ordinary apart from her mental health issues. My character is also represented as a victim which is again typical for a female character and does not challenge any conventions, furthermore the audience is led to believe that they already know everything about her because of her social status. My character is also represented as mentally ill which may be seen as atypical however, it is thought that females are more likely to suffer from mental illnesses.

What film company might distribute your film?

The production company that I believe will be best to produce my film is DNA films as it is a British film company that have produced films such as;

• Far From the Madding Crowd (2014)
• Ex Machina (2014)
• Sunshine on Leith (2013)
• Dredd (2012) (co-production with IM Global, Lionsgate, Reliance BIG Pictures, IMAX and Entertainment Film Distributors)
• Never Let Me Go (2010)
• Shooting Someone (2009)
• Amelia (2009) (co-production with Fox Searchlight Pictures, BBC Films, and UK Film Council)
• 28 Weeks Later (2007)
• Sunshine (2007)
• The Last King of Scotland (2006)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     These films are also all an independent, low budget films and most are for example"28weeks later"                                                                                                                                     DNA Films was founded by Duncan Kenworthy and Andrew Macdonald and its headquarters are in London.  I feel the this production company will be suitable for my thriller. Also the actors used in the films produced by this film company do not tend to be well known which would make this company even more suitable for my film.                                                                                                                                                                                                 The distribution company I would use for my film would be "Paramount Pictures UK" due to the fact that they have distributed a range of different genres of films including thrillers such as; "Raider of The Lost Ark", "Transformers" movies and "Mission Impossible." Paramount pictures is the fifth oldest film company in the world and was founded in 1912  by Hungarian born Adolf Zukor.  This company would be a good company to produce my film as it is very large and my film can therefore be viewed on a large scale (worldwide) it is also well known and can therefore gain my film more publicity. This film company will also allow me distribute it on several different platforms e.g. Blu ray, cinema, DVD etc.
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Target Audience Member

Favorite TV programmes;
-Heroes (because it features people that are different to normal people which is similar to my thriller as my main character has characteristic that are outside the norm.)
-The Following (because there is constant tension and there is always mystery and a sense of there being something unknown which is similar to my thriller as there is a lot of mystery)

Music (and music artists);
-Lana Del Rey (because music is slow and mysterious which creates anxiety)

My target audience member will probably be about 20 years old and could either be male or female and will enjoy mystery.

How did you attract your target audience member?

A way in which I could advertise this movie is through social media, as people the age of my target audience tend to use social networking sites more then other age groups.

My thriller will also be attractive to my target audience because of the fact that it is full of tension and keeps the audience at the edge of their seat. This is done through features such as the music, the story-line etc. As my main character is an ordinary women, a lot of my viewers will be able to empathize with her, even males as they will be able to recognize the character from people they see in everyday life. the age of my character is between the ages of 26 and 34, which is not the age of my target audience however, I believe my audience can relate to my characters personality along with her daily routine. My character is also living in modern times which my viewers will also relate to, the is shown form the modern day technology such as the phone.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

From doing this project I have learnt many different skills such as how to use the equipment for filming, e.g. reflectors (to fill in shadows and cast light where needed), lights (to remove shadows or create silhouettes), cameras, dolly's (to create smooth tracking shots), and tripods (to keep the camera steady).
 I have also learnt about different types of shots that could possibly be used e.g. tracking, panning, extreme close ups, mid shots, low angle shots, high angle shots etc. I have used many of these shots in my final project or in planning, I have also used a lot of the equipment mentioned as well. Some of the skills I have developed whilst filming and others I developed previously from my preliminary task and camera practice.
There are also many technologies that I have used whilst editing my footage in final cut such as colour corrector which was used to ensure that all of my shot matched each other (lighting-wise). I have also used after effects to embed my opening credits within my footage.

To create my backing track I used garage band which enabled me to select music loops and incorporate loops on top of one another. I was also able to add effects to my loops which I could fade in and out.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Since my preliminary task I have developed a lot more skills and have learnt more about the film industry that has enabled me to create my thriller opening. for example I learnt that it is hard to record good quality sound from the form the camera especially dialogue, therefore I did not record any of my sound whilst filming and did not include any dialogue in the film, instead, I included Foley sound from garage band which sounded very realistic and was also very good quality.
From my preliminary task I also learnt about lighting as I made many mistake with lighting which recording my preliminary task, for example, I filmed a character whilst there was a bright light behind but no light in front of him, this made it very hard to see the character. From this mistake I learnt that the lighting needs to be balanced.
I have also used some of the techniques that I used in my preliminary task for example, in the first shot of my preliminary task, the camera tracks a characters feet which I felt created anticipation as well as tension because of the fact that the audience cant see the characters face and wants to know who the character is and what hes doing. Because I liked this shot, the first shot of my thriller opening also doesn't show my characters face to create further mystery. However I did this in a different way as instead of a tracking shot where only the characters feet were showing, I used a high angle shot where only the characters hand were showing.