Question 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and coventions of a real media product?

The generic conventions of a thriller film are, the use of a blonde female victim, which is used in many films like Scream, Halloween and others, where the young female is portrayed as weak and is targeted by the antagonist in each film. Another convention in thriller films is the use of a character with a hidden identity, like Scream, Halloween and The Strangers. Other conventions of the thriller genre that are used in almost every thriller film are, low key lighting, suspenseful music, fast paced editing, a use of weapon and an urban setting or woodland setting. In my thriller opening sequence I followed some conventions of the thriller genre, for example I used the conventional urban setting, so the audience can relate to the situation that the characters are in. Another convention I used in our opening sequence was, a young blonde female, which is portrayed as weak and lonely at first. I decided to use a young female as it engages the audience and helps build relations with the audience and the characters. Another convention my group followed was the use of low level lighting, which I felt would add to the suspenseful atmosphere, as the characters feel in danger the use of high key lighting would take away the atmosphere of the situation, but the use of low lighting and shadows could be scary and add to the suspense. I used a conventional weapon in my opening sequence as we felt that the character needed to appear to be more dangerous as she is small and would be unrealistic for her to attack a larger male.

I feel that my thriller opening sequence defines the thriller genre as it uses conventions that are used in other popular thriller films for example the use of low level lighting to add to the suspenseful atmosphere, the use of a female character and a male character that is portrayed as dangerous, and the young female as vulnerable and also the use of a knife in our opening sequence is typical of the thriller genre. My thriller opening sequence also challenges forms and conventions, but also codes and conventions that other popular thriller films use. We did this by introducing the two characters to the audience, and the audience form their own opinion of each character and build an onscreen relationship with the character. Conventional roles of each character are used at first, so the male is seen as dominant and the young girl is seen as weak for the audience, but soon after this is changed as the female disappears and there is a scream heard, now the male is alone and no longer in control of his own situation. However I feel my thriller is conventional & successful.

The female is the character who is seen as the antagonist and the male is now vulnerable, after this the editing and music along with the low level lighting builds suspense so the murder of the male character at the end is the result of the anticipation form the audience about what’s going to happen in the scene. This is how I followed codes and conventions of the thriller genre but also made the opening sequence unique, and so it challenges typical conventions.

I would compare our thriller film with another thriller film that is ‘The Orphan’ as it also uses a young female as the antagonist in the film, which also engages that audience and helps build a suspenseful atmosphere amongst the audience. I took this film as inspiration for my own thriller opening scene as I felt I could consider using some of the conventions that was used in it such as the young girl antagonist, the weapon, the low level lighting and also the style of editing, as they were all very effective at making a suspenseful atmosphere.