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

We thought a lot about the typical conventions of different film openings. Once we decided on the genre of psychological thriller, this became much easier and we brainstormed these conventions so we had a clear outline and could follow in the footsteps of other popular opening. After watching clips of other openings, we were confident that we could follow, develop and challenge these conventions and we have done this in certain ways.

Brainstorm of Conventions in Psychological Thrillers:

Classical Narrative Patterns:

Our film contains this narrative pattern, however due to the fact that the main story is a kidnap, the new equilibrium may not be formed as the secrets may remain a mystery and we may never find out what happens to Summer. We have left our opening unresolved leaving the audience wanting to find out the later events in the film. This challenges the typical conventions and creates suspense and enigma.

We have used this theory, which uses conventions of a film with these five codes to achieve certain effects. These are needed to create a successful film and we used this theory as a guideline to our idea to see if it worked and followed conventions to produce a psychological thriller, which could compete with current existing ones.

Checklist

Purpose of an Opening Sequence:

Our sequence follows each of these steps taking on the conventions in regard to form and setting up the narrative for the rest of the film. We have also shown strong mise-en-scene with our use of an everyday environment and lighting to follow the conventions in terms of atmosphere.

Characterisation 

Scream and Dark Summer

Style

The style of our film is very mysterious as there are twists and turns to throw the audience of the scent. Due to the music, there is a very dramatic feel and there are secrets due to the events, which take place showing that there are going to trials and struggles along the way. There is also eeriness with some of the shots to create panic and disillusion. This is similar to many thrillers, and we aimed to follow the conventions of these films in terms of style, however, we have used effects with the ghosting and key signifiers of the red drink to connote violence and blood creating a strong impact and unique style.

I researched different opening titles and clips to see the typical conventions with the genre. The psychological thrillers that I watched for inspiration included:

Taxi Driver (Directed by Scorsese):

Art of the Title- Taxi Driver

Silence of the Lambs (Directed by Demme)

Both of these clips are from popular thrillers and show the typical conventions. Both have a slow build up and there is a very tense atmosphere present. The characterisation is also very strong and we get an immediate sense of place. There are a variety of shots and we get a brief idea of the narrative. This style of being very dark and filled with atmosphere is very inspiring.

As a result of our research, we managed to follow conventions in using similar techniques with narrative, themes and style however, we have challenged this conventions through our use of style providing a fresh and unique opening. In total, I feel that we too notice of conventions and this helped us a lot in terms of giving the audience what they want.