Evaluation 1

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

Before we began planning our thriller opening we decided to research into thriller films by watching existing commercial pieces and previous student work so we could grasp the common conventions found in thriller films and openings. 

 We did this as we could then review findings and create an effective narrative for our opening with successful aspects of verisimilitude.

To research the conventions I started by watching existing thrillers and testing various narratives. I did this as I decided to evaluate which conventions would be the most effective and how these could be devloped orginally.

From research  I found :

Thriller films include these typical conventions :

-Narrative based around a crime or act of deviance.

-Elements of mystery creating an enigma narrative

-Suspenseful ; increasing audience interest 

- Some type of abnormal plot or props to emphasize mentality of characters

- Realistic narrative with uneasy aspects

- Aspects of social realism with abstract twists

-Both protagonists and antagonists (set against each other making one triumphant)

-An insight into the character's personality and life (mise-en-scene)

-Flashback sequences to illustrate relevant past

An opening sequence has the following conventions :

-Includes titles; film title, main actors and crew

-A background to the narrative (when a feature film)

-Elements of enigma narrative

-Minimal character and plot development to keep audeince engaged

My team decided we would utilise some of these conventions  throughout the opening whilst ensuring we did not confuse conventions of a horror film or a trailer in my opening. 

Chloe and I then decided we wanted to incorpirate the following in our opening …

We believed these could be utilised effectively in a thriller opening after carrying out audience research. We chose these conventions in order to set the scene of the film in the first 3 minutes or so to engage our target audience.

It was appaerent these conventions would fit well with our protagonist and antagonist’s story , for example our choice to include a flashback sequence and mini title sequence enhances narrative and emphasises the signifcant aspects of the opening that would appear again if made into a feature film. The conventions are known to translate well on screen and are enjoyable to our audeince.

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To use these conventions in the correct way and effectively order them I worked using Todorov's Narrative theory as we could then ensure the audience were gripped from the opening. We planned on achieving this through enigma narrative and hints on what action would happen after the 'equillibrium' of the opening, whic would be when the action began ...

This is seen in most thriller openings which begin with equillibrium and start to invite the diruption into the end of the opening. This made our opening more interesting and unique as we took a common convention and developed it in an individual way for our own plot.

This is enhanced in our film opening by our chosen conventions and allows the audeince to understand the opening's order and action as they have experienced this layout when watching other thriller films.