Friday, 25 March 2011

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (part 3)

Conventions that I have used in my thriller

My media product uses different types of conventions. Conventions like the setting; setting is in a good derelict city with markets and multi-story car parks. It’s a busy city, there are many of people in shots which shows how busy the city is. I think that the costumes of each character is correct aswell, the two men chasing seem to be in smart cloths, perhaps under cover policemen, this uncertainty is another mystery aspect who are these men and what connection they had with the murdered victim. The runners costume seems to be conventional run down old jeans, Harrington jacket with shoddy cheap shoes. I used conventions in my shots as well to get a bigger sense across the tension, suspense and mystery. For examples, I used editing the chase scene, it was made to look fast and real time so the editing for this had to be cut quickly to emphasise the fast paced struggle to get away from his pursuers.

There is a sense of mystery in my opening, mystery for the reasons for killing the man in the flashbacks. I like the flashbacks and the affect they have on the opening, they create questions for the viewers. The flashback also breaks up the chase scene which doesn’t make the chase boring or tedious. The flashbacks also seem to obviously link in with why the men are chasing the runner.

There is a cliff hanger aswell which I feel makes a good tense opening. The cliff-hanger is at the end and we wonder what happens to runner after being cornered by two men who look to have a purpose to them.

I used the titles well I thought because there were conventions in them, the titles faded in and then after a period of time faded back out. This represents the memory of the main character – distorted, faded, coming and going.

The music is conventional and fits in with the opening. There are two main types of music in my thriller, there is a more up tempo and faster sound track that links in really well with the chase scene and is used to grab the viewer’s attention and set the rest of the film up nicely. There is also a mysterious and eerie soundtrack that is used well for the flashbacks. I believe the sounds I have are conventional and makes the opening so effective, it shows the viewer’s the struggle to get away and the desire to catch each other. It shows that there really is a chase scene through a city. The music makes the viewer in suspense to see what will happen next in the chase, the quickly paced music helps the viewers come to believe.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (part 2)

Films and ideas that have influenced my thriller
Films that have influenced my media project are films like the Bourne films and ‘Memento’. The ideas and conventions I took from this film are the flashbacks from Memento and the action and mystery from Bourne ultimatum and films similar. I used theses ideas and conventions from the thrillers because they are effective, there effective because they create a sense of tension and mystery. The way the chase scenes are put together in Bourne ultimatum are very clever, I studied the range of shots they used, which shots they used more often than not.

I also looked at music and how non-diject sound made the chase scene more interesting e.g. the Watching these films gave me good ideas and what I tried to do with these ideas is take them and make them my own. Just changing them like slightly so that it becomes original. Other films that I looked I also have analysed are films such as: Donnie Darko, The Happening and Memento. I went into great depth in these analytical little essays I have written, I have written analytical essays on the memento, the happening and Donnie darko. I went into great detail in these films so I could see the conventions and ideas they had. Memento particular influenced me in what I thought was a good thriller, it was clever, action filled and had a very good story line to it, well acted, well shot and well edited. This film in some respects raised the bar in my expectations of a thriller.
 
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Conventions of a thriller




In a good thriller there are many conventions. Conventions are things that make the movie fit into its genre, things like props, setting, costume, shot types, different styles of editing. Good conventions for a thriller would be quick editing when the tension or suspense increase, which is also reflected in non-dijectic sound which is as important for a thriller because it sets a sense of tension or suspense.
Conventions that I would perhaps expect in a thriller opening are:
  • Mystery
  • Suspense
  • Pensive music
  • Action
  • Something shocking
  • Grab attention
  • Violence
  • Fast paced.
More specific conventions that make a thriller are typical camera shots, location and narratives (story line).

Conventions for a thriller opening are important because you need to grab the attention of the viewers and lay down some sort of narrative for the thriller. It only last roughly 2 minutes so it has to keep the viewers entertained and to watch the rest of the film.