In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products. Costumes

We took inspiration from the TV show Skins for our costumes and character profiles as this program is based around and is targeted at teenagers which was the same audience and aim that we wanted our thriller to have. The program itself also has a range of similar characters who share the same attitudes of charley’s and Harriet’s characters, for instance characters Effy and Cassie, in which I looked closely at when planning and researching. The characters presented within our thriller are all relatively ordinary people (minus the cyber bullying and over dose/ suicide act) in the fact how they are seen as typical teenagers who are in to technology, fashion and socializing. We wanted the characters to be presented as normal, everyday teenagers therefore did not feel as if it was necessary to alter costumes and character profiles that much from our original self’s. we challenged the conventions of thrillers such as Pulp Fiction and Reservoir dogs by focusing the action on the deviant behaviour of a teenage school girl. Much like Peter Jackson's "Heavenly Creatures" where two school girls brutally murder one of the girl's mothers in a Christchurch Park in the middle of the day.

Charcters

We took inspiration from the TV show Skins for our costumes and character profiles as this program is based around and is targeted at teenagers which was the same audience and aim that we wanted our thriller to have. The program itself also has a range of similar characters who share the same attitudes of charley’s and Harriet’s characters, for instance characters Effy and Cassie, in which I looked closely at when planning and researching. The characters presented within our thriller are all relatively ordinary people (minus the cyber bullying and over dose/ suicide act) in the fact how they are seen as typical teenagers who are in to technology, fashion and socializing. We wanted the characters to be presented as normal, everyday teenagers therefore did not feel as if it was necessary to alter costumes and character profiles that much from our original self’s. we challenged the conventions of thrillers such as Pulp Fiction and Reservoir dogs by focusing the action on the deviant behaviour of a teenage school girl. Much like Peter Jackson's "Heavenly Creatures" where two school girls brutally murder one of the girl's mothers in a Christchurch Park in the middle of the day.

Cassie ( Skins)

Effy ( skins)Heavenly creatures murder scene

Plot The plot to our thriller was to be quite simple but effective, we wanted it to be realistic and believable to the audience, therefore kept the scenario relatively basic. We all agreed that instead of creating a busy, compacted entrance to the opening scene we would focus more on the smaller details for instance the camera angles, characters and locations, as these are what can establish the thriller genre within a film and that stand out to the visual eye of the audience

When coming up with our plot I was slightly concerned that the flash back scenes would appear to be confusing to the audience, therefore I knew that when editing there had to be a small change and differ between the flashbacks and current footage. I took inspiration from my research into the opening scene of Kill Bill 2 as it starts as current footage and then changes to the flashback. within this opening you can clearly distinguish between the two time frames mainly due to the editing colours for black and white in comparison to the different high coloured contrast colours/lighting, But also the completely different location and costumes shown.

LocationsWe used a range of locations within our opening, some could argue that we used to many, which made parts of our opening slightly complicated to the audience. However we wanted to film the very beginning around the city and in order to build up suspense we need to make the cuts quick and sharp, therefore a transition between areas needed to happen. The locations we used are all typical thriller conventions which were inspired by a range of films which I researched when planning our thriller.

School canteen and bedroom These locations were mostly used to distinguish the target audience and age of the characters who are teenagers because of the association to these locations for instance a typical school canteen is known to be filled with 14-19yr olds. The teenage bed room typically filled with large graphic posters and messy is also seen to be stereotypical location for a teenager to hang out.

Riverside/ the bridge and next to the river

we used the generic convention of claustrophobic enclosed spaces in order to establish the genre of the film.The idea of water is instantly associated with the idea of danger because of the possible accidents that could accrue nearby, this idea of danger is what makes the link to a thriller convention. The isolation presented but also the busyness around riverside makes the plot and scenario look realistic, believable and natural as the people about make it seem like an ordinary situation. The diegetic sound of music from the restaurants and people out socialising also works well with the footage as it again creates a realistic, ordinary feeling to the clip. But alternatively a slightly edgy feeling as it also indicates that people are out busy and could easily ignore the events happening, creating a sense of isolation and loneliness. This location was inspired by the marshes location used in “Essex boys” because of the wide open space surrounded by water but also the similar isolation exposed. Essex boys

UnderpassThis was the first location shown at the very start of our thriller, its typical convention as it’s a busy, crowed area which is associated with gangs, drugs and violence which are all typical conventions used within the thriller genre. I wanted this to be the opening scene as it gives the audience an impression straight away to what genre the film is (Thriller). Another reason why I picked this as the first scene was because of the negative background space, meaning that the titles would stand out clearly to the audience but also not to distract the audience.

Camera angles As a group we wanted to incorporate as many different camera angles and techniques as possible to show our skills and knowledge within planning and shooting.

Over the shoulder we used this angle to establish that my character (Rhiannon) was being followed by Charley, this created a sense of power from charley making Rhiannon seem small and vulnerable, which was the character profile and vibe that we wanted to achieve, therefore a sense of curiosity and tension is built up to the audience making it a thriller convention. Panning of Chloe’s/ lily’s body and of feet we used this type shot to establish key moments of the clip, so the audience would visually see a wide shot, for instance of Lily’s body on the bed, we used a panning shot of the body so the audience would be able to focus on the main object of the clip, clearly analysing the character, but also giving them time to think of the character. When taking inspirational shots for ideas that we could include in our opening, we took a 360 degree panning shot of Chloe’s face, however we didn’t include within our clip because of the shaking hand when filming, making the clip look unprofessional. The slow panning movement is a thriller convention as it creates a sense of suspense and mystery. Wide shot camera shot was used to establish locations, for instance in the underpass when Harriet’s character walks in an amongst large bunches of people, this shot makes her look alone and weak because of the mass and busyness of the location. Extreme and mid close ups we used a range of close ups when Harriet’s character is being followed and when Choles ( lily’s) body is found. This is a thriller convention as the audience can see the horror and terrifying facial expressions building up tension within in the plot.

Panning shotWide shot/ zoom

Extreme close up

Side view

Over the shoulderEssex boys screen shot of the marshes

Titles/ transitions The titles of our production team and Thriller title are in black and white to stand out against the background footage shots. This colour scheme also works well as it relates and is a thriller convention because of the dramatic connotations associated to them. The same effect is similarly used in Essex boys, with idea of white against black and vise visa. We placed the title of the opening on a clear, wide shot angle, the back ground colour of the steps created a plain canvas in which the tile would stand out onto. We used the dissolved editing technique to slide the titles into the black and white flashback scene, this was again to make it stand out to the audience while also making it clear that the genre of the film is a thriller because of the dark, menacing shot. We used the dissolve technique between transitions to create a sense of nightmare and mystery to the clip, while also making it seem like a visual flashback to the audience.

Our chose of sound was effective because of the high pitch sound which is typically associated to the thriller genre. The sound track instantly creates an edgy feeling to the audience because of this unnerving high pitch frequency. The sound effects are also linked into the transitions of the edit for instance when the clip changes to a different location the frequency increases. The diegetic sound is played in the background to make the clip seem realistic as the everyday sounds are what normalise the clip, making it seem believable. Our lighting changes from black and white when a flashback scene is being played this is to make it clear and obvious to the audience when the flash back and present shots are. We took inspiration from the beginning of Kill Bill 2 as it starts off with a flash back in the black and white transaction, this is effective as its when instantly clear that the time periods are different in comparison to the high saturated colouring. We had to edit this shot of when charley walks into the bedroom to find Chole on the bed as the natural lighting was to dark, making it unclear and visible to audience of what was going on, therefore we increased the brightness levels in order to enhance the shot, however I think it would have been more effect to re film the clip instead. The lighting used in the rest of our clip was natural lighting as we wanted to enhance the natural assets, making it seem again realistic and believable to the audience.

Inter contextual links The inter contextual link between the scene of Chloe's character lying on the bed dead was inspired by the death scene of Eve from once upon a time because of the similar positing on the bed dead. The dramatic acts are both positioned at the opening of the film to inspire the audience to keep hooked and engaged. The black and white effect relates to the film noire such as “The Third Man” or "Mildred Pierce“. However Kill bill 1 and our idea of the black and white similarly creates a strong inter contextual link as our film and kill bill 2 are not film Noire’s but the black and white editing scenes are both used to establish to the audience that they are flashbacks, as the rest of the footage is normal/ high saturated lighting.

Eve once upon a time America

Black and white effect from the third man Mildred Pierce