Harry Saunders

IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

Our product uses themes like mystery which is seen in man real media products associated with the thriller genre, like films including ‘Se7en’ and ‘Zodiac’. This is conventional as it is a theme that is commonly used in real thriller products. We used thriller in scenes like when Mitch found out about the letter when you can clearly see his face is shocked and

the soundtrack drops. This creates a strong amount of tension which we are using from real thriller media

products.

We also used storylines that real media products would have used. For example, we used a similar narrative to the

film ‘Memento’ where the narrative is to figure out an uncertain mystery. This is also a thriller film like ours. This is also known as the Enigma Code by Barthes, meaning how

tension is built up and it leaves the audience guessing what’s next, like our narrative. Our narrative was displayed when Mitch opens the letter and the audience is uncertain of what it means and we are trying to figure out a mystery of what the letter means along with Mitch. This creates a

strong connotation of real thriller media products as it is a typical narration of thriller films

The titles we used were also very similar to real media products. They were featured in a style that were very

typical of a media product like ours to have. For example, the font we used was typical as it is used in a lot of real

media products and the way it was presented also matched many other real media products. The titles displayed names

and their assigned roles, which is very conventional of other real media products. This creates a high amount of

realism and professionalism to the product we made.

We also used conventions from real media products from our genre to create feeling and emotion to be displayed

through the audience, a lot like other films like ‘Fight Club’. For example, we used a typical convention of the thriller

genre from real media products, being the feeling of uncertainty. For example, this can be displayed via the

audience when Mitch is decoding his letter, the audience will not know what he is doing and are left confused and

uncertain. This adds to the professionalism of our product as it follows the conventional feelings of real media

products in our genre.

We challenged real media products in our genre by the characters. For example, we used a work mate as the person the lead role shares a house with. This is not

typically seen in real media products in our genre, for example in ‘The Box’ it is a married couple, a lot like most real media products. Challenging this is strong because it creates difference like Steve Neale’s theory suggests all

movies should feature.

Overall, I think that we worked well in creating a thriller opening sequence as we used many conventional forms and

even challenged it to an extent, meaning it will be interesting to the audience. Even in our audience feedback, we were told that they thought it was very original and they

could spot the themes we tried to input, so the audience was clearly affected by this in a positive way. Also when we asked what thriller they thought it was, they told us thriller,

so it worked well in my opinion.