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

In my own media product, I have challenged, used and developed upon the forms and conventions of existing media products in a variety of ways that effectively stand out, appeal to my target audience and make my media product appear professional and well-thought out.

Typical Conventions in Crime Thrillers: - Suspense- Crime Investigation- Protagonist/Antagonist- Enigma (gets audience asking questions) - Weapons- Ransoms/Heists/Kidnap/Revenge

Conventions I have used

I followed a majority of the typical conventions of a Crime Thriller. My main

protagonist’s sister is the victim of kidnap, which is one of the typical themes. Also,

not evident in my trailer but is included in my narrative, is the theme of revenge.

Additionally, I gave my main protagonist a weapon; a gun. This is also a typical

convention in crime thrillers. Pathetic fallacy is often a feature with the use of dull

weather and darkness, which I included in my trailer as it reflects the narrative and

the emotions of the characters.

The common convention of a crime investigation by the police for the victim’s

family is changed in my narrative, as my main protagonist is investigating her

sister’s whereabouts while going ahead with the kidnappers tasks. This element

creates originality, which will interest the target audience since it doesn’t follow the

usual conventions but still stays true to the genre. Finally, the trailer leaves clues to

the narrative through little clips, however it doesn’t explain them. This creates

Enigma- another common convention in Crime Thrillers. By including this into my

trailer, my audience will be intrigued to know the reasoning behind the clips and will

be persuaded to watch the film.

Conventions I have used

I was influenced by this shot from the ‘Prisoners’ trailer. I thought the darkness of the shot created atmosphere and shown binary opposition between the protagonist and antagonist with the use of the gun.

However, I didn’t like that the focus was off the gun as I felt it took away from the tension, so to differentiate mine from this I put the focus on the gun. Additionally, I felt the camera angle would have looked better at a low angle looking up to the protagonist which is why I did it this way in my trailer.

Example

ExampleFor my trailer, I incorporated this near the end as it creates Enigma and will grab the interest of my audience. I wanted to have the main focus on the gun and to have the shot reasonably dark as it hints to how the story escalates and creates tension and atmosphere.

Also, by doing the shot at a low angle it made my protagonist look superior, in control and brave. It also suggests that she’s pointing the gun at the antagonist but since they aren’t on screen, the audience are left wondering.

Example

I was also influenced by this establishing shot from the trailer ‘Wasteland’. The weather is dull and the area looks run down, the use of pathetic fallacy sets the atmosphere. Additionally, the setting is fitting for the Crime Thriller genre.

However, to differentiate mine from this; my establishing shot had nothing but fields. This makes the setting ambiguous and isolated – fitting the atmosphere of my trailer.

Example

For my trailer, I incorporated this establishing shot at the beginning of the trailer to set the atmosphere using pathetic fallacy since the weather was dreary and the setting was ambiguous and isolated. Also, shots like this are often included in Crime Thriller films/trailers, so by including this shot it will help establish the genre.

Example

For the title of my film, I was influenced by ‘The Usual Suspects’. The use of the word ‘suspects’ aids in establishing the film genre, as it relates to crime. However, the adjective ‘usual’ creates discussion about the plot- whether past-criminals have been framed for a crime etc…

I also used a similar font to that used in this trailer in my own. It’s bold and eye-catching, which grabs the audience’s attention and is fitting to the genre.

Example

My film title relates to the narrative of my film and fits well with my chosen genre. The ‘crimes’ establishes the genre since the word relates to that genre. The use of ‘17’ creates Enigma – a common convention to Crime-Thrillers – since my audience are unaware why there is specifically 17 crimes but gets them guessing and intrigued to find out. I made the ’17’ slightly bigger than the crimes to show the importance of the number, further reinforcing the ambiguity of my film trailers narrative.

The font is bold and eye-catching, with the white standing out against the black background. The colours are commonly used in the Crime-Thriller genre and the font grabs the audience’s attention.

ExampleMy trailer challenges usual conventions since my main protagonist is a female in her late-teens. Usually, this type of character is the victim in this genre so I wanted to change that around and make her the heroine of the film. Doing this will bring in more of an interest from adolescents for my film and also broaden the size of my target audience.

It also brings some originality, since this is very uncommon. This will appeal to people who want to see something different in the genre as typically, a majority of the films follow the same conventions.