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

Real Thriller Film Snapshots

Black Rose Snapshots

!  With the creation of the two mood boards it helps illustrates the similar shots and color schemes used with real thriller themes and our media production of the Black Rose

Mise-En-Scene

Location: Our group used the location of forestry and woods to reflect the themes of Isolation, Outcast and Obsession which are characteristic of Thriller Themes. There is an eeriness to Natalie Harland spending large amounts of time alone in such desolate places- it gives implications of madness. Our product uses remote locations which is a form found in real thrillers.

Costume and Props

!   Costumes in thriller films usually represent the casual clothes of people- making the protagonist undistinguishable from people around him. By dressing Natalie Harland as an ordinary girl we were applying the forms and conventions of real media products to our characters.

!   The incorporation of having her work in the florists also made Natalie seem ordinary and indistinguishably different

Plot

!   Plots in thrillers usually involve characters which come into conflict with each other or outside forces. Characters in thrillers included convicts, criminals, stalkers assassins or innocent victims.

!   Applying the forms and conventions to our leading character Natalie Harland making her mentally unstable and foreshadowing uncomfortable feelings towards children with her hanging up drawings. She covers the characters profile of the stalker and convict found in many thriller films.

Mystery

!   Often thriller films will have a mystery which will run throughout the whole story and be solved right at the end. This is a convention found in the Black Rose with the mystery being the protagonist’s Natalie Harland’s past.

Pace

!   The pace in real thriller products is often fast in scenes of excitement and action, but slower when the mystery is trying to be solved. In the Black Rose the camera shot speeds up when moving through flash backs but slows down when following the actions of Natalie. This challenges the forms and conventions of thrillers since the flashbacks are the key to solving the mystery.

Color Correction

!   The color scheme in Thrillers is usually consistent of darker colors to mirror the suspense and tension within the plot. To follow these form and conventions we used harsh cool colors throughout the opening and to differentiate flashbacks from present we used black and white.

Music

!   Usually tense, starting off slow and then quickening the pace to become dramatic at the climax of the shot. This form and convention in thriller films is challenged with the Black Rose because our film does’t consist of large amounts of action dominated scenes. Instead we have used music which has connotations to a child's nursery rhyme which creates an eerie tone at the opening of the film.

Hybrid Identity

!   The Black Rose challenges the Thriller Film Genre by holding several similarities to a Horror Film. Horror Films have the purpose to invoke our worst fears and often contain a disturbing subject matter. This is the case with Natalie Harland being mentally unstable and showing indications of having uncomfortable feeling for children.

Alfred Hitchcock’s Psyco (1960) Similar to Black Rose with protagonist also being mentally unstable

Contradicting Tittle !   The thriller The Black Swan and The Black

Rose are similar because they have an irony and contradiction within the tittles. Both provide an impossible combination due to the fact that flowers can't be black, and the rarity of a black swan.

!   Red Roses traditionally symbolize desire and love, and in our film the lady Natalie feels love and attraction to her victims. By incorporating the flower of a rose into the tittle, it foreshadows that desire will be an ongoing theme-----Natalie is also a florist which means being surrounded by flowers everyday at work she understands the nature and language of the flowers.