AS Evaluation - Question 1

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

There are several generic conventions that are widely used within the thriller genre. For example, most thriller films include an isolated setting (usually where the killer is) to portray the killer’s loneliness and/or separation from the victims. This is seen in the thriller film series Saw. The villain in Saw is always in a different room to the victims, and he communicates with them via video tapes. The villain is mostly always in an isolated setting, portraying his separation from everything. Furthermore, the villain communicates with victims using a puppet, hiding the actual killer’s identity. This is also a convention within the thriller genre, as villain’s usually have hidden identities. It creates a distance between the villain and the audience, and the villain and the other characters in the film. Also, point of view shots are often used throughout the thriller genre. An example of this is in The Happening when one of the woman on the bench looks at the crowd in the park that have all suddenly halted. The point of view shots lets the audience see the scene from the character’s point of view, which increases the relationship between the audience and the character, and the audience’s fear.

I followed a lot of generic conventions in my thriller film. Firstly, the killer uses a knife to kill her victims. This is a classic, conventional weapon to the thriller genre. It is also realistic, as knives are easily accessed (kitchen knife). Secondly, close up shots are widely used in the thriller genre, and many were used in our thriller film – mostly when the killer/bride is looking through the wedding scrapbook/photo album. This helps the audience focus on what the bride is looking at, emphasising the importance of the scrapbook, and the bride’s unhealthy mental state. Similarly, it is typical within the thriller genre to include a villainous character with a troubled past. My thriller sequence defines the thriller genre due to its use of the codes and conventions of the genre. I've used several conventional parts of micro-elements such as cinematography and mise-en-scene. My analysis of existing media products has greatly helped me in keeping with these codes and conventions. For instance, some parts of our sequence are completely silent. This builds tension, as is used widely throughout the thriller genre. Furthermore, the title of my film - Eternal - is quite conventional to the thriller genre. It is a short, one-word title with connotations of the film's narrative, which is common throughout the film industry as a whole. For example, my film involves death, and death is 'eternal', but also the word 'eternal' has connotations of love and marriage. All three of these themes - death, love and marriage - are central to the plot of the film.

Shock, surprise, and suspense are all present within and throughout our sequence. The end of the sequence contains a shocking scene, where the ex-fiancé goes to the bathroom and opens the door, and the bride/killer is standing with a knife, staring. This is the moment that all previous suspense throughout the sequence had been building up to (through the use of tense low key lighting, soundtrack, etc). We chose to include this scene to close our opening sequence as it is conventional for a shocking image to be shown after tension is built up throughout the sequence.

The shocking shot at the end of the opening sequence

Furthermore, I used the Kuleshov effect within our sequence to add to the shocking and surprising elements of the film. I used this editing technique/effect when a shot of the bride crossing out a young man's face is shown, followed by the bride walking behind the same young man, holding a knife. The way these two shots are edited one after the after implies a third meaning - the bride has already killed this boy, and the following shot was a flashback. This effect engages the audience as they have to figure out what is actually happening. The use of tension-building aspects such as those previously stated adds to the conventionality of my opening sequence. I feel that my media product resembles a conventional thriller sequence.

My thriller film could be compared to existing media products such as Scream. The killer in Scream has a hidden identity due to the mask and costume. The killer in my thriller film is dressed as a bride, and hides behind this seemingly innocent and harmless exterior. Also, both killer use simple kitchen knives as weapons. The killers also both kill the people that have wronged them, so they think the murders are justified.

The bride/killer holding a simple kitchen knife, about to kill one of the victims (implied, not shown - part of the Kuleshov effect)