1) The director created a hybrid drama-thriller genre film influenced by films like Kidulthood. The film tells the story of a normal teenage girl who is secretly an assassin to help her family escape their lifestyle. 2) Scenes were filmed using techniques like point of view shots and music changes to build tension and distinguish moods as the protagonist's character is revealed. 3) Feedback indicated more action was needed, so the director changed the protagonist into an assassin, transforming the genre from a drama-comedy into a drama-thriller hybrid. The revised film received better reviews.

1. Film studies evaluation
As the director of my short film opening I created a hybrid genre of a drama-
thriller. Influenced by films such as Kidulthood,5..4..3..2..1 and teeth I was
inspired by the narrative of a drama as well as the uncomfortable response
from a thriller. Trying to incorporate and marry two contradictory genres was
done by making the drama the main genre whilst the thriller would be the sub-
genre.
The narrative is similar to kidulthood as my protagonist ‘Montana’ is a normal
teenager raised in a working class environment on a rough estate trying to
find a way out. The twist to create the thriller effect is that she is a secret
assassin, (her alter ego) as she kills for money so that her and her family may
eventually escape from the lifestyle they are living at the moment and be free.
I used various camerawork, sound effects and editing to enable a shocked
response from my audience. I decided that there should be no sound for the
credits as I wanted to build suspense and tension from the audience. The use
of slow fades as the title and credits came in also complimented the thriller
like effect. The first image is of an alarm on a mobile phone. Mobile phones
are an iconic stereotype of teenagers, however the alarm alerts danger as
time represents a count down to a specific effect. Through mise-en-scene the
protagonist is introduced as a normal teenager going through normal day-to-
day activities such as getting dressed.
The use of trunk shots and point of view shots enable the audience to interact
with the film and feel apart of it as though they are inside the film. The type of
music I used was a funky house song as my target audience would be able to
relate to the music and also has an upbeat happy tempo. The song ‘Hey Hey’
by Denis Ferrer is the consistent song played throughout the whole bedroom
scene as Montana begins her routine of getting dressed. The change from
diegetic to non-diegetic was used to distinct the different change in moods the
protagonist is going through and was also synchronic with the atmosphere. In
order to change the mood and theme to emphasise to the audience that the
film is also a thriller I created quick flashes of
murderous weapons being inserted into
Montana’s bag. The last frame close up shot of

2. Montana’s sinister smile represents a spooky like character introducing her
alter ego which is a factor from the conventions of a thriller. At this frame the
music funky house music fades away gradually introducing the thriller
synthesiser instrumental to inform the audience what the film will consist of as
the title of the film is then introduced.
Trying to create a storyline that could suit both drama and thriller together was
a hindrance especially trying to incorporate a waking up scene. Trying to find
the correct lighting and making it clear was also hard as the location was
inside and needed extra lighting to get the best quality and effect.
My original plan was to have a normal wake up scene where the main
character wakes up and gets dressed to music. Her only trouble would be
finding the right suitable clothing for that today. The feedback I gained from
classmates and others was that they wanted to see more and more should
happen. The genre was supposed to me a drama/comedy, however as I
began making changes to the character the narrative changed as did the
genre also thus changing it into a drama-thriller. After changing my short film
opening the reviews from viewers was much better as satisfied their needs.