This document discusses how the media product uses and challenges conventions of thriller films. It uses conventions like flashbacks, gloomy music, and a darkly dressed villain. However, it challenges conventions by using natural bright lighting to make the audience feel unsafe during daylight, dressing the protagonist in both light and dark colors to make her ambiguous, and having a strong female lead rather than the typical male protagonist. The document also discusses how it uses editing, sound, camera work, characters, color, lighting, and themes found in thriller films while putting its own spin on some elements.

1. Question 1)
IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR
CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF PRODUCTS?

2. Conventions of Thriller films:
 Flash backs.
 Dark lighting.
 Tense music.
 Themes – Murder, revenge, hostage situations.
 Villains – usually in dark clothing.
 Good guy – normally in light clothing.
 Chase.
 Good vs evil.

3. Why we use conventions to
categorise genre’s.
 By using different conventions for different genre’s it makes it easier
for the producer to know what he is working with.
 Also, it helps the audience know what they like.
 If a person likes comedies they will likely like them for the
conventions they contain.
 Another thing is it helps differentiate genre’s. Genre’s are important
because it allows people to know what they’re going to get.

4. How does my product use the
conventions?
 Flashbacks are quite predominant in my thriller film and they play a
key role within the narrative.
 The music doesn’t necessarily feel tense, however it is gloomy.
Which could be considered following the conventions.

5. How does my product challenge
these conventions?
I break quite a few of the conventions as I feel it gives the audience a
break from the stereotypes of thriller films.
 Bright/ natural lighting is used in my media product. This may make
the audience feel as though even in the day time they are not
necessarily safe.
 I have dressed the ‘hero’ in a light top to portray her innocence,
however, her trousers are black to signify that possibly she is not all
good.

6. Editing.
 I watched some thriller films and found that the editing goes
between fast pace and slow pace editing frequently. I wanted to
try and use this in my film. As the film begins the editing is quite slow
paced, however once she decides she’s going to go after the guy
who killed her family the editing speeds up and the flash backs
become more frequent. I avoid use of slow motion, however I think
that could have made some of the shots more effective.
 I didn’t use any effects on my product as I wanted it to feel as real
as possible. I didn’t want filters making it look less realistic.
 Thriller films usually contain flash backs. I used these for my film so
throughout the films the scene is cutting between real time and
flashbacks.

7. Sound.
 Through watching thriller films, I gained a greater understanding of
the music used. A lot of the music is tense and suspenseful. This
made me think what music I wanted and I decided tense music
wasn’t quite fitting to my film. So I did a little more research and
eventually came across some music I liked. It is sad and gloomy but
as the film goes on it becomes a little more tense as the narrative
becomes more tense.

8. Camera work.
 Through research into thrillers I found that a wide range of camera
shots are used. A few main ones that I liked were:
 Close up’s: These help to show the emotion a character is feeling or
an object of importance. I liked this camera angle so used it in my
film often.
 Mid shot: This is used to help show the relationship a character has
to another.
 High/ low angle shots: These different shots are used to represent the
power of a character. I use these in my film, when the girl is sad I use
high angle shots to make her seem innocent and vulnerable.
However as she grows angry I begin to use low angle shots to make
her seem more powerful.

9. Characters.
 In thriller films, there is always a protagonist and an antagonist. There
is also other characters such as the young innocent girl and the
smart character etc…
 I only use one character in my product, therefore I wanted to see if I
could get a few of the different characteristics into one character.
 Because the girl is quite mysterious we don’t know whether she is the
antagonist or protagonist, I also use other micro elements to get
across the innocent girl.
 Through my research I found that the protagonist in thriller films is a
male as stereotypically men are strong and brave. I wanted to
challenge that by having a strong female in lead role.

10. Colour/ lighting.
 Usually in thriller films the lighting is dark and gloomy. It usually takes
place in the evening/ night time (a time when people feel less safe).
My film breaks these conventions as I wanted the audience to feel
as though they are not safe even during the daylight.
 I feel that filming with natural lighting is effective, especially if the
lighting is bright. I feel like it makes the audience feel a little uneasy
(for the reason stated above). It challenges the conventions which
throws people off.

11. Narrative/ themes.
 There is a lot of themes that thriller films explore: revenge, murder,
car chases, the idea of a hostage situation etc…
 The main theme I wanted to get across in my media product was
revenge as that was the initial plot that leads the story.
 In my head I had planned out the rest of my film, if I were to make it
into a real length film, and that would have included, a chase
scene and more elements of good vs evil.