Evaluation

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

2. Thrillers are made up of many different conventions including a protagonist
in the mercy of the antagonist, black and white shots, montage of shots,
shadows, tension music, quick cuts, low key lighting and changes in the
angle of shots. I have tried to incorporate all of these within my thriller
opening sequence. To include black and white shots I took photos and
inserted them into my sequence to create stills. I edited the images into black
and white before they were placed into my sequence. Including the stills not
only helped to show the theme of a thriller clearly through my work but the
stills also helped to create tension within the opening sequence as it created
variation throughout the length of the clip.

3. The whole of my clip is classed as montage of shots although; I wanted to
take the convention of a montage even further within my sequence. In order
to build tension and suspense within my clip, I aimed to use a montage of
short video clips and stills. The mini montage within my sequence spells out
the word ‘murder’. The montage was a success as the swift moving clips and
fast cuts builds excitement, tension and intrigue. Creating the mini montage
within my sequence also allowed me to include the convention of fast cuts.
Including the fast cuts added to the thriller feel of my sequence as well as the

4. To create shadows within my work I used the convention of low key lighting.
By doing this I was able to include two of the thriller conventions very easily
within my sequence. To create the low key lighting I filmed my shots within
a dark room, lit only by a single spot light. Using this technique allowed me
to create low key lighting as well as shadowing. The shadowing was created
through the use of the spotlight, aimed onto the character featured within
my clip. Using these conventions helped me create a more effective and
atmospheric feel to my thriller opening sequence.

5. Another convention of thriller movies is the tension music usually included
throughout the films. To try and recreate this convention within my work I
used a non-diegetic backing track throughout the length of my sequence. The
track started slow and gradually became louder and faster as the clip
progressed. I created this effect in order to build tension and excitement for
the audience watching my sequence. Although the track was effective and
worked well, I believe I could have improved my work even further by
adding aspects of ambient sound within my clip. Adding ambient sound as
well as a backing track would have made my sequence more atmospheric as
well as realistic.

6. The final way in which I wanted my clip to follow the codes and conventions
of a thriller movie was through camera angles. To follow the convention of a
thriller, I constantly changed the angles of my shots. I used various different
filming techniques including over the shoulder shots, close up’s and extreme
close up shots. For every new shot, a different angle was used. I believe that
this was a success as changing the angles not only allowed my clip to follow
the convention but it also added variation and created intrigue towards the
sequence.