Evaluation - Q1

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

Thriller openings uses forms and conventions- which associates with the theme "Thriller" and the expectations from it. Thriller movies aim to build suspense and tension, which the target audience will find appealing.

For example, conventions of a thriller opening could include:

• Introduction of a main character- either a protagonist or the villain- building up mystery and questions what may happen later on in the plot


• The music suiting the sequence of camera shots or edits, which could either be slow paced and creepy to build suspense or be upbeat to build up the tension of what may happen next


• Making the audience question what may happen later on in the movie


• The use of lighting would be important to emphasize what kind of themes would relate to the movie- for example, the use of low dark lightening can suggest that it can give a creepy, scary, suspenseful source of action.
  

In our group's Opening Title Sequence, we had used these conventions- to strongly imply that it is a thriller type movie, than any other type of genre.

Our use of mise-en-scene had suggested the image of 'dark, scary, mental' state- with the use of the character as well as the setting and our use of props. The actress, gave the assumption that she is a ghostly, mentally insane person- in which our use of mise-en-scene had emphasized this even more so. The music suited the action well, it sounded disorientating but upbeat, to provide pace. It contrasted- the pace of the action sequence was slow paced but the music was upbeat. It is serious and dark-hearted, which is vital to make it known that it is a thriller movie. We established the setting by introducing the character in a dark room with little lighting. The different camera shots and edits makes the whole sequence look mysterious. The editing is made to look creepy and disorientating, but in addition to this it also looks professional as low budget companies have less editing.

Our thriller Opening Title Sequence is inspired by Se7en.

• As you can see, it has extreme close ups and it establishes a setting that gives off a obsessive feeling. There are extreme closeups of a man's finger tips, which is doing disturbing things such as slicing off his skin. We also see him write letters and opening pages of books, and quick images of disturbing photos- which in comparison to our title sequence we additionally used disturbing images as well as having close ups of her writing.
  
• We see the man cut out certain words like 'God' or writes obsessively- and even doing weird 'abnormal' things that gives off a creepy feeling- the audience knows that this person must be the villain. Compared to our Four Walls, we additionally made our actress Thao do eerie actions- for example when she is looking directly at the camera and jilting her head from side to side. We can assume as a audience that she would be the antagonist in the film.
  
• There is a scene where the persons looks like he is giving a paper cut to himself- which uses screeches and you see a quick edit of blood, which in my opinion gives me shivers because of that action. On the other hand, Thao is seen 'cutting' herself with scissors which made the audience in the cinema feel queasy when watching that.
• The music at first is quite slow paced but then it gradually builds up- in the meantime there are occasional screeches and sci-fi sounds that build up the tension and suspense in the sequence. In Four Walls we have music that is quite steadily paced out too, with additional sound over lays being heard in the music as it progresses on.
  
• In 'Se7en', there are quick cut edits that are jumpy- in addition to that there are lots of 'slugs' and overlays of titles and other effects on top of the original sequence- which in Four Walls we also have these aspects.
  

Therefore, our thriller opening sequence challenges Se7en's title sequence too, as we was inspired by it and it has many similar features and conventions to a thriller movie.

Other thriller openings however, can establish the actual setting, without the use of characters such as Arlington Road. This sets an atmosphere which gives off a eerie and disorientating point of view which sets up the suspense.

From our selection of 9 still shots, it looks almost to a professional standard. Viewers will assume that it is a thriller/horror type title sequence, with its selection of pictures and the mise en scene it gives off. It looks serious, tense, and it establishes a dark tone.

These suit the conventions of a thriller opening.