Exam Question 1 DONE

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

There were many different forms and conventions that I identified and used in my media production through analysing real media products. Shutter Island is just one example of a thriller film that I took inspiration from, particularly through it's use of low key lighting. This convention is often used in thriller productions to create a darker, eerier atmosphere which often foreshadows when something dangerous is going to happen, when a character is in a dangerous situation or to highlight who the antagonist within the production is. For example, the majority of Shutter Island is set on a remote island in a prison, holding people who are mentally unstable. Low key lighting is used to highlight the instability of the characters within the prison and the danger that the main character Teddy is in when he is around them. My media production uses low key lighting when the first victim is being stabbed to death as the convention emphasised the severity and darkness of the scene. I developed this convention by using it to highlight when the antagonist is going to kill another character later on in my production, which will prepare the audience for what is going to happen, consequently removing the element of surprise. This is conventional to the thriller genre as it will build suspense and shock within my production as the audience know something is going to happen but they do not know when.

In my media production I have also used mise-en-scene, specifically the iconography of a knife as the murder weapon, which I identified as conventional to the thriller genre as it is often used to prolong the death of the victim as it will take longer than other possible weapons, for example, a gun. This is evident in my thriller production when the antagonist is killing his mother, who the audience see struggling and fighting against the antagonist to prevent her death from occurring. Many real media productions use a knife as their iconography, but one of the most iconic scene that I took inspiration from came from the film Psycho. A knife is used by Norman when he is stabbing Marion in the shower to emphasise her pain and the brutality of her death.

Another convention that is often used in real media products as well as my own media product was the antagonist being male and the victims female. This is conventional to the thriller genre as women are often perceived as being more vulnerable than men, and younger, prettier girls are usually who the antagonist will target. Example of this are Marion from Psycho and Casey Becker from Scream. In my media production, I have portrayed the female characters as unsuspecting, therefore an easy target. Although, the death of the mother may surprise the audience who will not expect the antagonist to kill a close family member in such a sudden an brutal way. Family connotes the idea of love, happiness and protection, a connotation which my thriller production defies. Due to the setting being in a house, at a table while the mother and antagonist are eating dinner, the audience will not expect this to lead to the mothers death, therefore they will be surprised.

Another convention that appeared in my media production were the creation of surprise, shock and enigma. The audience will be shocked and surprised after they witness the antagonist leap across the dinner table and stab his mother to death as they would not have expected him to kill his own mother, especially since she had not done anything to deserve it. Moreover, enigma is created throughout the entire sequence as the audience will want to know the audience to questions including why did he kill himself, why did he kill his own mother and what will happen to the girlfriend once she finds out that the mother is dead? Due to the audience knowing that the mother is dead before the girlfriend does, they will fear for her safety and want to know what will happen to her once she goes to his house and finds the mother dead. This enigma will be emphasised when the audience see the antagonist larking behind his girlfriend who does not know that he is there or what he has done, suggesting that something bad is going to happen to her also.

The song that we used in our media product "tiptoe through the tulips" is also conventional to the thriller genre, as it is a freaky, eerie song that plays when one of the characters is going to die. It first appears after the antagonist has killed his mother and the shots are slowed down to show her struggling against him. It is then again played at the end of my media product when the audience see the girlfriend talking on the phone to the antagonist who turns out to be standing right behind her but she does not know that he is there. They will then see the girlfriend walk out of shot, followed shortly by the antagonist in slow motion. When the music plays again, it will hopefully suggest to the audience that something bad is going to happen to her as they will associate the song with the death of the mother.

Finally, another important convention that I have used during my media production is slow editing. This appears in the sequence during the dinner scene when the mother is nagging her son, who then leaps across the table and begins violently stabbing her. Slow editing is used to prolong a sequence and give the audience more time to take in what is happening to her. This will result in them feeling shocked as they will not expect the antagonist to kill his mother in such a violent way. On the other hand, fast pace editing is also used in my media production when the girlfriend is on the phone to the antagonist who tells her that he is right behind her. The character then begins to look at her surroundings, which we made faster during the editing stage in order to create a sense of panic and urgency. This was once again inspired by the shower scene during the thriller film Psycho, where the female lead Marion is stabbed to death by Norman, and fast pace editing appears to show the audience that she is frantic and struggling to try and get away from him. However, it could also be used to show Normans urgency to kill her before she manages to escape.