Evaluation

-
In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media productions?

A thriller has many narrative conventions such as:

Technical conventions:

 Mis-en-scene conventions:

Thriller Conventions

Thriller openings should hook the audience into watching the film and if that doesn't happen the atmosphere for the rest of the film will not be created. It has to create suspense and tension so that the audience are on the edge of their seats at all times, even during the beginning. It shouldn't give too much away from the rest of the movie yet hint at what is going to happen with brief introductions. This is what we tried to do, with just snippets in our thriller of the snake and the game being played, creating a sense of mystery and leaving the audience guessing what is going to happen.
Conventions

In “No Country for Old Men” the first scene is disjointed and the arrest scene occurs from nowhere, with no introduction, this is the same with “Shutter Island” where the boat comes out from the mist and in “Psycho” the shower scene is peaceful until the killer comes out of nowhere, these three thrillers all share the mystery and surprise element which is what we used in our thriller, when we introduce the thriller it is just a shot of the light coming into the room we were shooting and the noises don’t really start until the chalk is used and in shot.In “Shutter Island” especially, there is a vast amount of close ups used to create a sense of mystery and not seeing the whole picture which is what we tried to do with our thriller, only giving glimpses of the snake and the person, hiding the persons identity, it also gives off a claustrophobic feel and heightens the emotions. In “Shutter Island” there is a mix of diegetic sounds which are horns and shackles clanking, giving a disturbing scene and an uncomfortable atmosphere, yet “No Country for Old Men” also creates an uncomfortable atmosphere as there is no diegetic noise apart from a voice with a southern American accent, also setting the scene this makes the audience question what type of man he is, and it relates to the scene that is presented in front of them, derelict and tired. Apart from the talking it is silent and then after the talking no other noise is heard apart from the diegetic noise. In our thriller, we decided to use non diegetic and diegetic sounds. We used non diegetic sounds like chanting and breathing sounds to make the atmosphere uncomfortable, like someone is watching over the character and the sound of the chalk against the board which is diegetic.  The chanting also links our thriller to religion and the ceremony being performed is like a religious ceremony.

In “Psycho” when the attack happens, the editing between shots get quicker, the shots get shorter giving a sense of panic and disorientation. Even though our opening isn't an attack scene, we still use quick transitions between cuts and the scenes get shorter as the opening goes on, building the tension up and also building a sense of panic up in the audiences.  

In “Psycho” the props which are used are focused on, like the knife used, and the shower. These props are significant and this is why they’re focused on so much. The knife signifies a more revengeful and personal killing, as it is related to blood and torture, whilst the shower and water connote purity and innocence, and then the water running down the drain signifies the life being drained away. In our thriller we focused on the chalk and the candles. The chalk is what is used to draw with, and fits in with our theme, whilst the candles signify life and how easy it is to blow it out relating to how easy it is to kill someone, like blowing out a candle. The candle scene relates to the shower scene as they both connote life and the candle being blown out is like the water mixing with the blood, it makes it impure. 

This scene in " No Country for Old Men" shows time passing yet these are all different place, yet have the same theme so carry the story forward. The fact that these are different places makes it feel like a disjointed narrative because of the location change yet at the same time related as they're similar landscape shots. In our thriller we used the same type of technique where we put in shots of snakes in between the shots of the action, so it gave a disjointed feel yet as the story progressed the audience understand more about the narrative.