Evaluation Question 1

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

1. Our short film features common media features such as 180 degree rule, as well as following continuity within filming and editing. This enabled us to make a short film which followed conventions of standard film making. We stuck with the main themes of our genre of thriller by providing tense moments and eire ominous parts which provided a sense of dread towards the audience. We used fast editing with in murder scenes to add even more a sense of anger and aggression which increased the pace over all of these parts. This worked really effectively in comparison with our scenes of normality with in our film, as there were filmed and edited with little shots in them as this slowed the pace.


 Within filming we used lighting to help represent different things in our film for instance when our character "louise" comes home and finds "Ben" in the kitchen we used lighting to try and show the separate distinctions of good and bad by putting "louise" in a lighter part of the room, and putting "ben" into darkness. This is a visual way of not only showing the separations in mental stability but because "louise" is walking into darkness it creates an ominous feel to the scene. 


This video shows how different lighting styles similar to the ones we used can provde different effects. 

Location wise, using one set location provides an a sense of being trapped for characters and that can't escape from the events that are about to unfold. The only downside of this was that it didn't allow us to expand our characters into different settings to get a sense of their personalities, or add more settings which could have provided more tension or suspense to a situation, as the only location we provided was one that was homely. This means that it provided a warmer feeling to the over all setting of the film, rather than a more ominous feeling which would have been more appropriate. 


Costumes- For our characters appearances we wanted to keep them all looking pretty similar so that they all appeared linked, we stuck to dark colours mainly to co inside with the theme of the film. 
Sounds- The falling down the stairs scene is the one with the most realistic sounds in it, mainly because the bangs and tumble noises were real, this ended up sounding really good in the end, especially the bang to the head at the bottom of the first fall on the stairs and the head bang on the floor after the her neck is broken. However i would have liked to have added an additional sound of something cracking to give more emphasis towards the breaking of the neck, to create a more shocking moment.

2. Conventions of our genre were reflected deliberately as we tried to stick to the normal expectations of the genre its self, as this meant that it would be easier to understand as a thriller. It features a suburban area which is a location area that is normal featured within thrillers, mainly to add a sense of normality within the film itself and works well in our own project. Violence is also a central plot in the film which is the constant expectation within thriller films, however in other thriller the violent scenes are normally filled with a higher suspense which i think our film is lacking in as it instantly jumps into the violence without leading up to it which is normally seen within this genre. As a thriller is fulfils standard expectations however it doesn't contain the really high suspense moments which i would have wanted to convey. Also unlike standard thrillers where the situation is resolved we have left it so that the murderer is able to get away with what he has done. Leaving the ending open which is uncommon within the genre. This deliberate subversion of the standardised ending within thrillers is important to our films plot as it shows that it is capable of happening again and to anyone else, especially since it ends with our murderer asking for new room mates.

3.  Our film doesn't parody or pastiche any of the codes in a thriller as it abides by common relations with the genre. We intentionally tried to keep away from referencing towards other films as we wanted to create a stronger sense of normality within the film, as we thought referencing towards other films would break the idea that this was a internal decision for the character. 

4.  Altering our pace of editing within separate scenes was used to create a high aspect of pace with in our more dramatic scenes is also added more tension as it allowed the audience to question what was going to happen next. We separated our film into separate parts, in a way of days, this meant that the audience knew how long it took for the events to unfold and also allowed them to question what was about to happen. As a thriller the aim of the film is to induce fear and suspense onto the audience, i think that our film has some of these elements within it however i don't think it fulfils the full potential that it had to do this, although it has scenes where it shocks the audience, we could have produced a film that contains the same elements it does now, whilst leading up to it in a more interesting way, this would have the created a stronger feeling within the audience which would have been more effective for our film. Due to our conjoining scenes between the murders it does apply a build up of suspense which is important in our film and any thriller, however i am unsure if they provide the most dramatic implications that i would have been preferred. 

5.

American Psycho is a similar idea to our theme, anger over trivial things. This scene dictates when Patrick Bateman kills Paul Allen in cold blood, over something that he wanted. This instantaneous anger over trivial things is something that we could transform into our own film. The main aspect which is something that transpires in our film is that the main character Patrick is seemingly an ordinary person which allows a sense of realism towards this film as it could be that this situation could happen in other circumstances. Applying it to our own film, it is similar as our murder is an ordinary person, and has snapped over something trivial. His girlfriend spending more time with her best friend than him. This adds a more fearful perspective towards our film as it could be a situation this is seen within other peoples lives. This links in with our theme of a thriller as it has tension and a horror aspect as well however it is applied towards real life situations within our film.

With american psycho the main character is portrayed as a normal man, this is projected with his dress sense as he wears suits which transpires onto his job as a business man within the film. This outer personality only shows some aspects of his psychotic nature however they are subsequently transferred into doubt onto the rest of the characters because of his outer stereotypical  male persona.



This is similarly seen within our own film, we have projected the idea of normal stereotypical conventions on our own murderer by creating the idea that he is a standard teenage boy. This creates an even more twisted sense towards our film as it provides the idea that anyone is capable of the things shown within our film.

Patrick Bateman, commits his murders when he sees things he is objective too, he mainly uses women as his victims which is similar to our film. Unlike American psycho, where the women he murders have no personal attachment to him, in our film it provides a more intense sense of murder as it features character which are supposed to be close as they all live together. However similarly they are murdered in abrupt cases of violence which apply a more intense murder.