Evaluation Question 1

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

We decided that within our film the plot would revolve around three 'ordinary' teens finding a dead body. However, we tried to the base the plot around a main character (Charlie) who portrays the role of someone out of the ordinary (later on the film the be revealed as a psychopath). Our plot was used to reflect that of a traditional psychological thriller where daily life is portrayed as normal and realistic however something factors in to create this sense of suspense. An example of this in psychological thriller films would be Fight Club where it isn't till later on the film we discover that the main character actually has a mental illness which changes the view of the plot. The title sequence we used in the film was purposely placed after the lighter scene in order to show that the lighter would be a key symbol throughout as well as establishing who the main character will be. The iconography of the lighter holds connotations of danger used as a foreshadowing technique. Are titles remained minimalist in order to create a sense of mystery rather than giving away what the film would be about, the use of suspenseful non diegetic music clearly expressed the genre of the film however also did it's job to keep the audience on edge.   

We purposely chose the main character to dress in dark clothing to establish his inner darkness and hidden/quiet behaviour. This was done to foreshadow his future of being a psychopath and the make audience grow an ongoing suspicion towards him. This was our intention as in psychological thriller(like in Fight Club), the film usually revolves around the character with mental issues. We paired this character with a lighter which he constantly plays around with throughout the film to establish his ongoing impatience, discomfort and overall erratic behaviour. 

Within the conversation scene we used the proximity of the characters to show the relationship between them, positioning Gemma and Tom closer together and ahead of Charlie to show they're close friendship and that they're more comfortable with each other, this was also done through a point of view shot to show Charlie trailed behind while once again fiddling with his lighter, establishing his loneliness and isolation. 

Towards the end of the first 2 minutes of the film we used multiple close ups to show the expressions of the characters discovering the body, showing they're confusion and anxiousness. We used another point of view shot and a hang held camera to show Charlie's personal view and establish that he was interested in the body. Fast paced editing alongside non diegetic tense music to create a sense of panic and discomfort, common in most thriller films in order to build suspense and catch the viewers attention. The diegetic sounds of birds in the background was contrapuntal as is juxtaposed against the tension of the scene creating an unsettling atmosphere.