THE INTIMIDATION

GAME

HammerHead Productions

OPENING SEQUENCE

EVALUATION

1. In what ways does your media

product use, develop or challenge

forms and conventions of real

media products?

For our production, we chose the thriller genre as we thought that it would have been the most interesting out of all the other genres. We also added the detective-versus-serial killer as we thought that it would make a good plot and we could be creative with it. Detective thrillers have been done before but mostly centre the plot just between the detective and the serial killer, such as films like Seven and The Silence of the Lambs.

Serial killers from Seven and

The Silence of the Lambs

Instead of following that trend, we added the daughter of the detective as the main victim in our plot to give the production a more personal matter as not every person has to deal with a serial killer every day, but every parent does have the duty to protect and keep their children safe, and so we thought that having this will help the audience relate to the characters, specifically the detective, as he tries to save his daughter from the serial killer.

Actor Mariel Racaza as Sarah

Anderson

As for characters, we chose to follow the mould of the upright, lawful, noble detective as our hero. Other films such as Seven and Taken both have the standard Honest Joe as the good guy who does what is morally right. Again following that trend, we also chose to have the detective as a male character to further strengthen the father-daughter bond that the characters have and to reinforce how protective a father could be towards his daughter.

Actor Romeo Racaza as Michael

Anderson

Detectives Mills and Somerset

from Seven

In regards to MES, we chose to have the detective in his standard work uniform including suit, tie, and trousers following the trends of such films such as Seven. We also had him looking neat with little facial hair so further reinforce his moral and noble ways, but to have a little facial hair so that he would look old enough to have a daughter and to look like a seasoned and experience detective that knows what he’s doing given a situation.

Another convention we had that was similar to other thrillers is the psychotic serial killer that goes against all of the detective’s motives with their opposite motives that involve killing innocent people horribly and violently. We took the template of our serial killer from the film Seven, John Doe. They both have the same personalities and characteristics such as being disturbed, anti-social, and psychologically broken.

Serial killer John Doe from

Seven

In regards to MES, we chose to have our serial killer to be neatly dressed and out of fashion in a way to reinforce his anti-social nature. Another convention we took some ideas from is the camera work used in other thriller films. We deliberately did now show his face in the opening sequence which is an effect also used in the film Seven. This will connote mystery as the audience will not know what the serial killer will look like and also shows his secretive side. Another convention that we copied is having the serial killer as a male character, which we took from Seven and The Silence of the Lambs and various other thriller films.

Serial killer John Doe from

Seven

Serial killer Jacob Duffy from

The Intimidation Game

Opening sequence to Seven

Opening sequence to The

Intimidation Game

Another convention that we took from other thrillers are the victims the serial killer targets. In this case, we chose to have the victim as the detective’s daughter. This is another convention that is present in many thriller films, as having a young victim reinforces their vulnerability and the urgency of stopping the serial killer. Having this convention will also help the audience relate and sympathise with the detective and also make them hate the antagonist more.

2. How does your media product

represent particular social

groups?

For our production, we wanted the characters Michael Anderson and Sarah Anderson to have a strong father and daughter relationship so that our plot can be made more urgent and more important. We also wanted it so that the audience can relate to Michael as he is just a simple father trying to do everything he can so that his daughter gets the best of everything. In our opening sequence, we didn’t show the wife and made it seem like it was only Michael and Sarah in the family. This would help make our plot more effective as there is a stronger sense of danger and urgency by having a single father instead of a complete family as everything he has would be on the line and he has more to lose.

Detective Mills and his wife in

Seven

Bryan Mills and his daughter in

Taken