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

products?

Question 1

First Section: Title

The first frame of the grid is of my title. I chose to callthe film opening “Dark Side” to emphasize the madnessof the protagonist. After the death of his partnerCostanza, Oscar, the protagonist, starts to havenightmares and memories about that day. This becomespart of him, his dark side. I chose to put the title at the end of the film because the audience is in tension for what happens in the last shot. The music gets louderand faster to build the suspense up. I chose the font called “IMPRINT MT SHADOW” togive a gothic and dark look to the title, coherent withthe location and the genre. The white colour font on ablack screen gives the title a séance theme as well.

Titles in Real Media Products

One of the most famous psychological thrillers of thehistory of films is the masterpiece Psycho (1960)directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The name is split in half like it was cut by a knife –foreshadowing the gruesome murders. This suggests to viewers that the film is about something fractured, broken such as the mind of a character. This title affectsthe viewers’ subconscious by putting them on alert.Obviously the alert is giving by the name itself: Psycho. This is an example of how the title leaves clues aboutthe whole film.

Second Section: Setting

The second frame is of locations. I chose this setting togive the film opening a solemn aspect. It gives a senseof loneliness as well, because the protagonist lives alonein a house with big rooms and high ceilings. I usuallyused the shape of the rectangle to emphasise theconcept of the dark side: the protagonist is always at the opposite side of his visions, firstly at the table in the kitchen (the table is rectangular) and in the last shot in arectangular and deep living room.

Settings in Real Media Products

Most of real media products use ordinarylocations, such as a house or a hotel. This is toprocure a realistic aspect to the situationhappening in the film. This transmits the viewersa sense of insecurity because what happens tothe characters happens where every normal person can be.

The Shining (1980)

The Strangers (2008)

Third Section: Costumes

The protagonist wears a white T-shirt pyjamas becausehe just woke up. It suggests he is the protagonist andthe innocent victim. This is contrasted by the costume ofhis partner, who wears a red hoodie and black trousers,these are warning signs that something bad will happen t o h er. The antagonists wear masks to hide their identity.The costumes are really important in a film openingbecause they help the audience to understand the roleof the characters in a very short time, such as twominutes.

Costumes in Real Media Products

In real media products costumes, as locations, inpsychological thrillers are normally quite formalor work uniforms, such as policemen/lawyers. Allthis is to create a sense of reality around thecharacters, which is contrasted by the surrealthemes that psychological thriller films usually convey. The mask is a classic convention of horror as it hides the face of the killer.

Se7en (1995)

Halloween (1978)

Silence of the Lambs(1991)

Friday the 13th (1980)

Fourth Section: Props

The first frame shows a cup of coffee and biscuits,therefore this suggest to the audience the charactersare having breakfast in the morning. The cup of coffee isspilt on the table, this could be mistaken for blood. Theplace where this happens is a normal kitchen that everyone can recognise. I wanted to shoot this film in rooms like that, where normally a person feels safe inthere, not in a scary location such as a forest or anabandoned house. Therefore it is like a paradox: theprotagonist doesn’t feel safe at his own house.

Props in Real Media Products

In real media products the props used are generally weapons, such as a knife, a gun or an axe. These help to build up the tension and to addsuspense in particular scenes.The use of weapons contributes the audience to assimilate who the characters are, whether a Protagonist or an Antagonist.

The Shining (1980)

Psycho (1960)

The Strangers (2008)

Fifth Section: Characters

In my film opening my characters are Oscar, Costanza, a man ofOscar’s vision and two masked killers. Oscar seems to be a normalguy who lives with his girlfriend Costanza. After the death of hispartner, he starts to have nightmares about that day. The shockdrives him to see Costanza and a man who dresses like him in his house. This reveals his disturbed mind. The masked killers are the people who make Oscar have these visions and nightmares. Oscaris like a puppet in the hands of puppeteers: the killers.The conventional character of the thriller genre “Femme Fatale” isalso used by Costanza.

Characters in Real Media Products

The characters in thriller films are not similar to ones that will be portrayed in other genres. Thriller characters can be found to have darker or sinister motives than others. To inspire my film opening, I have looked to famous films such as David Fincher’s Panic Room and Michael Haneke’s Funny Games. These films are talking about violation of the home privacy.

Funny Games (2007, remake 1997)

Panic Room (2002)

For example, in Funny Games the laws of thriller films are broken because the killers are dressing white and regular clothes. It’s not a common convention for the killers in a thriller film. This drive the audience to be disorientated by the film. The viewer doesn’t expect that two young guys in white clothes are the killers, therefore the audience feels uncomfortable because that situation happens in a normal house to a normal family. The uncomfort is even more emphasised by the killers’ usual clothes.

Sixth Section: Camera Work

I shot my film opening using different camera shots andmovement.I filmed two scenes following the character (we can see one ofthem in the frame next) therefore I used the hand held cameraover the shoulder shot. In the scenes in the kitchen and in the living room I used the point of view shot to identify the audience with the character and toshow what the character are looking. In the living room scene Ialso used wide shots to emphasise the size of the room.

Camera Work in Real Media Products

In real media products are often used shots such as close up shot,hand held camera shot, wide shot and over the shoulder shot.Close up shots are used to see the reactions of the characters’faces. Hand held camera shots are often used in thriller films to give a sense of reality to the film. Wide shots are used to reveal the setting and to reveal howdeserted or abandoned the location is.Over the shoulder shots are used in real media products to buildtension in the film. It adds suspense because the audience can seewhat’s happening as soon as the character does. The audiencefeels part of the film.

The Shining (1980)

Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Seventh Section: Editing

In this section I talk about editing. The editing is veryimportant in my film opening because I transmit tensionand suspense through it. At the beginning of the openingthe audience can understand that the first scene is aOscar’s nightmare through the editing. Then in thescenes such as the kitchen and the living room, when Oscar sees the man and Costanza, the editing isfundamental to make the audience disorientated and tobuild tension. I often used quick cuts and I changedcamera angles to make an uncomfortable sense during the whole film.

Editing in Real Media Products

In real media products the editing is extremely importantbecause it builds the tension and suspense. Using quickcuts and changing camera angles the audience feels disorientated and it creates an uncomfortable andsuspenseful atmosphere in the scene.

The Shining (1980)

Eighth Section: Sound

Sound plays an important role in my film opening. Ithelps to build the audience’s tension and to have a moodof suspense during the whole film. I mixed diagetic andnon-diagetic sounds to give a sense of reality during thefilm opening. When I used the hand held over the shoulder camera technique, I used a suspenseful soundto make the audience feel uncomfortable and to definethe audience into the character because it sees what ishappening at the same time of the character.

Sound in Real Media Products

Sounds and soundtracks in thriller films are used to buildthe audience understanding of what is happening in thefilm. In some films the sound also symbolises thecharacters’ movements. An example is the movement ofthe shark in Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975). The director is able to create the right mood of tension and suspense using carefully the sound and the mix ofthe sounds in the scenes. The sound techniques are forexample: diagetic, non-diagetic, on screen sound, offscreen sound and parallel sound.

Ninth Section: Lightning

Apart from the nightmare scenes, the film is filmed inthe night. We can see a lot of shadows and low-lightningand this helps to have the theme of the Dark Side duringthe whole film. Low-lightning helps to build theaudience’s tension and suspense. The shadows on the faces of the characters builds a sense of mystery around them, such as the man in the kitchen.

Lightning in Real Media Products

Shadows and low-lightning are used in psychological thrillers to give a sense of mystery and danger in the scene.The shadows are used to let the spectators understand thatthere is a mysterious man in the scene, the villain in mostof the cases. Something evil hides in the shadows.

Shutter Island (2010)

Leon (1994)