In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? Evaluation Task 1

Title

The title of our film was created in DS digital font. This is used in films such as Exam, to give a connotation of time and the limitations of being under restricted time. The title is on a plain black background, which connotes darkness. This darkness also gives a feeling of not knowing what could possibly be lurking in the darkness. Most people have a fear of the unknown, which we played on in creating the title of our film. Also, the red font we used connotes danger. By having the red glow surrounding the text and merging into the darkness, this gives the effect that the danger is hidden within the unknown.

Our title challenges the conventions of real life psychological thrillers, as it is a specialized font. In films such as Elevator and Black Swan, the title is written simply in a plain, sans serif white font, with little or no connotation to the rest of the film. We decided to challenge this convention by creating an image that connotes the main theme of our film, which is the idea of time.

Setting and Location

The setting of our trailer is the home of the female protagonist. We decided to film in this location as it gave a connotation of safety, and therefore by having the antagonist intrude this personal, safe place, the sense of comfort is broken, and the audience are left permanently in  fear.

This challenges the conventions of psychological thrillers that are already in existence, as  the typical setting for this genre is either in an office or workplace setting (Such as in Se7en) or in a large city (such as Inception or Now You See Me.) We decided to challenge this convention, as we felt that more fear would be induced in the audience by having the antagonist inside of the character's "safe place." However, some films such as Before I Go To Sleep use a home setting to create an effect of fear, and therefore our setting also develops the convention of the genre. The setting of a film will often depend on both the storyline, and the emotions that the production team are attempting to convey with their work.

Costumes and Props

We decided to use a mask for the main feature of our antagonist's costume. This is used to completely hide their identity, as well as them wearing a hooded jumper to hide their hair. This is used to make the antagonist's identity completely hidden. It is ambiguous whether the actor is male or female. We also decided that rather than having a plain white mask, which we felt would be too cliche and tacky, that we would paint the mask to create a character that we as producers would find scary. We decided to take our inspiration from the Marionette mask, featured in the Five Nights at Freddy's game series. This is because that specific character is a puppet, controlled by either another person, or in the case of our antagonist, their own mental condition.

The use of our antagonist's costume and mask is conventional of older psychological thriller films such as Texas Chainsaw Massacre and V for Vendetta used a mask to hide the antagonist's identity. However, this has now become a cliche of the genre, and so newer films such as The Captive and Non-Stop, do not use this feature, therefore meaning that our costume is challenging this convention.

Camerawork and Editing

We used a cross dissolve in between two mid shots of a male character, the first he is standing up, and in the next he is dead on the floor. We decided that alone, these shots didn't make sense, so then we added a close up shot of our antagonist in between them, and added a cross dissolve transition to help to make the cuts seem smoother. This gives the effect that the antagonist has caused the death of this character.

The cross dissolve that we used challenges the conventions of the psychological thriller genre, as often in trailers a fast, straight cut is used rather than any transitions. We decided to challenge this convention, as the cross dissolve that we used made the sequence seem more chilling, as it all merged into one another.

Title font and style

Our inter titles are created in two different font sizes. The more important text is in a larger font, connoting its importance in relation to the rest of the text. This is usually the names of the actors or production company worker, as their names are more important in advertising a film than their titles. The font we used was called Deep Glow. We decided to use this font as the letters are more widely spaced, which makes them larger and taking up more space on the screen. This makes the audience really focus on the words that are presented. Also, the lettering is in white, which connotes innocence and purity. As the trailer develops, the glow around the lettering gradually moves from being white, then to being red. This connotes that as the film develops, there will be more tension and danger.

Having a white text is typical of the psychological thriller genre, and is seen in films such as Safe Haven. This is used so that the font and colours do not give away any of the plot of the film, or the themes that run throughout. We also used a different, bolder font on "Time's Running Out," in order to build suspense and tension, as well as making this point contrast with the rest of the trailer. This is used in trailers such as Se7en, as titles are used throughout to create tension.

Storyline and Plot

The storyline of our film is introduced in the trailer, with the use of a voiceover. This voicover was of a police detective character, explaining who the antagonist was and what it was that they were doing to make them this character. This was accompanied by a sequence of a male character standing up from his bed, and then an image of our antagonist, followed by the male character dead on the floor. The voiceover at this time says, "this killer is is killing victims in their own homes. If he calls you, he will hunt you, and he will kill you. All we know is that once he calls the victims only have twelve hours left. This helps to set up the storyline of our film, as it demonstrates the ongoing theme of time throughout the trailer, while at the same time giving descriptions to what could happen within the film.

A voiceover aided by clips that demonstrate the narrative is a typical convention of psychological thriller trailers. This is often used in films such as Safe Haven to give hints towards the storyline and plot of the film, to make the audience want to find out what will happen.  This links to Barthes' coding theory, as the audience like to receive hints as to what will happen in the film.

Character introduction

We chose to introduce our main character, Gabrielle, by showing her and her mother as the first shot in the trailer. This gives the audience the knowledge that she is the main focus of he trailer. Also, by showing her wearing a dress, speaking with her mother, she appears as very feminine and down to earth. This clip also shows that she is just a normal girl, and doesn't expect anything strange to happen to her. We decided to use this to evoke fear in our audience, as this could happen to anyone.

This is used in trailers such as The Last House on the Left, where the female protagonist is the first character that is shown on screen. This is used in trailers to make the audience aware of this character, as they will be on the screen for the majority of the film itself. This is also used when the character is played by a famous actress or actor, as the audience will recognize them, and therefore go to see a film simply because they are in it.

Special Effects

We used a security camera effect over the top of a midshot of our antagonist. This gives the effect that the police have been tracking this character, but yet cannot catch them. This also evokes fear in the audience as it is uncommon for the police to not be able to catch a criminal that has been committing serious crimes such as murder. This is used in films such as Se7en, where the two main protagonists are detectives, looking for a murderer. We decided to in-cooperate this convention into our film as it evoked fear and emotion in the audience.

We also used an audio manipulation on the voiceover in which the antagonist said, "You have 12 hours until you will die." The effect that we used was called 'alien.' We used this to create an effect of mystery, as it is unclear whether the character is male or female, which fits with the idea of hiding the identity of our antagonist character. This develops the conventions of psychological thriller films such as V for Vendetta, where the antagonist adapts their voice in order to create a sense of ambiguity surrounding their personality.

Use of logo

 Our production company logo is the title Chilling Entertainment in two fonts, the first is Symbiote, used on the word 'chilling.' We decided to use this font as it looks as if static is breaking up the signal of the words, therefore giving an eerie feel to the font. The second font we used it called Necropsy. This looks as if the words are dripping, and connotes an effect of blood dripping, a typical convention of titles in the psychological thriller genre. Both of these texts are in a white font on a black background, giving a polar contrast between connotations of innocence and fear. Behind the words is a white frosted handprint. We decided to use this as most psychological thrillers are based around detective or police characters, in which case a handprint would be a clue that they look for.

Our production company logo challenges the conventions of company logos, as most psychological thrillers will be backed up by a well known production company such as Paramount, 20th Century Fox or Universal. Our trailer used a niche, unknown production company rather than a well known conglomerate. Since our production company is simply based around thriller films, this means that they will produce good quality films, and this is the effect we aimed for with our logo.