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

The video we created was a psychological Thriller piece called ‘Wilderness’. We decided on this name due to a disturbing video our main character is watching in his scenes. The video, which shows animals being eaten, sets the tone of the opening of our Thriller perfectly, telling the audience that the Thriller is going to be dark and gritty. This backs up conventions of the Thriller genre, as they are often shown to be deeply disturbing and unnatural.

 

 Locations were very important for us, because we thought that the place where the story is happening adds a big part to the tension and fear factor. With this as a main intention, we decided to shoot all of our scenes at night, giving connotations of evilness and danger. The outside shots were taken at the front of the Norwich Cathedral, and the church opposite. The lighting was exactly what we were going for, the Cathedrals orange floodlights illuminating most of the street, giving the walkway a grungy and depressing look that is often displayed in this particular genre. Interior locations were also important to us, and we hired out a large, old dance hall to shoot the projector scenes. The hall was a great place to do these scenes for many different reasons, the main one being that it was very large, and that the disturbed character would look tiny in comparison to the room. This was reinforced when we put candles around our actor (Gareth Harrey) and all of the lights were turned off, making him seem like he is being consumed by the darkness. The size of the room also gave us space to fit the projector in nicely which helped us make it possible to shoot.  I think using the hall shots have developed the conventions of the Thriller genre, due to the amount of space there was. Normally the locations in thrillers are enclosed and very compact, which build tension and makes close ups and extreme close ups more effective. However, I feel like we managed to break the norm of the enclosed locations but maintain the tension even when doing such things as extreme close ups.

 

The costumes being worn were also important uses of Mise-en-scene for our Thriller piece. We decided as soon as we came up with a plot that the disturbed character will be wearing abstract clothing that makes him seem troubled and strange. We thought that pyjamas and a dressing gown would fit perfectly, so we went along with that idea. The female protagonist was meant to be shown as being a masculine type character, and we decided that cargo jeans and a red jumper would work perfectly. Often in the Thriller genre, the protagonist of the film is shown to be masculine, and this reinforces the stereotype. In true villain form, our male antagonist wears a full suit, and has slicked back hair, that shows connotations of greed and wealth. This hyper-masculinised apparel gives his character a sleazier look in comparison to the other two costumes worn in the video.

 

The actions of the characters in the video were a crucial aspect to making a Thriller piece effective. The protagonist is running throughout her clips, showing frantic emotions that creates a build-up of urgency. Josh improvised his roles movements on the night, and made it so that his character would have a casual walk that made him seem unnerved and almost quite jolly. This made the antagonist seem creepier due to his calm nature. A casual villain is often used in Thriller and Film Noir, making the audience understand the characters true evilness towards the end of the film.  Gareth had very little movements during his scenes, and this was a very effective method of making him a more mysterious character, as the audience cannot find out any of his emotions through his body language. However, at the end of the video we see him pull out a knife very slowly. The pace that the knife is drawn is very dragged out, showing that he is taking his time to perform a simple task. This makes him seem even more disturbed and that it’s all part of the ‘ritual’ type situation he has created for himself.

  

Sound was used effectively in our Thriller, having a wildlife documentary playing in the background for most of the video. We added in the sound during the editing phase, because the diegetic sound that was in the footage we took was not good enough to keep in. The effect of adding non diegetic sound was that the quality of sound was far greater, and this makes the video more immersive with the audience. The music we used was created by Tom O’Driscoll, and this gave us an opportunity to edit and change the music depending on the scenes we took. The sound reinforces the genre, the music being fast paced and then slower towards the end to build tension. Keeping in some diegetic sound meant that we could get the ambiance of the rooms and streets, capturing the audience’s attention.

 

Lastly, the camerawork that we used in our Thriller piece makes the video more dramatic, even though most of the shots are very simple. Close ups and extreme close ups were used to capture certain objects, such as candles and the projector showing the disturbing footage. We also used these two camera techniques to capture the facial expressions of our disturbed character, played by Gareth Harrey, such as shots of his eyes and the milk that he is gripping in his hand. We also added a tracking shot that we are all very impressed with, showing Gareth staring at the footage from the projector in the dark, empty hall. For Freya’s shots, we wanted to have frantic camerawork, so there were lots of moving shots, which followed our female protagonist to her destination. This was the same for Josh’s character, though his movements were slower, making the pace of the tracking camera slower as well. The contrast between the slow tracking shots and faster tracking shots for two different characters creates a build up to the final scene.