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

Conventions of Thriller Opening Sequences

- Clear titles that link and fit in well with your opening sequence i.e. blood related, harsh fonts, etc

- The opening sequence must also introduce the characters of the novel, in is case, the introduction to the character may be of hooded characters which do not typically show the characters true identity.

- Also includes aspects of Low Key Lighting, Tension Music and Iconography

- Lastly, it should include a range of Camera Shots and Angles which we looked at in our preliminary task

Ill Manors 

My Own Opening Sequence

This screenshot (left) shows a side profile of one the characters that is first introduced in the opening sequence. With the screenshot to the right it shows how we have used a similar idea in our own opening sequence. Both shots slyly show the type of character that is going to be in the film yet doesn't give too much away about their personality etc. Although the characters do not look of a similar age in the screenshots shown, both opening sequences are based on the youth/teenagers of today.

Challenges or Conforms to Conventions?

I some ways our opening sequence did conform to the stereotypes of the thriller genre, but in others we did challenges the conventions. Half of our opening sequence was filmed in the day time, which when researching thriller films throughout the course was not the norm. We decided that filming in the day time in an urban location was to add a slight sense of mystery to the opening sequence as you would not expect a thriller to be filmed in the day time. Other conventions we challenged would also be having the girl stalk the boy, as in most cases this is the other way around.

Fatal Attraction

Our Own Opening Sequence

Fatal Attraction, similar to our own Thriller opening sequence, this 1987 Thriller looks at a woman stalking a man. The basis of the film is about a 'married man's one night stand comes back to haunt him when that lover begins to stalk him and his family'. Although not as extreme, you can clearly see the similarities in story lines of both films.

Similar to the screenshot of Fatal Attraction we also used a similar scene to show how the female character was stalking the male. Again contradicting the normal stereotypes of the Thriller genre.

Brick

Our own opening sequence

Brick is also another Thriller which has similar storyline including the same aged characters (teenagers). This screenshot shows the opening shot of the film; displayed is a young boy walking through an urban area. The character is wearing similar clothes to our actor.

This shot shows a similar one to one shown of Brick. The character Mat is shown to be walking through an urban location (like the one in Brick).  By doing this we made our opening sequence fit the codes and conventions of the Thriller genre.

Evaluation

To conclude, throughout our thriller opening sequence we have both conformed and challenged the stereotypes of Thriller codes and conventions. In both was I feel we have therefore met the demand to make the Thriller unique yet also making it fit into the genre. Although already spoken about some of the conventions the ones we did conform to included low key lighting, hooded characters as well as a variety of camera angles.