Evaluation- Part One

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

The opening sequence of a film is one of the most important parts of the film as it needs to capture the audience's interest in the narrative by providing hints and questions about the plot. To ensure that our opening felt like a Thriller we had to mimic the style and conventions of actual openings and thrillers in our own.

Our Opening Sequence conforms to the codes and conventions of title sequences by:

• Establishing a narrative- the scattered photos (illustrated below) hint to the audience that the people in them are being watched, the scenes of the people in the photos suggest they are targets/ victims being watched and followed. The ending establishes the fact that a killer is targeting teenagers.
• Generates audience interest- by setting up the narrative without giving too much away- only the idea of a killer and victims is known.
• Titles display the makers and stars of the film.
• Suitable music is used to enhance the sequence, establishing mood and atmosphere. In our opening the music is used to create a mysterious and tense atmosphere.
• The Opening sequence acts as a prologue and montage before the film starts properly, this is common in films as existing opening sequences use this style. For example 'Seven', which switches between short shots of different objects and the titles, hinting at the plot and elements in the story. Our opening is similar to this providing clips of past victims of the killer and was inspired by the style of this opening. Below is the opening sequence of Seven.
• No speech is used- a style used in many opening sequences and again another aspect of the opening of the Thriller 'Seven'.
  
  
  

Our opening sequence conforms to the codes and conventions of Thrillers by:

• Fitting into a sub- genre- which is crime/ action
• Establishes a story which would feature detectives trying to stop the killer rather than work out who they are. The identity would only remain hidden during the opening to generate intrigue and interest. This type of plot has the common structure often used in thrillers.
• Establishes a story which could occur on a grand scale (a convention of a Thriller)- mass- murderer, abductions and a grand investigation to stop the killer could all occur later in the film from the narrative that is set up here in our opening..
• Establishes a story which could include large and violent set- pieces- another convention of a thriller.
• Creates Engimas- such as the identity of the killer, the ideology behind the killer's actions and who the victims are and what happens to them
• Tension and suspense is created- through the use of a change in music that is much more tense, slow and signifies danger. The audience is kept on edge as the camera keeps cutting between a close up of the girl- Sophie looking into the trees and a point of view shot of the killer, whilst the music builds up to the climax of the killer dropping the camera and running towards the couple. The combination of the tense music building up slowly and the cuts between the two points of view creates an unnerving finale, where the audience waits for something to happen.
• The title of the film 'Out of Focus' links to part of the film's plot, this is common of thrillers for example The Number 23, the title has significance to the film's story. In our thriller the 'Out of Focus' refers to out of focus pictures that the killer would leave at the scenes of crime as their mark to the police and a link to their methods of murder.
  
  

Our Opening Sequence challenges the codes of conventions of actual openings and Thrillers by:

• The use of teenage characters- this would not be the case in actual films as more mature characters would be used as it would be more realisitic and would allow the exploration of a more diverse range of emotions, personalities and themes. However we chose to star in the opening ourselves rather than cast adults due to our acting experience. Although adults make it seem more realisitic, we preferred to not have to waste time being unhappy with the acting. Young characters have a purpose in the story and if the film were real it would go on to feature adult characters.
• By not introducing a protagonist- the characters are victims of the killer, the protagonist would be a detective trying to stop the killer however they are not seen in the opening. This is another trait taken from Seven which is an existing opening that does not introduce a protagonist.
• Not revealing the identity of the villain- Thrillers are about stopping a villain rather than uncovering who they are like in a murder mystery. Although it could be argued we challenge this convention by hiding the killer's identity this was done intentionally in the opening to create suspense and intrigue, if it were a full film we would go on to reveal their identity.
  

Overall, the opening does conform to the codes and conventions well and the style is an accurate take on the Thriller.