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

The genre of the film we have made is thriller. The structure of the opening scene relates to other films of this genre because it is left ambiguous to the viewer, who don’t know what has happen or why it has happened. The film opening also starts with the big event, which is usually at the end of the film. We got our inspiration from the film Brick, which creates a mysterious feeling in the opening scene. The film Brick also starts with the main event of the film first, and then the event is explained in the rest of the film of how and why it happened. In the second half of the story the tone changes from a dramatic, suspicious tone to a more relaxed tone, building into the life of the main male character.


The running sequences are fast-paced to create tension and fear for the consumer.

The score at the beginning of the film opening starts dramatic and intense which is the type of sound track you would expect to hear in this genre of film. The music is that built to a suspense tone at the flashbacks when the female character is running. This is to show that the girl is in danger. This is typical in thriller films as the music often speeds up to an intense level to show that the character is in danger. In the second half of our film opening you hear a sound bridge of the police radio. This fits into the thriller theme as it suggests there is detective connotation. The slow pace piano sound track helps show the slow shifting pace of the male character. The diegetic sound of the video on the internet suggests that somebody has been murdered, but it does not make it clear whether or not it was the male character that committed the murder.


The main male character can be considered typical of thriller films due to his age, appearance and his relatable character for the audience.

The mise en scene relates to other thriller films because the location is in a rundown area and in an unattractive area. Thrillers are usually set in rundown city areas because that’s where most realist crime happens. The male character dress smartly in black again leaves his role in the opening sequence ambiguous, as we do not know whether he is the murder or a detective. The dreary lighting in the sequence connotes danger. In the second half of the film opening the male characters room in neutral which leaves it to the views interpretation of who he is and what his role in the film is.


The video interview in the sequence also sets the plot of the film as a thriller and foreshadows the events of the rest of the film and what happened in the first sequence.

In the opening sequence there a many close ups on the male characters face. This shows his emotions towards the female character as he flashes back to what he remembers. A hand held camera is used when the female character is running to create suspense and to add to the action. When the male character is watching the internet video in the second half of the opening sequence it shows the importance of the video and also it makes the audience feel as though they are there watching it with him. This idea comes from the film Untraceable.

The shot reverse shot links all the events together and shows how the characters are related. The saturation and contrast on the flashbacks suggests that they are dark and also create the idea that she is in danger. In the second half of our film opening there is a slow cut rate, this give a reflective feeling to the film.