DRAFT Evaluation: Question 1

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

Our group's thriller was inspired heavily by the seedy nature of Shane Meadows' thriller film, 'Dead Man's Shoes’. The locations used within this films create this feeling while also creating a sense of isolation, for example the abandoned barn or the open fields. We utilised both of these conventional locations in our thriller opening, using an abandoned farm house as our main location, and a road leading to it to emphasise the open fields surrounding it. The road we used mirrored a particular shot from 'Dead Man's Shoes', where Richard and Sonny are walking alone through fields. This specific shot really emphasised their isolation from the rest of society. Unglamorous, claustrophobic settings are a generic convention of thriller films, as shown clearly in David Michod’s ‘Animal Kingdom’ and so, by shooting inside the abandoned house, we used this convention as the rooms in the house were quite small and cluttered with rubble. This created juxtaposition with the open, isolated feel of the shots from the road outside.

To gain the same seedy feel of this film, we had to challenge a convention of thriller films by shooting in bright daylight. We were concerned that this would affect the tense mise-en-scene of our thriller, but in fact it added to it by placing the scene into everyday life. This also gave a contrasting effect, as the scenery was bright but the act being committed was very dark. This has also been used in thrillers such as ‘Thelma and Louise’, as the mise-en-scene is bright, yet the women are actually quite corrupt. This is likewise used in ‘Heavenly Creatures’ during the murder scene, creating an eerie beauty.

Also in the murder scene of ‘Heavenly Creatures’, slow motion is used, adding to the tension and dreamlike qualities of the scene. Realistic yet dreamlike scenes are a convention of thriller films; Tarantino in particular utilises this convention regularly. We applied this convention by using slow motion and cross dissolving at the most tense moment, creating the feeling that the character cannot quite believe what she is seeing.

In the shot where the girl enters the house, the doorway creates a vanishing point. This is another generic convention of thriller films. The way we created this is very similar to the vanishing point in Peter Weir’s ‘Witness’, as Samuel enters the toilets in the station. This connotes the entering into an unknown, different world, and the loss of innocence in doing so.

NOTE: I am going to get screenshots from each film I have mentioned and mirror them with screenshots from my own. I am planning to use prezi to display this answer.