Hanah Eltaher: Evaluation: Question 1

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

 

Title of the film

In our titles we used a white on black fits in with the aesthetic atmosphere we were trying to achieve.  We were inspired by the title from the film ‘Seven’, this film inspired us because it was a psychological thriller and it uses all of the conventional features of a thriller, to create an unsettled eerie feel to the opening sequence

The setting/location

·            Another technique we used to show the various aspects of a thriller was the significance of the weather: extremely gothic; the first opening scene is of the sky, with cloud, suggesting an eerie atmosphere..
·            The soundtrack of the religious call to prayer made it seem more like a religious thriller, however it was to give an insight on the character that was going to appear in the shot.

The costumes and props

·         In one of our panning scenes we used various props to relate to this psychological thriller genre, we wanted to create this hospital like atmosphere. We developed this convention very well as we were successfully able to mimic a hospital form, make it look realistic. In the shot below there are the white sheets that we also used to make it seem like a hospital bed and again add to the subtle hints of it being a psychological thriller.
Another major convention used in our thriller, was to make the character from ethnic minority religious group: an Asian Muslim girl. This is untypical of an English Thriller film, because it applies to a more niche audience, the items of clothing used are more suited for an Asian Islamic girl, and this is why we decided to dress the character like this

How the characters are introduced

In our thriller opening sequence, we did not want to create a conventional idea for the characters, we avoided keeping the central character ambiguous because we understood that the story-line was already hard to grasp. A long shot of the main character is incorporated before the titles, and a closeup of the side of her head, however in the side view she still remains hidden. As we put the shots together we decided to put the side view before she is viewed in the shot below, just to add to the religious aspect of the thriller.

 

Camerawork and Editing

• Most of our camerawork and editing challenge the conventional features, as the shot on the left was not filmed in the typical ‘gothic’ weather; this was utilized to make viewers disorientated on the genre of the film, although the next few shots make it clear that it’s a psychological thriller.

• The editing was done very carefully to add this ‘dream like effect, while the central character is laying the hospital, the transitions fade in and out of her hands and face, into the dreams, with a white flash, the dreams have bright ‘fairy-tale’ like filter, which makes the shots glow. The close-up of the ring is very important as it will be featured later on in the film, it will be the only piece of evidence that will tie the central character with the crime. This is a very conventional feature as the use of a prop indicates the foreshadowing in a thriller film.

Title font and style  

 We decided as a group to use the same font style as the title, for all of the other titles, our font style is very simple and not at all conventional. The title choice was very unconventional as many thrillers incorporate the word ‘the’ before the title example ‘the grudge’. However like ‘Seven’ and ‘Inception’ we decided to go for a short snappy name, which wrapped up the film in one word, ‘forgotten’.

 

 

Story and Genre: How they were presented in opening

• The story was presented very realistically in the opening shots, with the prayer call soundtrack playing in the background, and camera panning down from the sky onto the shot of the central female character; it frames the idea of a Muslim Asian girl going to pray. The car accident that she falls into arrives unexpectedly to give other turn to the story line.
• The genre is presented as a psychological thriller through the props and use of the hospital scene, the dream like scenarios, and the soundtrack all come hand in hand to create an illusion of memory loss, which relates to the title.

Special effects

• We used a blur in sfx for names of the producers, directors and editors to create the illusion of memory fading or becoming blurred. It also looks like her memory has been erased as the names come off the screen.