AS MEDIA QUESTION 1

1. Question 1
IN WHAT WAYS DOES
YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT,
USE, DEVELOP OR
CHALLENGE FORMS
AND CONVENTIONS?

2. Foundation Portfolio
During my foundation portfolio I was required to compare the
conventions used in existing thriller productions, comparing
those conventions to my own thriller production making sure I
executed the correct conventions throughout the creation of
our final product.
In order to create a thriller production my group and I were
required to create an original narrative where a we had to film
our own footage using the equipment that were given which
were a camera and tripod. We also had to edit our own
footage and create our own soundtrack to emphasise key
moments within the film.

3. Does my thriller follow conventions of a
thriller?
During the filming process of my thriller, as the editor, I needed to make sure that our group
followed the typical conventions of the thriller genre. So in order to do this I had to plan
ahead, what types of editing should or could be used within certain scenes such as the
conventional edit of fast pace editing which would create an intense and engaging
atmosphere towards the audience.
The gender of our victim/main character is female which is used quite often within the
thriller genre. This is due to the female tending to be portrayed as a vulnerable but brave
character.
Low key lighting was used to create an eerie atmosphere towards the audience which
allows them to think more about the surroundings as if something is about to happen. This
also adds fear and tension into the scene creating a more suspense atmosphere towards the
viewers.
Non- diegetic sound has been added to create a more suspenseful atmosphere and
anticipation towards the audience. The sound is gritty and disturbing which becomes more
intense throughout the short film by the increasing tempo when the main events occur.
The use of a working facility with tight corridors and rooms allowed us to create a
mysterious and isolated feeling towards the audience. The location had blank walls
everywhere making it easier for us to create a sense of a mental hospital/facility, making the
audience feel the intense build up when this character tries to escape.

4. Generic conventions
To be able to find the generic conventions of a thriller I carried out a lot of primary research in order to develop a better
understanding of the conventions used within the thriller genre. In order to create an effective thriller, I had to look into
the other aspects of thrillers such as the use of micro-elements. I then researched further into the elements such as, age
certificates, narrative structures and theories, typical trends in thriller films and character representations to help gain
more understanding of what is contained within a thriller.
-I have carried out a lot of research into thrillers in order to develop my knowledge of the conventions used within
thrillers. To be able to create an effective thriller, I looked into the aspects of thrillers such as the use of micro-elements
that are used to create different effects within a scene to provoke different ideas and connotations towards the
audience. I also researched into the narrative structure, location, lighting, and how what types of characters are used
that help create more emotion and sympathy from the audience towards those characters.
- The films I had used in order to help me develop my conventions were ‘American Psycho’ and ‘I Spit on your grave’ as
my thriller film has the same concept of having the female victim being mentally unstable and provoked by past events
leading to her to wanting to escape or having the strive for revenge. I thought this would be effective as I found out
through researching that the female victim tends to draws the audience’s attentions and emotions more which is an
advantage to my thriller film and is a way that we developed conventions.
- The characters that were conventional to thriller films were the victim/protagonist and the child. Based on my research,
I have chosen to have a female victim and child in my thriller to create a sense of escape and sympathy towards the
female victim.
- The types of setting used were in a ‘’mental facility’’ and a street. I have chosen to use the facility first to portray the
idea of being trapped and showing a sense of escape. I then chose the dark and gritty street to connote the potential
danger that could come upon our victim and child even though they have escaped in the narrative.

5. Research of films..
The film that particular helped me use and develop conventions were
; • American Psycho 2 (2002) • I Spit On Your Grave (2010)
These only two films were the main focus of research within conventions of thriller because their narrative and characters both relate very
much towards our own thriller. For the use of lighting I found that in all of these film influences low key lighting was used throughout and
this caused a very spooky atmosphere and made the audience, as myself, anticipate that something chilling was about to occur.
In terms of the characters, they were very conventional to the thriller genre as well as the narrative, because they both included a female
victim who has experienced a tragic event in their lives, then try to solve they problem by themselves. This was conventional because the
use of a female victim being young and innocent provokes more emotion by the audience as they feel more sympathy towards these types
of characters.
We were also inspired the clever use of the representation of the female victim. From these two films I found that the character were
young, white ethnic background, attractive and have petite physique. They are also shown to be wearing bright coloured costume such as
red, white and pink etc. which connotes purity, innocence and vulnerability. This was used to create more fear and sympathy towards the
audience which were the reactions we wanted to achieve from our target audience. Therefore me and my group decided to implement
this type of character to our thriller film, which was a young, white, attractive female that wore the costume of a bright pink and white
pyjamas hoping to achieve the same effect.

6. Generic conventions within my thriller
•This type of shot was a still shot and was
used to show the change of location within
the narrative. The edit used was trying to
make the shot seem like a live camera feed
from the facility. The characters face had
also been blurred throughout the film to
hide the identity in order to create a build
up of mystery and suspense.
•• This shot was a POV (Point of view) shot from
the cctv perspective, which was used to symbolise
the audience witnessing the beginning of the
characters freedom. This type of cinematography
had been used to allow the spectators to feel the
same emotions of our thriller character and also
to allow the audience to view the situation within
her perspective.

7. The costume used for our character were bright coloured pyjamas
to portray the innocence of the female victim. This was used to
try and make the viewers feel even more sympathy towards the
character. This costume is very conventional as it shows the purity
of a character.
The sound created separately had been non- diegetic throughout
the majority of our thriller production excluding the speech of our
''TV news reporter'' and also the speech and cries of the main
character. The sound used were very disturbing high pitched
sounds which then increased tempo to create an intense build up.
The body language used were very tense, on the defensive and
unusual to show her unstable mental state and worries of her
escape. The body language used were very cautious and troubled
because to emphasise her mental state and paranoid actions.
Generic conventions within my thriller

8. Another convention I had used within my thriller was the use of low key
lighting surrounding the character to create a mysterious effect. This
was used with under lighting which allowed to emphasise the suspense
build up combining with the intense build up of soundtrack. This dark
background lighting creates tension and allows the viewers to relate to
being in dark places feeling scared, allowing the viewers to feel pity
towards the character.
Convention within my thriller
Moreover to the convention of lighting, I carefully chose where the types
of lighting should be positioned in order to create more connotations
towards the viewers. This over the should shot of the female victim
abusing the child shows that low key lighting is covering the female
victims side of the frame to connote her bad intentions and evilness
whereas high key lighting which is spot lighted over the child is used to
connote the innocence and vulnerability.

9. Editing
Throughout my thriller production my group and I have made many decisions
in terms of choosing which editing techniques are most effective to use when
portraying the themes and characters within the narrative.
An editing technique that I had used was the censor effect to hide the victims
face to make her story more hideous, creating suspense towards our
audience as well as creating a distorted and shaky effect. This was used in the
purpose of boosting the curiosity within our audience and at the same time
creating anticipation and fear
Another editing technique that we had used was the fade to black at the end
of the sequence to create a cliff hanger. We have chosen to use the fade to
black to make the narrative more mysterious and leaving the audience
wondering what's going to happen next to the victim.

10. Sound
In order to create a successful thriller, the use of soundtrack play an essential roll in terms of adding more
meanings as well as emphasising the emotions of the character reflecting the narrative.
My group and I decided to use slow to intense build ups leading to loud and disturbing sounds to shock the
audience in which this was our ideal reaction of making the audience jump out their seats. The long and slow
build ups leading to sudden non diegetic sounds make the scene sound more eerie and unanticipated. This is
conventional to the thriller genre because it helps to create different connotations which lead to the mysterious
anticipation towards the audience of what is going to happen next.
Another type of sound that we used was the slow and calm diegetic sound
fading out of the scene matching with the fade to black at the end of our
thriller. The slow and soothing music allowed us to make the audience feel calm
but sympathy towards our female victim the leading to the music fading out
allowed the audience to engage within the film creating a slow and steady cliff
hanger leaving the audience wanting more.

11. Narrative structure
My narrative structure followed Todorov’s Theory of a clear beginning, middle
and end. Although my thriller followed this basic structure, I am aware of the
unusual scenes of our female victim falling to the floor in which this caused
confusion. However the next scene of a news reporter speaking about ‘’a female
with her baby has just broken out from a mental facility…’’ then explains to the
audience both what has happened and gives the idea to the audience of what
they are about to see. This is evident to how I used and developed the general
conventions from real media products.

12. Themes
My thriller film consists of themes such as: innocence, purity, disturbia,
possession and paranoia. I chose these because the sub-genre of my film
was psychological in which these themes are aspects of the psychological
thriller.
These themes were used in the films I have researched such as ‘American
Psycho’ and ‘I spit on your grave’ as they portray the idea of a young female
becoming a victim of abuse which then leads to her unstable mental state
of paranoia and fear leading to the obsession of thriving for revenge. I then
implemented these themes into my thriller with my character being in
order to create the same emotions and successful reaction from the
audience. Here, it is evident how I used and developed conventions of real
media products.
A theme that I implemented in my thriller was the idea of being paranoid.
This was evident as my female victim was shown to have unusual and
sudden strange movements.

13. Conclusion
In conclusion, all the evidence on the narrative structures I had
researched, I chose to follow Todorov’s theory simply because his
idea of all narratives should have a basic beginning, middle and end
structure and that the events must relate to one another in order to
make the narrative clear and fluent. This is why my thriller does
follow a conventional narrative structure with some unconventional
scenes at the beginning my film.