Evaluation question 1

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

Narrative:

Our film narrative followed a non-linear narrative structure which is a convention of many films under the same or similar to the genre in which we used; it follows a reverse chronological order where the narrative is revealed to audience in a reverse order. However we challenged part of the conventions as we implemented elements of dual / flashbacks to further develop the plot. As a result of this it develops the overall narrative by also slightly subverting from the reverse chronology as we give away the initial climax in the opening but we slowly reveal the second narrative under the dual narrative throughout to the end and furthermore fully explains the situation of the characters to the target audience. The idea of combining the different types of narrative were our own as wanted to create something that other Thriller/Horror films have not done before to appeal to our target audience more as we have a more developed demographic. It also challenges the stereotypes of our genre which is another approach we aimed for.

Mise en scene:

The lighting in the film opening was quite dark as we wanted to create a mysterious atmospheres by not revealing to much of the Mise en scene through light and also this bleak lighting appeals to the target audience as it follows the conventions of the genre. The darkness and zero natural light helped us to give this sense as the singular street light and the car lights only reveal a small amount of what is happening within the scene and therefore represents a sense of gravitas. We changed the saturation on the clips in the first 40 seconds so that it would convey a darker, gloomy atmosphere, and by sliding down the saturation it portrays that protagonist is in a mysterious, dangerous setting. The lighting is similar to other Thriller movies, for example the opening title sequence of 'Batman, The dark knight rises' consisted of dark and shadowed locations which creates the thriller feeling, that we used as an inspiration for our opening sequence. In the first 40 seconds the antagonist appears once in a mirror and he is hooded. Through doing this we met the conventions of other media products where the antagonist is presented in a similar light. In addition to this convention it helps to create tension and the feeling of danger as the dark colours connotes a negative representation.

The other characters were dressed them in costume that linked towards a police / detective theme under the genre; shirt and tie / police uniform, the colours on the clothes aren't representing any additional subtext features but the way in which they are worn / placed add to the characters subtext. For example the open button shirt for the protagonist to add a rough subtext to his persona. We wanted to present the Chief Inspector character to have an angry / stressed on screen presence and therefore we designed his shirt and tie combination to be slightly lose representing his stressed rough look. Also in addition to this we added a coat to the costume in replacement of a blazer to show the difference in the characters of John and the Chief. As well as these two characters we had two more who had short appearances in the film opening. First was the character in the car in the opening scene and he was dressed in jeans and a plain T-shirt to add the sense that he was a normal person without any highlight to subtext to show that the victim; in which he was, could be anyone. The last character is the police officer whose costume was an official police uniform to clearly represent through the aesthetics the role and what his character was. By using these different characters they appeal to a wider audience therefore making our film opening more available to more people.

Sound:

As a whole throughout the duration of the film we used a variety of different sound to further develop the production. We used a conventional non diegetic music soundtrack to add tension to the scenes in which it was inputted, this affect created suspense as if something was going to happen. In addition to the character vocals we used addition external ambient sounds for scenes to create more of an atmosphere. For example, we added bird sounds into the outside scene between John and the Chief to aurally add a representation of there location. Also this particular affect was to soften the tension before the break in equilibrium once John enters the house to furthermore make it more unexpected. Throughout the title sequence we also added some non-diegetic loud soundtrack to add to the visuals to create a sense of fear as the things on screen were disturbing aspects that were part of the genre conventions.

Editing:

We added a variety of different techniques within our editing process to develop our final production. Firstly we increased the saturation in the scene in the car to add to the affect of the only light being the orange in car non natural light. For the title sequence we added a CCTV recording boarder which was supported by the narrative as the protagonist applied CCTV within his home and we added this affect to create an addition subtext for the audience to interpret in the first two minutes. Moving forward within the title sequence we added a montage behind the titles and we removed the saturation on these clips to give a tense and sinister atmosphere in addition to the visual graphic content. Towards the end of the production we had a scene between John and the Chief in which they converse in match on action shots. In this particular set of shots we removed the saturation from the scene to give it a smokey, sinister atmosphere. We also use a variety of quick cut shots to create more tension, and this is also something other Thriller films do to add this sense of tension and to increase the pace of the film and furthermore create the climax of the film.

Camera:

Our approach for the camerawork was initial to ensure we include and capture a variety of different shots and angles so we can have full control of the outcome by not being limited from lack of depth within our shots. Using a variety of different contrasting shots conforms to our Thriller genre as different shots and angles are one of the main concepts that are used to build up the tension to the climax in many other productions. This was applied in our film during the title sequence. For example we had a quick cut of different shots of things that were graphic and specific to a Thriller / Horror genre. We also had over the shoulder shots while also using match on action, a variety of different low to high angles and also in the match on action sequence we structured it as shot reverse shot to help show the audience a sense of both the characters within the scene so they can be aware of their persona and become invested and interested in the characters to further more develop the climax of the narrative as they find out the like the character who has been the villain within the story in addition to the hero / detective.

Titles:

An important factor for a mass of films; especially under the Thriller genre, are the titles and their sequence as a whole. During the stages of gathering a thesis for the idea of our film we decided to stray away from the typical worded titles and we in place of this used a time to be used as our title as for our narrative it was specific to a time and therefore we named our film '3:15'. Using '3:15 as out title also created a sense of mystery as it is unclear from the title any specific equilibrium due to it being a title not a word of description or context towards the narrative. In addition to this factor the limit of context to the title leaves the audience wanting more as they are then interested in the reason / the meaning of the title itself. The typography in which we used was a digital alarm theme that we created and then added a shake on top of it in photoshop. We decided on this as it was then specific and relevant to both our narrative and the number wording as it looks as if it is from a digital clock. The shake was also an important affect as it developed forward the actual clock like affect we had. Moving forward with these decisions we then decided for the colour to be red as it looks realistic as if it was a digital clock and also the colour gives connotations of blood and danger which were specific to our genre conventions.

Location:

The final location was chosen after a long trial and error process so we could find the perfect locations. Our initial opening scene was setting in a small village country road. We decided on this location as it had a dark vibe and had a sense of mystery as during our filming times there was no natural light in the area. The next location we used was a large house in which we used the main largest room. We had initial planned to film in a hotel but after contact with our selected establishment we were unable to fit our schedule in their available time and we therefore moved forward looking for a new location and after some research we found this location which we were happy with as it had a plain, abandoned look that was perfect for our protagonists rough lifestyle subtext. The next location after the title sequence was a small village home that fit the mysterious theme we were aiming for in our approach.