Evaluation Question 1

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

Our media product is a two-minute opening sequence of a fiction film. To construct this opening sequence we had to consider a number of elements that it must contain.

GENRE

As our film can be classified as a thriller/horror, it was absolutely vital that we studied the opening sequences of other thriller/horror films. We found that the protagonist in this typical genre of film is usually male, who is a villain or killer; suffering from mental instability or a deformity of some sort such as:

• Norman Bates Psycho – (Hitchcock, 1960)

• Jack Torrance The Shining - (Kubrick, 1980)

• Dr. Hannibal Lecter The Silence of the Lambs – (Harris, 1991)

Our story literally depicts the character as a hero; an ex-soldier in the Iraq war, however, as we find out later, he is anything but a hero. This could be an example of the ‘false hero’ character role, as identified by Propp in a narrative structure.

An interesting twist in our plot is the portrayal of victims in 'Remembrance'; they are not stereo-typical victims one would find in Thriller / Horror films. They are male, ex-soldiers who are seen as strong, tough characters, unlike the vulnerable, female characters usually depicted as the victims.

ICONOGRAPHY

Signifiers of a film, recognised my audiences instantly Examples in Thriller/Horrors are:

• Michael Myers’ mask in John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978)
• Shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960).

Remembrance Poppy

The meaning the audience receive from the poppy will be interpreted in many different ways, depending on what a poppy actually means to them. Therefore, everyone will have a different reaction to the sequence, and will hopefully be able to relate to it in a specific way. Using a poppy can symbolise many things; for example the poppy itself denotes the war and Remembrance Day. However, it can also connote that not only are we remembering those that have died, but those that are going to die too.

The image appears many times throughout the sequence and ties in with our title ‘Remembrance’ to highlight the importance of the sign.

To establish our own unique style, we decided to go against the custom iconography used in modern day thriller/horrors; we did not use dark lighting in any of our scenes. This was deliberately done to try and simulate a ‘normal’ mood. This gained mixed reviews from people; some commented on how the lighting did not suit the tense atmosphere we were trying to create, whereas others commended the contrast of lighting to the sinister plot.

In addition, we chose to set our film in a very standard house. Again, not one of the most notable sets for thriller/horror films however, this enabled us to make our sequence more suspenseful and shocking. The fact that his surroundings are very familiar to the audience creates a false sense of security; a house is considered a safe place for some people. However, as they watch the sequence they come to realise that this is not the case, which could consequently make the sequence more disturbing, (a key characteristic of Slasher films).

Comparison of lighting and mise-en-scene between
our sequence and 'When a Stranger Calls'
(West, 2006)

NARRATIVE STRUCTURE

Differences in classical narrative pattern:

• Elements of Barthes’ ‘enigma code’ - story is driven by asking questions. The viewer wants to know why he is killing people, and most importantly what is going to happen after he walks out of the door. The creation of mystery as the plot unfolds captivates the audience, enticing them to watch the rest of the film as they seek to find the answers.

• Challenges Todorov’s theory - starts with a disruption (the nightmare sequence), restoring equilibrium once the character awakes. The story then comes across the recognition of a foreboding disruption (newspaper articles and broadcast) indicating another possible disruption. Audience become aware of disruption (the fact that he is the killer) and have to watch the rest of the film to see if it is averted and a new equilibrium is restored.

THEMES

Distinctive themes in thriller/horror:

-Fear -Murder

-Revenge -Voyeurism

-Isolation -Obsession

With this in mind, we chose the main theme to be revenge; as the killer is seeking revenge on those that abandoned him in the war.

Army-esque theme represented through:

Costume - Green shirt, Dog tags

Photographs - Placed on the window sill and newspapers

Soundtrack - 'Dark Wastelands', composed by Tillman Sillescu (http://www.freeplaymusic.com/)

Middle-Eastern, army feel

Titles - http://www.dafont.com/font.php?file=28_days_later&page=1&nb_ppp_old=10&text=Remembrance&nb_ppp=10&psize=l&classt=alpha

Looks like a printed army font

Our opening sequence is conventional in the sense that it serves the purpose of an opening sequence; that is, to introduce any main characters and establish the setting. Our opening sequence has titles throughout [as found in most opening sequences, in this particular case, I studied those of Jarhead (Mendes, 2005) because of the soldier theme].