Final Film Opening

13. Orrie Jimack, Ian Keserue, Sophie Larkin-Tannett, Luke Zelkowiicz from 283goswell on Vimeo.

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Evaluation question 1

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

Evaluation question 1

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

Conventions commonly found in a thriller opening:

• Non-diegetic music plays loudly throughout action scenes
• The sounds/music should match the pace of the opening
• Fast editing should match the pace of the opening to create tension
• Characters are normally introduced
• Shouldn't give away to much

Below is the opening for 'Se7en'. It is a stylised and discrete opening. One convention found in this opening is that non-diegetic sounds play at a similar pace to the opening. For example a reasonably slow paced drum beat plays throughout the opening.

Conventions of title sequences:

• Ident(s)
• Stars
• Main title (can be after the stars or at the end)
• Other actors
• Crew (e.g. casting, costume design, music etc.)
• Director
• Ident again

The title sequence of 'Se7en' follows the same convention of title sequences except the director's title appears after the idents. This is because the director of the film isn't as famous as other directors such as Steven Spielberg and Quentin Tarantino.

Conventions used  in our thriller:

Fast editing, or editing matched to the pace of the intro, is a convention commonly found in thriller openings. We matched our editing to the pace of our intro and also to the slightly fast beat music we added to the soundtrack. We also tried to give as little as possible away in order to keep the viewer interested in to what happens in the rest of the film.

Our title sequence:

• Ident (candimedia studio)
• Stars
• Title
• Other actors
• Crew
• Director

Evaluation Question 1

The general conventions of a film opening include

• Lasting 2 minutes 
• Introduce main characters
• Establishes the main scene
• Usually non diegetic sound
• Key event will occur

Conventions of a thriller film opening

• Fast editing/cuts
• Draw audience in 
• non diegetic music usually matches theme of the film opening 
• Tracking and Pan shots commonly used 

The general order of titles for an opening

• Ident
• Main Actor
•  Title (can be after the stars or at the end)
• Other actors
• Crew
• Director

Timeline in order for our film 'pushers' titles

The timeline for the opening of Titanic, shows how it generally follows the order for the titles

Conventions used in our thriller

Evaluation question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our thriller represents a few social groups, for example: business men, drug dealers and lower class girls who associate with drug dealers. The character I play is portrayed as a person middle class and slightly above average status. This is done through mise en scene and in particular his suit and briefcase. The characters played by Orrie, Sophie and Luke on the other hand represent a much lower class and status because of their cheaper looking clothes. Other types of mise en scene such as the cocaine, also contribute to their lower social status and class.

The man in a suit is represented in a complex and ambiguous way but more negative than positive. The mise en scene suggests that he has a high class and status but his actions and inconspicuous nature creates a suspicious atmosphere around him. The character of the drug dealer, played by Luke, represents a completely negative social group, primarily because of his consistent presence around narcotics. The girls are also represented negatively through their clothes and association with a drug dealer.

We created a contrast between the man in the suit and the other characters in the drug house by giving them completely different social groups and class. We did this because the fact that the man in the suit and the characters in the drug house are mutually involved with narcotics makes the viewer question the actual social group in which the man in the suit is part of.

Evaluation Question 2

When we studied tv drama our group found that a big target audience for this was between 15-25 year olds. We found that the majority of tv dramas we looked  at included different aspects of crime and violence, therefore we thought it would be appropriate to include some sort of crime into our own. This resulted in our group using flour to portray cocaine and generally aimed our target audience between 16-25.

For Ians character we decided to portray him as being middle class through the clothes he wore and props he used such as wearing a suite and carrying a briefcase. Also by adding a cigarette adds to the portrayal of everyday life and we hoped people may relate and identify with this. We also tried to make Ians character appear much older then he is through his clothing to give the idea that he was a business man. The characters ethnicity was white.

For myself and Orries character we were portrayed as being lower class, this is through the clothing we wore which was quite revealing and scruffy to show not much care or consideration was taken in our appearances. This was because the characters we were playing were situated inside a crack house our characters were a lot younger then Ians and this was shown through the body language of us. The ethnicity for myself is white and for orries character mixed race.

For Lukes character we tried to portray him as being high-class then myself and Orries character but still of lower status. He played the drug dealer and was dressed casually in quite baggy clothing which was tracksuit bottoms and t-shirt we decided to also give him a hat to add to the drug dealer effect. Again his character was portrayed as being young but older then myself and orries character and his ethnicity is white.

The representation of all the characters we played are mostly negative, however with Ians character although he is being portrayed as middle class and quite presentable the viewer knows he is up to something. The rest of the characters are portrayed negatively this is easily identified through the clothing and body language of our characters.