Developing/Challenging conventions of real media products.

Most thriller openings will revolve around narrative or a particular character or both. For my opening, I really wanted to focus on the main character and really get across to the audience how disturbed he is.

FRAME 1

The first frame is a time lapse of London with Canary Wharf in the distance. This is integral to the overall narrative because my main character, who the audience 'meet' in the next frame has a job there. The iconic buildings and Tower Bridge in the bottom left corner of the frame, firmly establishes the setting as London. The time lapse also signifies a chance in chronology, suggesting that the narrative will take place over more than one day. 

FRAME 2 

This frame shows my main character out of focus, whilst the focus  is on the drugs in the. There is a short focus pull and my main character becomes the focal point of the shot. However, showing the drugs early on is very important. Firstly, it suggests my character is unstable mentally. The cinematic thriller audience is trained to associate drugs with mental instability and contempt. Our prejudices kick in and we start to make assumptions about this character- his wellbeing, his mental disposition etc. I would say this is a device used within the genre of thriller frequently- using mise en scene to suggest or imply things about a character. In this respect I would say I have definitely developed conventions of real media products. Using drugs to define my character is fairly common and effective and does not 'challenge' conventions of media product. 

In terms of the editing my thriller perhaps challenges conventions of real media products. There are several jumps in chronology, that I have decided to show through the use of jump cuts and through subtle wardrobe changes. The most poignant on screen suggestion of a jump in chronology is the character shaving his moustache. It's not something that perhaps is very striking or indeed that obvious, but that was the intention. My thriller is one that engages with the audience deeply through forcing them to follow the narrative. I view my thriller as more of a 'film' than a piece of 'entertainment' unlike most modern thrillers. This is a confusing concept, but what I mean is most thrillers are made as pieces of entertainment and not as film in the artistic sense of the word. Memento for example, is a thriller that engages with its audience and is a proper 'film'. In this respect, where I have tried to chronologise my thriller in a different way to the 'traditional thriller chronology paradigm', I would say I am challenging thriller conventions. 

GENRE?

My opening is definitely a thriller. It revolves around a crime. We meet the perpetrator of this crime who is obviously a criminal- it is implied he is suffering from some form of psychosis. There is camera movement. There is a feeling of anxiety, unease even. My opening conforms to the codes and conventions of a thriller film. However, there are elements of horror in my opening. I have in a way fuse the two genres together. I will explore these scenes in more detail;

The scene where there is a slow reveal of the girl at the train station and then we jump cut to a closer shot of her is very horror like. It seems that no one on the platform can see her except him and at this point in the film, it is unclear if she is actually there or if she is a fragment of his memory. 

The mise en scene in this shot contributes to the "horror feel" of it. The lighting was very hard to achieve, but I positioned her deliberately in such a way that half of her face would be in the shadows. The wind happened to blow fortuitously when I hit record and her skirt and top blow in the wind as she stands there stationary, making the shot all the more eerie. At this point we do not know if she is a victim or some spirit that it haunting our main character. Although this is made clear later when we see her get drowned by him. This shot develops psychological/horror/thriller conventions through its mise en scene and camera work. 

The shot of her underwater, after it has been colour corrected (as shown below), again perhaps fits into the thriller horror sub genre as it is has the shock value you'd expect in a horror, but builds the tension you would expect in a thriller. 

The focus is around her eyes here and her lifeless body. 

Overall, I would say my thriller both challenges and develops conventions of traditional thriller. As I have already alluded to, my thriller is most different from real media product in its unconventional editing, but is similar to real media product in its use of camera movement, and framing of shots to suggest and imply and show things to the audience.