Paige Edwards

Evaluation Activity One

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms
and conventions of real media products?
Genre Research
In our opening sequence we decided to incorporate the generic
conventions of thriller and drama films, as we all thought that a
thriller and a drama genre would allow us to execute our ideas and
knowledge really well to create a 2-minute production.
Generic conventions of thriller include feelings of suspense and
tension created through a danger, which is caused by the antagonist
or an evil force. It is easy to identify that we deliberately followed
the generic conventions of a thriller, in order to receive positive
feedback form our target audience. Common conventions of a
drama include the exhibition of real-life situations with realistic
characters, creating a dramatic storyline and allowing the audience
to witness the development of a character. We also did the same
and deliberately followed the generic conventions of a drama film
due to the same reasons. We accepted them and did not challenge
them, which evidently makes the most successful drama/thriller
films. For example, Gone Girl included the conventions mentioned
above and made a profit of $129.99 million, and the 2006 thriller
film, The Departed, made an international box office grossing of
$157,276,304.
A convention of a thriller film also includes the anxiety that is
created within the audience, as they are unaware of what the next
move will be. The protagonist is in a situation, which creates
suspense as it leads to the pinnacle of the film and is devised to
make the audience feel anxious. We adapted this ideology in our
opening sequence as we build up suspense up to the point in the
production when the antagonist comes in direct contact with the
protagonist. Here we decided to end our film how it began, with a
tragedy and hopefully left our audience wanting more and to know
what happens next.
The title of our production:
We initially struggled to come up with a title that we felt most suited our
production and was most appropriate, however, as soon as we chose
Temptation we felt it really went well with the production in terms of the
narrative and genre. The word Temptation links to our production as our
character Chelsea is tempted by the motifs that she wishes to occur, until her
boyfriend turns the table and becomes tempted not sexually towards her,
but tempted to over power her and dominate her as a male. Temptation could

Paige Edwards
also be interpreted in different ways to the audience, such as the element of
being disloyal, does what tempt whom? And who is cheating on whom? This
could support the genre of romance as the audience can tell that there is a
clear relationship when they begin to watch our film. This title could easily link
to the thriller genre, as the bright colour of white, in which we used for the title,
foreshadows the dark events that the audience are yet to see. The title also
links to the drama genre by the events that occur, the title catches the

audience attention when they proceed to watch the production and begin to
understand, who and what is tempted and why, how? The word temptation
links to the dramatic motifs during our production as it is another word for
desire which makes the audience question what will occur next as in some
religions, the word also means the inclination to sin.
Why is the font/ style significant?
The font we used for our title, is shown in white which emphasises the
simplistic view we wish for our audience to see. The reason why we chose not
to have it in the colour red- which connotes love, danger and romance, is
simply because this contrasts the motifs within our production. While the
audiences attention is on the events that occur within our production, we
believed that the font and style would throw them of guard, due to what they
have previously seen throughout our production.
Opening Shot

Our opening sequence does not follow a linear narrative, as the shot that
occurs in the beginning, also occurs in the end. We have done this to excite
and confuse the audience in which most genre films do. The high key lighting

Paige Edwards
on the characters face connotes her purity, which is in contrast to how she
wants to behave in our film. This also incorporates conventions of a drama
genre, as the audience is able to emotionally connect with our protagonist and
her situation. Having our opening shot this way, it allowed us to build
suspense within the audience and makes them anxious as it leaves them
asking many questions as to what may be happening to her.
We gained inspiration by the
thriller film Gone Girl. During
the films opening shot, the
audience can clearly see that
there is a girl in a very
vulnerable position and
therefore makes them want to
continue watching the film to
see what happens, just like it
did with my group and I. The scary position our protagonist is in, is
emphasized by her very strong and frightful facial expressions.

Cinematography

Paige Edwards

The type of shots used can be used very effectively, in order to tell a specific
story to the audience. We used a close up of our protagonists feet as she is
running away from our antagonist (top), and the same close up is used in
Gone Girl (bottom), when a man walks away from his wife. In the film, our
group felt a sense of panic and upset for his wife, so in order to create this
same effect, we used a similar shot. This increases our audiences concern for
our protagonists safety.
Location and Setting
We decided to set our film in Chelseas room, a place of romance and
comfort. We challenged the typical conventions of a thriller genre and
deliberately didnt use a haunted house, or a dark forest to connote the
darkness within our film, but in fact, allow it to be contrasted as the audience
see Chelseas room as its bright and colourful. Also, this uses the
conventions of a drama because we filmed in a realistic house
where such events could occur; this helps to make our production
more relatable to our target audience, as they can connect more
with our protagonist being in the comfort of her own home.
Sound
The sound was extremely important during our production, as we did not have
any dialogue in our film; we were dependent on the ambient sound,
soundtrack and sound effects, to get the message across to our audience.
Thrillers often use a lot of music to build the suspense for the audience and
keep them wondering and at the edge of their seats. Our music begins to be
soft which supports the equilibrium, however, as it continues, the music
changes and becomes stronger as the mood changes, which dramatises the
action occurring within our most significant scenes. Many films adopt this
technique. Gone Girl begins with a light, gentle piece of music that
changes along with the narrative. For example, when Amy begins to
plot her revenge slow, high-pitched string instruments begin to play
to represent her cunning mind-set.
Costume
Protagonist

Paige Edwards

Chelseas red
lipstick connotes
love, danger,
romance and also
links to the two
main things she
does not, but
wishes to get within
our film instead
she receives danger

Chelseas white dress connotes her purity which

contrasts her aim within our film, with her boyfriend. It
also connotes her happiness which is ruined as she
experiences something she never expected, which ruins
that happiness for her and creates upset and panic.

Antagonist

The black T-shirt connotes

darkness and evil. His power
over the protagonist is
emphasized through his
costume as the dark colour
connotes strength as well as
the high authority he feels he
has over a woman, as a man.

His full black outfit also

connotes his dark thoughts and
the mystery within what he does
to our protagonist. This is
because he is introduced as
carrying danger, which he puts
his girlfriend (protagonist) in.