How does Off the Record use, develop or challenge conventions of real media products?

Titles
We have decided to make titles black and white. This is very classical way of doing it and most of media products do the same. Our title in on top, and another as an example at the bottom. To some extent, these kind of titles creates a bit of suspense because you do not see anything and a lot of thought come to your mind what this film can be about. Especially, we made some titles a bit shaky to create mystery

Sound
Started from the titles and during the whole film, we inserted music which is not very loud. However, in some places it was lifted up to draw attention to an action. The music is non-diegetic to create suspense. This is widely used in all kind of films because music sets the right tone and audience can be prepared for later events. For example, in the thriller The Stepfather non-diegetic music was also added from the beginning to create the mysterious atmosphere for the audience. Moreover, we created an ambient soundscape to achieve verisimilitude

Editing
We have employed continuity editing devices, invisible cuts to create a seamless flow of narrative and create the illusion of a believable diegesis. The purpose of continuity editing is to smooth over the inherent discontinuity of the editing process and to establish a logical coherence between shots. For example, in the Stepfather we can see lots of inserted shots , eg him shaving, but they are cut very invisible and we aimed to do the same

In this particular scene we did , match on action kind of following Phil getting in the car from different perspectives

Editing
Manipulation of editing is very important in our film. We have chosen slow pace to draw out individual shots and scenes to uncomfortable lengths (e.g. Phil in the car). So the audience are in need of escape and thus identify with a protagonists peril. Moreover, the chosen location is very calm and peaceful. So audience do not expect someone to be killed. On the contrary, editing of The Taking of Pelham 123 is quick and it makes the scene feel urgent and action- packed. Overall, these two kinds of editing are most commonly used to emphasize the atmosphere.

Boom mics are very useful and commonly used in films, especially in thrillers. They are directed to a particular point and help to avoid irrelevant noise. Moreover, we lifted up the sound of the keyboard to emphasize the use of technologies to attract male audience. In many thrillers, especially in conspiracy, a lot of different gadgets are used. It hales to attract a wide range of audience. For example, in the film Disconnect we can see lots of Internet devices. Apart male audience, this attract teenagers as well

Camera

Camera composition and framing in this shot shows characters vulnerability. Here in The Blair Witch Project we see an extreme close up of a scared woman. He is shown in the dark. We could not make our scene dark, because it was a day light, otherwise it would look stupid. However, the camera is very close to Phils face in a claustrophobic way. The audience and Phil himself cant see what is going on outside the car. This puts him under threat and make the audience feel suspension that something terrible is going to happen.

Mise en Scene
We have chosen quite isolated location forest. One the one hand, it creates tension and mystery. A lot of thriller-makers choose deserted areas because it is a most obvious place for crime to occur. There are lots of thrillers where people find an abounded house and then being tortured there by someone. But these thrillers are more horror ones. One the other hand, our thriller is more like an action one. So it is more likely to shoot an action thriller in the crowd place. There lots of films where people are trying to make a bomb, where people are fighting etc. And all of that occur in the city. So it this terms, our thriller is different to an actual action thriller. We have chosen forest so no one could guess that someone would be killed.

Mise en Scene
Costume
The costumes we have chosen are very typical to characters roles. The bad guy is in a hoodie and a good guy in a suite. This establishes binary opposition. Hoodie represents crime and violence. People, usually gangsters and thieves, wear them to hide a face. On the contrary, suit represents an average working person.