Evaluation - TB

Forms and Conventions

Our opening piece definitely uses popular forms and conventions of real media products, helping to create the enigma and construct character exposition. This is evident in the way that our protagonist is slightly mysterious and illusive, conforming to conventions of protagonists in thriller genre type films. Enigma is created in the way that they are young adults in this horrible crime filled world and yet the picture painted in one of a desirable lifestyle. The inner morale conflict expressed in the protagonist furthers this enigma since the conflict expressed changes the audience’s view of him as the storyline unfolds.

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One way our piece does challenge forms and conventions is the fact our piece is labelled a thriller, however has a very cheeky/humorous feel to the opening. This is very unusual for a thriller genre and would be seen as challenging popular stereotypes that thriller can’t be amusing in order to excite, thrill, the watching audience. One of the ways this humour is expressed is through the dialogue and body language of our characters. The acting was on purposely done in this way to help create this effect. Our upbeat soundtrack also conveys a positive mood throughout the piece, and is almost used as a way of making the audience feel good about certain actions, for example, when the hostage tries to escape in the opening scene the soundtrack is used to make the getaway seem more humorous.


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Iconography, Props and Location also played an important role in establishing the genre of our film. Iconography such as bound hands of the hostage and a bag over their head are popular conventions to convey a kidnapping. The props we used were basic but effective, with the bag over the head demonstrating he was not in the position of power. Our location, under the school stage, proved very effective. The low lit dusty location resembled that of a gang hide out, perfect for our use as somewhere a hostage may be held.

When it came to applying research to our actual film piece I feel the most obvious way we did that is with the POV shot we did. Our inspiration came from 2 main sources. I personally had researched Jaws (1975) and the opening sequence for Lord of War (2005). Both which open with a POV shot. In Jaw’s it is of the shark, swimming through the ocean stalking a girl swimming, while in Lord of War it is of the life of a bullet being packaged, processed and distributed around the world. This inspiration was tried and tested on our recce to wilderness woods, with the results thought to be successful, but could be improved. The final application of this shot was very successful, being used to get an insight into the hostage’s perspective as he tries to escape the gang. Due to the fact both films mentioned are thriller genre type movies , it would be fair to say that the application of the POV shot does indeed show how we used popular forms and conventions , in this case camera techniques , in our opening piece.

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With colour and visual techniques, we pretty much stayed with what the camera had shot, as we felt happy with the lighting and effect the early evening sun had given us. However, we were very pleased with the font we had chosen and felt it helped re-enforce our thriller / crime /drama conventions. We used the font ‘Trashco’ off www.dafont.com , applying the title at the end of the opening when the car boot was shut on the hostage (another POV shot from inside the car). I feel this is our most successful shot and visually looks fantastic.

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To conclude , I would definitely say we stuck to forms and conventions shown throughout real thriller style movies.The only exception being our slightly unconventional application of humour throughout the piece , however , I feel this humour was still successful.