Question 1 - evaluation

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

At the beginning of my film opening in scene 1 the female main character (Agent Thomas) is introduced to the audience. She is tied up in a dark room and bruised which automatically leads the audience wondering why she is tied up, who she is etc. This is also the case in the film 'Salt', the character portrayed by Angelina Jolie is in the first scene tied up and bruised in a dark room. The generic convention of the low key lighting is typically used in 'Action Thrillers'. Therefore throughout our film opening we used a lot of low key lighting so that people can tell what the genre is. The cuts and bruises show to the audience that the characters are in danger which connotes that there is a serious storyline. However, our film opening does go against the expectation of a man playing main role but supports the idea of women being vulnerable in the specific shots shown on this page.

In our film there is a non-stereotypical scene where Agent Thomas kills the two henchmen, this is because in most films the person that kills people would be a male however, the action in the scene itself is often in other films of the same genre. In 'The Bourne Supremacy' there is an action scene where someone is trying to strangle or snap someone's neck and in our film 'The Escape' Agent Thomas snaps the henchman's neck. Therefore our film incorporates a generic convention of the sub genre 'Action'. Therefore it indicated to the audience quite soon into the film that the film is an 'Action 'Thriller' and not just a thriller. This means that we did not challenge typical conventions used in this genre but instead we used them, this is to ensure the audience feels the suspense as they would usually in a thriller and to not confuse them to what the genre of the film actually is.

When the film opening goes back to the past to start the film, the title on the screen says '6 Months Earlier' this is to show the audience that if they keep watching the film they will understand why Agent Thomas was tied up as the very start of the film shows what is happening in the future, 6 months after the mission is first given to the Agent. The title then shows the location where the film is being set at that time in the film which says 'MI5 headquarters' this is to ensure the audience know where the film is being set and emphasise the importance of knowing what is about to happen in this location (missions a given to the two agents).
This is also shown in the film opening of 'Salt' where it has the title saying 'North Korea' and 'Two Years Ago', this shows to the audience that the film is set in the past and that what happens in this location, will be relevant to the rest of the film. Therefore this way of showing the audience where and when a film is set is used in other thriller films and that 'Salt' may have had some influence on what we used in our film as we have a female lead in our film also and have similar titles. The titles to the location and time of the film are in a different font to the title credits of people that helped create the film, this is to show they are different types of titles. Therefore my film follows expected forms for the genre as other films also use this in their films.

When creating our film we had to consider the order of each title in our title sequence. First we looked at a mix of different title sequences and then decided to look at just thriller title sequences to see whether the sequences were any different. By doing this, it allowed us to have a title sequence that is similar to other thrillers to ensure this convention was correct and so that the order was in the way it usually is in a thriller. When we did our title sequence we ensured that people who had a lot of input in the film had their names credited near the end where people would probably look at them the most. Therefore editor, producer, directed by etc were titles all near the end of the title sequence. To ensure the main actors titles are seen by the audience when watching the film, the two main characters were put right near the beginning of the title sequence and then after other titles there are other cast members. At the very start of the title sequence is the Penguin Productions Logo, this is at the beginning of our title sequence so that the audience is aware of who produced the film. It also allows the audience to see whether the

film is made by a mainstream institution or an independent one. To ensure that our company name suited the genre of our film we used ranger productions as our company that we worked with.


To compare our chosen title sequence to a film of the same genres title sequence 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' has a very similar title sequence. This one has the production company at the beginning of the sequence, the producers and director at the end and all the other titles are in a similar order. On average the duration of each title for 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' is 2 seconds each. This is to show the fast pace of a thriller film. Originally we wanted our titles to have a duration of about 3 seconds each however, whilst editing our film, we realised that this was slightly too long and did not suit the genre and therefore shortened the title durations to 2 seconds each. This Is so that the titles suit the film genre itself and keep up with the fast paced editing in the opening of our film to make the action thriller genre clear to the audience.


Therefore my film uses the title formation and does not go against expectation when using titles. Otherwise if the title durations were too long it would slow the pace of the film down, if the order of titles was not good then people would get confused to why they are in a different order to what films usually have them in (director is always shown last). When considering what our titles would look like we had to ensure that they we of an appropriate font for the genre, that they were a good size (not too big or too small), that the colour of them was suitable to the colour of the background (so that you could see them on whatever colour the background is) and that the positioning of the titles did not block anything really relevant and important to the film e.g. a title didn't cover someone's face.

Mid way through my film opening there is an exterior shot to give the audience an idea to where the film is set instead of the whole film opening being filmed inside. This is lighten the mood of the film slightly at the beginning so that the film does not have connotations of the whole film being serious and fast paced, otherwise it would be difficult for the viewer to watch as there would be no point that they can easy watch and not have to concentrate the whole way through the film. In the film 'Salt' there is also an exterior shot near the beginning of the film outside a block of apartments. This is also to lighten the mood for a little while, to show that the whole film isn't a fast paced, hard to keep up with film as some viewers may struggle with a film like that. Although low key lighting and interior shots are used in most action thrillers, there is often points where there is some high key lighting and therefore this is using the convention and is not going against what is expected in an action thriller as it is not like this for very long.

In action thrillers there are often generic conventions such as weapons. In our film the female character uses the weapon of a knife which she physically has to stab into someone's body. This shows the strength of the female character in our film as well as when she manages to use her arm strength to snap the neck of a male. However, in other films a lot of the time women are not shown as being very strong and getting into fights where no weapons are used. In 'Skyfall' one of the female main characters uses a gun to shoot her target. Although it is unusual for women to have this role in a film where they fight, when they do it is often with a gun as you do not have to be extremely strong/ fit to use a gun. This shows that our film develops the generic conventions by showing that women also are physically fit and not just men. Although the fight scene in our film opening is the type of scene in other films but mainly with men.

With regards to the story of our film the lead male role is played by someone in their 20's. This is unusual for an 'Action Thriller' as men in films of this genre are normally middle aged for example, Denzel Washington in 'The Equalizer', Liam Neeson in 'Taken' etc. Therefore our media product challenges the stereotypical conventions by the type of character who has a lead role in our film.

This is shown in the photo below where Daniel Craig plays the lead role in the film 'Casino Royale'. In many action thrillers, there is a strong man plying the lead role who is either bad or good but who is in many fight scenes. However, there are some similarities in the narrative of Casino Royale and our film 'The Escape' in that both James Bond and Agent Wilson work for the secret service and therefore our film does follow a similar narrative to other action thrillers.

 In our film just after the long shot of Agent thomas struggling whilst tied up there is a mid shot that starts with a low angle and tilts up so that there is a low angle of Agent Thomas's face. This is to show that although she is weak at that precise moment she is strong with power, this is just after seeing that she has a knife in her hand. This connotes that she is clever and will manage to get out of the horrible place she is tied up with by herself. When comparing this to the film 'Salt', after we see that she is tied up the next shot is of people dragging her out of a cupboard onto horrible wet wooden floor. The shot is a high angle showing how weak and vulnerable she is at that current time and that she probably wont have much power to figure out a way of getting herself out, which is later shown that someone else has to get her out of the situation.  This shows that the shot type can have an effect on the way the audience see the characters in the film and that the idea of Agent Thomas being strong, powerful and clever are developed during the film.

In our film the MI5 officer is older then the two main agents. This is typical in spy/ action films and therefore is a convention of an action film. This is to show that the MI5 officer has more power and decisions to make than the agents but does not go out on the field and get involved in the action themselves. Although this is shown in our film this is also in other films for example in James Bond films James Bond is the Agent and M is the person in charge of Bond giving him is missions and guiding him, she herself is not actually an active agent.

By having this convention in our film it is clear to the audience who is in charge and who the two main agents / characters are in the film when their first joint mission is set.  By this scene filmed in the board room of the MI5 headquarters, it shows that this is the room people go in to receive mission assignments and therefore when our film develops and ends with the two characters solving the mission, the final scene will be shot again in this room where a new joint mission assignment is set which automatically tells the audience that there could be a sequel.


After looking at the different forms and conventions used throughout our film opening I think that it is very clear to what the genre of the film is. The conventions are developed and re-enforced e.g. low key lighting used more than once, which emphasises what the genre of the film is. We do this by the type of shot we use, the title sequence, the props, costume, mise and the way the characters are introduced. These are the ways we develop forms and conventions in our media product.