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

In the presentation above, I have embedded the trailer of 'The Lovely Bones' as all of the key conventional shots are shown in it. Also in the presentation, I have talked about all the conventions which I have used, challenged and developed in my short film. For this task I have been a media decoder as i have analysed and deconstructed existing media texts; this allowed me to highlight the typical conventions. Below I have extracted image from 'The Lovely Bones' and compared them to images from 'A B D U C T' in order for clear conventions to be shown. Besides 'The Lovely Bones' there are other films such as 'Cupcake' - a short thriller film and 'The Accidental Witness' - a thriller film.
Both of these films also show typical conventions of a thriller and helped me to understand and follow conventions for my short film.

This is a picture of George Harvey, the killer, when he has his sights fixed on the young couple in the field. Even though he is not watching Susie at this time, it shows that he has still got cruel ways and could suggest that he is watching them, for them to be his next victim. However I have chosen this photo as it portrays the pedophile killers fixed gaze when he sees someone/thing he wants. He has a smug look on his face with suggests ideas he is planning something nasty to do and seems happy that he has found a new victim.

I have tired to imitate this look with our actor as I think this is a good way to show his sinister ways and make him look more disturbed. Next to the picture of George Harvey is the actor in our film who plays the role of a pedophile killer.

Below, on the left, is the image of George Harvey when he is watching Susie's sister. The dark shadow helps to reinforce his dark and disturbed ways. There is a single ray of light which shines across his eyes which emphasises that he has his sights fixed on someone once again. 

The image in the middle, is taken from the thriller/detective film 'The Accidental Witness'. As you can see, the actor has the girl he is planning to kill is in his sights and he has a fixed gaze on her.

Similarly, the image in at the bottom, is the one I shot of our actor when he has spotted the girl he wants as his next victim. His devilish eye contact on the girl allows the audience to know what he is thinking and enables them to get an idea of what is about to happen. This seems to be a typical convention of this genre of film therefore thats the reason as to why I have stuck to it.

                                                                                          

As mentioned in the presentation we wanted to stick to conventions of this film, so we set the opening scene in school to make the mise en scene flow and to make the story line more established. Below, on the left, is the print screen of the school scene in 'The Lovely Bones'. The shot of the school is a high angle shot which could reinforce the age of the girl and also it could suggest ideas that she is still developing and growing up in the education criteria. Also suggesting that she has her whole life ahead of her; this helps to build on the sympathy of the relationship which the audience have with Susie. 

Below, on the right, is the image that I created of the school scene. I chose to incorporate this into the start of the short film as it will help to set the scene and inform the audience on the age of Lilly. I have used a wide shot to film the school scene as I felt is was a good way to capture all features which I wanted to include, such as the students of Southfield School, the Southfield School sign and Lilly and her friend leaving school. 

                                                                                          

At the beginning of 'The Lovely Bones' trailer, there is a mid shot of Susie and her mother laying on the bed looking happy and content. This is shown in the image on the left. I liked this shot because it helped to emphasis how happy Susie is and how loved she is within her family. This would help to build the relationship with the auidence as it makes her look more innocent and angelic.

The image on the right is from my short film 'A B D U C T'. I have tried to portray the same emotions and feelings to what the image on the left does. To help create this I had done a mid shot of Lilly and her friend smiling and hugging each other after school. This will help to show the audience that Lilly is a normal school girl who is oblivious to her surroundings.

 

                                                                                           

In the film 'The Lovely Bones' Susie portrays a look on her face when she spots George looking perculia in the field. This is the image on the left. From this expression we are able to tell that Susie thinks something isn't right and becomes concerned about it. I thought this was a good mid shot to feature as it supplies the audience with indepth knowledge about her thoughts.
The mid shot in the middle is my imitation of this shot. Here, you see Lilly with a worried look on her face as she feels like she can her strange noises or an unseen presence. She turns and looks around however she doesn't spot anything. I think this conventional shot is very effective because you feel anxcious for Lilly to find out that something is actually there watching her however she still remains oblivious.















Similarly this image (on the left) is from the short film 'Cupcake'. As you can see the actress in it is showing a terrified face as she first see's what is soon to be her killer. This frightened looked on each of the actresses faces portrays ideas that this is a conventional theme for thriller genres.

                                                                                          

As you can see from these three images on the left, focus on the door seems to be a conventional feature. The top high angle shot is from 'The Lovely Bones' where George comes in through the door to sense that someone is in the house. The second image is from 'Cupcake' and the low angle of the door insinuates that trouble is about to occur as that is where the girl is tied up, waiting to be killed. The bottom mid shot is from my short film 'A B D U C T'. I have decided to stick to this convention because I feel that it conveys the idea that danger is coming and the audience know to get ready for the drama.









                                                                                          

The image on the left is from the short film 'Cupcake'. I feel this was a good close up to have I thinks it makes the film seem more personal and in a sense, realistic due to its a real human who is about to get killed.
Below is the close up Lillys hand from 'A B D U C T' on her dads grave. I think this shot makes it more personal as it shows an emotional connection between Lilly and her dad. This can help build the relationship between the actress and the audience.

                                                                                          

The close up image to the left is taken from 'Cupcake'. It isn't even clear to see as it is a jump cut and happens very quickly, however it is of the actress shaking her hands, trying to loosen the rope.

Similarly, the close up below is from 'A B D U C T'. I have decided to imitate this convention as I feel is enhancing the audiences knowledge of what is happening and increases the anticipation as to whether the victim will get loose or not.

                                                                                         

 The close up image on the left is of the actress in 'Cupcake' who has been tied up and had duck taped strapped across her mouth to stop her from speaking. I thought this was very effective because you can see the pain and distress she is in. This will help to built the emotional bond with the audience.



 I thought this is a very good and a conventional shot so I wanted to incorporate it into my short film. I have put masking tape across Lilly's mouth and tied her up with blue rope. I felt this would make the audience feel anxious for Lilly and would hope that she escaped safely.

                                                       

Other media conventions which I followed is mise en scene.
The symbolic code of the actor wearing the long black mac is a very conventional feature. In the post above, evaluation 3, you can see an image of 'Nosferatu' which shows similar connotations of the black mac.

 
















 Another convention which I typically followed was using a linear structure as the narrative to my short film. In comparison to other films in the thriller/drama genre, most of the films have a linear structure which has a beginning, middle and end. Besides this, there are also elements of open structure which is shown in other films in this genre where the audience are sometimes left to work out what happens for themselves.