Evaluation- Question 1.

Q1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media?

For my media coursework i made an opening to a mystery thriller film with two of my peers. Our mystery thriller is called 'The Last Detail'. It is about a librarian who has got a dark secret and has a stalker who watches what he does in the library and is determined to reveal this secret.

The conventions of a title sequence:

There are four types of film openings; titles over a blank screen, a discrete title sequence, a narrative opening with the titles running throughout and stylised editing. In the opening of a film you would expect to see:

• Distribution and Production icon.
• Distribution company.
• Production company.
• The directors name.
• Actor 1.
• Actor 2.
• The film title.
• Actor 3.
• Actor 4.
• Actor 5.
• Casting by.
• Music supervisor.
• Music by.
• Director of photography.
• Production designer. 
• Written by.
• Costume designer.
• Edited by.
• Executive producers.

Examples of real media showing the conventions of a film opening. 

This film 'Se7en' is an American thriller. This film opening supports the conventions of a film opening as it shows everything i have listed above. 

This film 'Collateral' is a crime thriller. This film opening challenges the conventions of a film opening as there are no credits. The credits only appear after this opening sequence. 

Sub-Genres.

There are different types of thriller sub-genres, for example: romantic, political, mystery, physiological etc. My thriller is a mystery thriller. I choose to work with a mystery thriller because i thought it best suited the ideas me and my group come up with. Once we has decided on our sub-genre we were able to add to our ideas to make them more mysterious. 

I looked at a previous students thriller opening which gave me the idea to have someone being watched. This inspired me because i liked how they used different camera angles for example an over the shoulder shot and the tense soundtrack they had. A real film i looked at is called 'The Others' it is a mystery thriller about a woman who lives in a darkened old house with the two photosensitive children and becomes convinced that her family home is haunted.

The conventions of a film opening.

In a film opening, we expect:

• The genre to be set. (This can be done through sound, lighting etc).
• The plot to be established.
• The pace to be set. (This can be done through editing and/or special effects).
• The tone and mood to be set. (This can be done though music).
• The protagonist to be introduced. 
• The pace, font style, colour and size of the credits to compliment the chosen genre of the film.
• The location to be set. (This can be done through a wide shot).
• To be drawn in, the opening should leave us with questions making us want to watch the rest of the film. 
• To see the title of the film.
• The distribution comapny's logo.
• The production company's logo.
• To be shown titles/credits.

Have I followed or challenged the conventions of a title sequence?

For my thriller opening i have followed the conventions of a title sequence but i have also challanged them. I have followed the order in which the titles come in but have challenged the time they appear at as my thriller is only 2minutes long. 

Below i have created a timeline of stills from the film 'Taking of Pelham 123' and my own thriller 'The last detail' showing how i have followed the conventional order of a title sequence and how i have challenged it. As you can see i have followed the order the titles appear in but not the time they appear at as the opening to 'Taking of Pelham 123' is 4 minutes long, whereas my opening in only 2 minutes long.