My Final Product (Opening Sequence)!

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

Question 1:  In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Genre – For my AS Media Studies coursework I had to construct the first two minutes of a film, thus being a film opening (of any chosen genre).  I chose to do a film opening with the genre of Thriller and sub-genre of a psychological/crime thriller, picking these genres mainly because of the fact my favourite genre and sub-genre were these (having favourite films being thrillers such as Shutter Island & Silence of the lambs) and also because of the fact that I felt that it also went outside my comfort zone and would be quite a challenge for me as it was a blend of two sub-genres – which was a challenge which I was up for. As I was working and constructing a psychological/crime thriller I researched the typical codes and conventions used in thriller films, to make sure that my film was identical as possible and replicated an actual thriller media product. To add on to that, I also knew I had to include and research typical thriller codes and conventions because of the fact that the audience would feel more comfortable and happy watching a thriller which fitted and conformed to the codes and conventions as it is something the audience would be familiar to and something they can clearly identify, therefore giving audience pleasures and also avoiding confusion/discomfort. An example of this like when we as an audience are watching horror films, we have expectations such as jump scares and victims and if that doesn’t happen we as an audience would become confused.

Codes and conventions – Within psychological thrillers the typical codes and conventions include: one of the characters suffering from a mental illness/psychological disorder, mind games/brain teaser (this usually involving the audience), a sense of danger/mystery, isolation. Whereas, codes and conventions of crime thrillers tend to include: a police officer/detective, a clear criminal/criminal act, investigation, car chases, based in cities. One code and convention in thrillers in general (so applies to all the sub-genres that come underneath thrillers) is ‘the big twist’, this being  a big change or unpredictable event in the narrative that is used to shock the audience because it wasn’t expected (an example of the big twist in a thriller film being in Shutter Island when it ended up being Teddy who was the psychiatric patient the whole time) Because I was doing both sub-genres I had to interpret and merge both conventions and codes into one film, so the audience could clearly identify the two sub-genres. This is what I am now going to examine whether my media product applies, develops or challenges these codes and conventions in my opening sequence.

In most thrillers, one of the main and biggest convention is there to a form/presence of some kind of action, be this: whether this be a car chase or even a running/fight sequence. Originally, my plan for my thriller was for it to be all shot at the beach, so one setting. However, when designing and constructing my individual thriller, I realized that within the actual opening I had no action element to it, therefore, my product/opening in fact challenged forms and conventions of real thriller media products. Although the use of action is not necessarily a requirement, I felt like I needed to add some type of action because it would be a good indicator for the genre and could meet the audience expectations of what a thriller should be like. So because of this, I decided to add an extra scene in the beginning of the young boy on the floor, and although this isn’t particularly an action packed film, it adds an element of action and is a bigger indicator of the genre and shows off more thriller conventions compared to if it was all just shot at the beach.  This is because it was a dramatic scene which included low key lighting and also sound including a heartbeat, heavy breathing and police sirens – these all conforming to conventions of both psychological and crime thrillers. This also creating action and enigma codes for the audience, such as the action of the boy lying on the floor creates enigma codes such as: “Who is he?” “What happened to him?” and the action code of his eye and legs twitching creating enigma codes such as: “Is he alive?”

Narrative/ narrative structure – I believe my narrative fits and conforms to the conventions of real life thriller media product. This is because not only does the narrative show similarities to both my sub genres (being psychological and crime thrillers) but overall within the narrative, it is easy for the audience to identify and recognize that my product fits into the genre of being a thriller.

My narrative is based on two budding scientists/psychologists, Norman and Rue Crow, who were budding psychologists who were basically rejected by people within that industry after creating a hypothesis that they can turn normal children into feral, psychotic children. They soon had to flee to an unknown, identified island, but the rejection and disapproval didn’t stop them because they ending up kidnapping children to create and test their exact hypothesis, and finally create an a private institution to complete their prolonged experiment, kidnapping a total of 270 children over a ten year course (27 per year), and see if they can turn them feral by leaving the children and ‘re-birthing’ them in their institution. The plan works at first, these children turning psychotic and after being released, causing chaos or some of the children end up even working for Norman and Rue. That’s until the 27th child in the 10th year.  Jonah (the 27th child or more specifically 270) disappearance becomes worldwide news (after his mother – who is a single mother stops at nothing to find him), and throughout the film we are shown how the family deal with it for the following year, this being paired with short soft focus scenes of Jonah’s traumatic experience. A year later after his disappearance, Jonah’s mother sees Jonah’s father who abounded them and follows him home after his sneaky behavior, only to lead her to a remote and practically isolated area – the institution. Soon Norman and Rue’s evil activities are exposed to the world alongside the 270 children they kidnapped, but at this point most are dead or far too unfit for society.

I believe that my narrative used and conforms to conventions of a psychological thriller; this is because there is clearly mentally ill/psychological unfit characters within my narrative, two of them evidently being the two elderly scientists and the other ones being the children who unfortunately become mentally ill. To add on to that, there is also brain teasers throughout the entire film as information is never fully revealed, even at the end it is still not fully clear what happened to the other kids who were not found, also as the father is found to be part of the kidnapping scheme it confuses and messes the audience’s head, making them think a lot, trying to understand, puzzling them, which is the whole point of a psychological thriller – it is basically just a big brain teaser.

Linking up to crime thrillers, my media product replicates a real life, typical thriller media product because the situation of kidnapping is clearly a criminal and illegal act (this automatically being a convention of thrillers), so because of this, there will also be characters such as a police officer (who is exactly one of the main characters in my media product and acts as the donor and helper within my media text) which is also a convention of crime thrillers. My film also

To add to that, my media product uses forms of conventions of real media products by following narrative theories which are used and apply to the majority of films you see, this being Propp’s character functions and Todorov’s narrative theory. Below I will create to demonstrate and show how both these theories are used within my text.

Propp’s character functions within my media text

The Villain	The Kidnapper
The dispatcher	The chief police officer as it becomes an investigation
The hero	The Mother
The False Hero	The Father
The Helper	The Police man
The Princess	The Police man?
The Donor	The Police man.
The Father	No relevant father figure in my film.

Despite my film following Propp’s character functions theory, some of the people who have the roles of particular characters are not stereotypical or typical within that genre, this challenging forms and conventions of real life media products. An example of this would be the helper, the princess and the donor who are all the policeman. The reason why this going against conventions of this genre is because it is usually a man protagonist who has a sidekick and gets a woman as a reward/love interest (princess) – this happening stereo-typically within this genre. However, within my film it is the other way round, in which the woman (mother) is more dominant with the policeman almost working as a side kick, this going against stereotypes of women in film and thriller films are women are usually conveyed in a way of being dependent on men.

Todorov’s narrative theory.

Equilibrium	Before when both the mother and son had a normal life and good relationship (this demonstrated in the beginning when they are happy and interacting on the beach)
Disequilibrium	When the kidnapping occurs
Conflict	This is the whole process when the mother is looking for her son alongside her son.
Problem	When the kidnappers are caught and Jonah is found alongside the other captured children.
New Equilibrium	Mother and Police officer start a relationship and family with Jonah. Happy ending.

Camera/ editing/sound– Within my media product, I used a high quality camera being the Sony handycam and used a MAC and software being Final Cut Pro to edit my film opening on, although this may be something minor, it caused my media product to look more professional and less amateur, thus, replicating and being more similar to a typical film media product that you would see in actual cinemas.

When it came to my soundtrack, a use a mixture of diegetic, non-diegetic and synchronous sound. I used non-diegetic sound such as a heartbeat and I also used a voice over specifically as they are both sound conventions of thrillers (as they are both used to create suspense/mystery) and I also used a the sound of a wheezing man and also police sirens as both these sounds are linked to crime, thus linking to my sub-genre of crime thrillers.

Overall, I feel that my opening sequence was successful in not only selling my story-line, but also conforming/using codes and conventions of a real media product, therefore ultimately being similar/having similarities to a psychological/crime thriller. Although my media product was overall very similar and stereotypical of a thriller which had the two different sub-genres, I also did challenge a few of the codes and conventions within my genre. For example, instead of using a male protagonist,  I chose to use a female protagonist in the role of the mother,  as this would not only make my film stand out but also go against expectations, this surprising the audience, which links to the whole purpose of thrillers, being to thrill and get a lot of emotions out of them.   Finally, I feel I worked very well in producing a media product that was true to other existing media products, focussing on character, locations and props and looking at existing media products to help get ideas and inspiration.

How technical codes are used to set up

How technical codes are used to set up from magrethxx

Timescale Planning - timeline and tasks

It is essential that when doing my coursework, I stay aware of the time I have and deadlines, this is to avoid situations such as doing everything last minute or not having enough time to improve work from happening, also I need to plan out and make sure things maintain organized, thus so when I'm going to be doing each section so I will be able to put a great amount of effort in each equally. This also links up to that famous line in media production being that time=money. In order to use my time effectively to ensure that my opening, target audience, planning, research and evaluation sections I done within a schedule, hence the reason as to why I have made a timescale which you can see below. This will help me ensure that all my work is done consistently and meets deadlines.  

Timescale Planning - timeline and tasks. 

Research                                         -     Needs to be completed before Christmas holidays.

Planning                                          -     Needs to be fully completed before beginning of January.

Target Audience Research            -     Needs to be fully completed before Easter Half Term

Construction                                     -    Needs to completed and filmed during Easter Half Term

Evaluation                                         -   Needs to be completed by 20th of April

What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing the product?

What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing the product? from magrethxx

Who is your audience and how did you attract/address them?

Question 3 & 4 : Who is your audience and how did you attract/address them?

*I decided to merge question 3 and 4 together as I felt like they would clash well and also I previously made a mistake in which I didn't realize there was an actual question 3. I apologize for the inconvenience.

For a film to be successful, it must evidently have an audience and cater to the audience’s needs and best interests - attract and address them. I previously did audience research (when can be looked at in the target audience section of my blog) which gave me the opportunity to see and receive feedback on what attracts multiple people to thrillers, this giving me a sense on how I can attract the audience I want. I will discuss how after taking in the target audience research, I applied it to my own work.

My target audience would firstly clearly be fans of the thriller genre (particularly crime/psychological thrillers) because that's the genre my film fits into but more specifically males/females aged between 15 to 35. I say this because of the concept/context of my film, I feel like it would be more suited to more open-minded people, specifically people who grew up in this generation or just the generation before. This is because the narrative alone could stir prejudice and judgemental views towards the film which I feel would be coming more from an older generation. Evidently, the film cannot be targeted to anyone younger than this as well because it is inappropriate for their age group. Another reason why this is my target audience is also because other thriller films such as Silence of the lambs, Taken and Shutter Island which I took inspiration from have the age certificate of 15 and one 18.

Genre: The genre of my film is a thriller, with the sub-genre of being a psychological crime thriller. Some audiences watch films specifically just because of the genre, for example some people only just watch horrors because of the horror conventions that come with it that you cannot get with any other genre. From my target audience I knew that the people watching my clip were also specifically thriller fans, so for this reason, I knew I had to conform to the majority of thriller conventions and stereotypes to address my audience, as I knew some people would choose to watch my film, specifically because it is a thriller and even because it is a psychological crime thriller. And although that may have been a limited audience I knew I had to cater to them also so I could attract, address and appeal to all my audience.


Title: Firstly, I believe that the title of my film, being ‘Child 27’, alone was effective in attracting my audience. This is because not only is it very unique and different but also because it adds an element of suspicion and mystery to the film as the title does not give away any clear hints involving the narrative, which I think is one of the things that would interest my target audience. Specifically because in my target audience research, one of the questions that got a 100% same answer result was question 9, in which my audience stated they prefer thrillers that are outside of the box. Therefore I definitely believe that my title choice showed I had responded well to my audience feedback as the title is not predictable nor has similarities to much other movie names such as ‘Taken’ (which I believe is a great movie, however the title gives hints to what the narrative is pretty much about).
Adding on to that, linking up to the genre I decided to pick, I believe my title addressed to the audience clearly that my film it was a psychological or crime thriller. I say this because typically in thrillers which have the sub-genre of being a psychological thriller, the media product tends to do things that make the audience constantly think and actively process what’s going on, doing what they call ‘brain teasers’ to confuse and manipulate the audience, not giving away tonight (everything is usually exposed at the end – this being the famous thriller big twist) – which is why they are psychological thrillers. Linking up to that, crime thrillers tend to do the same but instead give away more evidently because the narrative of the film would stereo-typically be involving policemen/detectives. I feel the use of ‘Child 27’ addressed both the cliche's of each sub-genre and also fitted into the conventions of these sub-genres. This is because ‘Child 27’ I feel is a brain teaser as it opens the door to a lot of questions, such as ‘Who is child 27’, ‘Why are they the 27^th child’ and ‘What is the relevance of 27’ (working as an enigma code), this already fitting into the conventions of a psychological thriller as I would be making the audience think deep. Linking to crime thrillers, I also believe ‘Child 27’ sounds and appears to almost be a case file or the name of a police investigation - this being emphasized more in the clip as a typewriter effect is used when the title appears.

Mise-en-scene: Mise-en-scene wise, the way I attracted my audience was by using clothing which have connation’s to particular things, and with the use of props, correct lighting. Mise-en-scene wise, I made sure the clothing were more than just any normal clothing but something that could have an implied meaning/signify something. I did this by making the majority of the characters wear red, black and white. This is because all these colours represented something linked to the situation. The red being the love between mother and son, but also the danger of the situation, the black being the evil and darkness behind the kidnapper(s) and the white being the innocence the child had. This attracted to the audience because they could get more of an idea on the direction the narrative is going at simply by looking at the clothing.When it came to location and props, I didn’t bring anything along with me but just used what you would find at a normal beach, this it to add to the realism of the clip, creating a sense of verisimilitude. In-fact the only prop I did include that wasn’t already provided at the beach was a toy for the little boy to play with. I wanted the media text to come off as realistic as possible, this attracting the audience because a beach is clearly a place in which most people can relate to. This also being done by doing the opening during the day therefore there would be natural lighting.

Script: There are a few reasons why I believe the script/story-line also attracted, appealed to and addressed the audience. One of the reason being that the narrative of my media product is very original, unique and stands out in comparison to the narratives of many films out nowadays. Evidently, there are many thriller films which involve a kidnapping narrative and others which have a narrative based on people who are psychopaths/have mental issues, films such as Shutter Island Taken, Psycho and Silence of the Lambs – which I got the creepy mentally unstable couple idea from. I highly appreciate films that have this narrative mainly because they go outside of the box and focus on my taboo, pushed under the rug topics.

Despite this, are hadn’t seen many (if any) films that combine the two different narratives and merge it all into one. Therefore, I wanted to take on that role by trying to do that. I feel this also addressed my audience because looking back at target audience research, within question 3 the feedback basically stated how what attracted them to psychological and crime thrillers is the different, ‘outside of the box’ narrative. Because of that, I made my narrative completely different to what you would normally see on the box office or advertised on mainstream media, this not only making my script very unique but also appealing and acting on what the audience had told me. To add on to that, I also feel like the fact that my script/narrative focused on a very taboo/controversial topic attracted my audience as linking back to audience and the genre being thrillers, thrillers tend to be targeted to an age group from young adults to middle aged people, which would mean they are from this generation and the one just before. With my own knowledge, I know that the two generations mentioned tend to be very much interested by controversial things hence why this would also attract an audience as the sensitive topic would develop a lot of talk, debates and discussions.
Another reason why I feel script would attracted and addressed an audience is because of the fact that in some aspects of it, it was relate-able. Elaborating on this, what I mean by relate-able is the fact that the characters (this relating to the mother and son) had a relationship that people were familiar with and could generally relate to with anyone, not seeming unrealistic at all. Another thing linking to that, is the fact the mother was a single mother, this adding more to the sense of reality I was trying to create because it demonstrated the fact that this isn’t a stereo-typically ‘perfect’ family, they are stereotypical imperfections, this implying to the audience that I wasn’t trying to push on the perfect family agenda and going against the stereotypes by making my media product more modern. This attracting the audience as (linking to the last point) the audience of thrillers are young people therefore more open minded, therefore I believe would prefer to see people and relationships that are more modern day, not sticking to traditional values of what a family or relationships should be like.

Enigma & Action codes:One of the ways in which we I created enigmatic codes by the use of action codes, is by the action code of not revealing the protagonists entire face for half of the entire sequence, this working and attracting the audience as it is frustrating and puzzling to them, as it makes them want to find out who the person is behind this evil master mind plan, specifically as there is no major clues revealing their identity, only showing their eyes, clothing hiding them, small features and their hand. This working as an enigma code as it would make the audience develop questions in their head, the major one being: “Who is he?” (Which is unfortunately not revealed till the very end of the film). This also links to the genre of it being a psychological thriller film as it is clearly making the audience work hard to get the question they desire, this being a brain teaser – a convention of psychological thrillers.(insert picture of antagonist)

Another action code in my media product that created enigma codes is the very beginning of my clip. In the beginning, you are introduced to what appears to be the little boy (although not specified) laying on grass, appearing to be in a very vulnerable state, where he got hurt. This is done by the action code of extreme close ups and close ups of certain parts of his body, such as blood on his hands, his twitching feet and eyes, and belly which has red marks and also shows he is struggling to breathe. This use of action codes is effective at attracting the audience because by being at the very beginning meaning it automatically gets the audience’s attention as it opens with a dramatic scene, this linking to genre as it is very common in thriller scenes to open with a very dramatic scene, another example of this being in Shutter Island.Shutter Island opening:
My opening:


On top of that there is a heartbeat sound, what appears to be grunting and also police sirens, all of this creating enigma codes for the reader such as: “Is that little boy alive”, “Who is he”, “What happened to him”. This also linking to genre because as previously mentioned it is a brain teaser for the audience, and the answers will only be revealed at the very end of the movie.These enigma codes attracts the audience by keeping them involved, as they would want to carry on watching to get the answers to their unsolved questions. There is a cliff-hanger at the end of my opening sequence which makes the narrative is ambiguous as it is does not make it clear the audience what is going to happen next, though they make their own conclusions and theories, it does not give any hints that he will be found or be dead or alive. This also working as an enigma code as it creates a question that the audience are bound to ask: “What happens next?”

Sound & Camera shots: When it came to the sound, I used light, emotional piano music , this clearly being used to project the negativity of the situation and sad reality that a kidnapping is going to occur, the music increasing in tempo and pitch the closer the key moment of kidnapping was about to occur. This attracting my audience of thriller fans directly as it linked to the typical thriller conventions that sound is used create suspense and make the audience feel what the character is feeling. Which I feel was equally done by the voice over that paired with it. By also adding a voice over, the audience got to experience and be a part of the mother’s world, as she was directly addressing them, this not only creating a bond/relationship with the audience, this encouraging to watch further on as they want to go on this journey with her to see the outcomes. On top of that there was slight diegetic and synchronous sound of the beach to create a sense of verisimilitude. I got this idea of using background music to create suspense particularly from another famous thriller being ‘Psycho’, the use of diegetic and non-diegetic sound creates suspense and tension which grips and attracts the audience

There is also sound in the very beginning there is non-diegetic and diegetic sound of a heartbeat, grunting and police sirens, this adding to the suspense and tension as it makes them question the situation and how it happened.

 And on top of that, I used camera angles such as low angle shots, over the shoulder shots and extreme close up shots to demonstrate the vulnerability and seriousness of the situation. This linking to genre as these are camera angles typically used within the thriller genre, this attracting the audience as it gives off extra hints towards the narrative, working as an action code.

Looking back at my preliminary task, what have I learned in the process?