Question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
A thriller is a type of movie that effectively creates suspense and tension particularly through the use of props, sound, editing, setting and actors; it is defined by the oxford dictionary as:
‘A novel, play, or film with an exciting plot, typically involving crime or espionage’.
It’s a genre that specialises in enigmas which are used to create the tension and keep the audience captivated as it uses the fear of the unknown, this is an important convention in thrillers as it makes the viewer want to watch on to find out what happens and keeps them in suspense waiting for the answer which altogether makes the thriller more entertaining, to include them in the opening is important as it is the fist part the audience sees therefore influencing whether or not they proceed in watching. The thriller genre consists of many sub-genres ranging from the supernatural to the classic spy thriller.
Conventions of a thriller opening:
Men often make up the majority of the cast as they are stereotypically seen as stronger, braver and more active than women who are often seen as the victim or a sexualised object, however these conventions can be ignored and women can be effectively used as the protagonist or the antagonist, shown effectively in the supernatural sub-genre where they are often shown as warped antagonistic ghosts or demons. In our thriller we had no women performing on camera as we decided to stick to the strong male stereotype that is so popular.

This is an example from James Bond with the main character always played by a strong, middle-age man and a 'bond girl' who is commonly seen as a damsel in distress. This plays along with the stereotypes that men and women fit into with the majority of antagonists being male as well, however in the thriller 'Silence of the Lambs' a strong woman takes the lead alongside a psychopathic serial killer defying the stereotypical 'women are the weaker sex' idea.


There is usually a chain of events that lead to a climax and change in pace. This creates an atmospheric build up of suspense and tension as the narrative accumulates towards the climax where the editing becomes quicker and the sound mimics the mood change, the more popular choice in soundtrack for a climax is string instruments that create a screechy distorted sound when played in a particular fashion. Soundtrack is used to mimic the chain of events, increasing in pace when the thriller increases its action and editing pace, this is to increase the amount of senses the viewers are using to understand and become a part of what is happening as they don’t just see the pace change they can also hear it. The chain of events effectively create and solve enigmas throughout the narrative to keep the audience satisfied and interested, the small revelations may be stepping stones to a bigger revelation that answers all the questions the audience may have and can often be found in the climax.
One of the more common conventions to expect would be a chase sequence between the antagonist and protagonist, these are mostly found in the hybrid genre of action thrillers, encompassing the sub-genres spy-thrillers and crime-thrillers. A chase sequence can involve vehicles, a chase on foot or even both. The example shown is from the matrix and is a chase sequence that involves cars and a motorbike with the protagonists trying to escape from the antagonists pursuit in order to protect a member of their group.


The lighting is mainly low-key lighting to create a dark, mysterious atmosphere however it is bright enough to keep the setting seeming natural rather than surreal, this dark look connotes the looming negativity that keeps the thriller so tense. We used low-key lighting to the best of our advantage by filming in the woods, where the light from the sun would be filtered through the dense canopy to create a darker effect.

We experimented a little when it came to lighting as we found a sequence of shots we did was more effective when we put a red wash of light over it, we did this by placing a piece of translucent red plastic over the lamp which was our only source of light. This created a chilling effect as red connotes danger and used together with the props we had laid out created a tense atmosphere. Through use of research I found that red lighting is mostly found in horror movies, this tells me that it contributes to the fear-factor which is useful for our thriller.

The pace of editing is usually quick to mimic the pace of the heartbeat at that point in the action. At the point of the climax or a chase sequence the pace is usually at its fastest, this builds the tension and keeps the audience on the edge of their seats. It can build up in a crescendo to gradually increase the suspense to the pinnacle of action, this works closely with the sound used in the thriller as they change pace usually in synchronisation.
The props used are mainly weapons as they are symbolic of danger and confrontation. The most common weapons seen in thriller movies are guns and knives; this is because they can be used to fatally harm a victim so therefore they create a greater amount of fear in the audience as they link those weapons to death.

These weapons are commonly associated with the antagonist; however in some cases the protagonist can wield the weapon as defence or whilst hunting down the antagonist. In our production piece we included an air rifle being used by the villain who shoots down his victim, this is because we decided to use the genre spy-thriller so as a group we looked at examples such as ‘James Bond’ and ‘Mission: Impossible’ and found that the most commonly featured props were guns.

These are stills from both influential and well-known spy-thriller movies; in both shots the protagonist wields the weapon in defence or for hunting down the antagonist. It can be noted that both protagonists are stereotypically male.
Our editing changed its pace to show the rising levels of tension and threat, we did this by using short snappy shots almost like a montage along with non-diegetic soundtrack that increased in pace as well.