Evaluation Question 1:

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

Written by Katie, Chloe and Connie

Connie-

 The genre and how the opening suggests it-

The Straight Jacket:

The genre is Psychological thriller and the using a straight jacket as one of the first shots really suggests this, it will draw the audience in with the mystery, the audience will wonder why the character is in a straight jacket, how she got admitted to a psychiatric ward and why it is relevant to the story. This will make them want to watch one, hooking them as well as being a typical convention for a thriller. Suggesting that the character is mentally just by using this costume instantly tells the audience that there is a psychological aspect the the film thus being a psychological thriller. Other aspects within this shot that suggest the film is a thriller is the lighting, the lighting is dark and colors of the costume and the room are also very mutual setting a dark atmosphere altogether. There is a filter add to the shot from final cut pro called BadTV, this makes the shot jumpy and a little distorted/blurry this suggests the film is a Psychological thriller also as it add to a dark atmosphere, and suggests that the mentality of the character is distorted and all over the place too. 

The story and how the opening sets it up-

The dead body:

This shot sets up the story line of Undercover as there has been a murder, the rest of the film will build up to the murder and why the character was killed. We put the end of the story in the opening scene as it keeps it the audience guessing as to why the character was murdered. It will entice them to watch the story unravel and keep them on the edge of their seats. 

Sound and Foley-

The Gate:

We used foley to emphasis the creak of the door, this will set and atmosphere within the film, with will keep the audience on the edge of their seats and interested and the loud noise will catch their attention and scare them, this is a thriller convention. The gate and the creak also might represent the haunting murder that had just taken place.

Katie-

Question 1: The title of the film, font, style, effects:
Showing how the fonts match up and the style of the titles.

How the characters are introduced:
The main character is the first character in which you see in the opening section. From this clip you are also able to tell the main character is mentally disturbed.

Camera Work and Editing:
The shot goes from out of focus to in focus at a low angle giving a good effect and emphasis on Ben being shot. The colour correction has been changed to set the cold damp atmosphere therefore slightly blue.

The title of the film is Undercover because the main actress and focal point of the story she is acting undercover from killing her best-friends boyfriend.

I looked upon the website Da.Font to see which font fits the style and theme of my film.

As we decided to write the title of the film in lipstick onto a mirror, I then had to try and match up this same handwriting font from an existing font; to make the title sequence flow correctly.

The style and effects were thought of by using props that are used throughout the main story of the film, such as rolled out bandages in the title sequence which was reused in the main part of the opening story to show that she was trying to change her identity so none suspected she was a woman. Also, in the beginning part of the title sequence, you are able to get an idea that Connie the main actress may have mental problems by the way in which she is positioned, her appearance and her straight jacket costume.

I decided to add an effect over the title sequence to make it more interesting and intriguing for the audience. I applied this by adding final cut, by dragging and dropping the effect over the top of section I wanted.

I was then able change the settings of the effect to make it my own and I added a different or close up image in the middle of a bigger title to make it jump to create the jump of a thriller. I decided to keep the rest of the opening sequence without being jumpy for it to be able to flow and for the audience being able to follow the story. I added the same effect I used on the jumping title sequence over the mirror to make it look as if it had just been smashed.

The characters are introduced starting off with Connie as she is the focal point of the story and moves the story on.

Camera work and editing. The camera work was filmed by using stills for the title sequence. For the title when writing the lipstick on the mirror, I recorded this as Connie was writing slowly. In the editing I then sped this up by using the editing on final cut to make it snappy and powerful to start off the section of the opening sequence.

Chloe:

Costume and props

We chose to dress our character in a black suit and accompanying hat, the main reason for the suit being black is due to the fact black symbolises a dark/mysterious character evil, often thrillers use this convention in order to tell the audience who is bad and who is good. They often use other colours also such as red, which denotes passion or blood. In the event of our film, our murderer wearing black, and our victim wearing white, is a bi-nary opposite, due to the fact not only the colours are opposite, but what the colours symbolise also. Black symbolises dark and bad, whereas white symbolises purity and innocence. Props included guns, water, fake blood which are all conventions with the thriller genre. Also, due to our character being a transgender, we used the black suit which would typically be for the male character in a thriller, which emphasises our character's personality and want to be a man.

Setting/Location

When considering the locations for our film we paid close attention to those in thrillers. We chose to film in a secluded public toilets, where the lighting was dark and mysterious, adding suspense to our thriller, and dark enough that we could use our lighting kit to add light to our character, creating a conventional shadow. Also, in the opening titles, we included a white room in which gave off the impression of a mental institution and this set our film up and introduced our main character as mentally ill, a genre convention often found in psychological thrillers such as Se7en. Also, the public toilet gives off the impression of being 'cold' therefore furthermore emphasising the character's personality of being cold. 

Image Control/Lighting

The light in the public toilet was limited, therefore when we used the lighting kit, we could creating convincing conventional shadows, adding suspense, another genre convention of thrillers. We did not keep the camera steady at all times as this symbolised the instability of the character, a technique often used in thrillers. Also, when colour correcting during the editing process, I ensured that the lighting gave off the desired effect, by adjusting the colour of the clips a bit darker, hence emphasising the shadows.