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

In an opening sequence of a film there are many different conventions that are used such as; logos, titles, establishing shots, introducing the setting and the mood, close ups and many more. These conventions are used for different reasons, titles are used so the audience can understand who is in the film, company has distributed the film. In addition for example, introducing the setting and the mood can make the audience more interested and want to carry on watching the film from the sense of the mood that is given.

The important of conventions being used throughout the opening sequence of a film links to real media products as it represents certain things within the film like the genre and characters. It also shows how certain things are portrayed by the way, cinematography, mise en scene, editing and sound is used.

Our media product uses and develops the conventions of real media products in many different ways. For example we have introduced the setting of where our film will be based around in the opening sequence. This is an important convention to be used as it allows the audience to have an idea of what genre the film will be and small hints of where and what this could be based on. Also from the mood of the opening sequence the audience will be able to sense how the film will be throughout and this brings a closer interest for the audience. For the setting and mood to be introduced into the opening sequence is vital as like all other films it gives people a sense of what they are going to be watching.

This is a screenshot showing the convention of the setting and mood being introduced in the opening sequence from another film called 'Brick'. As we can see, from this the audience will be able to see that the film will be based around the setting of a bridge but also will get the feeling that the mood is quite intense as a boy is watching a girl who appears to be dead. This is effective because the audience will want to know more about what happens. 

 This is the convention of the setting being introduced in myself and my groups own sequence. This is the first shot in the opening sequence which allows the audience to see where the film could be based around or can even allow them to ask questions like, 'whats this house got to do with the film'.



 As a group we have also used conventions to represent how the female character is the antagonist. The reason why we wanted to represent this was because it goes against the stereotype of how males are seen to be the antagonist like other films and are looked upon as the stronger person. We represented this by the mise en scene that we used as blood was one of the props that we used on the male character to show that he had been killed by this female character. The reason why this would link to real media products is because like in other thrillers, blood gives off a strong sense of danger which grabs the audience's attention in many way. In addition we also used flashing images which shows the female reflecting back on what led her to kill this male character. We chose to develop the conventions to represent this because we wanted to show the audience that males aren't always the antagonist and shouldn't be seen to be the ones with the strength. This links to real media products as most films use a male as the antagonist and the female to be seen as a 'girly' girl. However, our convention of representations goes against this.

We have used the convention of a logo which shows the audience the genre of our film. This can be developed because if people are watching the beginning of the film and see the logo, if they are interested in thrillers they would be more interested into sticking with the film to see what it is about and what happens.

This is a screenshot showing the convention of logos being used in other films like the 'Sixth Sense'. This logo shows the audience the distribution company that was involved with the making of the film. The good thing with this type of convention is because some people might like the films that Hollywood Pictures produce and this could make them more interested with sticking with the film to watch more.

This is the production logo and that myself and my group have created for our opening sequence. We have used the idea of scissors and blood to refer back to our genre of our film, a thriller. We wanted to make our logo to be effective which we have tried to do by using the red blood which the audience will be able to strongly see.
The reason for this being a convention of real media products is because all films that are made need to have a production that has been involved within the making, which is shown by their logo in the opening sequence. 

A convention that is used within the opening sequence is slowly introducing some characters. For example the male character in our film is represented as a stalker of the female character. However, from what the audience will be watching they may be able to see a sense of isolation from him with not many friends as he seems to focus on one girl around school. This may not mean his her stalker in a horrible way, he may want to be her friend. This convention is used because it allows the audience to get hints of the characters and some could even feel sympathy for this boy. It could also represent the boy as being quite vulnerable. This links to real media products because every film wants the audience to get to know the characters slightly and know who is the antagonist and protagonist within the film.

This is a screenshot of where the film 'Sixth Sense' is introducing the first character slightly in the opening sequence. The audience will be able to see from this that the character is a female and she could be one of the main characters within the film as she has been shown first which could hint her importance throughout. For the audience to see this character in the opening scene they will be able to get hints with what type of character she is.



In our own sequence that we have created as a group, the convention of the characters slowly being introduced at the start of the opening sequence has definitely been used. We have also made sure that the first time the character appears on screen her face is hidden as we don't want to give too much away because this is what can appeal to the audience.

This refers to conventions of real media products as many films always slowly introduce their main character. This is an image of the main character from our sequence and as we can see she we cannot see her face but only the back of her and her hair. This can give more of a suspense to the audience as they will want to wait to see why this character is so important within the film and what actually happens. 

This image is showing that we have slightly introduced the character a little bit more by the way she likes to dress and what can seem to be her home that she lives in. By the audience being able to see her fashion sense, they might be able to get an understanding of what the girl likes. Moreover, the audience will also be able to see her face a bit more which they will be able to see more of her facial expression. The reason why this is good because the audience will be able to see that the character looks a bit anxious with the way she is looking at her phone. This is good as the audience will be more willing to find out what she has seen on that phone! This links to conventions of media products because the main things in an opening sequence of all films is trying to able the audience to be more excited and for there to be more suspense for them to carry on watching the film.