An answer-presentation to "Question One" of the evaluation questions.

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

2. Character
Our unnamed protagonist is a confusing character who blends conventional and unconventional features
from a number of genres, a reflection of our mix of sub-genres in a way. His very gender is unconventional
of the genre as a stock character of thriller films would be a beautiful, vulnerable woman, for example Vera
Miles in “Psycho” (Hitchcock,1960).
Both appear vulnerable at the start
They both end up becoming terrified

3. Character
On the contrary many psychological films use male protagonists to show how even men, who are conventionally
seen as strong and fearless figures can be reduced by fear, for example Leonardo DiCaprio in “Shutter Island”
(Scorcese,2010) and Guy Pearce in “Memento” (Nolan,2000). “Memento” is an interesting example because its
genre is described as “Neo-noir mystery-psychological thriller” which is essentially our genre as well; so in a way
our protagonist could be seen as a stock character. Furthermore Guy Pearce uses a combination of intelligence
(for example his polaroid system) and brawn (when he kills the drug dealer) to achieve his supposed goal.
Similar
polaroid theme
Similar brutal
(self-inflicted?)
markings

4. Character
Although we learn very little of our antagonist, he is clearly conventional of both noir and thriller. An example of this is
his costume; he wears a sharp suit and mask that hides his identity, whilst he holds signs for the viewer to read,
something which happens in Danish/Swedish “Neo-noir” thriller TV series, The Bridge (series 2). He is cautious and
clever, hiding in the shadows to control the protagonist which shows that he does not need to honourably fight the
protagonist but rather remains at a safe distance. This use of intellect over strength to achieve goals is conventional
of the thriller, psychological and noir genres.

5. Plot
The plot of our opening sequence features conventional elements of thriller, psychological and noir. One of the
characters goals is to retrieve his memory, and hopefully with that; his life. However, the reason he has lost his
memory is that The Overseer has taken it, therefore the malevolent intention of the antagonist in removing the
protagonists memory is more conventional of thriller as opposed to psychological. Furthermore the way in which the
character will have to overcome the obstacle (by either following The Overseer’s instructions, or tracking him down
and getting his revenge) is very conventional of noir, as detectives and mysteries being solved is a key element of
most noir films. An example “Brick” (Johnson,2005) in which the antagonist Brendan sets out to solve the death of
his friend Emily.
End
Beginning

6. Mise-en-scene
The lighting in our sequence was very unconventional of horror or almost all of it’s sub
genres including the notable stylistics of noir lighting. The light was in fact rather high-key,
which is usually the opposite of what is sought out by horror filmmakers as it often
removes the sense of threat and therefore tension which is linked to darkness which
innately scares people on a basic level as enemies and predators can hide in the dark.
However this is in fact what we wished to achieve in our piece; we actively decided as a
group to use natural light as much as possible, and if not possible then as naturalistic as
possible. The verisimilitude created by the naturalistic lighting enhances the ease with
which the audience relates to the character, and therefore increases the emotional
connection the audience feel with the protagonist.
We decided to make the location as normal and as similar to the target audiences house
as possible. It is a plain apartment in an unknown location that has no real character to it.
This lack of personality is a bi-product of making the location as foreign as possible, as
well as making it difficult for the protagonist to glean any clues as to his identity. A more
artistic interpretation of the plainness of the house might be the way that the barren
interior reflects the characters lack of memory and the way in which the world around him
is almost actively refusing to help him regain his life. It essentially is made to feel as
though he is entirely alone in his situation and must find the way out on his own.

7. Sound
The non-diegetic music in the opening scene consists solely of a score. The lack of superfluous non-diegetic
sounds enhances the verisimilitude of the sequence which is (as previously mentioned) a key aim of our piece,
seeming realistic so that the audience can easily relate to the character and find his situation as horrifying as he
does. The score itself is mostly a moody, low, subtle soundtrack, promptly shattered by the whoosh of the
flashback sequence and the cheerful, creepy music of “The Teddy Bair’s Picnic” which is played during the
overseer scene on the TV. The juxtaposition of the two types of music aids the audiences sense of opposition
between the protagonist and antagonist, essentially subliminally reinforcing the fact that the two people are now
enemies because of The Overseer’s actions.
The diegetic sound in this piece is largely just ambient noises such as the groan he makes as he sits up (hinting
that he had been in that position for a long time) and the dialogue as he speaks to himself, openly wondering
why anybody would ever carve a number 5 into his hand.

8. Camera
GIF OF TRACKING SHOT
Tracking shots are used to give the room-to-room walk a sense of motion
and direction. Furthermore the audience feels as though they are being
pulled to the target location, inducing a sense of foreboding and dread,
enhancing tension.
Close-ups enhance the emotion of the character, meaning the audience feels
sympathetic for him when he looks tender and vulnerable asleep, or scared
when he awakes from his flashback.

9. Editing Style
The pace of editing changes to match the events on screen. When the character is waking up in bed the cutting
rate is very slow, this is because it makes the audience feel restful, yet tense. However, when the character gets
out of bed and starts to faint, the cutting rate speeds up to make the action seem more scary and impactful. The
cutting rate then slows down again when the protagonist awakes and moves to the TV, where the cutting rate is
almost rhythmic, suggesting the character wished he had never turned on the TV but it is too late to turn back
now. Foreboding, dread.

10. Typography / Title Position
Kartika is the typeface used for the credits because it is
clean, simple and easily read, as well as being black to
differentiate it from the subtitles. The credit titles are
placed in the upper half of the screen on the outside of the
frame to disrupt the action as little as possible.
Subtitles were written in standard Calibri typeface,
with a conventional white colouring. The typeface
was exceptionally clear so that even slow readers
had no difficulty reading the text before it went off
screen. Subtitles were placed in the centre on the
bottom of the frame in the conventional position
As the subtitles were white and the majority of the walls,
kitchen surfaces, clothes and bed sheets etc. were white,
the text could at times be hard to read, so in exceptional
circumstances we used a black drop shadow to help the
text stand out.

11. Colour / Visual Techniques
Many colours in the opening sequence are subliminal suggestions by us as filmmakers to help reinforce themes or
ideas to the unobservant audience, or openly reflect something else to the more sharp observant audience.
For example, most of the colours in the opening sequence are white; the walls,
the clothes of the protagonist, the bed sheets etc. This is a visual technique we
chose to employ because white suggests purity of mind, and blankness, in this
case the blankness being a reference to his blank memory (amnesia).
On the other hand the white shirt with black suit worn by the antagonist, as well as
his black and white mask, suggests he is both playful and serious (black and white).
Furthermore the contrast of the two colours suggests he has some kind of internal
conflict, perhaps a mental one such as Schizophrenia or Multiple Personality
Disorder.