G321 Evaluation Question 1

1. G321 Evaluation
Amy-Jane Curtis

2. In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?
Location
The location we chose for our thriller ‘The Crawford Killer’ was Town Close House school, this was in
order to be in keeping with the 1950s British noir feel we wanted for our film. The establishing shot of
the room connotes the theme as the setting fits perfectly. The upper class looking room represents the
generic convention that females in the 1950s were all about glamour in order to please the more
dominant and powerful men who perceive them as simply an object or possession. From our
establishing shot it is clear from the tilt shot used that the male character is higher up in the shot than
the female, this is used to represent how the male character is more authoritative whereas the female
is lower down and is seen to be more submissive, this conforms with the generic archetype of the
femme fatale. The female character ‘Eve’ is only seen to move around when the main male character
‘Frank’ is seemingly distracted by something, this shows that only when a male character is weak can a
female character truly attempt to take control and gain power, this shows that the character
is challenging the generic archetype of the femme fatale by challenging
the dominance of the male. The room that we used contains many
windows, this connotes how Eve could escape the powerful clutches
of Frank but the curtains over the windows are the barrier to stop the
changing roles of women, typical thriller’s like Once Upon A Time In
America show that women should conform to what the man wants
and should be seen to be innocent, of which our character Eve challenges.

3. In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?
Characters and Costume
Eve Crawford
The name Eve has connection to the bible, in which Eve is portrayed as being innocent and the
perfect partner for Adam, at first our character is also so supposed to conform with these
characteristics and therefore follow the generic convention of women. However Eve starts to
disobey, so does are character, she becomes deceitful and untrustworthy in betraying the man in
her life, this is where our character challenges the generic stereotype of a female character in a
thriller, Eve could also be compared to Marion crane from ‘Psycho’ as she goes against what is
expected of her for her own selfish gain. Our character Eve was dressed in a more seductive style
of clothing in the form of a shorter tighter skirt and blouse, this was in order to show
that she was the femme fetale and that she was trouble, the shorter skirt is also used to
represent that she is not conforming with the female stereotype of the time,
she is attempting to escape the clutches of the stereotypical male in a thriller
who can be seen to oppress women. Eve is wearing pearls, this is not only to
conform with the glamour stereotype but to also represent tears, these tears
may be due to her oppression or the tears of those who are going to be affected
by her actions. We took the main inspiration for our name from ‘Once Upon a
Time in America’ as we wanted our character to be similar to Eve in this, we
wanted to copy some of her characteristics like deviance. Eve’s movements are
often slow and carefully thought out, this was in order to connote her
submissiveness and to show that she is always cautious of what the more
dominant male character Frank thinks of her.

4. In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?
Characters and Costume
Frank
We chose the name Frank as the name seemed to be in fitting with the theme of our thriller. We
decided to dress our character in a suit which is generic to noir style thrillers. We wanted Frank to
wear a suit in order to connote his authority and power over the whole scene. This characters
movements are often very brash, this is to represent his importance over the female character, its
also to indicate
to the audience that something is going on. When Frank is sitting at the
table, he smirks at his watch then slams his lighter down, this was in
order to show his aggressiveness and how often in thrillers the
dominant characters state of mind can change rapidly. When researching
name ideas I came across the psychological thriller ‘Blue velvet’ which
includes a character called Frank Booth who is a gangster and a central
figure in the criminal underworld. Booth became one of the best-known
villains in cinema. He ranks #36 on AFI’s list of the top 50 film villains of
all time. For our character I didn't’t want his past to be as obvious as
Frank Booth’s I wanted his past to be clouded and to become clearer
as the scene moved on.

5. In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?
Props and objects
Eve
Pearls: Wearing pearls connotes tears, we wanted the audience to be unsure of who would be shedding tears. Pearls also
represent glamour of which is generic of the femme fatale.
Book: Eve is reading a book in order to show that she is not conforming to the way that women should have been in the 1950s,
we wanted the audience to see her as trying to escape the clutches of a dominant male and fight being merely an object to a man
by attempting to educate herself which was unusual for that time and is not how women in noir thrillers usually act.
Frank
Watch: To represent how time may be running out for him and that his past is going to catch up
with him sooner rather then later.
Lighter: The lighter is often featured in noir thrillers as cigarettes are usually
seen. Our lighter doesn’t light, this is supposed to represent how the light has
gone from his life in some way.
Gun: A typical generic convention in noir thrillers, it is supposed to connote power.
We featured
Frank checking the gun in order to provide some suspicion as to why and when he may need to
use it.
Objects
Lamp: this was in order to have some similarities to ‘Once Upon a Time in America’. There is a sense of irony as in ‘Once Upon a
Time in America’ the femme fatale died as a result of allowing me to obtain full control of her as she was conforming to the
female stereotype, in our thriller the female is the complete opposite in that she challenges the generic stereotype of a female in
the 1950s.

6. In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?
Lighting
We used ambient lighting in the form of a lamp. This was in order to ensure that the scene was relatable. Our lighting
challenges the thriller stereotype of being dismal and dark, our noir thriller is quite bright and colourful.
Transitions
I used fade to black transitions all the way through our thriller, this conforms with noir thrillers like Psycho which often
fades to black.
Sound
we used Diegetic sound in our thriller, the diegetic sound that you can hear is all natural sound that you would hear in
everyday life, this was in order to make the scene more relatable to the
audience, this also conforms to the thriller genre as most films contain
diegetic sound.
Camera Angles
The first shot is tilted high angle shot, this was in order to show the main
character Frank’s power over the scene. The next is a low angle shot this
was again to show his importance and dominance, this conforms to the
generic convention of a gangster in thrillers. An over the shoulder shot
is used to almost represent Eve’s deviance, its like she’s spying on him,
watching his every move waiting for her moment to strike and display
that she is a true femme fatale. I used a Zoom shot during the edit to focus
on the gun, this was to connote and conform with the convention that noir
thrillers have with involving some kind of criminal underworld.

7. In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?
Conventions of the opening to a thriller film
We took inspiration for the opening title scene from ‘The Lady Vanishes’ directed by Alfred Hitchcock with the title of
the film and I decided to use a production company at the beginning to conform with the opening of many noir thrillers
during the 1950s. The title ‘ The Crawford
Killer’ is relevant to the thriller genre as
Eve Crawford is an actress famous for
featuring in various thrillers, so I thought
it would be fitting to use her surname as
the title. I chose the font as I felt It gave the Thriller a modern twist, challenging the generic conventions of noir thriller
films.