Project Evaluation - Erol Akin

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

Throughout the completion of our theory and practical work we have researched into short films, film reviews and also film posters which have all helped to shape our final product. I believe through using different media techniques we have managed to imitate a good psychological thriller which shares conventions of a typical thriller film. These shots below were selected to best help me illustrate my points and to demonstrate the ways in which our product has used and developed the typical conventions of real media products.

Shot one: The title 

• The shot above is crucial to the audience as it gives them an early insight into what type of genre and style the film might be. First impressions are important and this is why we decided to make the title bold and simplistic in design. This is a simple style of design which can be seen in other short films like 'Eden' (shown below). Although our design is more complex they both share a similar size in comparison with the frame and I believe this to be an important feature of the title as it creates impact to the audience. 
• However, both these title sequences are also very different in a lot of ways. We have challenged this typical style of having a shot from our film behind the title itself, like shown in 'Eden'. We have chosen to go for a classic black background which is more reflective of our psychological thriller genre, whereas with 'Eden' it has a lot science fiction characteristics as it appears there are only two people left on Earth after a deadly virus has wiped all human life from the planet.  

• The short film 'Two and Two' shares the same idea of having a black background with white text. This combination of colour allows the title itself to stand out as to be only focus of the shot. We were fully aware of this when we were designing our title and we knew this would be highly effective as a first shot, we combined our title with a creepy, scratching sound which would help to suggest our genre further to the audience. I believe our title is successful in conveying genre and style through the use of colour and also added blood splats which were cut into the title on Photoshop. Our Photoshop skills helped us to develop a title which would stick out and would be classic of typical Psychological thriller conventions too. 
• The name of the title 'The Faceless Man' has helped us to put across character and again genre too. Having a title like this helps to create impact as it would get the audience to imagine what a 'Faceless Man' might actually look like.  

Shot two: The first appearance of 'The Faceless Man'

• The first appearance of The Faceless Man gives an almost  paranormal atmosphere to the scene due to the dark coloured clothing, aggressively tall posture and the blurry edges of the frame. The character positioning is the main focus in this frame as he is placed central which is typical of any film as it shows importance. The face of this mysterious character is clearly hidden which adds an element of enigma which is a common convention of a real psychological film. 
• There are similar shots in the film 'The Smiling Man', a film which we took a lot of inspiration from which aided our decisions in our own short film. The blurriness in our shot helps to make this scene intense which is something which is commonly used in films. It also gives the impression of a dreaming state which helps to raise questions to the audience about whether this is actually real.  
• The dark coloured clothing is iconic for thriller films as it is suggestive of something evil, we knew that our character would look the best in this type of clothing because of this. Another point being dark lighting is commonly associated with danger which is something too which is frequently seen in psychological thriller films. Having the character in all dark clothing makes the character appear as if they are only a shadow, which is something we did not initially plan, however I believe it has worked in our favour. Shadows are also mysterious in appearance which will have helped to add enigma to our short film. 

• The shot above is a screen shot from the film 'The Smiling Man'. As I previously said this short film helped us to make a lot of important decisions towards the plot and style of our short film. The two screen shots above share a lot of similar qualities. Both of which are eerie and have a central character. The two characters seen are also mysteriously covered by clothing, or dark light; which further helps to add a level of intensity and enigma to the short film. 
• The dark lighting in both shots are good examples of a conventional thriller. This type of lighting is seen in many thriller films as it helps to set the mood and create dark undertones for the audience. 

• This shot above follows similar rules in terms of lighting, character position, character body language and clothing. The dark figure to the left of the central character is lurking in the background of this shot, which when creepy backing track is added gives an eerie effect. This type of stalking is seen in other short films like 'The Smiling Man'. This particular scene proves how we have thought through the usual conventions of a thriller film and what is effective in relation to the audience's reaction. 

Shot three: Disturbing close up

• Close ups are often used throughout thriller films and it was something which we chose to adopt in our short film too, it helped to show a high level of emotion of a certain character - which helps to create impact. The picture below shows a comical/ clown like character who appears to be staring into the camera with  big grin. However when combined with synical music this completely changes, therefore making it a creepy and shocking scene. 
• These two screen shots both mirror eachother in style and in the type of shot. The close up of Oscar shows the audience how much mental pain he is in through the use of mise en scene we have managed to create a shocking scene which shows a high level of mental pain for Oscar's character. This shot is added in throughout several points in the short film for a disturbing effect. We believe that both the shots below create a similar atmosphere for the audience as it would be likely to take them by surprise. 

• When both shots are compared they are closely similar in appearance and both are accompanied by scary music which helps to raise the audiences attention to the film. These types of close up shots help the audience to empathise with characters about what they might be experiences. It can also have the opposite effect when used as an example in 'The Smiling Man'.
• Oscar's expression gives away the fact that he is in a high level of stress and emotional pain which is clear to see through his wide opened motuh (with teeth showing), tightly closed eyes, messy hair and also by the positioning of his handing being on his head. This scene we believe creates a intense amount of emotion for the audicne and is likely to gain their empathy for our character. 

The Film Poster

• Both posters have a large title which takes up a lot space overall. 

• These two posters share a number of similar qualities which proves how we have used conventions inspired from real media products. This is England's film poster used bright colours, characters and a background which sets the scene of a British council estate from the 1980's/90s. The colours chosen in their title are the same colours which are used in the Union Jack which is iconic for britian. This poster uses props like the Dr Martin boots, dark coloured clothing and ripped jeans which help to suggest a subculture known as the 'skinhead' which were commonly seen in the 1980's and all these props are commonly associated to them. 
• Throughout the production of our film we thought about what our poster might look like and what colours would be appropriate to use. Colour is something which helps to suggest a certain genre, for example; using black and red would help to suggest danger or evil. This is why we chose to use these two colours as they help to suggest these themes.