Updated 23rd march- Evaluation, question 1- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? not finished

In our thriller, we used conventions of stereotypical thrillers in addition to challenging conventions. We class our subgenre as an urban, psychological thriller, much similar to our influence “The Disappearance Of Alice Creed”.

Our title is in keeping with the thriller genre, we made it off centre to provide an element of disorientation the rest of the psychological thriller would hope to carry. In addition, it appears eroded and dirty which matches the grunge urban side of the thriller. The black background contrasting with the white text represents the difference between good and evil, the difference between the kidnappers and the kidnapped. Moreover, the font style has similarities with the one used in "Essex Boys", another conventional grunge style thriller.

Many elements of our thriller interpret the power displayed by the kidnappers providing the audience with a sense of fear due to their professional sense.

 In this shot, we used tools in order to display or foreshadow the violence the kidnappers are going to inflict. This is unsettling to the audience as well as creating a certain power imbalance between the organisations displayed by the kidnappers by contrast to the clueless kidnapped girl. Furthermore, a shot similar was used in the thriller "Se7en" to convey power and establish character.

In addition to conveying the power the evil force obtains, the weakness of the victim was equally conveyed. In the shot below, Eva is shot with an extreme close up making her appear exposed and therefore vulnerable to threat. Alternatively, this may be seen as a claustrophobic shot as her face takes up the entire screen almost as suffocation. This shot may make the audience feel uncomfortable, almost as if they're invading her privacy as such.

Combining the two together, the lack of power mixed with ultimate 

power, this shot displays the imbalance between the two. As the kidnapper picks the lock, a shadow grows in gradually on the door. This emphasises the metaphorical darkness the character holds that may not be visible on a surface level. Furthermore, the shadow growing over Eva’s property, her door, represent the removal of her freewill and the oncoming darkness following. The shadow being a gradual progression is representative of how the kidnappers have snuck up on her. This uses the convention of thrillers in the sense of violence adding a psychological twist with the disorienting shadow.

In our psychological urban thriller, we’ve placed emphasis on the convention of violence in order to in-keep with other thrillers. The shot below is from when Eva has her first encounter with the kidnappers. The shot is disorientating and confusing providing the psychological element to the thriller and the shot cuts from regular, to a close up, back to regular. This is further disorientating and the two different angles allow for more detail making the sequence more interesting. The fast cuts in editing speed up the scene making it more fast paced much like the kidnapping itself.

Before the kidnapping occurs or the characters are even established, our character Eva stands outside in the rain to smoke as she’s quite an anxious character and uses this as a method of relaxation. Outside it’s dark which foreshadows the oncoming metaphorically dark events occurring within the thriller. Furthermore, the ground is wet with rain creating a pathetic fallacy as such connoting misery or dismay. The unnatural light coming from the streetlights represents a struggle for anything positive as all the light is created artificially. As well as this, the over the shoulder shot implies she's being watched, perhaps this is the kidnappers. This shot establishes location for the thriller, this is an important convention of thrillers.

At the end, after the title is displayed, there is a shot of Eva in the shed, in relation to camerawork, it has been shot from a Birdseye view almost as if the kidnappers have filmed it. Having the audience look down on her makes her seem devalued and lacking importance implying she has less power. Furthermore, the horrid colour palette furthers the lack of comfort within the shot for the audience. This is shot in a shed surrounded by typical shed items which brings a sense of family much as all sheds, the occurrence of a kidnapping within it makes it almost sick or twisted.

( add stranger things comparison)

Our thriller demonstrates the thriller convention of having a vulnerable female lead character who then becomes the prey of the kidnappers. This happens in other thrillers such as “The Disappearance Of Alice Creed”. This uses the convention matching/ asserting the thriller genre, particularly a more urban, psychological thriller. The shot where our lead Eva looks in the mirror upon entering her house emphasises this.

 This shot uses geometrical aspects of media. The shot may seem disorienting to the audience due to the multiple contrasting lines. The composition is extremely angular making the image unpleasant or even confusing. In regards to mise en scene, Eva looking in the mirror before entering an empty house emphasises her nerves further causing this climax towards the end where the main event occurs, the kidnapping. Using her reflection as oppose to her actual image represents the multidimensional aspects of this character the audience have not yet come across. Mirrors also carry connotations of vanity as such, this is a slight theme in relation to Eva's character, appearance. Many of her individual shots in her house involve her altering her appearance in the mirror such as brushing her hair and removing makeup. This emphasises her nerves as a character as it's not particularly relaxed and may go against stereotypical conventions of what a teenage girl would do when she gets home (for example- immediately visit the fridge or check their phone). This contrast makes Eva a more unique character adding a twist to our thriller in regards to defying common stereotypes or challenging conventions.

In addition to our thriller suiting the common conventions of the thriller genre, we also challenge some conventions. We decided to play with gender stereotypes. We used male and female kidnapping characters displaying equality in terms of ability conveying both genders are capable of crime and challenging the stereotype that women are weak as such. We then build upon this by creating a power imbalance between the two. We made our female character more dominant than our male, this shot displays this.

Our male character ties his shoelaces in a single knot. Our female character then doubles the knot in a shot that comes immediately after. This displays her dominance over him suggesting he can’t live up to her standards or expectations. It also conveys her perfectionist personality traits. Furthermore, the shoe being black contrasts the light colour palette used in the background. This emphasises there is metaphorical goodness around them yet them themselves don’t contain this and develops their negative connotations as characters.

The shot above is from "Layer Cake", another thriller similar to ours in the sense that it's also got aspects of this urban, psychological sub-genre. This film is extremely male dominated giving them all power and in the opening, the only time in which women are seen is when they are sexually objectified. Our thriller does not explore this convention as it displays women in two ways; the position of extreme power through our female kidnapper and the weak, vulnerable, anxious lead victim character.