Evaluation Question 1 In what ways does your media product use,

develop, or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

1- For our film name we chose Trauma. This is an appropriate name for a
psychological-thriller as it connotes mental illnesses, disturbed
perceptions, traumatic events, violence which are all appropriate themes
in our genre. We chose to have a short word memorable word for our film
as most thrillers tend to have short one or two word names. The title
provides a clue about what the narrative is about without giving too much
away, which links to Barthes enigma theory. Films with similar names are;
Insomnia, Memento, Absentia, Taken, Affliction etc.
2- The setting and location we chose to set our story in is a family home. As
you can see from the shot, the house is like any typical family home with
photographs and ornaments. Psychological-thrillers are often set in family
settings or involve a story that explores family relations. Since our
psychological-thriller is set out to explore the relationship between an
abusive mother and her unloved son, we thought a family home would be
the most appropriate setting. An example of real media that supports our
argument is We Need To Talk About Kevin.
3- Some of the props we mainly focused on during our opening were toys as
you can see in the shot. We thought those were the most appropriate
props to focus on since our story plot deals with a child and their
childhood. The toys are not meant to compliments the boys childhood,
but rather to juxtapose with it. The toys and the boy are never seen
together in the same shot. Many psychological- thrillers which explored
the idea of childhood and children will have included some form of toy as
props in their film, for example The Sixth Sense. Toys such as dolls and
teddy bears are also extensively used in horror-thrillers as well, but usually
connote terror or haunted entities for example Anabelle.
4- In our opening sequence we tried to incorporate interesting
cinematography. We attempted a range of interesting angles, one example
can be seen in this shot; where we chose to position the camera very close
to the ground and focus on certain details of the characters movement.
We also persisted on slow camera movement and slow character
movements throughout the opening sequence. Slow camera and character
movement, coupled with extreme camera positions or angles to focus on
details or certain actions are extensively used in the thriller genre,
especially the horror-thriller and psychological-thriller branches. This is
because these slow movements and unusual shots create anticipation and
tension, which are good responses to a thriller film. Examples of this can
be seen in close ups and scenes in Shutter Island.
5- For our editing we chose to use a lot of desaturation and fading or
dissolving transitions. We chose to use desaturation because we felt it was
appropriate for the mood and narrative of our opening sequence. The
fading and dissolving transitions suit our opening sequence and genre as
the idea of fading away or fading off connotes mystery and suspense,

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which is very suitable for our genre. These editing techniques are used in
the real media, for example in Mama.
For the title of our opening sequence we chose to have the font in a
typewriter style. Choosing the font to make it seem as if it was written on
a typewriter makes the title look more interesting. It gives the opening
sequence connotations of it being a story set at least a few decades ago,
which is what we aimed for. Typewriters are also a symbol from the past, a
treasure or a memory from the past, something that would be stored away
in an old attic or house. For this reason, typewriters or connotations of it
are used in a fair few horror-thriller and psychological-thriller films. For
example, Shutter Island again. We felt that a typewriter would not only
suit the time period we were aiming for but also the conventions of our
genre.
Like in most films in our genre, we did not want to give away the whole of
the narrative, or include too many clues in the opening sequence. Instead,
we presented our opening sequence like a somewhat montage of shots, in
which included clues about what happens in our narrative. As you can see
in the shot, we included clues such as family pictures burning. In our
opening sequence we also include toys, a swing, a missing girl poster, and
character actions such as anger and sadness. These are all clues that
show the audience the narrative is about a family which goes through a
time of distress. Using clues in a series of montage shots to build up
tension and mystery can be seen in real media products, such as
Memento.
Since we chose to have minimal to no dialogue in our opening sequence,
we had to represent our characters through their action, movement and
mise-en-scene instead. One of the first main characters to appear is Luke
as a child. We represented him as a sad little boy, who is vulnerable and
isolated. We did this by desaturation the footage of him, getting rid of all
the colours took away the brightness and happiness from the shot,
emphasising his emotional estate. We also put him in simple clothing; this
was to show that his mother did not worry too much about his
appearance. We used a slightly high angle shot to illustrate his weakness
and innocence. And lastly, through his acting and expressions we can see
that he is in a depressed state.
Special effects are usually used in our chosen genre. Most of the time,
effects are used to create suspense, tension, or to make terrifying figures
out of CGI, unlike in action films where CGI is used to enhance the action.
In our opening sequence we used effects such as reversing and fading
colours away. We chose to use those types of effects because they are
very suitable to our genre. As you can see in the shot, playing the footage
in reverse and fading the colours off does add a sense of mystery and
suspense which complements the psychological-thriller genre. Examples
of reversed footage can be seen in the explosion scene of Inception.