Evaluation 1

Question 1:- In what ways does your Media product USE, DEVELOP or CHALLENGE form of codes and conventions of real media products?

Our opening sequence does in fact feature the typical codes and conventions of a Psychological thriller, in contrast it is a media product based around a real event and is about criminal activities; therefore inviting many other genres and themes this sequence may belong to.

We attempted to demonstrate our hybrid genres’ in relation to other existing media products, such as “Johnny English”, “Falling down” and “Amelie” which all focus on one character during the opening sequence. This was very important for us to note as it, like our sequence, was based on one character and how the characters representation was demonstrated by the director, which defines the roles played by, said character, in the progressive narrative. We used one character for our opening sequence because it gave our character a sense of importance, like “Johnny English”, “Falling down” and “Amelie”, it begins with the main character who is identified very quickly by the audience. For instance in “Johnny English” a soundtrack is used which is a sharp contrast to the behaviour of the character, this contrapuntal element is intended to mock the character subsequently introducing one of the first genres of the film, Comedy. In our opening sequence we also used a soundtrack to exhibit our characters frame of mind, though ours was a parallel sort, the intentions were to show a mysterious individual thus arousing many questions from the audience. “Amelie” uses a subtle soundtrack in its opening titles. We hear a piano being played, though its presents isn’t the first thing you notice, its significance to the visual aspects is vital. It sets a calm mood for the narrative and it gives additional significance to the character being shown, in this case it is “Amelie”. In the opening sequence of “Falling Down”, it starts off with no music whatsoever, but as the sequence progresses, like the noises around the character, we are able to hear the growing sounds of flutes and drums. This was used to build tension. In “Premonition” we intended to incorporate a similar effect, where the music is used subtly to build tension. It was important for us, I believe, to build tension; because our sequence was a psychological thriller, and these are the typical codes and conventions of this genre.

Our narrative included multiple themes therefore it is a hybrid genre film. We thought that this was necessary because films with hybrid genres are most popular in modern society. A film such as “Avatar” is based upon a fantasy world which also includes action, romance and thriller, making it a prime example of a hybrid genre. Despite the fact that the film’s nature may favour more of a particular genre than another, the presents of such contrasting genres prove to be very effective. Although, it could be argued that hybrid genres may be a revelation of film that may cancel out originality and certain genres may be lost or may not be able to be identified due to the vast mixture of genres. Therefore, it is sometimes difficult to identify a film with its genre because the conventional aspects are challenged to such an extent where new trends are perceived subsequent to such hybrid narratives.

For our narrative, we decided that the presents of many genres as opposed to one was the best route to take our film in, although we also decided that we wanted one main genre that would dominate the narratives principle. Our Primary genre was Psychological thriller; in the narrative we would work around this genre to communicate our message to the audience. Our Secondary genre was Drama, as the plot of our narrative is based upon realist settings and character development. Similar to the opening sequence of “Mad Men” where a man is falling and pictures are shown on the buildings passing him that are of sexual allusions and then an advertisement of a happy family. The director fashioned this opening sequence to not just introduce the characters supposed dilemma, but also foreshadows the genres of the narrative such as a domestic drama, where conflict is produced concerning family and faithfulness. In our opening sequence we attempted to hint at our secondary genres, for example, Drama was illustrated when “Cornelius” had a premonition about his future, where he is in a straitjacket in a mental asylum. The audience is shown the progression of “Cornelius” therefore illustrating the epic elements of our narrative. Saying this, we had still focused on illustrating our Primary genre in our opening sequence, Psychological thriller, we did this by using voice-overs of the initial reactions of news stations around the globe and used these voice-overs as our only source of sound (not including the music) throughout the opening sequence. Though in the realm of “Premonition”, the voice-overs are not of the same time that “Cornelius” is in, in fact they are used to show the audience that “Cornelius” is predicting the future, because the voice-overs are forthcoming later in the narrative. These voice-overs with different accents, allowed us to exhibit the Psychological challenges that the audience will be faced with in the progressive narrative. Like “Momento” where the audience is forced to think and to figure what the contents of the narrative. Therefore it could be considered that our media product develops the codes and conventions of existing media products, because the mixture of Epic Drama and Psychological thriller offers a unique base for our narrative.  

Our opening sequence has also inherited elements that may suggest to it using the typical codes and conventions of a Criminal thriller as well as a Psychological one. The fact that our protagonist (Cornelius) is a mysterious individual who challenges the audience’s first reactions towards him and little can be fathomed from the opening sequence of our film. “Falling down” is also shaped in the same manner as the audience’s initial reactions are tested. We can see that there is a particular man that the director wants us to focus on; this is done by various close-ups to the characters face, eyes and sweaty forehead to show his agitation. Later the camera pans and reveals everything around the character. The first shot alone lasts for 1 minute 44 seconds, and in this shot everything that the character is being agitated by is revealed. It is very clear that the director wanted to show the elements that are disturbing the character very clear and significantly. At this point it is still not clear what the characters personality is like, but the mood and thoughts of this character is quickly established. We intended to use this technique of establishing the characters motive in the current situation and revealing his/her characteristics later on the narrative. This was one of the reasons for giving “Cornelius” no dialogue in our opening sequence, it would’ve given away much of his characteristics. Instead we used “Cornelius’s” actions to help the audience make a judgement on his character. For example, “Cornelius”, almost violently, wakes up from his sleep and fiddles with some papers on his desk in an attempt to find something. From this, the audience is able to see that “Cornelius” is an energetic person, and even somewhat psychotic, with the way he smashes his pencil down onto the paper to draw. These were the controlled first impressions we wanted the audience to grasp from “Cornelius”. Also another reason for why we did not use scripts for our opening sequence was because we wanted “Cornelius” to enforce the theme of loneliness, where “Cornelius” has no one to talk to. This again elevates the sense of mystery that shrouds the existence of “Cornelius” which is typical for Psychological thriller to follow.

“Falling down” is a criminal thriller, and we see the main character in great distress and is seen as the antagonist in the realm of the narrative, but we as the audience are told of the reasons for his distress and are able to sympathise; therefore giving the director license to push the boundaries of his character and challenge the impression the audience has of the character in the progressive narrative. We also gave “Cornelius” that role to play, but unlike the character from Falling down, “Foster” who kills people out of rage, “Cornelius” is trying to preach and is victimised by the citizens and when the attacks happen, his villains change to the FBI who take him into intensive interrogation where he consequently looses his mind. During the course of these events that arise in the narrative, the audience will feel sympathy for the character and thus labelling him as the protagonist. There is also in the narrative a chase that occurs, following the codes and conventions of criminal thrillers, but on the other hand, the protagonist is not running after the antagonist rather he is trying to escape from the antagonist. We are using the typical codes and conventions of a Criminal Thriller, by creating a protagonist and an antagonist whose titles will be reassess by the audience in correlation to the way they are portrayed in the narrative.

Many criminal thriller genres are domestic dramas such as “The Transporter”, a driver who goes to look for a package he had to deliver and if not delivered, his reputation would be in jeopardy. Our narrative is one that involves a larger scale of people and it stretches out to all the people that “Cornelius” tries to warn about the 9/11 attacks and the people effected by the attacks. This element injects actions and adventure into the film as the audience will follow “Cornelius’s” journey to find the truth about 9/11.

Also the protagonist in our media product is a psychologically challenged person, who, in contrast to “Die Hard” where the protagonist is highly skilled in everything, “Cornelius’s” skills are limited to intellectual knowledge instead, this may however not be the ideal characteristics for a protagonist of an action based film. The representation of “Cornelius” is not of a typical protagonist in a Criminal thriller; with the lack of bulging muscles and attractive poster. We opted to make him a subject to sympathy in the progressive narrative, and his appearance was vital in achieving this. We made our actor wear thick glasses and a baggy shirt with rolled up sleeves. This would briefly show his characteristics of that of an intellectual person and a workaholic whose social life is very dull. This shows that our main character contradicts the conventional trends of a protagonist thus challenging the typical codes and conventions of our chosen genres.