question one

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

Conventions of an opening sequence usually includes many close ups to show detail and also an establishing shot so the audience can again an understanding of the setting. As well as this there is a mixture of slow paced and fast paced editing to create tension.

  Additionally, opening sequences will always have titles and also music in order to set the scene of the film and to show what genre it is. For example in Monsters Inc, it is clearly a childrens film due to the bright shapes and colours and the bouncy uplifting music.

 

The title sequence from Sixth Sense includes dark colours and an icy blue font with shark edges, to reflect that it is a horror film.

For the titles in our film we used a white, simple font, with a shadow under it. It also had sharp edges giving the illusion of a knife or something dangerous. The colour gives a sense of something cold and unwelcoming.

Furthermore there will be low key lighting, dull colours and will typically be set in an isolated location.

This is an image of the location from the film "Let the right one in" which was set in a secluded city in Germany where there was a dark forest and murders could go unnoticed.
In my opening sequence, this convention was challenged as we set it in an open road with many houses and possible witnesses. This was in order to demonstrate to the audience how ordinary our character Elliot was an yet he still had a terrible fate, this may cause the audience to feel anxiety at the thought that it could happen to anyone, anywhere.

Another convention is that the villain is typically a male character, the hero is also male and then the victim is a female. For example in "spiderman" as you can see in the image Spiderman is rescuing Mary Jane which indicates their roles as the victim and the hero.
In our opening sequence, we challenged this convention by swapping the roles; the victim was the male and the villain was the female.









In my opening sequence, we used the convention of an opening sequence through the use of mise en scene. We used mainly grey and dark colours to create an eerie atmosphere and give the impression that something is lurking in the shadows, additionally the darkness may represent fear from the characters or represent death or evil.

  In this shot we have demonstrated our use of low key lighting and grey colours. This idea is also presented in the opening sequence of the film Dreamcatcher.

As well as the use of dark and dull colours, there are also many close ups in the opening sequence of "Dreamcatcher" as you can see there is a close up of tree branches and also some icicles which indicates it is outside and the cold weather also may make the audience feel uncomfortable.