Evaluation Question 2

Our media thriller, this being our product represents particular social groups through the use of Mise en scene, camera use, editing and sound. Through the use of mise en scene, this being props, we used alcohol bottles, glasses, cigarettes and a lighter to adhere to the stereotypical ‘alcoholic father’ who has lost the union and relationship between his family, causing his character to malfunction and change in negative ways.

 We used the black suit as the fathers costume to give negative connotations to represent him as the killer in the narrative of this thriller. With the use of character positioning we placed both of our main characters indifferent rooms with a far distance from each other to show that they were bot isolated people, however they are bot isolated for different reasons. We isolated her to adhere to the lonely and helpless girl, who is seen by the killer as being weak. We thought a lot about how both characters should look, when discussing how the girl should look we decided she should be brunette to subvert the stereotype of a dumb blonde, as blondes are most commonly looked at in thrillers as the ‘damsel in distress’, we wanted to break these rules when applying them to our thriller. Although the look of the father causes distress towards the end when he picks up the hammer, I think that this is emphasised because the father does not easily depict or show the stereotypes of a killer, therefore it comes a shock to the audience when he appears to be the killer in our plot. Through the use of mise en scene we have stylised and created two characters that would appeal to a younger or teenage based audience member, as they don’t appear to be what they actually are, creating suspense and tension that a thriller should, which usually as a genre is seen to fit the interests of a teenager or young adult.

Through the use of the camera we were able to create low angles to make the audience feel weak compared to a high angle when they feel powerful, this reoccurring theme is prompted and created with the use of a point of view shot as this makes the audience member feel as if they are the victim within this scenario when realistically it is the girl. We used a lot of close ups to appeal to younger years that love to be near tension, as a close up really draws the audience closer into the character, wanting to now more about them and making the character seem more real and creating a relationship between the audience member and character, that is then pulled away as soon as the dangerous side is revealed to the audience.

When editing we didn’t use any fade to blacks or whites as our thriller needed to build up suspense, so by keeping the man on focus we thought this would keep the audience intrigued to see the next glimpse of this characters story. It comes more from the father’s perspective therefore it would appeal to a more of a male audience member as they are able to relate to everything but the fathers dangerous side. At the end of our thriller we edited it so that the opening title sequence ends with the hammer going down and then a quick cut to black and the title of the film. By ending the sequence on this exact moment, makes the suspense built up, come to an overall climax, meaning that there is this need and want to see what happens next. By leaving out the gore it makes the male perspective want to see the rest of the film so that they are then able to see the gore and diverse side to the thriller.

The use of sound adds to the tension that is being built up, it also supports the reoccurring theme of a thriller. As a group we chose to not include the non-diegetic soundtrack until he picks up the hammer as this makes the audience more shocked to find out that he is the murderer in this thriller, as they would be aware that there was going to be one but they weren’t sure it was going to be him. The use of silence and just diegetic sounds of the liquor being poured creates a thriller esc vibe to the film as it leaves the audience waiting for something bad to happen. By leaving the last scene of him bashing her toes with the hammer in silence and then having the sounds of her pain and the crushing of her feet when the title appears suggests that he has killed her without physically having to show it, leaving the audience to interpret the rest of the story themselves or to see the film to see more.

The representation of the father changes throughout the opening sequence. This is because we wanted to subvert the stereotype and make the killer not seem like the killer, as this has the potential affect of shocking the audience when he is revealed.