Evaluation: Question 1:

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

We had to work within our genre for our film opening, which is Revenge drama/Thriller; within this, there are conventions and forms, such as:

• Narrative structure,
• Titles,
• Style and
• Characters.

Firstly, within our genre, the narrative structure can differ from theorists such as Todorov's, whose theory is shown below:

Instead, we wanted to start within the disruption/journey, which is common is many revenge drama/thriller movies, such as Haywire, SALT, Revenge, and Kill Bill. This is our narrative structure:

Being within the Thriller genre, we wanted our audience to be slightly apprehensive in our film opening, and wanted to subtly suggest that we have not started at an equilibrium, but a disruption, by things like:

Our protagonist looking at a happy photo,  then hiding it away and closing the drawer aggressively. This was chosen as it should intrigue the audience, and make them apprehensive as to what is going on.

Here, the imagery of the lipstick is similar to that of blood, and was designed to make that imagery come into the minds of the audience. Again, suggesting disruption.

Here, our the shot shows our protagonist smiling in the mirror, however as the camera pans across to her face, she is staring at herself in a sinister way.  

 Our protagonist puts on her ring, - the very fact that she does not wear her engagement ring all the time should make the audience suspect that she is not honest, or in a loving relationship. She then clenches her fist, again showing the audience this undertone of aggression.

Lastly, our protagonist hears her fiance talk of his father, and how everything has to be 'perfect' with him. She then snaps out of her loving manner, and hugs him, concealing her face from him. The audience can see her sinister and suggestive expression, and she says "Oh it will be." The audience, by this point (the end of our film opening) should now be putting everything together (including the title 'Vengeance' suggesting that our protagonist is out for revenge), suspecting that she is perhaps trying to get to her fiance's father, and is concealing her true identity/intentions.

The titles within our genre, are usually slow moving, and use colours like black or white. We took particular inspiration from the title sequence in Kill Bill, however, developed this, so that the titles came between our shots, which allowed for time to pass between shots, and also gave us a darker and atmospheric feel and a slower pace.

                                                              Kill Bill's title sequence:                                                                 

Our title sequence:

Within out genre of Revenge drama/Thriller, the style is usually:

• Dark and sultry, like in Revenge.

We created this with lighting- which was quite dark and atmospheric, although we had to have a certain degree of brightness, in order to dispel any grainy quality in our film, which we did not want and was not a convention of our genre.

We also used shots like her taking off her dressing gown, and her fiance doing up her dress, to add a sultry ambiance:

                                                                         

This sultry atmosphere was also created through our choice of music: 

 It has a very slow and sultry feel to it, along with suitable lyrics. There are also sudden beats, which go well with our moments of aggression.

• Style within our genre is also Mysterious, like in Revenge, Haywire, Kill Bill and SALT. This also is effected by lighting, i.e. the use of dark lighting. However, it is also to do with not fully revealing (the identity of) our character:

We used lots of close-ups to not reveal 'the whole picture' keeping our audience intrigued and 'in the dark'. For example: Our opening shot is from a very low angle, and the camera tilted upwards; our protagonists face is largely concealed.

We also chose this shot to open out film, as it establishes our character as a powerful 'femme fatale' character. This is very common in Revenge drama/Thrillers, although a female protagonist is less common within this genre; however, when there is a female, they are usually 'femme fatale' characters. A 'femme fatale' character is usually:

•  Mysterious, 

We depicted this by using lots of close-ups and disorientating/concealing shots, here are a few examples of these:

Many of our references also used shots in a similar way:

• Seductive - and uses her sexual allure and charm to achieve her hidden goals

We depicted this through our protagonist:

- Putting on make up and perfume, like a concealing mask of beauty to seduce,

- Wearing high heels and a little black dress - seductive clothing,

- Practising her 'fake smile' in the mirror, and indicating that it is insincere, by the quick change, as the camera pans across, to reveal her sinister facial expression,

- Being at one moment, with the boyfriend, very tactile and smiling, then once her face is concealed (during the hug) appearing genuinely sinister and cold.

'Femme fatale' characters can often be depicted as entirely detached and heartless, and we wanted to challenge this:

Our character, Rose, does fall genuinely in love with her fiance - however, in a selfless act, she painfully chooses to give him up to save her sister. This is similar to the character of Emily Thorne from Revenge who gives up many loved ones and opportunities to stay true to her path.

We have stuck to the convention of Hero vs Villain, by portraying the father and head of the human trafficking ring as very unsympathetic with few redeeming qualities.