Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media

products?

Introduction
My film is called Cold Case and the genre is noir thriller, although it does have reference to the present day Its !ased on a student called "ophie, studying criminology who has discovered an unsolved case from the 1#$%s period, and who is eager to find out more a!out it &his instantly supports the noir thriller convention as in the 1#$%s period, noir thrillers or conventions of thrillers, were 'uite common and they are supported through flash!ac(s in my thriller &o help me produce a successful opening se'uence I had to research a lot of thrillers to help me gain (nowledge of thriller conventions and possi!le ways to challenge these conventions

Characters

)hen creating my characters I had to ensure a variation of character types and that they challenged or developed thriller conventions of a noir*present day thriller &he three characters we came up with were "ophie, +ve and ,arry -ll three of these characters have a (ey part to play in the opening of Cold Case "ophie is the main character in the thriller as the camera is mostly !ased around her "he is a student of criminology and is e.ploring the unsolved murder case of +ve )alcott who was murdered in the 1#$%s -lthough "ophie is then murdered when she loo(s deeper into the case !y a male character &his lin(s to the thriller convention of male dominance throughout the 1#$%s period when +ve was murdered, to the present day when "ophie was murdered +ve is the victim of the murder in the 1#$%s &he idea to use her was to help !uild more meaning to the thriller, and ma(e ,enry that !it stranger and more mysterious -lso, it helped to form the idea of "ophie studying criminology and we thought the use of flash!ac(s to show +ve would !e very effective as its a powerful thriller convention &he flash!ac(s also help to inform the audience of the possi!le reasons !ehind what is actually going on , which is what we wanted to try to do to ma(e it as clear as possi!le ,enry is the murderer of !oth +ve and "ophie ,e is a very enigmatic character which is hinted through our thriller opening as you get small glances of him from time to time, and /ust the general feeling of his presence &he idea of ,enry was supported through the research of the film 0&he &hird Man1, which involves ,arry 2ime which is where the idea of ,enry 2ime routed from &his is an interte.tual reference !etween ,arry 2ime and our character ,enry 2ime, not only through the similarities in the name, !ut from the general mysterious ways of each character

Costume3 ,enry

- tril!y hat and a suit is used on ,enry in our thriller opening Its effective as it ma(es a direct inference to the how men would dress in the 1#$%4s and relates to noir thrillers +specially in 5nce 6pon - &ime In -merica and &he &hird Man which are prime e.amples of a very successful noir thriller film

The use of a suit and trilby hat in our thriller was very effective as it reinforced the thriller convention of a noir thriller and also it related to the 1 !"#s period which is $ey in our thriller as we relate bac$ to it throu%h flashbac$s& A trilby hat is especially effective as it doesn#t %ive Henry away or a %limpse of wea$ness as you simply have no idea about what his face loo$s li$e& 'here as if he didn#t wear the trilby hat it wouldn#t ma$e him seem as powerful as a eni%matic character&

Once Upon A Time In America

The Third Man Henry in Cold Case

Costume*5!/ects3 "ophie
The use of a bac$pac$ helps to reinforce that (ophie is a student studyin% criminolo%y& Its also effective as its )uite a lar%e si*e and therefore could su%%est vulnerability if attac$ed& (he is also wearin% clothin% which is desirable in the present day+ for e,ample she is wearin% trainers where as -ve is wearin% heels as they were accepted in the 1 !"#s& (ophie#s character is also reinforced throu%h use of the computer which shows use of new technolo%y which can relate to still bein% in education i&e& studyin% criminolo%y& The computer also shows (ophie#s interest in the unsolved case&

(ophie with school ba% indicatin% she is a student and still in education

Computer screen used to indicate (ophie#s interest in the unsolved case of -ve&

Costume* 5!/ects3 +ve

-ve is shown all in blac$ which shows that she could represent death+ althou%h it could also su%%est that she is )uite a powerful and meanin%ful character+ which supports the %eneral thriller convention of femme fatale& The use of all blac$ clothin% could also su%%est that -ve maybe coverin% somethin% up+ %ivin% her a very eni%matic meanin% in our thriller& Also+ eve is shown to be wearin% a lot of .ewellery which ma$es her seem powerful and shows that she may also be )uite a precious character but may have a hi%h social standin% in society /wealth0+ which ma$es her )uite unpredictable and therefore challen%es %eneric conventions and also supports them& -ve#s appearance lin$s to Anna from 1The Third Man2 which is part of the research which provided us with the $nowled%e to create a character li$e -ve+ overall you would describe her as bein% eni%matic&
-ve wearin% all blac$+ can show the audience that -ve is a very contained woman with possibly many secrets&

-arrin%s used to indicate social status and %lamour+ which was a very common thriller convention in the noir period of the 1 !"#s&

3oth -ve and Anna from The Third Man are shown as bein% eni%matic and therefore hard to read and understand as a person&

5!/ect3 7ec(lace
Throu%hout the openin% se)uence the audience is made aware of a nec$lace which appears occasionally throu%hout the openin%+ allowin% the audience to $now it has a meanin% to it& Its effective in thrillers as many thrillers are actually based around an item which someone wants bac$+ or that someone is directly lin$ed to& 'hich is where we came up the idea of havin% a stron% emphasis on the nec$lace to show the audience it has a hidden meanin%&

2ocation
Althou%h we wanted to ma,imise the amount of close ups we used+ we still had to use very %ood locations to add effect and meanin% to our thriller openin%& As location can be used to si%nify different messa%es and can sometimes identify to the audience what will happen ne,t&

'e filmed our openin% by a river which can be used to indicate dan%er+ as many incidents or secrets can be unfolded by them e&%& bodies found+ items of .ewellery discovered etc& The river also could indicate that (ophie is possibly in a illusion as the river has cau%ht the li%ht ma$in% it a lot bri%hter than anythin% else in the shot& This can si%nify possible disorientation from (ophie#s perspective&

'e also used a archway+ which could create a sense of claustrophobic surroundin%s which supports the thriller conventions of ma$in% the character seem to have a lac$ of space to move and possibly escape dan%er& 'e used claustrophobic shots to $eep the tension and suspense in the audience that you never $now when somethin% is actually %oin% to happen+ as this is supported by the use of claustrophobic surroundin%s as %enerally in thrillers+ small spaces are followed by a murder or trouble& Also this shot could indicate (ophie %oin% into a trap+ as the archway could create the feelin% of her bein% surrounded while bein% unaware of it+ which a%ain adds to the suspense and supports the conventions of a thriller&

2ocation
This location involves the use of %ates which (ophie fails to mana%e to open& The use of the %ates ma$es (ophie seem very isolated and trapped+ as if there isn#t anythin% at all that she can do to escape the dead end she has found herself in& Also the fact that even behind her she is surrounded by %ates ma$es it seem as if she is in a prison cell and has no chance of escapin% which increases the claustrophobic feelin% of this location& This location was thou%ht of throu%h research into many other thrillers as the sense of isolated and claustrophobic atmosphere is a $ey thriller convention+ and has been used successfully in many thriller films&

In both 14ill 3ill 5olume 62 and 1-sse, 3oys2+ isolation and claustrophobia is used to create doubt and worry for the character involved& -specially in 14ill 3ill 5olume 62+ the fact that 3eatri, is completely surrounded and can barely move creates so much tension and suspense as to will she escape or not& Also in 1-sse, 3oys2+ the fact that the audience has no idea whether 7ason is a hero or a villain and 3illy is left sittin% in a car in a %ara%e starin% at him throu%h a dirty windscreen+ it su%%ests that for all these locations+ if they were in trouble+ then there would be no way out+ unless they challen%ed the thriller conventions which in this case 3eatri, does& However+ this is where our location was inspired from&

2ighting
8i%htin% for a thriller is very important as it can set the mood+ but also for our thriller openin% it shows the difference between the present day and (ophie+ and the 1 !"#s period with -ve& The use of blac$ and white li%htin% mean#t that the audience can distin%uish the difference between (ophie and -ve& This is effective as when chan%in% li%htin% all the time it can be )uite disorientatin% which creates possible confusion from both the audience and the characters& In some ways I have used chiaroscuro li%htin% in the blac$ and white shot of -ve as in the bac$%round the s$y loo$s very bri%ht compared to -ve and her surroundin%s+ particularly the tree on the other side of her& This could show that -ve is possibly wal$in% away from safety /li%ht0 and wal$in% into dan%er /dar$ness0&

Camera an%les and movements lin$ed to this scene

I su%%ested that the chiaroscuro li%htin% su%%ests that -ve and (ophie are wal$in% away from safety and into dan%er+ this then lin$s to the ne,t few shots which show the sli%ht chillin% presence of Henry from a trac$in% shot of (ophie wal$in% into dan%er& This sli%htly lin$s to the trac$in% shot of 7ac$ie durin% the openin% scene of 17ac$ie 3rown2 at the airport+ althou%h you could su%%est that 7ac$ie is wal$in% to safety&

"ound
My soundtrac$ is a very constant sound with little variation throu%hout+ however I do thin$ this is )uite effective as it builds tension very successfully allowin% for somethin% to happen at any point& However+ throu%h a few points of the son% the sound deepens which is effective for the addition of titles which can be added to %reat effect&

The sound deepens here suddenly which is a %reat entrance for the main title #Cold Case# to appear+ creatin% effect and showin% a %ood lin$ between both soundtrac$ and the titles&