E VALUATION Q UESTION 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge the forms and conventions of real media products? ‘C A P T U R E D’ K IPP B OUCHER

O UR S EQUENCE Our opening title sequence would fit into the genre of Thriller, with suspenseful music, lack of dialogue, straight moody expressions and ordinary settings. I don't think that it particularly challenges the conventions of thrillers, as it seems to have many common features; the initial shot is not a conventional establishing shot, giving little away like thrillers do very often, the characters, mise-en-scene, props and costumes are realistic and the music is eerie and tense. Our sequence has taken inspiration from a few existing films; for example, 'American Psycho' helped give us the straight faced, calm, well dressed, psychotic looking main character. It also helped inspire feel of 'getting ready for the day', when our main character is putting his jacket on in the mirror. The OTS for 'Se7en' also helped. This introduced the 'personal life of the psycho' element, in which we see what the psychotic character does when he's alone. In the 'Se7en' OTS, this is the cutting out and sticking of different books, newspapers, etc., and the slicing of the fingertips. In our film, it is the precise and very serious looking photography studio setup.

9 F RAMES F ROM O UR O TS

Frame 1: This is the title shot of our video. It comes at the very end of the Opening Title Sequence, so there is a dramatic buildup to it, incorporating tension as thrillers often do. We chose the title ‘Captured’ as it works in a polysemic way; capturing a photo and capturing a person, both of which our main character does. Frame 2: The second frame is a shot used to show setting. It is a long shot clearly showing the bus stop and the road it is on. The purpose of the bus stop is to back up the conception that the girls are in school, and do not own cars as they are too young. This shot is very fitting to the thriller genre as it depicts a very ordinary setting, as do most thrillers. Frame 3: The third frame is used to show costume and props. The suit our main character wears is in the film to make him seem official and smart; an unlikely killer, as is the case in many thriller films. The mirror is also used here to represent his psychotic side, his split personality. Thrillers often have subtle hints like this presented through the props and costume. Frame 4: This frame shows how we used camerawork and editing. The frame shows our main character from a low angle, which helps suggest his power and prowess in the film. Camera angles are often used in this way in thrillers, for example in ‘Dirty Harry’, Clint Eastwood’s character is shown from a low angle in order to show his power in the situation. F RAME BY F RAME

Frame 5: This frame helps show our title font and style. We only used one font, Helvetica, as we felt that simple looked more general, and therefore harder to gauge the mood of the film. This creates tension as to what the nature of the film will be, and we incorporated this because the building of tension is a key element of thrillers. Frame 6: The story and how the opening title sequence (OTS) sets it up is shown in this frame. This is done through the fact that this is the first shot in which we see that the two groups of characters are close to each other, and in the same film world. This is where the audience start to gain enough information to begin piecing things together. Of course very little is given away, but it is a starting point. The slow release of information throughout the film is another main feature of thrillers. Frame 7: This frame represents genre, and how the OTS suggests it. It depicts the meeting of two hands via a business card. Out of context, the shot is a fairly mysterious one: nothing but hands are shown, and the blank side of the business card is facing the camera, so we are unaware as to what it says. But the fact that this is the final shot in the OTS, the close up camera angle and centre-framed business card all suggest that this mysterious card is vitally important. The suggestion and implication of events is vital in thrillers, as it creates suspense and keeps the viewer interested throughout the film. Frame 8: This shot shows how, using ‘Harry’ as an example, characters are introduced in our film. This is the first shot, and the first shot Harry appears in. We instantly see that he is some sort of photographer, and we also see the black hoodie, which generates a sort of suspicion about him. He is introduced in a very odd way, a way which leaves the audience wanting more information. This is important in thrillers, as the audience must be kept interested throughout the film, or else they will find it boring. Frame 9: This frame shows how we used special effects. The effect highlighted in the frame is the use of lens flare, to help create a synthetic camera flash. This helped create a smoother flow in our camera cuts, and to signify flashbacks. Thrillers often use the jumping between times as a clever way of revealing information throughout the film.