Evaluation 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Our final media product is a two minute introduction to a thriller film, titled Maria. The sub-genre of our thriller film is psychological / mystery. Our film develops and explores many typical conventions of a general thriller film whilst also exploring the depths of tension a horror twist can bring. Our film takes on on some ideas from films made in the past such as "The Blair Witch Project" and "Carrie" which we used as inspiration, but also our film develops some of our groups own ideas too which gives it originality. We used "The Blair Witch Project" idea of basing our film within a woodland, which is one widely used idea within the film industry. A woodland setting is more out in the open so the protagonists safety is at more risk because they're open to the elements, which is a feature that would build more of an uncomfortable atmosphere and add more tension. Another film we used as inspiration is "Carrie", as we liked the dark undertone the film had and also the inclusion of the title being the name of the subject of the film, but we developed and challenged this convention by ensuring the main subject of the film (the protagonists sister) isn't actually shown at all in the film. We made our introduction ourselves in order to be more original, and didn't make it too theatrical because making it plain and simple with darker colours meant that it fitted in with the theme of the thriller. Also, we left our ident without sound to set the uneasy theme for the upcoming two minute introduction.

Like many other thrillers, our film involves mystery and has a twist at the end which adds a sense of reality. These features amongst others, such as involvement of a murder and the protagonist having a huge connection with the victim of the murder, ensure our thriller has as many similarities to a real thriller as it can have without being too cliché. If it is too cliché it will be boring, as it would be similar to too many thriller ideas seen by audiences before. In conclusion, our thriller does not challenge the conventions of a real thriller apart from the filming of only one character. This is because we wanted it to be recognised as a thriller and have the conventions of a thriller that will add tension and interest to the audience, so it was hard to get away from being a typical thriller. We know from research that the target audience liked the idea of a normal thriller film with a twist and that is what we gave them, so we know our thriller would be enjoyed by the target audience.