Georgia Johnson: Evaluation Question 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The main thriller conventions we have incorporated into our opening sequence are:  

Ambiguity
Mystery
Suspense
Complex narrative
Isolation
                                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                  
 The title of the film

The title of our film 'Locked In' suggests a sense of being trapped and unable to escape which is what we were trying to portray. We also wanted a title that was short as we felt it would give more impact, especially as the title is revealed at the very end of the opening sequence. We decided to have the title at the end because we thought it would be effective to build up to to a climax to keep the audience guessing. In the film, 'Knowing' the title appears at the end of the opening credits and flows nicely into the beginning of the story whereas another film, 'The Experiment' shows the title somewhere in the middle of the sequence and this seems to get lost within the other credits and doesn't have much impact. In terms of colour we chose to have the title as white on a black background; the white represents the experimenter as he is shown wearing a white lab coat throughout the sequence and suggests that the partipants can't escape from his immoral ways. The black background was suitable as it represents darkness and danger as well as evoking mystery.

Setting/location

In order to create and retain a sense of mystery, we did't want to give too much away with regards to the setting and location of the experimenter's environment.

Close-up shot from 'Kill Bill'

This is something I thought worked well in 'Kill Bill' which I understand is more of an action film than a thriller but the opening shows many thriller conventions. The close-up shots in 'Kill Bill' mean that the setting is difficult to distinguish and therefore increases ambiguity which is one thriller convention. 

                                           
                                                      The locations we used in

Doors don't match...

'Locked In' were quite plain which helped achieve an ambiguous feel. Most of the shots include white walls which reinforces the representation of the experimenter, a quiet corridor where the participants waited for the experiment to begin, and a small room where the experimenter was setting up, ready for the participants to use. Unfortunately we failed to get access to a small, mostly empty room where the experiment would take place so the doors the participants walk through towards the end of the sequence do not match the door that is locked at the end which is one of the issues we weren't able to solve completely. However we did have the location of the protagonist's house which was included for the purpose of the audience to identify with the protagonist, Bonnie Fair, and helps establish her character more as it is Bonnie's story that we follow.  

Costumes and props

Advertisement snapshot
from 'The Experiment'

Advertisement snapshot from
'Locked In'

One of our most important props is the advert for the experiment which you see in the initial  shot of our opening. This advert is something we found from a trailer of 'The Experiment' and we thought this was a good way of beginning our film as it helps suggest the plot and gives the audience some initial context. Other props were also imperative to introducing characters. There is the typical experimenter who wears a white lab coat and latex gloves. For our protagonist Bonnie, we didn't give her a specific prop or costume as we wanted to create this idea of an "ordinary girl" she makes herself out to be and we thought we'd let her character develop over the course of the film. In terms of editing, we decided to cross cut the various shots to lead up to the moment where all of the characters would come together after the 'Locked In' title. We thought it was an interesting way to show what the different characters were doing at that same point before unusual things started to happen.

Camerawork and editing

The majority of our shot list consists of close-ups. This is how we thought we could create a mysterious and ambiguous feel especially in terms of keeping the identity of the experimenter hidden. The opening sequence of 'Se7en' includes mainly close-ups/ extreme close-ups and as I watched it I found myself asking lots of questions as to what was being suggested so we incorporated this into our own sequence. 

Handheld close-up of Bonnie running

• A handheld close-up shot of Bonnie running to reflect her hurrying to get to the experiment on time. 
• A tracking shot showing the polaroids of the participants which then fades into the characters actually sitting ready for the experiment. This may have been more successful if the order of the polaroids were the order they were sitting in as it would have been effective to have the last chair empty to create more tension than it does having the

  

  Tracking shot showing the polaroids

  second chair along empty. It could have also created a sense that everything was going to the experimenter's plan.
• Crosscutting between the participants and the experimenter helps to show how the participants have no idea of what the experimenter has planned for them and makes the audience feel more involved as they are aware that the experimenter is preparing for something.

Title font and style

We spent quite a lot of time researching and deciding what were the best fonts to use for the titles. I am really pleased we did this because we came across the font Reprise Stamp which we chose for the main title as we thought it reflected the ideas of the film well. 

• There are little cracks that pass through the letters which suggest things falling apart and deteriorating which we thought would foreshadow relationships between characters and their gradually becoming weaker from the lack of food and water the experimenter fails to provide the participants with. 
• The white titles, as I mentioned before, represents the experimenter who is the cause of the participants being'Locked In' so the cracked letters also suggest the partipants attempting to break through from his hostage.
• The letter spacing is also quite close together implying the close proximity of the characters in the small space.
• The font size is quite big and bold to give a big impact and for it to also seem like the participants are trying to get the audience's attention that they're trapped.

Story and how the opening sets it up

I think our decision to have the first shot as the advertisement of the experiment was a good idea because it immediately gives the audience an idea of the story. From then on there is the voiceover of Bonnie who gives the information on characters as well as her own. The voiceover also helps to reinforce the visuals such as when Bonnie talks about the "bunch of other teens" and describes their personalities as they appear onscreen. This foreshadows the relationships Bonnie forms with the other characters which is suggested by the opinion she has formed on each of them. Furthermore, we thought the voiceover could also foreshadow Bonnie being interviewed by the police about the incident and therefore this suggests that she escapes from the experimenter. Crosscutting helps to establish a connection with all of the characters which helps set out the story. 

Because the experimenter's face isn't revealed in the opening, we relied heavily on sound and props to portray him as a suspicious and manipulative character. Whenever the experimenter appears, the shot is accompanied by a sharp, non-diegetic sound effect which we use as the experimenter's motif which enables the audience to identify the experimenter as a dark character from the start. The experimenter takes a lot of care and time with each of the props such as putting his gloves on and pouring water and this slow pace in comparison to Bonnie rushing to be on time suggests a sense of power and control representing the experimenter as a superior figure.

Genre and how the opening suggests it
By researching a range of thrillers as part of our product research, we were able to incorporate many aspects of the thriller genre to suit our opening sequence. We received some audience feedback in relation to how our opening successfully suggests a thriller genre, such as:

The ambiguous experimenter

• The ambiguous experimenter- we decided not to reveal the experimenter's face throughout the whole of the opening sequence to keep the identity of the antagonist a mystery.
• A creepy soundtrack - a lot of synth effects were used to build up a dark and menacing tone in order to represent the dangerous experimenter.
• The title at the end creates an edgy feel as it comes into focus along with the shaky effect - we noticed also that a lot of thriller films have their titles on black backgrounds e.g. 'Se7en', 'Blood Simple' and 'Donnie Darko'
• Various close-up shots means that not everything is revealed to the audience and therefore creates an element of mystery.

• 

  'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'

  All of our shots are quite light which is something that challenges the thriller conventions such as in 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' which has a black theme throughout the whole of the opening. We wanted to create more of a clinical and cold atmosphere to coincide with the main storyline of the psychological experiment. Therefore, this creates a mysterious tone by suggesting that it all starts off as an intriguing and maybe hopeful experience for the participants, but as soon as the dark titles come into place, the audience feel that it's not quite what the young teenagers expect.

How characters are introduced

We used props/costume and sound to represent characters. 

Snapshot of Cassie

• Each of the characters has specific props or items of costume to signify their character such as the bubblegum, pink lipstick and high heel boots to highlight attitude and represent the "outspoken and full of pride" Cassie or headphones to represent the "all talk and no action, but hooded up and ready to rock" Nathan. The quotations mentioned were taken for our opening sequence where the voiceover  describes the characters which helps introduce the characters.



Snapshot of Nathan

• As I mentioned before, sound helps to introduce characters such as the experimenter who has his own motif (the sharp sound effect). I think we could have also maybe tried to use sound to represent other characters, particularly our protagonist Bonnie as it might have been a good way to contrast Bonnie's motif with the experimenter's. Bonnie supposedly defeats the experimenter in the end so we could have foreshadowed this through the soundtrack.

Special Effects 

After seeing 'Se7en', the first thing we thought of when thinking about special effects was to make the titles shake. We managed to achieve this by getting to grips with the software Adobe After Effects which took quite a while to master. We also managed to get the smaller credits to flash in and out of focus. We thought these effects helped create an edgy feel and during audience feedback we were told that the shakiness and the title slowly coming into focus at the end creates a disorientating feel. We thought it also reflects the unstable experimenter.