Question 1

Q1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

 

The title of our film is insanity which represents the mental state of the kidnapper. The font is very simple which conforms to many other crime fiction films. Also the running order of the titles conforms to the conventions of a crime film. 

For our titles, we decided on a simple font which was white and on a black background. Light text against a dark background is a typical convention of a crime film as it goes against how normal text is written on a white background. It is similar to the below image of the font of the titles in the 2001 film 'Along Came a Spider' except our writing is in white and their writing is in red.

For our location we used a police questioning room for the interview between the detective and the kidnapper. For the kidnapping itself we used a path hidden from view and the hostages were held in a basement. These locations are conventions of crime films and are especially used in detective/police dramas.

The costumes in our film represent each character, help to show who each person is and identify their role in the film. The detective wears a white shirt and a smart black blazer to show they are a figure of authority which is a general convention of the detective/police drama. The two victims wear normal teenage clothes to show that they are typical teenagers and the villain wears normal clothes to try and show he is innocent but a black hooded jacket to try and conceal his identity, which is also a typical convention of the crime drama.

We used conventional lighting that often found in crime drama such as in the interview, the villain has less light falling on him which helps to partly conceal his identity. Also, we used low key lighting in the shots of the two victims being held hostage which helped to create an eerie, mysterious quality to the film.

Our character in the film are mainly characterised by their body language and costumes. The villain uses typical conventions of crime films with body language such as sly glances, keeping his head down and in the interview keeping his arms crossed. Also, the black hooded jacket gives the impression that he does not want to be identified. The victims' body language also stuck to conventions as they tried to pull themselves free when they were tied to the chairs and when they realised that somebody was following them they both started walking faster and looked worried.

We used many different camera angles in the film but mainly mid shots and over-the-shoulder shots. Over-the-shoulder shots are common conventions of the crime genre, especially when an interview is being conducted.

We used many transitions on our film, mainly when the footages switched to titles and vice versa. The main transitions we used were 'Fade to black' when footage switched to title and 'Fade' when some of the footage switched to other scenes.

Our opening sequence mainly suggests the genre through its storyline which is a kidnapping. Also, the general conventions of a crime film were in the opening and helped to show the genre, like the eerie music such as 'Room tone in a large and ominous space'  which is used to convey that it is an anxious film as the audience waits to see what happens to the victims. Also, the costumes are an indication that it is a crime film as we have a character dressed as a detective and a character dressed a s a villain. Another convention we have used is the locations of a police questioning room which is a clear indication of the genre and the basement which is often associated with crime and danger.