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

For the opening of our psychological thriller we tried to develop and challenge the convention forms of a traditional thriller through the use of symbolise and chose a symbolic opening rather than narrative. We were inspired by the conspiracy theories behind the illuminati and the government and for that reason we called our film is called ‘Researched’. The film is based on the idea of an intelligent school student being watched, because of the research he gathered that exposes the goverment. The setting we chose for the shot was the school playground because it signified a place of morals and education but in fact we wanted to challenge that idea and make it place associated with the illegal behaviour and a dangerous environment. The main character Mathew Andrews ( Finley Mcgow) wore casual clothing and props include books, a mobile and a laptop, these were used in attempt to make him seem like an average teenage boy. A good example of a psychological thriller that conveys the theme of a sublimate atmosphere is ‘Misery’ where there is a rich storywriter who lives a wealthy lifestyle but when his vehicle crashes in accident caused by snow is taken in by an obsessed fan, who later tortures him.

Camera techniques that we used were tracking and zooming as we were faced with Andrews, mid shots to present essential symbols and close ups to emphasise suspense. The editing used such as speeding up the pace, fading, dissolves, short reverse shot, short take cuts, and long take cuts not only to create a faster speed but also a surveillance feel. The font style used for the opening credits was a traditional typewriters font that created an effect of the film being analysed. The story is introduced with a triangle and cameras to demonstrate to the audience the ideology of the film, our film does use voyeurism and has a lot political themes, to also make our audience question themselves. Andrews is our main character and is introduced after a fade out where a triangle is around is face tracking out to see his whole body. No visual effects are used within our film because it seemed unrealistic and unnecessary.