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

After looking at Thriller conventions, it was clear what we needed to include in our opening in order to fit with the genre and engage our audience.

1. The title of the film:

‘Mind Clock’ reflects our plotline, representing the issue of time alongside our protagonists’ unstable state of mind, offering the audience hints at the narrative, conventional of film openings. The use of the colon makes it appear like an digital clock, a simple trick also used in the film title Se7en, where they’ve incorporated the number into the name itself. The contrast of the white against black suggests the themes of conflict, good vs. evil and corruption of innocence in our film, used in many Thriller films such as Donnie Darko and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo to suggest similar themes.

2. Setting/Location:

The isolated setting, conventional of Thriller openings, was used to project the idea that our protagonist is alienated from society. Using a school classroom appeals to our audience, allowing them to identify with this location. Such a location isn’t that identifiable in Thriller films, however the school setting is present in Donnie Darko, a film whose protagonist has similarities with our own.

3. Costumes and Props:

· Once again, using a black and white colour scheme foreshadows the conflict and theme of good vs. evil later to come in the narrative. Such continuity of colour helps our opening flow, and gives it quite a modern yet bleak outlook.

· We also made use of clocks and numbers to highlight the characters inner conflict with time, and such iconography is used in many Thriller films, such as Psycho where the birds are symbolic of death. Our continuous reference to numbers, such as the writing of them, is something I found worked well in The Number 23 opening credits to convey the 'evil' force that will commence in the narrative, and so we wanted to include such iconography to portray a similar effect.

4. Camerawork and editing:

· We felt highly influenced by the Se7en opening, and so our own opening is dominated by close-ups and we've made use of fast paced editing towards the end of the scene. Our initial storyboard included a range of shots, yet we changed this to one including more intimate shots to get across our character and really involve our audience. Despite this, we have still included tracking shots and pans to really engage our audience, and such camerawork and movement are conventional of the genre in order to get across a 'voyeur' feel.

· We also used the cutaway tool to add the newspaper headlines in smoothly, engaging our audience. We also cropped certain shots, allowing them to cover 2 frames, suggesting our protagonists paranoia.

5. Title font and style:

We wanted the titles to flash in and out like an digital clock and keep in time with the ticking in order to get our narrative accross even more. Such an effect links with the Memento opening, as the credits themselves slowly fade to correspond with the protagonists own memories fading which the audience will become aware of as the film begins.

Using dafont.com, we looked at a range of digital fonts, yet all agreed on Segmental as it had more of an edge to it, much like the font used in Se7en.

6. Story and how the opening sets it up:

The use of newspapers overlapping the characters thoughts suggest the disasters to come/what she’s anxious of. The iconography of the clocks and numbers suggest the importance and occurrence of time in the narrative, again linking with Memento as polaroid photographs are used in the opening to suggest the importance of memory for the protagonist. The ticking sound builds tension and again highlights the protagonists constant reminder of time, and the isolated setting foreshadows how separated from society our character will become.

7. Genre and how the opening sets it up:

Using a black and white colour scheme suggests themes such as conflict and good vs. evil. Our use of fast paced editing alongside a series of climactic moments through the use of short shots, accompanied with amplified sounds of chaos in her mind suggest the Thriller genre. Despite this, most Thriller openings use a non-diegetic dominating or eerie soundtrack, whereas we've simply used a constant ticking to set the narrative up and create tension, and so challenged conventions in this way. Such a simplistic sound links with the Hard Candy opening, as the melodic piano playing is simple yet chilling, possibly thrilling the audience more than a domineering soundtrack would.

8. How characters are introduced:

An innocent and vulnerable young girl working in an isolated setting, with the consistent cutting between different shots conveying her anxiety and paranoia. The close ups of different parts of her and consistent fidgeting further suggest her nervousness, anxiety and fear. We repeated shots used at the very beginning near the end to suggest a build up of tension and time running out for her.

9. Special effects:

Cutaway tool to suggest what she’s thinking and give the audience an insight into her confused mind, by overlapping newspaper headlines onto shots of her eyes and head.

I feel our narrative did slightly restrict us from developing conventions, yet we worked the locations available into our plot and so as our character is an isolated teenage girl, there was no other way of presenting this than the conventional isolated setting.