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

One of our main thriller conventions within Apparition is the idea of extraordinary events which occur in the most ordinary of locations. Within our opening sequence when we have Craig’s character exiting the room after investigating what may have created the loud noise he heard earlier we see a figure glowing behind him. With this strange figure it does move which does suggest that it is a living being but with the extraordinary characteristic of glowing. This kind of convention can be seen in many thrillers where you can see ordinary/extraordinary objects/characters in ordinary/extraordinary surroundings.

(The example of the glowing character)

Another convention used is where strange events occurring to the character. Within Apparition we managed to do this by using a loud bang sound effect to give the audience an idea that they maybe another person within the house when Craig’s character has exited the kitchen. From the screen shot below we can see the character being startled by the noise he heard that would not occur within the regular setting of a home. We use the convention to make an extreme event occur within the scene which it is there to unsettle the atmosphere making the audience feel uncomfortable.

(Craigs character being startled when hearing the loud noise)

The third convention we have used is enigmas which we linked to the mystery of identity of a character. For this we have kept the identity of my character secret by not showing the audience his face from the front. We have used this convention to keep this character’s identity secretive as it creates questions of “who is he?” and keeps the mystery within the audience. Also with the mystery of his identity some with questions of “why is he there?” and “why does he have flowers?” Later on within the opening sequence we get the enigma of if the two characters we feature are linked which again causes the audience to question what is going on.

The fourth convention we have used within Apparition is the theme of sight. An example of a way we have used this theme is where Craig’s character is unable to see the “Apparition” within the room he has investigated yet the audience can see it. This can cause an unsettled environment within the audience as they can see something which the character cannot which may lead them to question what may happen next.

Another way in which we use the theme of sight when my character is placing flowers on the grave. The flowers are a representation of my characters’ emotions past and present for the person that he is visiting.