By Fred Shepherd

IN WHAT WAYS DOES ‘FIELD OF FIRE’ USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND

CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS

COMPARISON TO OTHER MEDIA• The film ‘ American Sniper’

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L83DVg6A65w

• In this extract from the film ‘American Sniper’ it is obvious to pick up some of the similarities between our media project and the scene. Although the extract is focused more on the snipers end of the story it uses basic techniques that we tried to use in our thriller. One of these is the idea of a first person sniper scope shot which adds an imersive feeling while also giving the viewer a clear understanding that the individual is indeed a sniper.

COMPARISON TO OTHER MEDIA• Quantum of Solace (James Bond)

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfYC_CBNtiM

• It is a typical theme for the James Bond franchise to start every film with an action scene. Since our piece was an opening we decided to take cues from the immensely successful films. We liked how the opening to quantum of solace started in a very peaceful and serene manner that then turned to action quickly. We tried to replicate this with our film by using the sniper shot to break the scene into chaos and action.

• The use of an action packed opening sequence usually draws in an audience and we thought that our thriller followed the typical conventions of an action thriller.

WHY WE KEPT THE CONVENTIONS• Although often it is good to challenge stereotypical thriller conventions they are often

useful for the audience to be able to identify what they are watching. Our film started with an action sequence of our main character being attacked, from this the audience gets a feel for how the rest of the movie will pan out. Also by the importance of the briefcase and audience can tell that whatever is inside it will be important to the plot. This is technique was christened by Alfred Hitchcock as a macguffin, and is widely used in a variety of films. An example of this would be the briefcases in pulp fiction.

• We also kept the convention of music. The music is fast and follows the action. It picks up with the sniper shot and remains tense until the characters escape.

WHAT CONVENTIONS WE CHALLENGED AND WHY.• The major thriller convention we tried to challenge was the gender of the sniper. Snipers

are usually considered as male characters but we wanted to mix up the stereotypes. A lot of action thrillers really struggle when they come to attracting a female audience. We felt by having a strong and powerful female character it would make people think and also attract a different audience.

• We took inspiration from the hugely successful Kill Bill movies and their character Elle Driver. The character is a hugely violent and cruel assassin and we felt that we wanted a similar character in our film. Therefore we decided to make the sniper/ assassin a female to mirror Elle Driver’s character.