IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA OR

PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE

THE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL

MEDIA PRODUCTS?

By Holly Marvell

THE TITLE OF THE FILM ‘SKYLARK GROVE’ In our film ‘Skylark Grove’ we left it till the end

of the opening to be introduced to our

audience the title. We done this because we

researched other films and they also

introduced the title to the film it was mostly at

the end of the openings for example like

‘Copycat’. The title was introduced with a rise

up to a street sign then it goes into an

animated title with lights in the background.

The lights worked well against the title because it reminds me of a

torch when someone is looking for something in the dark. This links

to the film well because it links to the fact that the girl is looking

round the house. The idea was that the title would create the effect

on the audience to keep watching because it is introduced after an

enigma. This is a known convention for thrillers as the title comes in

after an enigma to break it up from the rest of the film. We picked as

a group to call the film Skylark grove because it was the name of

the street where the house is located. This links with other films like

the house at the end of the street. This is because it leaves mystery

because the audience does not know what the main character saw.

THE SETTING/LOCATION

The setting and location are important to a thriller film. Like Arlington road the film involves children that have doing something that is not responsible or about to do it. Most thrillers are usually set in an urban area or somewhere unexpected. We used a lot of our ideas from ‘Arlington road’ because we started the idea of it being about obsession and a mystery house we wanted to locate the setting for the film what looks like a normal area with what looks like a nice area but obviously there is something going on that no one knew about and the young girl has discovered. Also like the film death sentence the people involved in the film are just normal people and unexpected characters.

I have used the shot of Chloe

walking down the alley because it

makes the area look like a normal

area but however strange cause

the road is really quite and she is

the only one that is down there.

Also when you see the house it

looks so ordinary it creates the

enigma of why is she going in

there what is so important about

this house.

COSTUMES AND PROPS.

The props and costumes that we needed were

easy to get hold of we just needed Chloe to

look like a stereotypical teenage girl. Chloe

wore a hoodie and trainers we also made sure

to have dark

Clothes because she needs to look like she

was breaking in if she wore bright clothes in

the film it would have looked odd. Other props

we used were the pieces of papers that were

turned over so you couldn’t see anything

leaving another enigma for the audience.

These were the only props and costumes we

needed.

CAMERAWORK AND EDITING.

The camera work we used in the thriller opening was appropriate for the opening because we used shots like low angle shots to give the character power and make her look in control and determined and know what she is doing this is stereotypical to the main character of a thriller film because the characters are always been pushed to this. We used close up of her face to show this to the audience to present to the audience how she is feeling and create suspense because she looks worried.

When we start out the film the pace starts out slow, we done this to give the audience the time to work out what is going on and to introduce her audience. The slow paste the film was used to build up the suspense to the shot when she walks to the room and is shocked by something and the music picks up and the pace gets faster and shots become slower and make the audience get caught up in the chaos and the suspense from when she runs away

CREDIT FONT AND STYLE

As a group we researched different thriller films and there titles.

Again like ‘Arlington Road’. The titles where quite big and bold and

came in fast. Also because we wanted ours to be like the ‘Arlington

Road’ because it was already like the film because they are set in the

same kind of location. We made our font stand out by making them

yellow and big with italic writing. The effect of this is that the writing

looks quite creepy and scary adding to the affect to suspense

towards the audience. The style and the font for the titles matches

the rest however we did not add to a shot like the others we thought

it would be better if its own introduction and was bigger white bold

writing.

STORY AND HOW THE OPENING SETS IT UP

The opening sets up the film by introducing Chloe walking down a dark alley by herself

this sets up her character to be naïve girl that is not thinking straight. The fact that she is

dressed in dark clothes and is walking every slowly presents to the audience that she is

about to do something very dangerous and sill. The voice overs in the background show

that her mates have pushed her and teased her towards showing to the audience why

she looks so determined to do this and not even turning back. The music gets louder and

louder as she gets further and further into the house suggesting something bad is about

to happen or something is about to be revealed. When we see Chloe running away from

the house from what ever she has found she drops it this shows that maybe in the rest of

the film she will return to get proof from whatever she has found or whatever she had

found comes back to haunt her.

Our story is about a stereotypical

teenage girl the characters follow

all the typical thriller conventions.

She’s a victim of peer pressure

from her mates and goes along

with a silly dare that goes too far

by breaking into what looks like

an ordinary house and finds

something that she didn’t expect

and left so scared she runs away

as fast as she could.

GENRE AND HOW THE OPENING SUGGESTS IT Our opening to the film is a typical thriller. This is because it contains the

stereotypical conventions of a thriller film, for example the main character being

a young, pretty, irresponsible teenage girl. This is shown through our film by the

fact that our character is caught up in a situation they cannot control by going

long with being peer pressured into doing a dangerous dare. Our film also shows

it's a typical thriller film by the fact that it's placed down a dark alley and the girl

goes into a dark house that is placed down an alley. Also the film contains a lot

of enigmas which leaves the audience unsure who the villain is and what to

expect. The props we use also suggest this because the way she is dressed like

a normal teenager in her hoodie and jeans and that the fact that she is out late

on her own suggests she is up to something and also the photos she drops on

the floor that you cannot see cause they are turned over show that the film s

about obsession and crime.

HOW CHARACTERS ARE INTRODUCED Chloe -

Our film starts off with introducing

the main character as being silly

and naïve by introducing her to do

something that puts her life at risk

and because she has not thought

it through she does not realise the

position she is putting herself in.

The friends –

The audience are introduced to Chloe's friends by

there voices first of all. They are introduced as

daring there friend to do something that can get

her into a lot of trouble showing them to be typical

teenagers that do not think about what the actions

can lead to. Then the audience see the friends for

the first time sitting together in one of there

room, showing concern for Chloe's safety realising

they may have pushed her to far?

SPECIAL EFFECTS

We hardly used any special effects in our film expect from the echo

on the voice overs. We did this because it made it sound the that was

what was going through Chloe's head as she was walking up to the

door creating an creep atmosphere because she is hearing these

voices in her head. We also used a slide in effect on the titles to

make them stand out when they was introduced.