Evaluation (10 conventions, linking to existing movies. Find pictures from existing movies that do it/ dont do it and say how weve done it) 1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media product?Thrillers showcase intense excitement building up suspense, tension and anticipation of things to come. Our opening sequence supports this convention of the Thriller genre. The sequence starts with quick shots of gory images of meat and cutlery, with enhanced diegetic sounds from cutting meats, frying and the muffled sound of screaming. This is similar to the opening sequence of Dexter which uses cuts of various images from a morning routine, which can be associated with murder. This makes the opening sequence very eerie and enigmatic, building suspense and anticipation, so that audience want to find out what these symbolic images mean. A thriller usually presents a battle between the protagonist and the antagonist, when there is a disruption in the equilibrium. When this happens there is a chain of bad events, building tension and suspense for the climax. The aim of the protagonist is to restore justice, whilst the antagonist seeks to destroy it. Our opening sequence both develops and challenges these conventions. There is a battle between Hanna and her victim, however; typically thriller productions build a crescendo of tension and suspense. Low-key/ dark lighting is a convention of the thriller genre that links to the dark nature of the film. Our opening sequence uses low-key lighting in line with this convention. If we were to use a bright lighting, then it wouldnt fit with the overall effect of shocking and thrilling the audience were trying achieve, whereby bright lighting connotes positivity and happiness. We used the opening sequence of orphan as our stimuli because it has a range of cross-cuts between images of a girl putting on lipstick and mascara. We used this idea to create footage of Hannas morning routine, using various close up shots of her face and her putting on makeup, which is a convention of the Thriller genre used to create tension and mystery, seen in the opening sequence of both Orphan and Dexter. Conventional Thriller movies also use unknown locations usually where the victim is being held, in order to create mystery. 2) How does your media product represent particular social groups? Presentation of femalesThe antagonist and main character of our media product, Hanna Balinski, who is a cannibal is played by a black female. This contrasts with dominant patriarchal ideology that says men are stronger and more aggressive than women, as stereotypical media representations present villains as male. We use our media product to defy the dominant ideology of patriarchy by presenting Hanna as strong and independent. The presentation of Hanna defies Propps character functions where females are typically the damsel in distress that needs rescuing. All of the characters in our opening sequence are female, linking to radical feminist doctrines which believes in the dis-involvement of men from society, and therefore we try to mirror this by alienating men from our media product, presenting a female orientated product. To some degree Hanna is presented as a stereotypical female, which is shown through her morning routine where there are cross- cuts of her putting on makeup and wearing feminine clothing. This will draw in the female audience who will be able to relate to the very feminine aspects, as well as the male audience who will be attracted to the some sexually evocative shots in the opening sequence, for example a mid-shot of Hanna from the neck down. This aids Mulveys Male gaze theory, whereby the provocative scenes will attract men to the film.

Presentation of Ethnicity The fact that Hanna, the main character, is black she is unlike stereotypical character roles, as black females in particular dont usually get leads in media productions. Marxist feminist Bell hooks argues that young black females are objectified within media, particularly in the music industry seen in music videos, which over sexualise black women as commodities of rich rappers who are often portrayed as pimps.