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

What are the conventions of the thriller?

The conventions of the thriller genre consist of things with the categories of characters, themes, devices, and iconography. Devices used within a thriller are Macguffins, red herrings, fem fatale, and cliff-hangers. Characters can be soldiers, spies, secret agents, criminals, and convicts. Themes used in a thriller are suspense, terrorism, assassination, and crime. Iconography in thrillers include cars, weapons, face paced editing, twists, and low lighting.

Macguffin

A Macguffin is a object or device used in films or books which serves as a trigger for a plot. In our thriller coursework, we managed to use many different types of conventions to make our film a thriller in which one was a macguffin. During our film, we included a letter which was handed to the boss' henchman which the audience had no idea and what were the contents were. We decided not to show the audience what was in envelope as it would create a sense of suspense. The use of a Macguffin helped define our film as a thriller.

Relation to real films

Psycho

Psycho (1960) used an envelope filled with money as a Macguffin. This inspired us to use a Macguffin as it really strengthens the thriller and really drives the thriller forward.

Cliffhangers

A cliffhanger is a plot device which features a character stuck in a precarious or difficult dilemma towards the end of a film or a TV show. In our thriller coursework , we used a cliffhanger at the very end of our opening because we wanted the audience to go away from it and think about what may happened to the boy. We watched many thrillers to which gave us the idea that it would be useful to include this in our thriller.


Relation to real films


The Italian Job (1969)

This is a very famous and probably one of the best cliffhangers in a film. This highly inspired us into ending our opening to a thriller with a cliffhanger as it gives the audience a lot to think about such as the one in "The Italian Job".

Enigma Codes

An enigma is a question, character or action, which is often put into a thriller to give the audience something to think about it and answer why it has been placed there. Enigma codes tend to be difficult to explain when they first appear but as the movie plays on the answer is slowly revealed to the audience.

In our thriller, the passing of the letter to the protagonist creates questions for the audience to think about. As the short sequence, questions begin getting answer throughout and towards the end they understand what is happening.

The passing over of the letter during the thriller.

Relation to real films

Casino Royale (2006)

This scene from Casino Royale inspired us to use enigma codes as we wanted the audience to ask questions about what is happening. This scene from Casino Royale was completely out of the blue and I know during this scene I was asking questions during it as i was curious of what happened.