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

When we researched the thriller genre we watched numerous films such as 'Leon', 'Identity' and 'Psycho'. All of these films game me inspiration for my own thriller, however the film that inspired me the most was 'Red Road', directed by Andrea Arnold. I took the idea of the stalker from 'Red Road' but developed it to make it about obsession, not revenge.

The narrative structure in my thriller is very similar to 'Red Road', from the camera positions we are unsure of who is stalking who and we are unsure as to why she is being stalked, it is an ambiguous narrative structure which quickly develops within the first two minutes, where as the narrative structure in 'Red Road' develops over a long period of time.

Many of camera shots I used were inspired from the thrillers I have watched throughout my research. I got the idea of lots of extreme close ups from the opening of 'Identity' when the psychiatrist is looking at evidence from the case. Along with this, the zoom in 'Red Road' inspired me to use it with the shots of the computer screen. Also the pan through the window in 'Psycho' inspired me to use it in my thriller. However I  decided to pan a isolated field with fog which is a contrast to the setting from the room and the close ups which disorientates the audience because we go from wide open spaces to enclosed spaces.

The characters in my thriller are typical thriller characters, they are both ambiguous and one of the girls has features of a femme fatale, she is very glamorous and seems helpless and as if she hasn't done anything wrong. Our perception of this character in my thriller soon changes when we realise she is a typical bitchy teen, stereotyping the other girl as being 'weird' because she is different to her. The close ups of the stalker make her appear to be ambiguous, as an audience we don't know what she looks like so she could appear to be anyone in the thriller, this is just like Jackie in 'Red Road'. She is an ambiguous stalker and we don't know her reasons for any of it until towards the very end of the film. Both the characters in my thriller are flawed and are typical conventional thriller characters.

The mise en scene in my thriller plays a big part in creating the thriller atmosphere. The key lighting in my thriller creates mystery, especially when the girl is catching the rolling glass. We know that she has been drugged but we don't know what with and what effect it will have on the girl. Key lighting is a typical convention in thrillers because of the effect it has.

The music I chose was quite different to the thrillers I watched whilst doing research. I decided to use different music from the typical thriller because I wanted it to sound different and wanted the music to build tension which would leave the audience on the edge of their seats wanting to know what has happened to the girl. The repetitive music highlights the continuous obsession that the stalker has with the girl.