In what ways our product use, develop and challenge forms and conventions of real media products.

Our thriller conforms to the generic conventions of a thriller and a reality TV show. We carried out a lot of research on reality TV shows like X-factor and we analysed the opening sequence with the montage and the voice over. This was very influential to our opening montage as we used it as a template. At the very start we filmed a gun, a generic thriller convention, and we had text to emphasize the voice over as seen in many other TV shows.

Here is our logo that we made on Photoshop. We did this to conform of the reality TV show expectations of having a logo, like X factor and Big Brother have. The new film called the Hunger Games is a similar film to ours and also has a logo which looks a bit like ours. In the background we can see someone about to shoot a gun. This conforms to the forms and conventions of a thriller.

This is a picture of one of the contestants in the opening montage. We used the fire and the black background as well as Freddie holding the gun to conform of the generic conventions of a thriller. The montage conforms to our expectations of a reality TV show or competition. However there isn’t usually fire and guns in reality TV shows so that means it subverts the dominant ideology of a show like X-factor.

For our thriller to have a reality TV sub-genre, we needed a presenter. We used LED lighting on the stairs, a spotlight and upstage lighting, as seen in the picture. These features conform of reality TV show expectations and subvert to thriller expectations. In the background we added cheers to add to the TV reality show feel.

We filmed Ella (Last year’s winner) in a bin as she is hiding from an opponent. In this shot it is evident that we are using a handheld camera and she shouts to the cameraman to get out the way. The fact that we are filming her with a handheld camera makes it similar to Big Brother as we are documenting every move that the contestants make. This conforms of the form and conventions of a TV show. The gun conforms of the thriller genre.

Short interviews with our contestants were cut down significantly so that the thriller wouldn’t drag out. The short comments made introduce the character. There is also text that appears to the side of each contestant saying what they are in for and a little fact about them. In other TV shows there are always interviews introducing the contestants so we did the same.

Our group watched some videos on YouTube of X factor previous winners coming back on to the show as guest appearance. We noticed that the previous winner is always shown as a hero and has a big montage. The music in the montage contrasts with the images. The music is emotional and is similar to the type of music you hear when there is sad back-story in X factor. It then builds up as Ella kills more people and then climaxes when she shoots the last contestant. This conforms of the form and conventions of reality TV and Thrillers.

Ella tells the story of her last year. She talks about her journey from being a scared, homeless, single mother to being an out an out viscous killer. This copies conventions from shows like Britain’s got talent, except instead of singing she is talking about killing, conforming of the dominant ideology of a thriller. 

The final scene shows Ella jumping out of the bushes and shooting the last contestant. Because of the nature of the film killing is seen as a routine so the audience, instead of seeing Ella as a bad person, are happy that she has won and killed the last person. This conforms of thriller expectations because in thrillers you see people die all the time and think nothing of it.