Evaluation Question 4

In what ways does your media production use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Steve Neal once said ‘Genres are instances of repetition and difference’ and on going by this quote it is easy to see how our film has filled the action-thriller section of the genre categories.

Using Propp's theory of character types the audience can see the repetition through the labelling of characters in the film. Emma quite clearly is the victim, whilst Martin is the villain. This repetition of roles allows the audience to recognise the film from the stereotypical conventions that they may have seen before. One of the techniques used in the film to establish Martin as a villain was the use of broken frames. The use of broken frames within the production, to impact the audience was most notable/significant in the transition between equilibrium and disequilibrium using Todorov’s three part narrative. The broken window frame, revealing the antagonist's progress down the path and up the side of the house, signifies his evil intentions. The connotations of this broken frame are that the character shown through the blinds is a fractured individual, and the disequilibrium is suggested, using music and camera angles to emphasise his wicked nature. The voyeurism, where the audience are forced to see the killing of Emma by Martin, anchors him as the villain according to Propp. Similarly Emma is anchored in her role as a victim through the use of binary opposition. The change in colour from black and white to colour in the film shows the opposing roles, from Martin as the villain to Emma as the victim in the situation.

In addition to this; binary opposition is used on site in the final scene at the field. This is through the fact that in an empty field the last thing you expect to see would be a red van, and so this contrast anchors the protagonist’s feelings of being isolated, as the field itself is so isolated. Furthermore, at the house Katz’s idea of personal identity means that the audience can identify themselves with the location and so the film has more impact and realism. There is also the connotation of the red van signifying the blood that has been shed.

Our decision to have the scene where the man upon answering the door is knocked out came from our inspiration of the film Law Abiding Citizen. The sudden shock of a such a fast paced attack from an everyday event was appealing to us. This is because it follows Katz's theory of personal identity; it makes the audience scared because opening the door is probably something they do every day and so to see something so shocking happen from an everyday event enthralls the audience. In terms of the Uses and Gratifications theory, my group hoped that our target audience would revel in the sense of unease - this is something that could happen to them and so it becomes a thrill for the audience to imagine itself in the place of the actors.

Our use of conventional props meant that our mise-en-scene of the film followed the conventions of an action-thrilling film. The use of the knife in the killing of Emma is one that many are familiar with, similarly the fact that the van used in the film is red connotes danger as red is the colour of blood, and much blood is drawn in this film though not actually shown.

Once more our use of music was one of repetition to follow the traditional action thriller conventions as our music was upbeat and fast paced. This meant that the action thrilled scene of the kidknap was recognisable to the audience and they were aware that this was supposed to be full of action.

All of this is the ‘repetition’ that Steve Neal is talking about. However, where our film has a ‘Difference’ is in the non-linear narrative. In our film there is a repetition of the penultimate scene which is played first, and so the audience are primarily unaware of who actually the villain is and who actually the victim is. this is where our film uses the enigma code to create a puzzle for the viewer. But once the first scene has played the film follows Todorov’s 3 part narrative out so the story explains itself. this is because of the action coding of the film, because the audience hav enow seen that first scene they are aware that action is going to happen later on in the film. in addition to this our film actually has no new equillibrium because at the end of the film emma is still dead and so the hero is actually alone at the end of the film, this is something that does not happen much in commerical films.