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

Title font and style

We decided to use the same font style so that it wouldn’t take focus away from the scenes. Keeping the same font and changing the colour to suit the background made it seem more professional. We made all of our titles appear before the dialogue so that it wouldn’t be confusing or distracting when the narrative is beginning. We used the conventions of a mystery thriller as the font is simple and effective, making it easier for the audience read them.

Genre and how the opening shot shows this

Our film is a mystery thriller, and we have hinted at this throughout as to what could happen later on in the film. We decided this would be best shown in the film opening as it would make the audience more interested to watch the rest of the film to find out the conclusions. The first clue we give is a hidden character chasing another character with a knife, and this is engaging as the audience will want to find out who they are. We included the conventions of a mystery to make it more psychological than thriller/action.

Props

We have tried to links props together so that they can be seen as more important; this is mainly shown by the knife and the yellow file. The yellow file is important as it is clearly shown, and another shot shows that it has case notes to a murder. The knife is also important as it shows the link between scene of a murder and the office scene; there is a fade to show a connection between the knife at the scene and in the office.

Camerawork and editing

We have used a still shot with no movements to show it is a compact space, and to show the real movement of the characters. We have used transitions to show a change in scene; this is from the change from dialogue to an outside/different interior shot. We have used panning outside to follow the action in the scene.

Costumes and how the characters are introduced

We dressed the male character in a burgundy shirt to represent a formal style but to show some colour; this is to represent that he is less extravagant than possible for a young male. We have dressed the female character in black and darker colours to imply that the character is more serious in comparison to the male character. It also shows that she is more mysterious.

Setting and location

We had two distinctive locations: the outside location (unspecified) and the detective office (interior). The outside location is key as it is the opening shot and the scene of the murder; it is also the concluding scene of the film opening. The interior location is the most important as it is where most of the scenes are located and where dialogue is.

Story and how the opening sets it up

The film opening is important in our case as it presents many enigmas. There is a murder of a person who the audience don’t know, and the murderer is also not known. It is then more of an enigma when the characters talk about their cases; it is clear they are detectives. The audience would want to find out who is the victim and who is the murderer, so they would watch to find out the answers. This represents the convention of a mystery film as there are many enigmas and not any answers to begin with.

Special effects

In the film opening, we have used special effects multiple times. We have used fading multiple times to identify a change in scene/location. We wanted to clearly show the audience a physical transition between the locations. We also used a covering overlay of two shots to indicate there is a connection between them; this links to the mystery conventions as there is no answer given to the enigma in the screenshot.

The title of the film

We decided to name of film ‘Eyes In The Field’ as it is perfect for our genre and locations. The title comes towards the beginning of the opening as it informs the audience of the theme of the opening before the action. The title fades in after a chase scene, and cuts out to a bloody knife with a character name. The title also links to a spy theme with the word ‘eyes’ implying hiding.