Evaluation Question 1

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

Title
With real media products the title is typically used to convey the narrative of the story. Therefore by choosing the title 'Irretrievable' for our final film we were adding to the overall tone and story behind our production. 'Irretrievable' links with our main protagonist and conveys her as being lost within her own mental state; broken beyond repair. When something is referred to as being irretrievable, the item in question is typically tangible, therefore we thought that it would be an interesting twist to use this title to refer the girl's mentality; she is still alive and physically there, but her personality and individuality is in fact lost. Our title could also be interpreted as linking to our secondary character who is suspiciously killed during the opening of our film, and she is now 'irretrievable' in the sense that she is dead.  
We presented our title as if it were being typed by an old fashioned style type writer. We took inspiration for this from 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower'. Although this is not a psychological thriller, it does still focus on issues of mental health and therefore includes themes of mystery and distorted reality, similarly to that of our own film. 

The type writer font conveys to me that this is Charlie's (the main protagonist) story. It is as if he is writing down his life in the form of a manuscript and then his story is visually portrayed to the audience. We also took inspiration from the colour choices in this title. The traditional black ink on white paper has been inverted to present the idea that this is not a conventional story, and perhaps has a much darker side to it. 

We also found that this title could provide a range of connotations for the story and therefore add to the ambiguity and mystery of the plot. For example it could be viewed as the style of writing that would be seen on a police report, investigating the recent death of our secondary character. This conforms to the psychological element of our chosen genre as the audience must often question themselves and the story. 

When looking at our opening title it is clear to see that we have in fact defied many of the common characteristics seen in the psychological thriller genre. Our title is not overly bold or eye catching, nor is it presented with the typical loud music or sound effects. 

However, as seen above, titles within this genre are often placed on black background with a light or white font. Research has proven that people have more difficulty in reading this type of text over black text on white backgrounds. This may therefore distort the title further and thus conform more to the conventions of distortion and perception within the sub-genre. Therefore, in this sense, our film conforms to the conventions of real media products. 


Credits
The credits for our film are presented in a very similar font to that of our title. This is due to the fact that we wished to have the extended idea of the narrative being told in the format of a written story, re-occurring throughout the opening of the film. 

This theme of written text for the opening credits is often popular in the genre of film. Therefore in this aspect we conformed to the characteristic of the psychological thrillers. This can be seen in both Seven and Limitless: 

  
Narrative
We followed a non-linear narrative for our film as we travel from present to past frequently. This complied to the common feature of distorted reality that is common within the genre. As we have not followed a chronological structure, it makes the plot line more confusing for the audience, making them question what is happening; a common feature in these types of films. However, from our research of real media products we found that it is not common for this style of narrative to occur within the opening two minutes of the film, therefore we wanted to try something unusual and go against the common structure of these types of films.

Camera 
As psychological thrillers often follow character's mental health, the often in include lots of close up shots, in order to show the emotion of the character.
The Butterfly Effect:

Our film:

There is also a strong use of POV shot and over the shoulder shots in these types of films so that the audience is given the perspective of the character and therefore can empathise with them more. This is something that we wanted to include in our own film as we wanted to use these shots to establish the strong friendship that these girls share.

Inception:

Our film:

We also included a long tracking shot, going around the girls on a bench in a semi-circle. This was not something that we had seen in other media products, although tracking shot are frequently used, so therefore we felt that by using this shot we could differentiate our own product from films that already exist.

Mis en Scene
Lighting is used to reflect the mood of the scene (often negative) in this genre of film. For example in fight club the lighting is particularly dark and dreary in order to reflect the tone of the film. This was something that we wanted to do in our own film, however we wanted to create a very apparent difference between the happy and melancholy flashback through the use of lighting. In the happier memories we used lots of natural light whereas in the negative scenes we used more artificial harsh lighting.
Fight Club:

Our film:

On some of the scenes we used filters in order to strip any bright colours from the shot, thus conveying the depressing mood of the clip. We also had our actors wear dull clothing including blacks and greys. This again helped to connote a sense of dreariness. This is often done in real media products, such as Fight Club, in order to create the same effect. In the image above from the film Fight Club, both characters are wearing dark, dull clothing so that they conform to the tone of the scene.
In the more comforting flashbacks the characters wore bright colours, along with makeup that made them appear more youthful and innocent. We also used props such as cushions and blankets to make the atmosphere appear more cosy.

Sound
We went against using the typical non diegetic tension building music that is commonly used in real media products, and instead used distorted music box/ nursery rhyme music, that gradually builds in tension. By doing this we were able to achieve the same effect of building suspense as many other films, yet we brought a menacing and confusing undertone to the beginning of our production. Also, as the music sounds similar to something you may play to a child, it introduces the idea that one of the characters may have the same mentality as a child.
We have also defied the typical conventions of the genre by having an almost silent opening, with no additional dialogue.

Editing
In the flashback scenes we distorted the lighting of the clips, creating a dull tone on the melancholy clips and brightening the happier memories. This is something that is commonly done in this genre of film in order to reflect the emotional tone of the scene. We also added effects to soften the edges of the clips in order to reflect the fact that these are memories and not happening in real time.
We also used fast cuts, and jump cuts towards the end of our film to build suspense and create tension. Again we took inspiration for this from real media products, as it is something that is commonly used within this genre.

Location
From researching psychological thrillers I have found that the majority of them are set in city, or urban type areas. We went against this by filming in a small village and in an old Georgian house. Therefore it makes the characters appear more ordinary and relatable and makes the murder reveal at the end even more shocking.