Evaluation Task 1 (In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? i.e. of film openings)

Evaluation Task 1
In the 9 frames I have selected a number of different conventions are clearly used. From very first scene of the male showering the audience would probably assume that the opening will be set in a domestic environment. This is then further enforced in the scene of the male shaving where domestic items like towels are displayed in the background.

Camerawork and editing is also prevalent in the 9 frames. There is a wide variety of shots such as close ups, over the shoulder shots, low angle, mid shots and establishing shots. These combined make the opening a lot more aesthetically pleasing and interesting to watch for the audience. This is typical of an opening sequence as they usually have a variety of different shots and camera angles. The fact that the frames are black and white is clear evidence of editing also.

Throughout the opening different credits pop up at different times. For example the name of the producer, director and who stars in the opening. These credits are essential in that they inform the audience as to exactly who created what is happening in front of them and also gives those people credit. A notable point about these credits is the way they appear on the screen. Rather than suddenly appearing they slowly appear from blurry to clear and then dissolve out, giving them a ghostly, mysterious quality (especially relevant to the thriller genre.) This also applies to the title of the film which is displayed at the very end of the opening. Again the way it transitions onto the screen but also the style of the font create a sense of enigma around the opening.

By the end of the opening certain key aspects of the story are revealed, for example the main character is  shown to be the male who is being depicted throughout the opening, it's hard to imagine a film in which someone receives that much screen time yet doesn't feature as one of the main characters. In this sense it is typical of an opening sequence as the main character is given a lot of screen time and a lot of the focus is on him. The shot of the dead body at the end also reveals that this man is probably a serial killer and this then makes the audience question a number of things i.e why has he done this? Is this his house or the victim's house? Was there a motive? Therefore the story is perfectly set up as it can go in a number of directions from the end point of the opening.