The 9 pictures above are from my media product, film poster and film magazine front cover. There are 3 from each, with the media product being the top 3, poster the middle 3 and magazine front cover the bottom 3. During the research of other thriller films and their trailers, there were several conventions that I identified were popular in this genre.
The first image is a close up of the character Owen as he is taking a bottle of whiskey from the fridge. This shot is a interesting shot and develops conventions of the thriller genre as it shows that the character is having a challenging time and has many problems, turning to drink in order to resolve this. Since he is underage it shows that he is extremely troubled but also reflects everyday life and underage drinking does exist. This is an example of British social realism which is a USP for our film and many British thriller films, however it challenges the conventions of American thriller films which often glamorise violence and issues.
The second image is from my film poster and it is the tagline that can be found at the bottom. Having it at the bottom is a convention as it does not take away from the impact of the masthead and the images. However it is still an important part of posters as it gives the audience something to think about and to remember the poster and film. It does this since it is a rhetorical question and doesn't give the audience an answer until the watch this film which is a convention of the thriller trailer. Again, it is in red connoting the danger and violence which is a stereotypical convention of the thriller trailer. The font that I used was called "Chiller" and it looks like a conventional serif font used in the thriller genre as it reminds people of the supernatural since it looks 'creepy'.
The third image shows the ratings that I used on my poster. They are stars since these are the conventional shape for positive feedback. Stars are used in childhood as a reward symbol for good behaviour and so people often associate them with a positive image. When people see stars on texts such as magazine front cover or film poster, they associate them with rating even before seeing the writing. These are all reasons i used stars for my reviews of the film instead of number ratings. Also having the stars in a black font connoted the unknown aspect of the film trailer. The font looks fancy and is white to show that it is from a respected source and also connotes class and elegance.
The fourth image is an extreme close up from our thriller film trailer that shows text messages between the two characters Owen and Chloe. They show the audience that he is controlling towards her and this is often a convention in thrillers, where the male is dominant over the female character and shows that in modern life technology makes it easier for relationships to be interfered with or become controlling and complicated. This shot was repeated more than once in our trailer, further establishing to the audience the character of Owen.
The fifth image above is again taken from our thriller film trailer and it shows the two characters Katie and Chloe comforting each other. This is a use of conventions from the thriller genre as a female 'damsel in distress' is stereotypical. It also develops this convention since there are two females and one is comforting the other, showing that two damsels in distress can stick together and overcome the threat of the dominant male. Also the high key lighting challenges conventions since the lighting in thriller films is usually low key connoting the threat and fear of the unknown. This high key lighting emphasises the point about the two females combining to be more dominant than the male
The sixth image is an example of one of the title's we used, "How will she escape". The title was in a white, sans serif font with a white glow outside and it had one red word which was 'Escape'. Each title we used had one red word which helped to highlight it and connote the danger that the character was in. The ellipsis at the end of the sentence shows that it is left on a cliff hanger so the audience do not know how or if she will escape. As a trailer this works effectively as it keeps the audience anticipating and guessing what will happen, and they will want to go and see the film. All of the above reasons show that the titles are similar and develop conventions of real thriller products.
The seventh image shows the title of my thriller film, on my film poster. The font is again 'Chiller' which connotes a spooky feeling, which is a convention of the thriller genre and found on film posters, mainly to do with the supernatural. The white font supports this and also connotes the innocence of the characters and also the audience as they don't know what dangers they characters will get in. The title name itself 'Under Control' is threatening to the audience and so tells them briefly what the plot will be about. The date underneath is a convention of film posters in general since this is important institutional information. It tells the audience when the film will be released so they know when they can see it in cinemas.
The eight image is an over the shoulder shot from the film trailer that shows the character Owen walking up to the house that Katie and Chloe are in. Thrillers use this shot as it shows the person who is threatening and also the object they are targeting, making it clearer and more tense for them. Also in this shot you can see that there is low key lighting, another feature of thrillers. The dark clothes that Owen is wearing shows that he is threatening and again creates tension and shows that he should be viewed in a negative light.
The ninth and final image is from my film magazine front cover and are the pictures of two of the main characters from the film trailer. These characters were Owen and Chloe. Real magazine front covers often use one or two characters on them, one if it is a single character narrative and doesn't involve much conflict and tension between characters. However two characters are often seen on magazine front covers if the conflict between them is important to the narrative. The pose and facial expression are often important in showing the audience how the characters feel about each other and so make the audience feel like they want to see how their relationship works out.
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