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

Me and my groups thriller opening sequence I think was influenced by aspects of different thriller films. These included the television series 'Wallandar' and films such as 'Kill Your Friends' 'Panic Room' 'Memento' and lastly 'Brick.' However, I would say that 'Brick' was our biggest influence overall as our idea's really evolved around their concept of a thriller film. Like 'Brick' we used what you would call a 'popular' girl to represent the death of a character. 'Brick' used close ups and and high/low angles shots to portray the low status that this character was given. Our idea's stemmed from this as we filmed many close ups of the death of our character from different angles, too add suspense and dimention to our opening sequence. Also like 'Brick' we never really gave away the whole of the dead girls face, adding suspicion within the audience as to how she may have died and where. Rebecca's long hair was very beneficial for our scene as we used it to cover the majority of her face, just like they did with 'Brick.' Other similarities were that both opening sequences used quite deserted settings, too add the suspence of no one being able to escape or cry for help. Although one of our differences was that our main characters representations wasn't a geeky, nerdy boy but was what you could suggest as a 'cool kid.'

Brick opening sequence contact sheet:


Pulse (my opening sequence) contact sheet:

Visually you can see that aspects of a few shots are similar to 'Brick.' Both of the titles in the opening sequences appear in simple colours, with white font on a plain black background. Both have low key lighting to emphasise the negativity that surrounds the shots.
Even though our opening sequence has been influenced by 'Brick' the timeline of our opening sequence was most definately influenced by a film called 'Memento.'
'Memento' was the only film that me and my media class got to watch the full length of, which really helped give us an insight as to what a thriller film and opening sequence produced to match it's conventions. 'Memento' began at the ending of the film, and rewound to develop the story- as it began with a death of a character. Even though 'Brick' also does this, as me and my group watched 'Memento' first that's where our idea's really developed and what inspired us.


Video to show the timeline of 'Memento' opening sequence: