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

Title of film: The title of our film itself ‘Allegiance’ use typical thriller conventions, but develops them slightly. We agreed to use the name as our title as we thought it immediately created enigmas just by hearing it, without the need for any trailers, posters or other marketing techniques. Thought there is no other film by the same name, similar films have gone down a similar path and used just one word to make the audience feel a certain way. The words used are not always to create enigmas, but sometimes to tell the audience what they can expect from the film. Some films that have used this technique are ‘Signs’ (Dir. M. Night Shyamalan, 2002), ‘Identity’ (Dir. James Mangold, 2003) and ‘Awake’ (Dir. Joby Harold, 2007). Not only do these films create enigmas for the audience, they also give them an idea of what kind of film to expect. This is exactly what we wanted to achieve with our name. It is a word that is not used commonly every day, and upon hearing it or reading it, people will instantly be intrigued, and want to find out more.

Setting/Location: The shot we used from behind the pill bottle as our main character approaches them was one of our favourite shots that we used, and we believed it challenged traditional thriller conventions. This is the first shot in our film where most of the room is visible, giving the audience an idea of the whereabouts of the character and what kind of state he lives in. To have the shot from the pill bottle itself, it gives the illusion that the pills are a big part of the characters life, and that perhaps everything else around him is meaningless unless he has those pills. The camera shot is almost from the bottle’s point of view, giving the audience the metaphor that it is almost willing the character over towards it.

Costumes and Props: This shot is an important part of the introduction of our film, and it the first shot where the suited character can be seen fully. The suited character develops typical thriller conventions, as when a character is usually seen in a suit in a thriller film, they are either a James Bond-like spy, or a villain that is very well off money wise. This is immediately obvious to the audience that this character is not similar to those characters as he is standing in a rundown home. Though the suit is a piece of clothing that many films use, we think that having a character wear it in this particular scenario makes the audience ask questions and wonder what may happen next.
Also viewable in this shot are newspaper and police tape, which the main character was using was a bed. This also develops typical thriller conventions as most films have a proper bed for characters, no matter how bad they are doing. By using newspaper as a bed, we immediately tell the viewer that this character is not like others, and is maybe the most depressed and psychologically scarred character they have seen in film.

Camerawork and Editing: Though it is hard to see from the picture, this shot used a handheld camera and our director used just his hands to follow the character after picking up the pill bottle. This develops thriller conventions as most directors would have used a tripod for this shot. While we did try this method, it did not give the effect we had in mind. We wanted the shot to reflect our characters mindset, and by using just bare hands for the shot, it gave the impression that the characters mind could fall apart at any point.

Title font and style: Our credits also challenge typical thriller conventions. Credits to almost any film are usually a font that is easy to read, and the words nicely spaced apart so that the audience can read them easily. We decided to go against this and make our font tough to read, and have the words in our credits shaking. This gave an immediate impression that the film will have a similar tone and may be unstable and hard to take in, much like the credits themselves. We are showing the audience early on what kind of film they have got themselves into.

Story and how the opening sets it up: The shot of the hooded man running away was a very important shot for the beginning of our film and uses typical thriller conventions. There are many similar images in other thriller films, and by using this we wanted the audience to know that this film may contain someone trying to escape from something or someone chasing someone or something else. These are typical storylines conceived for thrillers and that makes the audience have connotations of what kind of storylines to expect from thriller such as ours. While a man running is a simple shot, the camerawork used and the enigmas created draw the audience in and make them want to watch on.

Genre and how the opening suggests it: The shot of the hanging man that is used as the first shot in our film develops thriller conventions and tells the audience exactly what kind of genre this film will be. Though many films use people being hanged as part of the story, not many use it as their opening shot. By doing this we immediately set the tone of our film, and allow the viewer to have connotations and remind themselves of other thriller or horror films that contain similar images.

How characters are introduced: The shot of our main character waking up and staring straight into the camera challenges thriller conventions. Most viewers expect the main characters of the film to be introduced traditionally, and that they will be part of one of the main establishing shots in the opening of the film. We have gone in completely the opposite direction with the introducing of our characters, as the audience becomes shocked by seeing him wake up suddenly and stare straight into the camera, almost straight at them. This gives the illusion that the character may know that he is being watched, and it questions whether he is breaking the fourth wall or not. The use of this camera shot gives the audience many enigmas, and intrigues them as the film goes on.

- Taylor Gladwin