Question 5

To address our audience we stayed within certain expected conventions within the crime genre. These conventions include mystery, urban setting, undercover cops & so on. From our qualitative research, we opted to have two protagonists who are crime fighting partners as that appealed to our target audience. Predominantly, John is the main protagonist whilst Pedro is more of his partner. As their brief dialogue unfolds it's clear that these two have a good friendship both inside & outside of the police force which complies with the convention that the two crime fighting cops are good friends. The antagonist has prominent appearance which foreshadows his intentions to be villainous. His black cap is shown to be draping over his arms which display connotations of death & destruction and further appeals to both the crime & thriller audience. The climatic large explosion creates an tentious atmosphere which reinforces the appeal to the thriller audience. In terms of feedback, our peers and friends believe it to be a descent attempt at creating a film opening especially since we are not professionals. If we were to do this again, then we would invest in a better quality camera and learn more about special effects that could be applied via software. 

Question 4

Evaluation Question 4

Written by  group member, Keenan Myers

Crime Thrillers usually are targeted to a more mature target audience. This is usually because of the mature content (e.g. Murders) &/or taboo language that is within the genre. Due to the nature of Crime Thrillers having a BBFC of 15, our age range will start from there. Secondary research has shown that an audience of both males and females (aged around 40) find crime genres to have interesting plot lines. So, our film opening for "Dead End" will be aimed at males and females aged 15-40.

 The target audience for this genre is stereotypical of both males & females. Male characters are depicted as the organised, head strong leaders. In some cases they have a crime partner (stereotypically male as well) that will act as a moral compass. On the other hand, female characters are shown as being in less practical roles like secretaries or on the intercoms. In recent media, women are sometimes subverting these roles in the crime genre by being appointed leadership, hands on roles.

Thrillers usually are interested by young adults as they enjoy the suspense and mystery within the plot line. Since Thrillers have content that could be considered frightening & violent, the BBFC certificate is often 15. Most of the time they appeal to people who are 15-21 year old. They also appeal to both genders.

Males usually find thrillers appealing as statistically they enjoy the fast paced action. They usually enjoy plots that cause high adrenaline as there are a lot of action filled scenes.

Females may find thrillers interesting as stereotypically they are attracted to something that causes mystery and causes them to ask questions. The main protagonist is usually a "ladies man" that generally women find attractive. As a result, females find the sex appeal of the Thriller appealing.

Because of the close similarities in target audience for crime genres and thrillers, we believe that our film will appeal to both audiences.

In conclusion, our target audience is both males & females aged 15-35. This is attributable by the fact that the thriller aspect of the film lowers the targeted age since thrillers are usually enjoyed by younger people.

Question 3

Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Written by group member, Keenan Myers

John v.s Commissioner Gordon

In our film we decided to come up with the idea of creating a character like Commissioner Gordon from Gotham to convey general conventions of the "good cop" persona. We assigned Harry's character the name "John" as (Like the name "Gordon") is a very common name which can be expected to be within the police force. Therefore, making John the archetype of cops throughout the crime genre. Furthermore, reinforcing the idea of creating a character that is microcosm for the "male good cop" character who wants to solve crime and is always working, even on his day off.

In terms of costume, we decided to opt for the smart-casual style unlike Gordon's full suit attire. This is because we felt like it gave our production a grittier feel and blended nicely with the urban surrounding setting. We decided to opt for a colour scheme of black and white. This is because black has connotations of death with symbolizes John's profession as he investigates crimes that can lead to death (much like Commissioner Gordon). It also shows a sense of sophistication and formality which in turn complements the idea of a smart-casual appearance.

Not only that, but the connotations of white entails a sense of great feelings and emotions that are positive. As a result, showing the optimistic outlook that John (much like Commissioner Gordon) has on solving a case. White colour schemes are often associated with life and purity

By pairing the black and white colour scheme together, we were able to abide by the expectations of the aesthetics of a cop which further reinforces the general conventions of the crime genre.

Pedro v.s Harvey Bullock

For Pedro's character, we were inspired by Commissioner Gordon's crime fighting partner: Harvey Bullock. As part of "Dead End's" narrative, we made Pedro's character dress in a more casual attire as it his day off work. We wanted to go against the standard convention of having a "good cop/bad cop" character with Pedro and make his alignment seem more neutral. Like Harvey Bullock, we made Pedro a side character who is good friends with the protagonist - John. As our interpretation of Harvey Bullock was loosely influenced, we have a lot of physical features like costume that defy the the cop demeanour but rather role in the police force that is remnant of Harvey Bullock.

The dark blue shirt worn by Pedro shows a sense of keeping within the crime genre as it is not a bright and luminescent colour. Therefore, keeping within the dark, gritty feel of the genre. Dark blue has conventional connotations of conveying authority, trust, truthfulness & stability. As a result, the choice of colour for Pedro's costume links with his role as being both a cop (therefore showing authority & stability) & Jon's crime partner (showing trust & truthfulness).

Question 1

There are many films and television shows that replicate our movie.

The movie is strictly a thriller film as it had many conventions that show this through the use of the crime genre.



One of the films that our film was based off would be se7en, we decided to choose clothes such as the protagonists in se7en due to the fact that they wear what traditional detectives wear. Suit, shirt, tie. However, in a way we defied this convention as we decided to take the more casual route to detective dress to represent that we were not expecting to go into work. The protagonist, John, wears a variety of traditional detective wear such as a black coat to suit the genre and a shirt, however John is wearing trainers and is not wearing a tie to display this. From this we based all of our clothes on the conventions of crime thriller films such as Jack Reacher or James Bond. This helps achieve a depressive mood and undertone that is a convention of crime thrillers also. This sets the entire tone of the film and in doing this brings the audience in with a "what's going to happen next" mentality that has been so successful in the past with films such as The Dark Knight or Jack Ryan.
























John Doe from Se7en (played by Kevin Spacey) is a methodical religious extremist. . 

He is extremely sadistic and shows many traits of a psychopath, this is also a common convention of the series. The villain is always portrayed as realistic but somewhat otherworldly to the other characters to add a macabre feel to the villains actions. This is similar to our movie as the villain in our film is not revealed which gives an otherworldly feel to him. This makes his actions more menacing and more dangerous as he is not portrayed as mortal but an otherworldly villain. This "otherworldly villain" convention is frequent in many other forms of media but the most notable "otherworldly villain" would be The Joker from the Dark Knight. The Joker seems insane and does not have the same thought process of a normal human which is what makes him such a feared and notorious villain, this type of villain is synonymous with the genre and has become a convention in it's own right.

Luther is one of the most focal inspirations for our project as it highlights the tormented lives of people who solve the most heinous murders. It portrays a deeply troubled individual working on the fringes of acceptable law enforcement. A running sub-plot focuses on this and a task force designed to remove Luther from his job which he does in a controversial unorthodox way. The tormented cop is a convention also due to the fact that it is frequent in almost every single Police related film. It's even made its way in to different genres such as superhero films and action, adventure genres such as Fast and Furious series.

The final convention that is similar to the thriller genre and is considered a convention throughout is motion blurs.Motion blurs are used to establish a shot or thing without actually making the reader focus on it, this is to give credit to another aspect as to what is on screen. This could include props, characters or subtitles, credits.

Digetic and Non-Digetic Sound

Diegetic Sound

Sound whose source is visible on the screen or whose source is implied to be present by the action of the film: 

• voices of characters 
• sounds made by objects in the story 
• music represented as coming from instruments in the story space ( = source music). In final product, we will use a soundtrack similar to the BBC programme Luther. 

Diegetic sound is any sound presented as originated from source within the film's world 

Digetic sound can be either on screen or off screen depending on whatever its source is within the frame or outside the frame. 

Another term for diegetic sound is actual sound.

Non-diegetic

Sound whose source is neither visible on the screen nor has been implied to be present in the action: 

• narrator's commentary
• sound effects which is added for the dramatic effect
• mood music

Non-diegetic sound is represented as coming from the a source outside story space. 

The distinction between diegetic or non-diegetic sound depends on our understanding of the conventions of film viewing and listening.  A play with diegetic and non-diegetic conventions can be used to create ambiguity (horror), or to surprise the audience (comedy). 

Another term for non-diegetic sound is commentary sound. 

Location Tropes - Thriller Genre

First of the locations is probably the most famous of all crime ridden, thriller-esque locations is Gotham City from the Batman franchise which has been in existence since 1939. It is the set archetype for locations as such and has been shown to be the gritty place where no one wants to live. Such has been the stage for a number of film franchises each visibly taking aspects from the age old creation which itself, has appeared in a number of incarnations (from based on Chicago, New York to a fictional built and in Batman vs Superman, Detroit).

Basin City from Frank Miller's Sin City saga is a secluded city trapped in a basin/sink hole. It was nicknamed Sin City for its noire apparel and violent history. What also adds to the 'rough city' is the predominant red light district where a large portion of the stories to do with Sin City take place.