Evaluation Question 1

Our film not only conformed but also challenged codes and conventions, an example is how you can't see Sid's face at the beginning of our sequence, you can only see his feet and you also can't see who he's being chased by. This means we did not give away too much of the story line and makes the audience want to watch on because they want to know what's going on.

We also darkened a lot of the colours in many of our scenes and also blurred the edges in scenes such as the water where she puts a pill in Sid's water because it means the audience can't focus on some of the details which creates ambiguity.

Also, on the title screen, the background behind the word "Skitz" spins around which means the audience cannot focus which helps create ambiguity.

Another convention that we followed is how it speeds up throughout the sequence, we achieved this by changing locations and angles quite suddenly. By doing this it means the scenes were shorter and more jumpy. A good example of this is at the end of our sequence where it jumps between Sid on the laptop and the psychiatrist walking up the stairs. By making the clips get shorter and shorter, the audience begins to feel on edge because they can see whats coming even though the characters can not.

Our music followed conventions because it has a strong baseline and builds up along with the action on screen. It also followed the action so, for example, when Sid hit the floor there was a loud 'bang' sound.

We also used a lot of extreme close ups which helps the audience to be able to read the characters facial expressions. For example, there is repeated close ups of Sid  which helps to show how scared he is  and exaggerate his confusion. But then there is also a lot of the psychiatrist which shows an often shows a serious expression. This subtly foreshadows that she is not actually trying to help him but, on the other hand, makes her seem more trustworthy as she has a professional air about her.

Also, lots of short clips are used rather than long shots because it enabled us to easily speed up the end of our sequence. This is a convention of thrillers because it ensures that the audience become hooked to the narrative, the fastened pace increases levels of fear and makes the audience feel on edge because they are struggling to process what is happening as it happens so they are left trying to catch up.

In addition, our title and credits are in black and white which is connotative to the themes of binary opposites which is a common occurrence within our narrative (good vs evil, sanity vs insanity). The title "SKITZ" follows the convention of thrillers because it summarises the narrative very simply as does many thriller films, for example "Psycho" and "Gone Girl".

We challenged the stereotype that you would expect a male to be the antagonist and a female to play the damsel in distress, however we did it the opposite way round to develop confusion which links in with the fact that Sid is mentally ill and therefore is quite disorientated. So, by challenged quite a common convention, we created this effect.

We also dressed our antagonist in very bright colours which made her seem as on the 'good' side and made her come across as more approachable which links in with our story line because that is what her character's trying to stage as - coming across as if she is trying to help him even though she isn't.

Our narrative is conventional for a psychological thriller in the context that it is complex and requires a moderate level of understanding to be able to watch with ease. "Black Swan" is an example of a pre-existing film that also follows this convention.

Our narrative gives the audience an omniscient role where they know more about the situation compared to the characters. This is a common convention because they know what is going to happen. An example of this in our sequence is the final scene where the audience is able to see the psychiatrist walking up the stairs. This makes them mentally will Sid to move faster or to get away which creates high levels of anxiety.

The special effect of the shaking screen helped us conform to the convention of increasing ambiguity because it made it more challenging for the audience to focus on the details of the shot.

We chose Mia's house in order to conform to conventions such as older items in the house and also because it had lower levels of natural lighting which helped us to create the low key lighting which is often present in thriller films. Mia's house also had a large range of rooms which we could use in our sequence.
Forests are often featured in thrillers because it is easy to get lost and isolated them and this is an innate fear that everyone is born in. Therefore forests create a sense of uncertainty within the scene which is a common convention. Forest and wood areas are also often challenging to look forward in which, like special effects and complex narratives, creates ambiguity in the scene and this confusion in the audience often occurs in psychological thrillers.`

Overall, I think we followed enough of the conventions that it was easy to identify our film as a thriller (through music and lighting) so the audience wouldn't have had to second-guess the genre. However, at the same time, it is not the same as every other thriller that has been produced. So the reason our audience would come to watch our film because it's a bit different in the way that it challenges a number of stereotypical conventions. I think we challenged and conformed conventions quite well and thought carefully about which ones we planned to challenge in order to ensure that it was successful and helped to push the narrative forward.