Evaluation Question 1

- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Our final product uses some typical conventions of a thriller, the protagonist in our film is Jasper, however this challenges the typical character roles as she is also the antagonist in a round-about way. By challenging the character roles, we make our thriller our own and it helps to add a trademark.
The suspenseful incidental music helps to add to the dark, mysterious tone of the narrative. The music begins slowly and softly to match the introduction to the opening, however, as the topic of conversation between Jasper and Benjamin develops, the music becomes more intense and the narrative mirrors this. The music is therefore typical of a thriller and conforms to the conventions. 
The typical convention of low-key lighting has been challenged in our opening; we filmed in Joelle's summerhouse once it was dark. The original plan was to film in the day so that we could have natural light rather than the artificial ceiling lights as we did not have any lighting equipment. I think filming in the day would have looked much better for the camera, however, the darkness outside of the windows can add to the darkness of the situation at hand and the conversation. The dark atmosphere that is seen from the outside of the summerhouse could reflect Jasper's mood in therapy and demonstrate how she feels about what has happened. 
The establishing shot of Jasper and Benjamin talking is typically a convention of thrillers as it immediately shows their relationship and what kind of situation these characters are in.
Sat opposite eachother, they seem conversational and it allows them to look at one another and for Benjamin to analyse how Jasper is feeling as her therapist. 
This establishing shot also distinguishes the characters through the distance between the pair, a professional relationship. The costumes here also allows the audience notice the social and situational differences between the charcters, Jasper wears a fluffy, wintery jumper to express comfort and her emotions at the time. Meanwhile, Benjamin wears a black suit jacket, black trousers, black shoes and a white open-collar shirt. This represents him as professional but not pretentious which helps to make Jasper more comfortable in the environment.