Question 1

IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

The media product produced reinforces many conventions involved in the thriller genre. Some of these generic conventions involve; criminals, a menacing female, cops, femme fatale, drug addicts (find out in the rest of the plot, not in the opening) and aspects of greed, for example, the girl taking the money out of the till for her own personal use. By creating a mysterious character with
an enigma, it presents a twist on the average story line. In a
genre such as the Thriller genre, this is a very important part. For example, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, we find out at the very end of the film, that a case Blomkvist has been looking into for months, he finds out she is alive and living in another county. However by making the female character have a devious, dishonest side, by stealing money from the till, she doesn't seem so blameless and angelic. The idea of her being a little twisted and distorted came from the influence of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Lisbeth Salander is a powerful character with her own intentions. She is very independent woman who has had to fend for herself a lot of the time.

The character in ‘Angel Café’ has to be independent and fend for herself as well, Lisbeth was a big influence on our character in this respect. She is an up-to-date valid representative image and definition of a femme fatal, she is alluring, mysterious and rebellious, she can stand on her own two feet and defend herself. Femme fatale’s are very common in the

thriller genre. For example, Janet in Psycho, is in some respect a femme fatale. The image of Janet in the shower just before she is murdered, shows her in-ability to move or go anywhere. She is trapped in the corner of the shower.

We linked the idea of claustrophobia into our thriller, seeing as that is a general fear among our target audience. In the ‘Angel Café’ we have put the female role in some of

for the female role in our thriller, the fridge in which she is locked in.

Yet another influence for the small confined spaces was the Toilet murder scene in Witness. The little boy has only the toilet cubicles to protect him from a killer that he has just watched murder someone.

In the 'Angel Cafe' this could be the case with Agnes and Adrian, he OR she could be the murder, trying to protect one's self from the harm the other could do to them.

Another influence came from Essex Boys scene where they kidnap a man from the fish market and contain him in the

back of a white van. The colour white represents surrender and to

the same situations as Janet was. For example, confined spaces, in Janet’s case, the shower and bathroom where she is murdered, and some extent, surrender and weakness.

I think the use of confined spaces, it is not only a generic convention of the thriller, but it works very well with the plot of our

opening. The influence we have taken on board was a great help when it came to choosing a small space.We felt that a fridge fitted in well with the rest of the location. The

girl took the money from the till, which makes it possible for her to be a killer, however her age may restrict this thought. Most of our target audience would probably see the man as the killer. The fridge that is used in ‘Angel Café’ is white, signifying that she

would rather admit to what she has done rather than in Janet’s case, be killed.

The lighting we use and the final effect of the frames in Black & White, it portrays the noir film image to the audience. It also makes the opening into a more adult and independent style film, due to the wash out of colour. With the colour it would make it look more like an unprofessional production. It also means that inter-textual references were easier to find and achieve. When editing it was easier to edit the brightness settings when the film was in black and white as the brightness transitions were a lot simpler and more subtle. Generally 'Angel Cafe' looks better in black and white.

The costumes fit well within the Thriller genre, especially the Noir sub-genre of Thriller. The final choice of costumes was decided on a traditional look for the man, a long dark coat and hat for the male role. The main influence on the costumes was probably from The Third Man. The characters Harry Lime and Holly Martins were the ideal image for our male role of Adrian Doyle, a middle aged man, with a wide rimmed hat and a long dark coat. For the female, we picked a traditional waitress's costume, however a leopard print fur coat. We thought this would be

recognisable for the rest of the film. It also gives her a different side. When she has the coat on, she is being deviant and not the blameless youth she was. Whilst wearing the coat, she steals the money and gets locked in the fridge. It almost foreshadows that something unfortunate for that character in particular will happen when she puts it on. The leopard print shows she has a ‘wild’ side, contradicting her stereotypical image of a young girl being, care-free. The inspiration for this character’s costume was Eve from Once Up-

on a Time In America. Despite Eve being glamorous and laden with pearls and the girl in ‘Angel Café’ not being so rich, we can still make the link via costumes. Eve wears a silk blouse and a long expensive coat, which she takes off before she is shot. In our thriller it is the other way round.

When planning, the final decision was to film in a cafe, with an inter-textual reference to The Third Man, when Holly Martins is in the cafe waiting for Harry Lime. Half way through The Third Man, The main character Harry Lime is introduced whom everyone believed to be dead. On the decision of using this idea of the café being our location for our Thriller, knowing that is it not a stereotypical location for this particular genre but generic due to the enclosed spaces and could be potentially threatening. Despite this film, filming in a cafe isn't that aspect challenges yet fits ironically well with the general genre.