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

Here is a clip to discuss the first Evaluation question. I have related our thriller opening sequence to two films; "Perfume", and "Red Dragon". I look at how these two films have similar conventions to our opening, and how we have changed or improved upon some of them, strengthening our attempt at creating a powerful thriller.

Transcription of video:
(The figures are depicted in the video)

Perfume	Blank Canvas
The genre of this film is a thriller-fantasy hybrid. The film is ahout a serial killer who has a heightened sense of smell and is looking to create the perfect perfume by using the scent of beautiful women.	The genre of this film is a thriller-horror hybrid. The film is about a serial killer who wishes to create the perfect painting by using the blood of his victims.
This film is based on „Perfume“ (1985) by Patrick Süskind. It was directed by Tom Tykwer, and produced by Bernd Eichinger, Castealo Productions, Neff Productions and VIP Medienfunds 4. The film was released on September 14th, 2006, and stars Ben Whishaw, Alan Rickman, Rachel Hurd-Wood and Dustin Hoffman.	_
The main conventions of a thriller are things like suspense, the underlying themes and characters, and most importantly the story and setting. As an example, crime thrillers are characterised by menace and sudden violence.	-
Figure 1
When looking at the font, both films include a serif font which replicates the look of „Times New Roman“. Not only is it easier to read for those with dyslexia, but also gives the title sequence a more dated feel; the way it makes the audience mentally date in what kind of environment the rest of the film is going to take place in.	In the film „Perfume“ this would be 18th Century France, whereas for Blank Canvas this is left to their own imagination. The style of font can also hint towards the plot line; by this font being more elegant, it hints towards a more artistic film rather than something along the lines of a crime thriller.
Figure 2
In the film „Perfume“, many of the main characters' victims are either only shown alive or covered after they were dead. However his second victim, with which he experimented to keep the scent of, was revealed to be dead much rather than suggested to be dead. In this scene she is shown to be floating in a container of perfume, however her limbs are focused on first to give hints to the audience. This builds suspense within the thriller and leaves the audience on edge.	Similarly our thriller, „Blank Canvas“, only reveals the victim after a longer period of time, and even then only in close-ups. We distinctively decided to reveal him in this maneuver because it builds tension within the thriller and makes the audience curious about what is going on.
Figure 3
In this particular scene the body is shown quite obviously. The audience's attention is drawn to the right side of the screen, and even though it has been made obvious that there is a body in the shot, people would have to look at it twice to make it clear as to what they are looking at. It hints at how the story will continue.	When we are revealing the body we leave it pretty unclear as to what is being shown, however do use several shots to begin revealing the victim properly. We use some shots like this one like they do in „Perfume“ to hint at how the story can continue. Even though we do not show the entire body, the audience realises what is going on. This builds suspense because the audience will be itching to see the victim.
Figure 4
In this shot the character looks back at his work, namely the person he had just killed and put into the container. His facial expression is evidence of the fact that he seems to be proud with what he had done, and also connotes his mindset towards what he may want to do next.	The same goes for our thriller. Even though the object is different, as here the killer is not looking at the victim, but rather at his art piece. Both in „Perfume“ and „Blank Canvas“ the killers are focused on what they want to do next with their victims, or their work, and their facial expression seems to reflect the emotion that they hope to move forward with their work/art as soon as possible.
Figure 5
They decided to show the face of the victim at last because they wanted to show an eye-line match with the view of the killer, but they also wanted to reveal who the victim turned out to be. They wanted to show that the girl whom the killer had gone after earlier on in the movie had now become part of his perfume-making scheme.	Similarly, we revealed our victim like this in the end. We ended up showing him with an extreme close-up of his face to make the entire thing more dramatic, as we kept building suspense throughout the thriller and then had our final reveal to end on a peak with our thriller. Both victims were in a completely vulnerable state; whilst the woman in „Perfume“ was wearing no clothes at all, we dressed our victim in clothes that would look like undergarments.
Red Dragon	Blank Canvas
The film portrayed here is a psychological thriller and is the prequel to „The Silence of the Lambs“ and „Hannibal“. It was released in 2002 and stars Anthony Hopkins, Edward Norton and Ralph Fiennes. It was directed by Brett Ratner.	-
Figure 1
In this sequence the killer seems to be obsessed with a painting that he closely relates to. He is shown leaning into it closely and has a look of longing on his face. It shows the longing he has for the painting, which could relate to a mental disorder the killer may have developed.	Similarly our thriller shows something along the lines of obession with a painting. The only difference here is that the killer is working, and is obsessed with, his own painting. This also hints towards a mental ability within the killers' mind, as nobody would ever look at a painting in that way. Next to this, both killers are driven to kill by an artwork.
Figure 2
In this sequence the killer is shown engagin in physical activity with the painting he is so obsessed with; he is shown caressing the painting, meaning that it is most likely very precious to him and that he feels close to it. This also takes his mental illness into account, as nobody would ever be this close to a piece of art.	In our thriller we also show our killer seemingly stroking the painting he is working on. Not only does this connote insanity within both characters, but also makes the audience feel uncomfortable with the situation. We did it in an attempt to show the connection that the killer has with this painting. The likelihood that this was the aim of the sequence in „Red Dragon“ is pretty high.
Figure 3
Lastly, the companies have decided to show a close up of the killers' face to get the audience to be closer to the psychopath. This is aimed to make them feel uncomfortable and increase the intensity of the scene. In this sequence this is the ending shot, which means that the audience is left with a