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

We had to make a psychological thriller which is produced mainstream meaning we had to make it attractive to a wider audience.
1. The title of the film- 'Vice Vendetta' we chose to have it in white over black background to make it more extinguished and represent the police as the hope or light in a dark world. The colours suit the style and time period of our film's setting.
2. Setting/location- We wanted somewhere dark and secluded, preferably quiet, after searching we came upon a spot in the main hall under the stairs. There was already a table and cupboard set up and a curtain to block any light making it easier for us to alter the space for our needs.
3. Costumes and Props- As we had decided to go the symbolic route, props were essential to our opening and the first thing we prepared before filming. Going for a period look we seeked out aged blankets, glass, bottle, ash tray etc to help create the effect we were going for.
4. Camerawork and Editing- It took a while for us to get the look we wanted, as we had no dialogue or acting it all relied on our props being shot in the right way to create the narrative voice we wanted for our character. We used constant movement across the table with the use of panning and tracking, to display everything slowly and smooth. Although in editing we mixed it all up to create confusion for the audience, in representation of the unpredictable life the main character has.
5. Title Font and Style- We chose eroded type writer font which we downloaded from Dafont, we believed it again reflected the period style of our thriller, and matched our props in the idea of documents about police   for him to track them down.
6. Story and how the opening sets it up- The narrative of our main character's hatred of police is shown clearly in our opening, it helps and prepares the audience to understand the story line's background and history of what is to come. Also our props help visually to show and introduce the plot; pictures of men hung up, documents, maps.
7. Genre and how the opening suggests it- The props help suggest the mysterious plot line and the dark lighting and setting create a tense atmosphere.
8. How characters are introduced- With the symbolic route we used only one actor to play our main character, and emphasize the narrative voice of our opening. He is introduced with a mid shot, throughout most of the opening we only see parts of his body in the corner of the frame; pouring drinks, burning cigarettes etc to present him in a dark light.
9. Special effects- As i mentioned earlier we edited our film by mixing around the shots to create confusion, we put certain clips quicker than others and in different lights, sometimes going backwards to disorient the audience and represent the narrator's unstable state of mind; how he is living in the past by avenging his brother's death.