Question 1

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

My final media product I.C.U falls under the genre of thriller, aimed at the age group of 15 up wards. I.C.U's relationship plot line is based upon 3 characters which use forms and conventions from various TV series and films "Gossip Girl", the love triangle between characters Blair, Chuck and Nate are very similar to the Characters in my film Alfie, Johnny and Marie. This is also shown in the film "Obsessed" starring Beyonce Knowles, the relationship between a husband and wife gets interrupted by a work colleuge who has a huge obsession on one of the main characters and conflict is caused.However at the same time I.C.U challenges the typical forms and conventions of the thriller type genre films as, Marie having the lead actress role she does not tend to be the typical damsel in distress type of character where she has to be rescued by a male as in our storyline Marie's character seems to be quite concerned about her relationship with her boyfriend and is in dilemma between two boys, this is shown from her facial expression, tone of voice and body language in scene 1 in the science rooms and also shown in the relationship between all three characters during the flashbacks. Most typical thriller films tend to be set in the night/dark such as the film "Prom Night" the outside lighting has been stuck to night time through out most of the film, However I.C.U uses this idea of keeping the lighting quite dark to create the intense atmosphere during scene 1 of the film but then it develops further by changing the type of light into morning and creating a very hollow and a intense type atmosphere in scenes 2 and 5 allowing to show that time has moved on and emphasize with the character.The main character, Alfie's motivation in the story was to kill the girlfriend and the other boy due to a deep corrupted past were he lived in a world were there use only relationship he had was with his father and that too consisted of the missuse of alcohol and long term abuse leading Alfie to become a psycho type character, here the film I.C.U again uses the idea of a typical serial killer seen in many thriller films such as "scream 1,2,3". The setting used in films such as "The Dark Knight" and "The Matrix" challenge the typical forms and conventions of the thriller based genre as I.C.U is based in a locked classroom/school and compared to "The Dark Knight and The Matrix" these two films are set either in the streets of America or some kind of underground new dimension hideouts.The characters costume from the film "Waz" automatically relates with Alfie’s costume from my film I.C.U and it uses the typical hoody type of outfit involved with teenagers to create that kind outsider image and a sense of "i don't belong". The quick flashbacks shown in I.C.U uses typical codes and conventions of thriller films as seen in the film "Bourne Ultimatum", there’s a series of quick, fast, flashy and snappy flashbacks in Matt Damon's "Bourne Ultimatum" this also relates to scenes 3 and 4 in I.C.U as the effects added onto these flashback give out the same impression allowing us to relate to other films from the same genre.