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

The overall genre for ‘Reflection’ is undoubtedly a thriller; however we were careful when mentally constructing our ideas to include elements of romance and mystery. We were keen to include most of the elements that are related to the thriller genre including fear, excitement and violence. However in order to create a successful production we felt important to focus on sub-genres. The argument between Tom and Amy provided a romantic hint. In addition to romance another sub-genre was mystery. The audience is unclear as to who the killer truly is (due to the fact that his face is covered for the entire film). This gives the rest of the film a purpose, as none of the characters or the audience know the killer.

The idea of displaying multiple stabbings without actually witnessing the knife enter the body was influenced by the film Psycho




We used the same technique of shot-reverse-shot on the killer holding the knife then onto the victim. This enabled us to display the murder without having to deal with the complications of showing the knife enter the flesh, something that if not done properly could be disastrous.
The particular scene (the shower scene) was particularly inspirational to us as it clearly contained all necessary thriller elements. The bathroom setting, which is part of the mise-en-scene gave the audience a false sense of security. A bathroom tends to be the last place people fear attack. When creating our thriller we too wanted to surprise the audience with the location of murder and realised a public toilet would be more unsuspecting than a dark alley or basement.

Mirrors - 2008



The mirror scene in this trailer was incredibly inspirational for our thriller. The fear created by the sudden image was something we wanted to replicate.

We used various aspects to create a sense of realism in our film. To us making sure the mise-en-scene was as realistic as possible was incredibly important. The location was a huge part of that. This was why we were adamant from the very beginning that whatever story we ended up filming it would be set in a realistic location. This involved us viewing several locations including boxing rings and sport centres for a previous idea. Creating the timing was incredibly difficult. The plan had been for the film to be set at night, however the only time we were able to secure our location was between nine and eleven in the morning. Our solution to this was to film in locations where natural light was at a minimum. We were incredibly lucky in that we found a suitable area of pub were there were no windows and fairly low lighting. We filmed in the knowledge that once editing we could darken the lighting. Making the murder scene in the bathroom realistic was more difficult. We really wanted the scene to look realistic but limited funds and resources meant a lot had to be improvised. For example we used watered down ketchup as a substitute for blood.

When casting actors, we were focused in presenting the production as realistic so in regards to the ages of the characters (18-19) we decided that we would only use actors with a minimum age of seventeen and a maximum age of twenty. The dialogue between the characters was suited to the age group that they were portraying. It was a balance of finding the words that fitted the scenario we were trying create yet not making the conversation too young for the characters or too old.

By starting with a Point of view shot it allows the audience to enter into the story through the eyes of an unknown character. The audience is unsure what events will take place once inside so it creates suspense. The journey from the outside to inside the pub gives the viewer a sense of the location they are in. They are aware that this pub is situated in an busy urban environment. Once in the pub we use a medium shot + two shot which allows the viewer see the expressions on both the boy’s faces. Once the argument between Tom and Amy begins the angle changes and it becomes Matt’s POV shot, this shot not only allows the camera to get the best possible angles but makes sure that Matt’s presence is not forgotten during this tense moment.
The bathroom scene is a combination of POV and Match on action shots.