Throughout
my media product there are many conventions, which are either stretched,
challenged or simply developed in order to create an interesting and intriguing
opening sequence in which I hope the target audience would be interested in
watching the rest of the currently non-existent film.
Compared
to current, existing thriller films such as Seven or The Woman in Black, which
I have closely worked alongside in order to create a worthwhile piece of work, Broken
Developments simply agrees with the classic stereotypes of a female protagonist
and a male antagonist unlike The Woman in Black where the protagonist is a male
(Arthur Kipps) and the antagonist is a woman (Jennett Humphrey, The Woman in
Black.) As well as this, both the antagonist and the protagonist are wearing
black. This highlights and implies that maybe both characters are the victim of
certain events or maybe that both are seen as the villain. Arthur Kipps is seen
as the villain from the village people but also the victim to the audience as
he is the one being haunted. On the other hand, The Woman in Black could be
seen as the victim as she was the one who suffered through the loss of her
child and a slow painful death but also the villain as she is the one who is
haunting everybody and causing the deaths of the villager’s children.
Furthermore, it is evident that my opening sequence of Broken Developments
advances the convention of classic stereotypes as seen in Jaws in which the
female roles are ones which are more likely to be the protagonist (shown by
Laura McLean in Broken Developments.) As Broken Developments is not intended to
be a hybrid thriller, unlike Sherlock Holmes (thriller-action) which is also a
period film as it is set in the 1800-1900s, classic conventions of characters,
lighting, sound and props are evident. In Sherlock Holmes, props are used to
highlight the era in which it is set; mobile phones or any other sort of
technology is absent. Instead of a laptop, Dr John Watson uses a typewriter to
type his story of his “great friend, Sherlock Holmes”. On the contrary, in Broken
Developments there is a stalker (played by Charlie Boyden) who has an obsession
on a certain girl; he spends all of his time locked up in his room in order to
plan her death or kidnapping. The only time the audience would ever see the
stalker outside of his house is when he is taking photos of her or actual
kidnapping, which is seen much later on in the film. Similarly to Shutter, Broken
Developments focuses on technology such as camera to capture the extent of
danger. The true stalker tendencies arise with photography and even letter
writing, which is partly seen in the opening sequence. This relates to a piece
of literature by Ian McEwan, Enduring Love. This highlights thriller
conventions through tension building up over time through letters and the fact
of someone always being there; watching your every move. Especially in the circumstances
of Broken Developments where clips of Charlie are being shown to highlight the
stalker effect. Nevertheless, in all of these films there are clear rivalries,
antagonists and protagonists.
Woman in Black, Male Protagonist
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