Conventions and Representation...

How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?

"The genre of psychological thriller is a very complex and challenging one to take on, especially for a team of teenagers that have practically no experience in this domain. We spent most of the production time researching the idea and making sure that we would be able to pull it off in a way that is as realistic as possible. Through the use of conventions and other elements, we were able to create a final product that highlights and brings into light the prominent struggles of individuals suffering from mental illness, while still keeping in mind that it is a psychological thriller, therefore the viewer needed to be disoriented and confused as well, truly living through the psychological issues along with the protagonist. We wanted to keep an element of mystery and confusion throughout the opening, and only have what is actually happening be explained and revealed in a whole movie.

The conventions that we used in the beginning are the typical conventions found at the beginning of movies, our names and roles, the name of our production company, and a company that we “associated with”. We wanted to keep the conventions simple and classic, as the rest of the opening is more chaotic and confusing to the viewers.

Through representation we try to give the viewer a small taste of how disorienting and challenging it can be to live with such a mental illness. It can make people who suffer from dissociative disorders feel less alone and like they are getting some representation in the media with accurate portrayals of what they go through.

We tried to portray his confusion and mental instability through the usage of many jump cuts and changes in locations, giving the viewer a bit of understanding into the main character’s mind and his interpretations of reality. The sound adds another element of chaos and confusion, adding layers and depth to the opening. All of these different elements are thought out to have maximum impact on the viewers understanding and comprehension of what is happening."