How my film uses/challenges conventions and represents social groups/issues [EVALUATION Q1]

My film opening balances using and challenging thriller film conventions, and represents a range of social groups and issues. Here are the main examples from my film opening:

 

STORYTELLING WITH COLOUR IN MY FILM

For my component 1 film opening, I use certain colours to create meaning. The 3 main colours in my film are:

                              BLUE                                                          PURPLE                                                          RED

The colours are used to symbolise the characters:

Blue - The Man

Red - The Girl 

Purple - The Relationship of The Man and The Girl

Blue represents The Man; there is a blue light in the shower shining down on him to introduce this association, and when he dreams of being with The Girl, she is wearing blue to suggest that she belongs to The Man (in his dream). 

Red represents The Girl; the girl's face is covered in (red) blood. Since the colour connotes danger due to its association with blood, red is used to present The Girl as a victim; someone in danger. 

Purple represents the relationship of The Man and The Girl; Since blue represents The Man, and red, The Girl, then combining these colours form purple, reflecting The Man and The Girl coming together to create a romantic relationship. This colour is shown in the dream sequence in the shot when The Man takes The Girl's hand.

BLACK & WHITE 

During the dream sequence, I plan to fully desaturate the shots, making it black and white only, to reflect The Man's dull life before meeting The Girl. Once he meets The Girl and takes her hand, the sequence saturates with colour again, and by more than 50%, to show that The Girl has made his life abundant and therefore exciting.

Black and White is also used during the dance scene, where only The Girl will be in colourless. This is to create a vast contrast between reality and the dream to emphasise The Man's delusional, which in turn emphasises his danger. This also reinforces the idea that The Girl is dead, as the lack of abundance of colours connote a lack of energy. Colours represents the liveliness of The Girl; the life is taken out of The Girl.

EXAMPLE OF A FILM USING COLOUR TO TELL A STORY

Her (Jonze, 2013) is a movie about a man who falls in love with an artificial intelligence program portrayed through a female voice. In the film, the colour red is associated with the AI through the advert of her, and so the increasing redness in the protagonist's life is therefore used to show that he belongs to her more and more as time passes; therefore showing his obsession with the AI.

This is quite similar to my film as in Her, as in my film, The Girl's blue clothing is used to convey the same meaning about her belonging to The Man

REPRESENTATION IN MY FILM

The Man and The Girl are clear binary opposites. This binary opposition of representation is used in the beginning of the film to trick the audience into thinking that they are a potential romantic couple, since in romantic movies, it is a convention for the love interests to be binary opposites. Presenting this false idea in the beginning of the film helps to deceive the audience and therefore emphasise the shock that the audience will feel once they find out the truth of the story.

The Girl is a young female character who is admirable, sweet, innocent, naive, and a vulnerable victim because of her inexperience with living life, whereas

The Man is slightly aged and mature, and is therefore smart. He abuses his power of knowledge to get what he wants, and he has a fragmented vision of righteousness.

The class and ethnicity of the characters are not fully defined in order to reinforce the focus on other representational areas.‌

An example of a media text including similar characters together is Fear (Foley, 1996).

Both my film and Fear have the representation of a young man who becomes obsessive over a young and innocent girl, and tangles up all romantic notion with control and possessiveness, not being able to comprehend the reality of the destruction he's bringing.