Evaluation Question 1

In what way does your media products use, develop or challenge forms & conventions of real media products

Comparing my film to other professionally made spy films I believe that my film conforms with many of their conventions. Firstly, the story in many spy films usually start with the agent already on a mission which we find out about as the opening progresses. This can be seen in my film as well as The Infiltrator has already started his mission when the films starts however my film explains his mission all in one go, this is seen in my film when The Observer first talks to The Infiltrator, unlike other spy films were we find out what the protagonists task is while they are doing it. For example, if an agents task is to retrieve information we the audience would find this out when the agent actually collects the information.

However one thing that I did to challenge the conventions of real spy films was that I have the protagonist of the film presumably killed by the antagonist this makes the audience wonder what is going to happen next as they believe that the films hero is dead making them wonder if this is the films ending being shown to use and the film is going to explain how we got here or if that character really wasn't the films protagonist and that it's going to be someone who wishes to avenge him. This is not seen in many spy films with an being the opening of Skyfall (2011) as James Bond is shot by a sniper on a train and the opening credits show him falling into the river below.

The Hunter

Also, some of the characters in the film opening conform with character roles created by Propp's. This can be seen with the character The Observer who conforms with the character archetype  of the dispatcher and the helper. This is because throughout the film he helps the hero by telling him the location of the intel and how he should get to it. This conforms to the archetype as the helper./dispatcher is always their to assist the hero no matter what situation they are in.
Another character that fits one of the character archetypes is The Hunter who conforms with the villain role. This is because he is mysterious, powerful and has a hatred towards the hero. He is also one of the few who matches the hero in power showing that they are equals

On the technical side of creating the film I took a lot of inspiration from many other spy film. This is because I wanted to see how they filmed to make certain shots effective. For example a low angle shot is commonly used to make characters look stronger however in the spy genre it can also be used to simulate someone looking up. While I didn't use a low angle shot I used a high angle shot when The Infiltrator is going up the stairs so that it looks like someone is looking down on him as he slowly starts climbing the stairs until he walks right pass the camera. Furthermore, I also used close up shots on when The Infiltrator is looking at things to emphasize the item making them look detailed. This can be seen when I use an over the shoulder shot of The Infiltrator holding the USB stick, while this isn't technically a close-up shot the shot is done to emphasize the USB stick so the audience realises that something's not right.

Over the shoulder shot

The music that we used is also conventional of the Spy genre. This can be seen as the first piece of music that we used is quiet but eerie creating suspense this was done to connote with the character he is sneaking around a building and if he is caught the results could be catastrophic (gets killed) so the music represents this feeling the next piece of music is used when The Infiltrator is cornered by The Hunter and just barely escapes with the music kicking in immediately. This was done to show that The Infiltrator is no longer safe he is being hunted down by a mysterious killer who could appear from anywhere and the music shows this by being loud and intense creating tension as it makes the audience wonder what is going to happen next.

One of the more noticeable things in my film is that in-between the two music tracks there is an ambient silence as The Infiltrator slowly looks up seeing a mysterious hooded man standing there and then an ominous sound plays as his face is revealed. This was done to make his first appearance more sinister as when the music cuts out the audience wonders what is going to happen next only for them to realise what is going on when they see the man standing there.