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

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

First, the plot and how the sequence sets the scene for the rest of the story. I wanted something which would be as gripping as a thriller should, but which would challenge the conventions of typical Thriller plots. The first of those being the representation of the killer as the protagonist, or rather, a sympathetic antagonist; We see the film from the point of view of the killer, her plots and thoughts, and how the police struggle to catch her. Second, as you can read in the treatment, the police are presented in a bad light, failing to find her, even by the end. Then there’s the common enemy between the police and the killer. The terrorist in the city is a bad person, but he also the one who causes our protagonist to realise the error of her ways and be consumed by guilt, so he is there as a tool.

Secondly, the characters. As mentioned, our protagonist is a killer, instead of being part of the police force, which already makes her an unconventional character. She’s also a morgue worker, which is someone who would be less likely to be suspected, despite her knowledge of the human body and access to bodies already deceased, which is why I chose that profession for her. The convention I do use, and develop upon, the most common one, is the quietly insane trope. She is deluded into thinking she’s doing the right thing- it is common, for insane people, and often for completely sane people, to think this- but the insanity is not as easily noticeable while we see the events from her perspective. A lot of the time, she looks like a normal person.

Third, the title of the movie. ‘D.N.A’, though cliché, was chosen for a number of reasons. Primarily, it is the main tool in the killer’s plans to hide her own tracks under a trail of confusion. Furthermore,  further than being an acronym for “Deoxyribonucleic Acid”, it could also have another meaning underneath it. I toyed with other ideas for what D.N.A could stand for, a couple of ideas being “Dead;  Not Alive” in reference to the deceased murderers.

Fourth, the title fonts and animations. The titles of the movie are all in red, for its connection to blood; blood which the main protagonist collects from dead bodies. The animations which I used to present them have them floating across the screen, as though avoiding being seen by the killer as she makes her way to her work area and goes about doing her work, among other things. At the end, the title ‘D.N.A’ flickers on the screen. I chose it to be a representation of her sanity, and its unstable ways.