The generic conventions of a thriller all involve empowering the villain and making the victim seem as inferior as possible. One way of doing this is through cinematography and using a low angle when showing or presenting the victim to the audience. One example of a low angle used in a thriller film is in 'The Conjuring' when the main actress falls down the stairs. As she lays at the bottom of the stairs a low angle is shown to highlight and exaggerate how 'low' she is showing how she is inferior and a weak match to the poltergeist or antagonist. This is conventional to a thriller as in order for the audience to be able to empathise with the main actor or actress they as a person need to be shown as weak and vulnerable in order for the audience to anticipate the fatal ending of the character as the audience will relate and favour the weaker person in order to try and empower them even though they are aware that the events are inevitable.
Another generic convention of a thriller is the use of the mise-en-scene element of a form of weapon. The weapon most stereotypically associated with thriller is a knife. This is as a knife is a relatable and familiar object so can relate successfully back to the audience involving them in the scene more. As well as this a weapon often requires quite a gruesome death as it is not always a fast death and so is prolonged and requires a close quarters between both the villain and antagonist. This allows the feeling or foreboding and dread to build up within the audience as during the course of the film the actor gets weaker allowing the poltergeist to catch up on them and stab them. This can be related to the film 'Scream 2' when the actress is seated in a cinema. As the film starts and her attention is drawn away she is stabbed which is not immediately picked up by her character. As she notices, she is able to clamber to the front of the cinema searching for someone able to help her but her death is inevitable as so a prolonged dramatic death, including gory blood across her body, to be played out for the audience.
2. Discuss how you followed the generic conventions. You must refer to your film in detail. Use special examples and elements.
Weapon
A weapon is used in the form of a knife. This allows the audience to put themselves into the scene and grabbing the knife as it happens to be the one familiar object available. This is reiterated by the idea that the main actor first uses the knife to pierce open a microwave dinner reinforcing the everyday uses of a knife and what a common object it is.This adds to the scene and makes it seem more realistic as it is a tool you would find just as you would find another type of knife in a kitchen. A knife is very conventional and commonly used as it creates a more gory death as multiple wounds are usually achieved as a result. This allows there to be more suspense as the scene can be dragged out as a death by knife is slower and more theatrical then the other more action conventional methods of a gun.
Unknown location
In this scene a house is used to portray a natural environment and to act as the main actors house. We see the main actor walk to the front of the house but the locations where about is never revealed which adds to the element of unknown. By not showing where the house is the audience become unaware of the surrounding so as he then escapes, in search for help, it sends a panic through the audience as they don’t know where she should run to either.
Weapons
A weapon is used in the form of a knife. This allows the audience to put themselves into the scene and grabbing the knife as it happens to be the one familiar object available. This is reiterated by the idea that the main actor first uses the knife to pierce open a microwave dinner reinforcing the everyday uses of a knife and what a common object it is.This adds to the scene and makes it seem more realistic as it is a tool you would find just as you would find another type of knife in a kitchen. A knife is very conventional and commonly used as it creates a more gory death as multiple wounds are usually achieved as a result. This allows there to be more suspense as the scene can be dragged out as a death by knife is slower and more theatrical then the other more action conventional methods of a gun.
Female victim
We decided to subvert the stereotype in our thriller as our research outlined that the main audience for a thriller is typically male. Therefore, as for a thriller to be successful the audience should be able to relate to the victim, we chose a male to represent the main actor. However in order to relate to the few female members of the audience we decided to play with the characters traits and therefore made him a dancer, on the way home from an activity to represent the out of school life of many teenage girls.
Handheld
Handheld movements are very popular in thrillers as they seem less professional and so add a realistic touch to the clip as it seems more spontaneous. A handheld camera angle is used when the main actor runs out of the house and is searching outside the house for someone to help him.This camera movement creates a jerky unclear image which helps shows how desperate the boy is to get away as well as portraying that the scene was frantic as the shaky camera leading to little clarity reiterates how we imagine the victim is feeling on the inside. As through the camera being jerky this then appears to be how shaken up the actor or actress is as if they were to be holding the camera the shots would be both unclear and shaky which adds to the sense of fear shown by the character.
High Angle
A high angle is conventional to the thriller genre as it shows a character from a position or height above. Due to this we decided to use this camera angle on the victim in times when he was at his lowest to emphasis how weak he is and how inferior he is to the situation. For instance, one example of when we used this angle was outside after the main actor had searched for help. After being ignored by the stranger outside, for reasons that are made apparent at the end, the actor reaches a new low and ends up on his knees in a heap on the floor. By showing this through a high angle, with the camera looking down on the actor, shows how the poltergeist has broken him, made him weak and reiterates how inferior the character really is.
Unknown location
In this scene a house is used to portray a natural environment and to act as the main actors house. We see the main actor walk to the front of the house but the locations where about is never revealed which adds to the element of unknown. By not showing where the house is the audience become unaware of the surrounding so as he then escapes, in search for help, it sends a panic through the audience as they don’t know where she should run to either.
Weapons
A weapon is used in the form of a knife. This allows the audience to put themselves into the scene and grabbing the knife as it happens to be the one familiar object available. This is reiterated by the idea that the main actor first uses the knife to pierce open a microwave dinner reinforcing the everyday uses of a knife and what a common object it is.This adds to the scene and makes it seem more realistic as it is a tool you would find just as you would find another type of knife in a kitchen. A knife is very conventional and commonly used as it creates a more gory death as multiple wounds are usually achieved as a result. This allows there to be more suspense as the scene can be dragged out as a death by knife is slower and more theatrical then the other more action conventional methods of a gun.
Female victim
We decided to subvert the stereotype in our thriller as our research outlined that the main audience for a thriller is typically male. Therefore, as for a thriller to be successful the audience should be able to relate to the victim, we chose a male to represent the main actor. However in order to relate to the few female members of the audience we decided to play with the characters traits and therefore made him a dancer, on the way home from an activity to represent the out of school life of many teenage girls.
Handheld
Handheld movements are very popular in thrillers as they seem less professional and so add a realistic touch to the clip as it seems more spontaneous. A handheld camera angle is used when the main actor runs out of the house and is searching outside the house for someone to help him.This camera movement creates a jerky unclear image which helps shows how desperate the boy is to get away as well as portraying that the scene was frantic as the shaky camera leading to little clarity reiterates how we imagine the victim is feeling on the inside. As through the camera being jerky this then appears to be how shaken up the actor or actress is as if they were to be holding the camera the shots would be both unclear and shaky which adds to the sense of fear shown by the character.
High Angle
A high angle is conventional to the thriller genre as it shows a character from a position or height above. Due to this we decided to use this camera angle on the victim in times when he was at his lowest to emphasis how weak he is and how inferior he is to the situation. For instance, one example of when we used this angle was outside after the main actor had searched for help. After being ignored by the stranger outside, for reasons that are made apparent at the end, the actor reaches a new low and ends up on his knees in a heap on the floor. By showing this through a high angle, with the camera looking down on the actor, shows how the poltergeist has broken him, made him weak and reiterates how inferior the character really is.
3. Compare your thriller film to another thriller film to show your understanding of generic conventions and developing a real thriller film. Include examples demonstrates your knowledge and understanding.
I will be comparing my film to room 1408. One convention used
as a characteristic of my film is that we both entered on the sub-genre of a psychological
thriller so focused on a psychological paranormal scare as opposed to blood and
gore featured in films such as Saw and Scream. As well as this we both chose to challenge the typical conventions of a blonde female victim and chose to feature a male as the starring role. By subverting the stereotype often associated with thrillers is effective as it makes our film stand out and also caters to the wider proportion of our audience (males) more effectively.
Another similarity between our films is that we both featured clock and the time as a specific reference to our films narrative. A clock,
although a typical daily object, manages to add a lot of suspense and anticipation onto a film or a particular scene as it is able to create a time limit which puts the audience on edge as they wonder what's going to happen when the time runs out as within the thriller genre inevitably something will.For instance, in our clip from the unknown it shows the counting down of a microwave showing 3,2,1 and 'end' along side bleeping as the meal was done. This replicated and embodied the counting down of the safety the main character was in and showed that the paranormal activity was about to begin as in timing with the sounds on screen shown by the microwave a off-screen sound of a large bang was heard suggesting the idea that the boy is no longer alone and may be in great danger giving a large sense of foreboding to the audience. On the other hand, in 1408 the clock in the hotel remains at the same time and something happens every minute passed. This also creates foreboding from the audience as the actions of the ghost corresponded to the time on the clock so the audience were aware and anticipated the countdown in the film between each happening.
Another similarity is that my film features a symmetrical main section using the song 'we've only just begun' by the Carpenters' as through watching the film we focused and drew a lot of inspiration from it and so wanted to include it into our film. This song is effective as the tone and tempo of the music makes it appear as a contrapuntal sound however the lyrics and message from the song show a deeper meaning and connection to the thriller genre making the song more conventional to the thriller genre. And through using a radio makes the scene more relatable to the audience as
radio is a typical house hold object which would not necessarily have any scare value to the audience it allows, as demonstrated by this scene, the ghost or villain to have a voice and speak to both the victim and audience through song which is able to set the tone and mood for the scene.
With both these objects despite their boring persona I think they will make good additions to my film as they are relatable objects found within most home which will allow my audience to connect and relate to my film more.
4. How us the title of your thriller film conventional to the thriller genre?
The title of our film is also stereotypical to the thriller genre as they often rely on the element of 'unknown' to draw the audience in and create suspense. This sense of unknown can be directed towards either the central character or the audience which creates an enigma. In our thriller we decided to do both, making the audience and the main character find out 'the unknown' at the same time. We did this in hope that it would unite both the character and the audience as they feel the same and would react the same at the element of shock and surprise at the end. This is important with in a thriller as the overall success relies on the reaction and impact felt by the audience. As well as this our title is typical to the thriller genre as it is one word 'unknown' which is punchy and dramatic and sums up the film without giving away too much just as the film intends to do. This inspiration came from other successful thriller films such as 'Se7en', 'Saw' and 'Scream'.
although a typical daily object, manages to add a lot of suspense and anticipation onto a film or a particular scene as it is able to create a time limit which puts the audience on edge as they wonder what's going to happen when the time runs out as within the thriller genre inevitably something will.For instance, in our clip from the unknown it shows the counting down of a microwave showing 3,2,1 and 'end' along side bleeping as the meal was done. This replicated and embodied the counting down of the safety the main character was in and showed that the paranormal activity was about to begin as in timing with the sounds on screen shown by the microwave a off-screen sound of a large bang was heard suggesting the idea that the boy is no longer alone and may be in great danger giving a large sense of foreboding to the audience. On the other hand, in 1408 the clock in the hotel remains at the same time and something happens every minute passed. This also creates foreboding from the audience as the actions of the ghost corresponded to the time on the clock so the audience were aware and anticipated the countdown in the film between each happening.
Another similarity is that my film features a symmetrical main section using the song 'we've only just begun' by the Carpenters' as through watching the film we focused and drew a lot of inspiration from it and so wanted to include it into our film. This song is effective as the tone and tempo of the music makes it appear as a contrapuntal sound however the lyrics and message from the song show a deeper meaning and connection to the thriller genre making the song more conventional to the thriller genre. And through using a radio makes the scene more relatable to the audience as
radio is a typical house hold object which would not necessarily have any scare value to the audience it allows, as demonstrated by this scene, the ghost or villain to have a voice and speak to both the victim and audience through song which is able to set the tone and mood for the scene.
With both these objects despite their boring persona I think they will make good additions to my film as they are relatable objects found within most home which will allow my audience to connect and relate to my film more.
4. How us the title of your thriller film conventional to the thriller genre?
The title of our film is also stereotypical to the thriller genre as they often rely on the element of 'unknown' to draw the audience in and create suspense. This sense of unknown can be directed towards either the central character or the audience which creates an enigma. In our thriller we decided to do both, making the audience and the main character find out 'the unknown' at the same time. We did this in hope that it would unite both the character and the audience as they feel the same and would react the same at the element of shock and surprise at the end. This is important with in a thriller as the overall success relies on the reaction and impact felt by the audience. As well as this our title is typical to the thriller genre as it is one word 'unknown' which is punchy and dramatic and sums up the film without giving away too much just as the film intends to do. This inspiration came from other successful thriller films such as 'Se7en', 'Saw' and 'Scream'.
Your analysis of question 1, demonstrates a proficient understanding of how your thriller follows the codes and conventions. You have included a variety of examples to support the points that you have made and have also explained your reasons well. Aim to include images from your thriller to support the points that you have made.
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