How my thriller opening contained the conventions of a thriller

in what ways does your media product represent particular social groups

Thriller ConventionsConventions are typical features that we expect from a particular genre of film in

this case. For example, you would expect a horror to have gory and bloody scenes.

Conventions can be portrayed through many aspects of a film. These can include:•Props•Costume•Dialogue•Characters•Settings•Story line•Camera work

Through this PowerPoint, I will be highlighting the different thriller conventions and how we used them in our thriller opening. I will also be making reference to other thrillers and be comparing them to my own

Titling

1. The title swipes across the screen , fading in like mist. This gives an element of mystery and suspense which then sets the idea of what type of thriller this film is going to be

2. The title clearly shows the name of the thriller . This doesn’t stay on screen for a long time before it begins to fade out again. Giving the audience a short space of time to simply stare at the title

3. The title swipes across the screen the same way it faded in.

Our titling was inspired by the title sequence of the Alfred Hitchcock title sequence of Psycho.

1. The title fades in slowly from grey to white. This complements the clouds behind the title as the horrible grey clouds help to represent gloom.

2. The title is clearly shown on screen and stands out from the grey clouds and the black background behind it. It stays on screen for a couple of seconds

3. The title then cracks horizontally through the middle to the sound of thunder and begins to fade back out.

Sound • Thrillers tend to use a lot of non-diegetic sound such as music to help create tension. An example of this is the

music which is used for the very famous shower scene in the film Psycho where the female who had committed the crime of stealing money was stabbed to death.

• Musical instruments which are likely to be used in a thriller movies include: -Drums- sometimes used to emphasise the idea of someone’s heart beating really fast and hard -Piano- a few notes played really quickly to signify someone running -Guitar- provides fast music for fighting scenes

•Sound tracks are also put into thrillers and amplify the tension within the film. Such sounds as breathing, guns being loaded and glass shattering can be amplified to enhance the idea of the force in how the action was carried out.

•In our thriller, we used a sound track of myself ( the damsel in distress) screaming. This then gets played in the dark which creates enigmas as to where she may be and why she is screaming.•In our thriller, we used slow mysterious music which consisted of piano keys being played

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• We also had digetic sound which was the damsel in distress screaming and asking for help. This helps to complement the scary music as it signifies her

emotion and helps to create enigmas as to what she can see and why she has been tied up and locked away.

Mise en scene • Often, the conventions of the mise en scene in a thriller are in remote locations.• They often are also filmed in dark places such a cellars, in the woods and alley ways. This then

creates more of a scary experience for the audience as it gives the idea that it is difficult to see and that the individual is therefore in danger.

This is a screen shot from the thriller film The Hand That Rocks The Cradle. It is very dark and in a small room of the house where someone has lost consciousness.

This is a screen shot from our thriller opening. The shot is much like the shot above as it is in a dark room and causes the audience to question why the characters are there and tied up. As she is in a dark room it also encourages the audience to question exactly what/who is in the room with her

We made our villain wear black leather gloves to create enigmas and to enhance the idea that they are doing something which they do not want to get caught for. Black leather gloves are also a convention of a villain which helps the audience to understand he is a antagonist.

Location and costume have a big impact upon creating the conventions of a thriller. As identified above, we tried to use some of these conventions. We used dark and mysterious locations along with props such as black leather

gloves which are often used with such thrillers such as crime thrillers.

We decided to use the boiler room as it was extremely dark and had a warning sign on the door to warn people of danger. This encodes meaning as this sign is often associated with death.

Camera Work• The establishing shots in a thriller doesn’t always give away as much as other genres of

films may. A panning shot is an effective way to give a sweeping view of the whole location and show the setting of the film.

For our establishing shot, we used a panning shot of the playground to clearly show what the location of the film was set in. This panning shot was very slow and complemented the non-diegetic music which was being played over the top of this shot which was also slow and mysterious.

Coming back to this shot which I used to talk about mise en scene, it also illustrates where we used a high angle shot. We used a high angle shot as a point of view shot to show that someone is looking down on her and to show that she is not the dominant character at this time. This then helps to show that she is being subjected aggression

In the end of our thriller, we used mid shots and close ups. This was used to make her facial expressions clearer and to helps show that she was scared. This then made sure that we had the audience concentrating on her and only her

This shot was an effective example of a point of view shot. This helps to show that someone is hiding in the bushes and creates an enigma as to why the person in the bushes doesn’t want to be seen and why they are watching this specific person.

Editing

We used match on action towards the beginning of the thriller. This is demonstrated with the screen shots above. A match on action helps the flow of film which is also known as continuity being maintained.

We also used a form of editing called time stretching. This can be used to slow down or speed up a section of film. We used it to speed up the film where it is a point of view shot of someone walking to where the damsel in distress is being kept. This helped to keep the audience interested as if this want done, it may have gone on for too long.

We used many cross fades in the beginning of our thriller opening whilst showing our establishing shots. This helped to give a smooth cross over between shots. Along with the music playing over this scene, the cross fades also helped to give more of an unnerving feeling and made the school look a little spooky. For a transition, we also used a

fuzzy screen to give the effect that the damsel in distress was being filmed. This then allows the audience to learn a little more about the villain. This also linked in with the scene following this transition as we had the DVD and the film club sign which all tied together.

By adding in credits at the beginning of our thriller, it replicated what really happens at the beginning of any film and made it look more professional. We also tried to replicate the order in which the names would be shown by putting the director first.