Question 1
Generic conventions within thrillers usually include lighting, cinematography, locations, iconography and sound. Lighting mostly plays a big part in thrillers as it provides the audience with a sense of suspense and shock, for example in the film ‘Scream 4’ the murders take place in the dark so that the audience don’t see clearly what is going on and therefore when they hear the screaming it is emphasized by the darkness because the killer is never clearly identified. Low key lighting helps create a sense of mystery because the murder is never actually shown in full light to the audience. Whereas on the other hand murders or gruesome scenes within thrillers can take place in daylight to add surprise to the violence to the scene for example this convention is used in ‘Reservoir dogs’. It would also make the scene more conventional to the thriller genre because the audience wouldn’t normally expect to experience this during daylight.
Also locations can initially help establish the thriller genre because they could emphasize how isolated the area is which then helps build a relationship between the audience and the characters because they feel their vulnerability. For example in the film ‘the conjuring’ the narrative is based around an old house in a remote location, mainly to add suspense to the narrative as they know that the location is very isolated and therefore more vulnerable.
Within my thriller my group and I wanted to use multiple locations to help build the suspense within the audience. For at the start we used an urban area within a built up city to help create an atmosphere of normality and help make the girl seem more stereotypically normal this would make her situation more dramatic as the audience would feel empathy for her. Also to juxtapose the two different mind in which she experiences it starts with her normal typical mind set when she is getting ready and prepared to go out, but the general progression of the thriller portrays her as slightly more sociologically unstable. The sequence progresses the location moves to the forest to emphasis her vulnerability, it also reiterates the idea of a female victim being vulnerable and exposed. The forest is a typical conventional location used in thrillers as it helps create a sense of mystery because the audience is unaware of what is in the forest as there are many obstacles which restrict the sight and add a sense of mystery to the thriller. For example a forest was used the conjuring and cabin the woods as it creates a theme of isolation and makes the whole scene more mysterious and creates suspense.
We also used mise-en-scene to add to the girls innocence and vulnerability and make the audience feel a strong feel of sympathy for the girl as they can see that something bad is going to happen to her bit yet the audience cannot prevent it from happening. For example her facial expressions, conveyed her to look somber and sad this individual feature of mise-en-scene helped to portray her innocence and make her seem more abnormal. Also her choice of clothing confuses the idea of her being unstable and possessed, we purposely decided to make her look normal to add to her vulnerability and normality. Furthermore as a group we feel as though we needed to help reiterate her innocence and signify her isolation. So therefore we decided to start the thriller of inside the characters house as we believed it would make the narrative theory more valuable as the audience are yet reminded by the potential life that the girl has ahead, which would add to the empathy agmonst the audience.
Another convention that we used was lighting and tried to make the girl seem in a dark light and portray her as innocent and vulnerable. For example at the start of the clip we see the girl under a dark light whilst getting ready mainly because it helps to convey the overarching theme of possession and emphasis the girls lack of power and ability to escape the possession.
Another convention used was sound within eerie music as we aimed to create a solemn mood as the audience watched the narrative unfold. For example there is a constant droning sound that continues as the sequence progresses, the main reason for using this particular sound technique was to help create suspense in the audience and make them feel tense. Also the music would once again reiterate her constant struggle to escape her identity. Furthermore as a group we felt as though the narratives mood needed to be conveyed more as the main girls facial expressions we thought didn't give the narrative enough justification.
Finally cinematography was used in order to make the girl seem innocent and vulnerable. We used a high angled shot when we see the girl from a high perspective the main reason for this is to add to the narrative theory and also to make the audience feel more empathy for the girl as she looks more open to attack. Ultimately though as a group we wanted her appearance to add suspense to the audience which is a key convention of successful thrillers.
My thriller uses similar conventions to the film ‘Shutter island’ where by low key lighting is used mainly throughout the whole film the main intention of this effect could have been to make the theme of suspense continually flow in the film making the audience even more engaged because they’re always on the edge of their seats and expecting an shock. My group and I aimed to make my thriller similar to shutter island as we believed it would add another layer of suspense to my thriller clip. We did this by adding and dampening the darkness in the application Final Cut Pro X. Our clip would therefore follow typical conventions of thrillers such as low key lighting because my thriller creates suspense amongst the audience, as the low key lighting adds mystery and makes the it harder for the audience to see what is happening so will make them anticipate what is going to happen next.
To ensure that my group followed the general conventions when filming we would use a filming schedule to ensure that we used time efficiently and waste as little time as possible, because in the filming industry time is a delicate issue as it dictates the money that the business will have to pay going out of the business which would ultimately lose them money and profits. We carried out the filming time well which then led to use allocating relevant times to each scene meaning that they were all filmed thoroughly and at relevant times which would make the thriller more effective. We had to ensure that we filmed at certain times of the day otherwise specific effects such as reflections from the lampposts couldn’t be achieved, as they needed to be on which is at night.
