Research into conventions into the thriller genre - Miss Miller

 

Research into conventions of the thriller genre

Conventions in thriller films are the things that make the film what it is. Many different conventions go into making thriller films and the use of certain conventions separate one thriller film from another. Some conventions used could be the use of low key lighting, violence, timing of shots, how certain scenes are edited and many other conventions. Some of the conventions I have listed I have seen in the clip that I have looked at and analysed.

 

The first convention that I saw and noticed was the use of low key lighting. The use of low key lighting is to make the area that the victim or main character is in, this allows the audience to notice that they may be in some danger or something bad is going to happen to them in this scene. In the scene that I watched, which was called Grave Encounters, low key lighting was used quite often in certain scenes as it was set in a dark and mysterious place with low lighting in this place. Low key lighting creates tension for the audience and as I said before it allows them to imagine what might happen to the character in this scene which is more than likely going to be associated with danger. The audience also feel on edge when low key lighting is used as, obviously you cannot see your surroundings and where your going or whats going on around you, the audience instantly feel scared for the character and automatically want to help them before something bad happens.

 

The second convention that I saw the film had used which links to the first convention that I had noticed was the use of timing of shots. The use of this convention allows the director to build up tension and suspense for the audience to feel and just when they don't expect something to happen it does happen and scares them with full effect. In the clip that I analysed I can see that the film is filled with using this convention as the film/clip makes you jump when you least expect it, this allows the tension to build up within the audience and then make them jump as the do not expect something to jump out at them when it does. As I said this convention also links to the first one as low key lighting can build the tension and as the film resumes the timing of the shot that is going to make the audience jump with fear is just after they would expect it. There was a certain clip where the film had used low key lighting and then the lights appeared again and just after they did the jump scene appeared when the audience least expected it to and it had full effect of scaring the audience with this scene.

 

The third convention that I had noticed and picked up on was how some scenes had been edited so they were slower than other scenes, this allows the audience to focus on the things that are surrounding the characters and notice any danger around them. The use of this convention is to slow the scene down and also build suspense for the audience building to the scene where the victim is going to be attacked or killed. The clip that I had used to find these conventions only used this convention a few times in the clip, but used it well as it built the tension towards the victim being taken or killed. Slow editing can also be linked in with timing of shots, I noticed that the clip used slow editing just before some scenes where they had used timing of shots to also scare the audience. Slow editing just before a fast paced scene allows the audience to almost recognise that something bad is going to happen to the victim, when the fast paced scene links into the end of the slow editing scene it is obviously more rushed and builds more tension and suspense for the audience as they begin to fear for the victim.

 

The fourth convention that I saw that the clip had used was the use of violent scenes. The clip uses violent scenes as this is what a thriller film is about and is filled with. All of the conventions that I have listed above lead to violent scenes, most if not all thriller films have viiolent scenes included in them, this is obviously what makes them thrillers or one of the main contributers. Violent scenes occur after the scene has built up to this happening with the victim looking vulnerable to something bad happening to them and leading to them dying or being injured. Violent scenes are usually either short and take immediate effect on the audience or they are prolonged and make the most of what has happened to the victim. Violent scenes allow the audience to feel the victims pain and fear of being hurt or killed. Violent scenes usually scare the audience the most as they either kill the good guy in the film that the audience may feel that they are attached to in some way from watching the film.