In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions?
Psychological Thriller Mystery Thriller Crime Thriller
Thriller is a genre of film, and television that uses suspense, tension, and excitement as its main elements. Thrillers heavily stimulate the viewer's moods, giving them a high level of anticipation, expectation, uncertainty, surprise, anxiety and terror. Films of this genre tend to be adrenaline-rushing, gritty and fast-paced; it keeps the audience on the edge of their seats. The common subgenres of thriller movies are psychological thrillers, crime thrillers, erotic thrillers and mystery thrillers. Another common subgenre of thriller is the spy genre which deals with fictional espionage. For example the movie ‘Training Day’.
Thrillers tend to be psychological,
threatening, and mysterious and at times involve large scale villainy such as
espionage, terrorism and conspiracy. There are several aspects of a thriller
movie that makes it a thriller movie. For example alternating camera shots such as close ups, mid shots, high angle shots
extreme close ups , slow panning shots, staggered zoom and birds eye view are
some of the shots thrillers use which help create tense moments and keep the
audience at the edge of their seats. The typical sound that is accompanied with these screen shots
are heavy drum and bass or low key music that uses crescendo at pivotal moments.
This creates a sense of tension, anxiety and anticipation, the crescendo highlights
certain moments of the movie that are significant or are revealing something
important. The use of crescendo is also important in hybrid thrillers such as
the movie 'Mirrors.' The use of crescendo will build up tension and scare the
audience. Fast paced car chases, guns and warehouses are also to be expected in
a thriller movie.
We decided to use the detective and
mystery sub-genres. This is because of their and realistic themes that would
target an audience with an older demographic. We also decided to produce a
thriller with these sub-genres because these sub genres have produced
successful films such as ‘se7en’, ‘Pulp Fiction’ and ‘The Departed’. The
elements that we decided to use were the suspense, uncertainty, anticipation an
anxiety elements. This is because the location we chose made it easy to
implement these techniques. We also decided to use these elements because many
of the great detective thrillers were based on these elements. The typical
conventions of thriller films are Camera shots that create
tension for the audience. More specifically shots that show the main character
in a situation that isn’t comfortable or a situation that the audience would
not like to be. The typical shots in a thriller film that act on the audiences
emotions and create the key elements of a thriller film are close ups to show
the tension of the character. Low angle shots to make a person or object seem
intimidating to the audience. Slow panning shots to create a sense if
anticipation and uncertainty. These shots create the key elements in a thriller
film to make the film a thriller. Sound, Action sequences, Props, Costume,
Back-story, Violence, Tension, Fast paced special effect, sense of mystery,
protagonist, and cliff hangers are the key factors that make a thriller thrilling.
The typical mise en scene is unusual clothing, police outfits, low key
lighting, and dark abandoned places.
We have been inspired
mostly by the opening titles of se7en which show clearly the thriller genre.
The opening titles also give an insight of the movie and give glimpses of
certain moments in the movie which aren’t necessarily shown during the movie or
are the events that occur before the movie starts, giving the audience an idea
of the events that occurred before the beginning of the film. I believe this is
a good way of showing the genre of the movie through the use of mise en scene.
The blade in se7en suggests the thriller through its connotations of danger,
fear and pain. This would also make the audience feel uncomfortable and
uncertain, which are also some of the elements that make a thriller film. In
our opening titles we are also going try and act on these conventions to create
a more conventional thriller film. Another feature of the se7en opening that we
took inspiration from was the soundtrack. The soundtrack in Se7en uses a lot of
bass and screechy unpleasant sounds throughout. This creates an uncomfortable
feel in the audience and adds to the tension of the opening thriller, this also
plays on the conventions of a thriller movie. In the thriller we have produced
we have made sure to use a soundtrack that also creates a tense atmosphere in
the audience, this was achieved through the use of a soundtrack that uses heavy
base and a low eerie sounds at times.
This stimulates the viewer’s emotions, making them feel anxious and
uncomfortable. We have been able to emulate the same type of soundtrack from
Se7en by using the similar music the stimulates the audiences emotions. This is
also the use of typical conventions of a thriller film. Se7en is also a hybrid movie consisting of
thriller and mystery and shows this through the mise en scene. For example Some
people are featured in the form of photographs that the antagonist is using-the
lighting, colour and the fact that the antagonist is highlighting them in black
could represent that they have died, showing the mysterious part of the
thriller, making the audience ask questions.
This is shown in our opening thriller when the dead body is discovered.
This shows the mysterious part of our thriller. This is because the audience
don’t know how the person has died or what caused the person to die. This is
also emulating the Se7en opening because the Se7en opening shows things that
have happened before the beginning of the movie giving the audience a back story of the events
that occurred before the start of the film. This is shown as the phone call at
the beginning. The phone call gives the audience an idea of how the detective was
placed on the case. Our opening titles
are also going to show the hybrid genre of the movie through the mise en scene.
We are going to have props such as case files and detective clothing to show
the mystery in our thriller showing a hybrid movie opening.
The conventional clothing in
a thriller film is usually smart , including suit, tie and at times hats. The protagonist(s) usually wear smart
clothing and are usually part of a crime solving organisation and wear clothes
that aren’t the standard clothing for the organisation. The antagonists usually
wear clothing that resembles their personality and role usually higher
authority or role in the organisation. The
clothes the charcaters wear usually also suggest the age of the person. For
example in the movie ‘Se7en’ the older man wears clothing that is more mature,
choosing colours that are pastel to show maturity, whereas the younger man
wears clothing that has colour ‘black’ suggesting elegance, power and aggression. This would suggest the younger
mans immaturity and lack of experience.
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