Question 1 - Use, challenge or develop conventions

The task was to create a two minute thriller opening sequence that engaged the audience and used the conventions of a thriller genre.
The conventions of a thriller film could include; Low key lighting, isolated location, female victim, silence, close ups and hidden identity of the killer.

An isolated location is shown in the film, "The strangers" when the cinematography of a long shot shows an abandoned house in the middle of no where. The point of using an isolated location is to make the victim seem vulnerable and weak but also created an easy target for the killer. The audience become engaged through the shot of the abandoned location as they realise straight away that the victim has no escape and so therefore the abandoned location foreshadows the victims death. This creates a sinister and dramatic effect for the audience because they straight away become intrigued into the film and immediately build a relationship with the victim and sympathise with them. The audience want to know what is going to happen to the victim and so feel encouraged to watch the rest of the film just to find out what happens.

Another convention is low key lighting and this is shown in the film, "Annabelle" when the victim is in the house on her own in the dark. Already the low key lighting creates a sinister effect and the audience know that something bad is going to happen. This engages the audience as they begin to build a relationship with the victim and they can see how vulnerable the victim is as they have no escape and they don't know that something bad is going to happen. The low key lighting makes it hard for the audience to see what is happening in the sequence and this creates shock and surprise when something suddenly happens as the audience didn't expect it. The low key lighting helps to create suspense and leave the audience in tension as to what is going to happen next.

The third convention is using a female victim and this is shown in the film "Insidious." Female victims are very conventional and are used in a lot of thriller films this is because of the stereotypes that has been created for girls. Stereotypically girls are portrayed as vulnerable and weak and cannot defend for themselves and this makes them a very easy target for the killer as the killer is able to murder them easily. Girls are also represented as naive and innocent and this also makes them seem like the weaker sex and the less powerful character. Using a female victim engages the audience as they know straight away that a death is going to take place as the victim cannot defend themselves and so a female victim foreshadows death and pain. This keeps the audience engaged as they want to see how the victim dies and who is the killer. The audience are able to build a relationship with the victim and they feel sympathy towards her as they know that she is going to die.

Another convention is to use silence and this was shown in the film, "Shutter Island" when the two men are walking around an abandoned prison. Silence helps to build suspense within the audience because the audience don't know when something bad is going to happen. It builds up tension for the audience and leaves them on edge as to when the killer is going to appear. By using silence it also creates shock and suspense for the audience because it means that when the killer does appear, it makes the audience jump and this keeps them intrigued even more. Silence also foreshadows death and makes the victim appear weak and vulnerable because as the silence overpowers the victim and makes the killer seem threatening even if the killer hasn't appeared yet. Silence is used in all thriller films to lead the audience into the unknown and make them jump when something sudden happens.

Another convention is close ups and this is shown in the film, "Final Destination" when there are close ups of certain objects such as a nail and powder. Close ups are used in all thriller films to entice the audience and make them wonder what is going to happen next. The close up foreshadows that a death is going to take place but also the audience wonder how certain objects are linked together. Another use of close ups is to show the facial expressions of the characters which helps the audience to build a relationship with them. It also helps the audience to understand how the characters are feeling. Close ups are used a lot on the victim to show the victims vulnerability and to make the victim seem weak and powerless compared to the killer. The close up allows the audience to understand how the victim feels and this also helps when building a relationship as the audience feel sympathy towards the victim. Close ups are also used on the killers face and this makes the audience feel threatened and powerless by the killer.

The last convention is hidden identity of the killer and this is used in the film "Scream" throughout the whole film. Hidden identity helps to create suspense, surprise and shock from the audience as it creates an enigma for them. The enigma makes the audience want to watch the whole film just to try and find out who the killer is. Hidden identity builds up suspense and tension for the audience and leaves them on edge to find out whether the killer is someone they thought it would be or not. The audience are able to build a relationship with the victim as they know as much as the victim knows about the killer and this makes the victim easy to relate as they are put into the victims shoes. The audience begin to understand how the victim feels and they feel threatened by the killer as the audience can't see their face. It makes the killer seem powerful and patronising and using a hidden identity of the killer is a conventional way in order to keep the audience intrigued in the whole film and they feel encouraged to watch it to find out who the killer is.

Some ideas and inspirations I gained was to use a hidden identity of the killer. This would help engage my audience and intrigue them to watch the rest of the film to find out who the killer is. Hidden identity is very conventional to a thriller sequence as it allows the audience to define who the characters and allows the to build a relationship with the victim. Hidden identity will also keep the audience engaged throughout the film so they can see who the killer is when the killer is revealed.

Another inspiration that I gained was silence as I think that this is a massive convention to the thriller genre and this would be used wen the victim is about to get killed by the killer. By using silence at this point it would build up tension for the audience and leave them on edge as to whether the victim is going to die or not. The silence also helps to represent the victim as vulnerable and weak as the silence is over powering and threatening towards the victim. The silence allows the audience to be placed into the victims shoes and feel exactly how the victim is feeling and this is intriguing for the audience and also encourages them to watch the rest of the sequence.

The last inspiration I gained was to use a female victim and this would be used because following the stereotypes, I think that a female victim would engage the audience more as they are represented as weak, vulnerable and naive and so therefore shown to be an easy target for the killer. The female victim also foreshadows that a death is going to take place within the sequence and so this entices the audience to watch the sequence to find out if the victim dies or not.

My thriller opening sequence uses conventions of the thriller genre and follows a stereotypical narrative. As a group we achieved using the conventions by filming our production in constant low key lighting throughout the sequence and also I added effects to make the brighter scenes appear darker, For instance this was used when the filming took place outside and the filming seemed very lighting so I had to edit the production to make the scenes a lot darker in order to create a low key lighting effect. I did this in order to create shock, surprise and suspense for the audience as it made it harder for them to see what was happening and it would help make the audience jump when the killer suddenly appeared. It makes the audience feel vulnerable and so they can therefore relate to the victim and be placed into the victims shoes. The production was filmed in low key lighting in order to create a sinister effect and lead the audience into the unknown.

Another convention used was a female victim. This was because I wanted the audience to feel sympathy towards the victim. Females are shown as innocent and naive and so this would create a very conventional narrative and the the audience would know straight away that the victim is going to die. By using a female victim it means that the audience are left in suspense as to when the victim is going to die and it also makes the thriller sequence more relateable as the female victim enables the audience to be placed in the victims shoes and the audience are able to build a close relationship with the victim and feel exactly how she is feeling.

The last convention that I am going to use in the production is a hidden identity of the killer. I want to keep the identity hidden as it makes the audience wonder who the killer could be and whether the killer is close in terms of relationship with the victim. It also creates an element of shock and surprise for the audience when the killer is finally revealed as the audience would be shocked to see who it is. By keeping the identity hidden, it also creates an enigma and keeps the audience engaged within the sequence as they feel intrigued to watch till the end to find out who the killer is and whether the victim dies or not. Keeping the identity hidden also portrays the killer as powerful and creates more of a sinister effect. It also leads them into the unknown and keeps them on the edge of their seat to try and find out who the killer is. Throughout our thriller, a mask will be placed over the killers face whenever the killer is shown in a shot. For instance, when the killer goes to stab the victim, then a mask will be used to hide the face of the killer and this makes the scene seem even more sinister and creates a dramatic effect for the audience.