Conventions are the different elements that feature in a film that are what we would expect. Conventions are different in different genre films. For example conventions in a thriller film consist of things such as low key lighting, blood and weapons and also an isolated setting.
Some other conventions of the thriller genre that I haven't analysed in this clip are suspense, shock, surprise, tension, death, isolation and an enigma.
The clip I have chosen to analyse is a clip from Halloween H20 : 20 Years Later. I have chosen to analyse this scene as they have easily identified conventions of a thriller genre and I can understand how they are used to make a scene seem scary and make an audience feel on edge.
Unidentified/ Hidden Murderer
In this scene the antagonist/ murderer is wearing a mask which relates back to the narrative of the film being set on Halloween. However this is also a convention of the thriller genre as the murderer has a hidden identity. The purpose of this convention is to create an enigma and make the murderer seem mysterious and unknown. This is conventional to the thriller genre because we are usually expected to be frightened of the murderer and the antagonist. By having the antagonist and murderer masked it helps to stop us from building a relationship with that character as we cannot focus or experience any of his true facial expressions and it makes it hard for us to find out much information about him. Therefore this reduces the audience from building a relationship with the character and makes them feel uncomfortable when looking at them because they are left wondering about him and what his reasoning's are for murdering.
Weapons
There is a huge focus on weapons in this scene and the weapon that is used is a knife. This is conventional to the thriller genre as knives are usually associated with blood, death, pain and brutality. The purpose of this convention is to engage the audience as once they see this type of weapon in the scene they would usually automatically feel a sense of foreboding for the character as they expect that they will soon be experiencing pain and usually death. This holds the audiences attention as they desperately want to know what happens and what the knife is used for which they usually expect to be hurting someone. Also the use of a knife is quite a personal weapon as it requires close up attention in order to work and hurt someone effectively. The item is also sharp which immediately gives the sense of danger as it is a very harmful weapon that can do a lot of damage. As the knife is quite a common weapon to be used in thriller films it automatically gives the audience a sense of foreboding and makes the intensity levels rise as it leaves the audience wondering what it may be used for and why.
Splashes Of Red
During the scene there is splashes of the colour red. The colour red can symbolise many different things such as danger, blood and death. In this scene the splashes of red is evident on the knife once the murderer has stabbed his first victim. The purpose of the blood on the knife is to show what the knife is capable of and also to show blood which is also a convention of the thriller genre as it represents pain, death and killing which is what we would expect to see in a thriller film. The audience can build a relationship with the victim of the stabbing because they can witness their blood on the knife and they can realise they would be in pain and this would perhaps make the audience feel sympathy for the character. The audience wouldn't necessarily build a relationship with the antagonist/ murderer as they don't give off emotion and usually have a hidden identity which is conventional as it is what we expect of them.
Low Key Lighting
In this scene mostly low key lighting is used. This is because the scene is set in what looks like a forest at night time. This is conventional because we usually expect most scenes to be set in a deserted place where a character is alone and feeling vulnerable. The purpose of this convention is to make the characters look vulnerable and at risk of getting hurt or in trouble. It is conventional to the thriller genre because it makes the audience anticipate what may be lurking in the dark shadows, it creates an enigma as the audience feel themselves wanting to find out what scary things are following the characters in the darkness. This makes the audience feel sympathy for the character as they can imagine themselves walking alone in a dark forest and they can understand how the character may be feeling.
Sound
There are different modes of sound used in this clip such as diegetic sound, non- diegetic sound, sound effects and short moments of silence. The diegetic sound used in this clip is the dialogue and screaming. This is conventional because it makes the situation of the clip seem more realistic to the audience. When the audience see and hear a character screaming and talking and planning about what they are going to do it makes the audience imagine themselves in this situation and also make them feel sympathy for them as they build a relationship with the victims and therefore don't want anything bad to happen to them. The non- diegetic sound used in this clip is an eerie and tense piece of soundtrack played in the background of the clip. This is to create tension and suspense which are key elements to create in the thriller genre. When the editing picks up pace the soundtrack also speeds up coordinating with the scene. The purpose of this is to make the audience feel engaged as they want to know what the tension is building up to. It also helps make the scary parts of the film make an audience jump because they get a shock when the murderer or antagonist enters the scene and the tense music stops and is replaced with a heavy and loud sound effect which signifies their entry. This is an example of the sound effects used in this scene. At key parts of the scene sharp sounds are used to symbolise different things. When the masked murderer appears after a long tense piece of non-diegetic sound a loud sound effect. Also when the murderer first reveals his knife a sharp loud sound effect is played. The purpose of this is to create suspense and shock which is conventional to the thriller genre. This makes the audience feel frightened and these parts of the film make the audience jump which is also conventional to the thriller genre as we usually expect to see jumps scenes. Lastly there are short moments of silence when the murderer and a victim is having a stare off. The purpose of the silence at this part of the scene makes the audience anticipate what is going to happen next. It also creates suspense and tension as the silence creates an enigma. This is because the audience can't build a relationship with the characters due to their lack of emotion and speech therefore they anticipate and wonder about the characters and the situations.
In conclusion this research has helped me to understand the conventions of a thriller film and why these are effective in ways where they make the audience experience emotions of shock, surprise, suspense and tension. It has helped me to understand how the conventions make the audience feel and also how to use different conventions to build up tension to scare the audience further. I will take inspirations from these conventions to include in the production of my own opening thriller sequence to try and make our sequence as successful as possible.
Unidentified/ Hidden Murderer
In this scene the antagonist/ murderer is wearing a mask which relates back to the narrative of the film being set on Halloween. However this is also a convention of the thriller genre as the murderer has a hidden identity. The purpose of this convention is to create an enigma and make the murderer seem mysterious and unknown. This is conventional to the thriller genre because we are usually expected to be frightened of the murderer and the antagonist. By having the antagonist and murderer masked it helps to stop us from building a relationship with that character as we cannot focus or experience any of his true facial expressions and it makes it hard for us to find out much information about him. Therefore this reduces the audience from building a relationship with the character and makes them feel uncomfortable when looking at them because they are left wondering about him and what his reasoning's are for murdering.
Weapons
There is a huge focus on weapons in this scene and the weapon that is used is a knife. This is conventional to the thriller genre as knives are usually associated with blood, death, pain and brutality. The purpose of this convention is to engage the audience as once they see this type of weapon in the scene they would usually automatically feel a sense of foreboding for the character as they expect that they will soon be experiencing pain and usually death. This holds the audiences attention as they desperately want to know what happens and what the knife is used for which they usually expect to be hurting someone. Also the use of a knife is quite a personal weapon as it requires close up attention in order to work and hurt someone effectively. The item is also sharp which immediately gives the sense of danger as it is a very harmful weapon that can do a lot of damage. As the knife is quite a common weapon to be used in thriller films it automatically gives the audience a sense of foreboding and makes the intensity levels rise as it leaves the audience wondering what it may be used for and why.
Splashes Of Red
During the scene there is splashes of the colour red. The colour red can symbolise many different things such as danger, blood and death. In this scene the splashes of red is evident on the knife once the murderer has stabbed his first victim. The purpose of the blood on the knife is to show what the knife is capable of and also to show blood which is also a convention of the thriller genre as it represents pain, death and killing which is what we would expect to see in a thriller film. The audience can build a relationship with the victim of the stabbing because they can witness their blood on the knife and they can realise they would be in pain and this would perhaps make the audience feel sympathy for the character. The audience wouldn't necessarily build a relationship with the antagonist/ murderer as they don't give off emotion and usually have a hidden identity which is conventional as it is what we expect of them.
Low Key Lighting
In this scene mostly low key lighting is used. This is because the scene is set in what looks like a forest at night time. This is conventional because we usually expect most scenes to be set in a deserted place where a character is alone and feeling vulnerable. The purpose of this convention is to make the characters look vulnerable and at risk of getting hurt or in trouble. It is conventional to the thriller genre because it makes the audience anticipate what may be lurking in the dark shadows, it creates an enigma as the audience feel themselves wanting to find out what scary things are following the characters in the darkness. This makes the audience feel sympathy for the character as they can imagine themselves walking alone in a dark forest and they can understand how the character may be feeling.
Sound
There are different modes of sound used in this clip such as diegetic sound, non- diegetic sound, sound effects and short moments of silence. The diegetic sound used in this clip is the dialogue and screaming. This is conventional because it makes the situation of the clip seem more realistic to the audience. When the audience see and hear a character screaming and talking and planning about what they are going to do it makes the audience imagine themselves in this situation and also make them feel sympathy for them as they build a relationship with the victims and therefore don't want anything bad to happen to them. The non- diegetic sound used in this clip is an eerie and tense piece of soundtrack played in the background of the clip. This is to create tension and suspense which are key elements to create in the thriller genre. When the editing picks up pace the soundtrack also speeds up coordinating with the scene. The purpose of this is to make the audience feel engaged as they want to know what the tension is building up to. It also helps make the scary parts of the film make an audience jump because they get a shock when the murderer or antagonist enters the scene and the tense music stops and is replaced with a heavy and loud sound effect which signifies their entry. This is an example of the sound effects used in this scene. At key parts of the scene sharp sounds are used to symbolise different things. When the masked murderer appears after a long tense piece of non-diegetic sound a loud sound effect. Also when the murderer first reveals his knife a sharp loud sound effect is played. The purpose of this is to create suspense and shock which is conventional to the thriller genre. This makes the audience feel frightened and these parts of the film make the audience jump which is also conventional to the thriller genre as we usually expect to see jumps scenes. Lastly there are short moments of silence when the murderer and a victim is having a stare off. The purpose of the silence at this part of the scene makes the audience anticipate what is going to happen next. It also creates suspense and tension as the silence creates an enigma. This is because the audience can't build a relationship with the characters due to their lack of emotion and speech therefore they anticipate and wonder about the characters and the situations.
In conclusion this research has helped me to understand the conventions of a thriller film and why these are effective in ways where they make the audience experience emotions of shock, surprise, suspense and tension. It has helped me to understand how the conventions make the audience feel and also how to use different conventions to build up tension to scare the audience further. I will take inspirations from these conventions to include in the production of my own opening thriller sequence to try and make our sequence as successful as possible.
You have provided a very good post with an excellent analysis of conventions used, explaining what they create and how an audience can build a relationship with characters involved.
ReplyDeleteYou need to:
1) Elaborate on some of your paragraphs (weapons)
2) Include a conclusion explaining how this research was helpful in helping you understand conventions of the genre, and what inspirations you will take on board for your own sequence.
3) In your intro, list a couple of conventions of the genre that you have not analysed in the clip
You have elaborated on your specific points and explained how conventions identified help the audience build a relationship with characters etc. You need to elaborate on some of your explanation and include specific examples of ideas you will use within your own sequence
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