Conventions of a thriller film
Suspense, shock, surprise, tension, enigma,
In a thriller film, it usually will consist of a battle between the protagonist and antagonist, commonly when there is a disruption in the plot. Then the story shows a chain of bad events building up with suspense and tension prior to the climax. The aim of the protagonist is to restore justice, while the antagonist seeks to destroy it.
The main conventions will usually be to do with the plot, sound, lighting and editing, but in terms of a thriller and its' conventions, you should expect to see black and white shots with possible low key lighting, quick cuts (jump scares), digetic sounds to do with the scene, music which changes in tempo to add tension and suspense and finally, usually the protagonist may be in the mercy of the antagonist.
Suspense- Suspense is mainly used prior to a climatic part or even the ending of the film and has the purpose to keep the audience on edge and draw them into the action. It can be built up using sounds, scene editing and cinematography and plays a key role in the thriller genre itself, as suspense are the main parts of climatic scenes with elements of mystery where the audience are left guessing and on the edge of their seat.
Shock- Shock in thriller films are what true fans crave and is usually at the climax of the scene, which contains gore and usually violence. It's what the audience pay to see, the real action and often what sells the film.
Surprise- Surprises can commonly be referred to as "Plot twists" and are used to throw the audience off, creating more confusion, making them ask questions and keep them on the edge of their seat as they are more drawn into the film.
Tension- The eery atmosphere in a scene where the audience are left working out what is going to happen can be described as tension, and it is built in a number of ways, through possibly sound and even the narrative itself.
Enigma- Enigmas create mystery and confusion among the audience and are usually something the audience does not know and are associated with the plot and narrative.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LToG7Agx30
Scene Analysis
For this piece, I decided to analyse the kidnapping scene from the purge (2014) it is a favourite scene of mine and forecasts the conventions of a thriller in a number of ways.
Tension is created as there are eery sounds that create an atmosphere and the characters are forced to stay silent and helpless in a closet and the audience is left fearing for their safety and wondering if they will be found, making them feel sympathy for the characters. The silence in the air also creates suspense, as well as the villains stalking through the house to hunt the protagonists, again giving an element of fear and making the audience wary and scared of what the villains are capable of. There is then more tension and suspense, as we see the facial expressions of the protagonists and see how scared they are, which shows the audience their emotions and allows them to relate to the characters and possibly feel sympathy and fear for them. There is then sudden surprise, as a jump scare occurs when the antagonists storm in and capture the victims, as there was silence the audience may have possibly thought the trapped characters were safe, but to their sudden surprise, they were caught. The enigma in this scene is that the audience does not know the identity of the antagonists, as their faces are hiden the whole time, which creates an element of mystery. The shock then comes at the end of the scene when the characters are suddenly dragged through the hall and a masked antagonist is seen shooting, the characters are now in trouble and the shock provides the climax for the scene, what the audience have been waiting for.
Conclusion
In just a short while, this scene managed to cover all conventions of a thriller by using a number of techniques to keep the audience drawn in and on edge, which means it was successful. All conventions are clearly present, and for my sequence, I could possibly include suspense and shock, as it keeps the audience on edge and also the shock itself has to be good, as it's what the audience have waited for and they expect a good climax to the scene as they have been eagerly waiting for it.
This is a minimal analysis of some of the conventions used within this sequence. You have described what happens within the sequence, rather than analyse conventions.
ReplyDeleteYou need to:
1) Explain what conventions are in your introduction - don't need a definition of different examples for the thriller genre
2) Use PEER to provide a detailed analysis
3) Don't describe what happens in the sequence throughout, simply give your evidence for your point made and then explain and relate it - you should have separate paragraphs for your different conventions analysed
4) You need to explain HOW and WHAT each convention creates within the sequence
5) Explain HOW AND WHY the convention is conventional to the thriller genre and how it enables the audience to build a relationship with characters involved and why
6) Elaborate on your conclusion by explaining how this research has helped you understand conventions of the genre and what inspirations you will take on board and use within your sequence (give examples of how you will create shock etc.)
7) Include the URL clip properly and screen shots of each convention analysed
8) Check spelling and grammar etc.