AS Evaluation- Question 1

The generic conventions of a thriller film are:

Characters- killer with hidden identity, blonde female victim, innocent child, demented child, detective and a suspicious old man.

Visual style- Low key lighting, shadows, close ups, low angle shots, high angle shots, medium shots and iconography such as blood, weapons which kill the victims and fire.

Themes- violence, gore, suspense and paranormal

Settings- Forest, abandoned house or school, village/city, car park and these settings are normally filmed at night time to add suspense.

All successful thriller films use some of these listed generic conventions. One example is Saw which follows a lot of the conventions you normally find in a thriller film; Saw includes a killer with hidden identity this is where the killer is covered with a pigs mask this creates suspense which is one of the themes which are found in thriller films. Other themes Saw follows are violence and gore where the audience can see brutal murders and lots of blood in the film. Saw is a good thriller film to relate to as they use camera shots very well by using close up shots on the victims to show there scared facial expressions and also using high angle shots on the victim to make them look small and vulnerable and low angle shots on the killer to make the killer look in control and powerful.

My thriller clip defines and follows the thriller genre through the conventions we have used in our opening sequence. My thriller clip follows the theme of suspense; this is done as the audience sees the blonde female victim drinking water then dropping it she then walks from her house through a forest leaving the audience in suspense as they do not know how it will end or what’s happening. The character used in the thriller clip follows the conventions of a thriller film as our character was a blonde female victim who comes across as an innocent child this makes her look vulnerable and weak to the audience, it then comes apparent she is demented and gets possessed which is another convention found in thrillers. The setting followed the conventions of a thriller film as we filmed in a forest which is spooky and normally found in thrillers.

The villain is unseen in my thriller opening sequence which gives a ghostly feel to our opening sequence as the victim is possessed by an evil spirit this is a popular convention found in thriller films such as the 'Paranormal Activity' films, 'The Devil Inside' and the two 'Insidious' films. I used a villain like this in my thriller opening sequence as I thought this would create more shock and suspense for the audience than a villain which the audience can see.

Our thriller opening scene can be compared to the successful thriller film the Exorcist. They are similar in the narrative, representation of characters, editing and sound. The narratives are both similar as both thrillers have a young girl who is possessed by an unseen villain, by using an unseen villain it builds up suspense and enigma for the audience. In both thrillers there is the use of a conventional character as there is a young female victim used who gets possessed; young females are stereotypically portrayed as weak and vulnerable and this is done in my thriller and the Exorcist as both girls get possessed showing them as weak this brings the audience closer to the victim and makes them sympathise with her, both thrillers also use the shock element, this is done when both female victims become possessed this shocks the audience as generally female victims are killed by serial killers. The Exorcist and my thriller both use a non diegetic sound track these sounds are very tense and jerky which both create an enigma and tense atmosphere for the viewers. The editing used is better in my film than the Exorcist this could be because the Exorcist was made in 1973 so we had better technology to use; the editing was vital to our thriller opening sequence as it turned a boring narrative into a fast paced, jerky and tense opening sequence which helped make our thriller successful.