Codes and Conventions

 Codes and conventions of a thriller film.

The first piece of work I need to complete to start my task of making a film is to research the conventions of my film genre which is a thriller.
I have many ideas of what Is included in a thriller film, but I need to do research so that I can extend these ideas and conventions into my work.

 
There are three main codes and conventions which are shown in the opening of thrillers, they are portrayed exceedingly well, to make the audience ask questions and give a mysterious feeling to the audience.

Camera Movement/Angles. 

This convention helps to give a film its thriller genre, as different camera angles create different senses of body language and emotions.
Thriller films also use Camera Angles such as facial close up shots and mid – range shots.
An example of a close up was used in a film called Band of Brothers, in the film there is a close up of the mans face after he has been shot, showing that he is in pain.

These help to show facial emotions/expressions and also shows body language, which helps to show tension, and helps the audience to feel as if they are in the film and gets them to start asking questions. Some Camera Movements also make the audience feel tense and also helps to make them feel like they are actually in the film. 

Editing.

The other important convention that makes up a thriller is Editing, this gives films things like quick cuts. These quick cuts can also be seen in films such a psycho, when the women in the shower is getting stabbed there is a lot of fast cut, as it shows different angles of her being stabbed. This makes the film fast paced and makes it more tense. 

Another one is fade to black. This has been used in the film Three Monkeys, at the It makes the film more suspense, because you don’t know what is going to come up next.

Sound.

This also contains very important elements which make up a thriller. For example themes and stings are shown in this era, as the different music themes produce a different mood and feel for thriller films. For example jumpy and and quite scary music which are played in each scene, can be named as themes/stings as they produce different moods and settings for thriller films. Another sound element which is very important is high pitched sounds/orchestral stabs such as screeches, This adds suspense and horror/thriller to the film to give it its thrilling genre. Other sound elements which are used to give the films their thrilling genres are; diegetic/ non-diegetic sounds, synchronous/asynchronous sounds, ambient sounds.

Mise-en-Scène.

Mise-en-Scène contains a few important elements which help add thriller to films and also help to add suspense as well. Lighting such as colour design has to be dark to help give the film a gloomy mood and helps to make the audience feel more suspense towards the film. Another thing which also makes the opening off a thriller stick to its thrilling genre is props, as in thriller films there is a lot of sharp objects and weapons like glass, knives, guns etc….In films such as Train-spotting, they use props such as drugs, needles and fags, to show that the characters are druggies and to show the audience what type of personality each character has. This shows the audience that the objects are going to be used to kill someone or something. The set design/ location also helps the genre of the film stick to thriller, as the right set/location such as a gloomy warehouse or dark woods give a thrilling film as it shows mystery and suspense/tension towards the audience.

Characters 

The first convention of a thriller is the characters. The protagonist is usually a brave male who seeks to remove injustice and/ or save an innocent female whose life is in danger. The antagonist is normally a mystery but has the characteristics of being a number of the characters although it could range to a sweet innocent little girl. Even though the antagonist changes in every film, they all share similar reasons for their actions: anger, revenge or has misinterpreted an event. Their dress codes tend to change according to the plot. For example, a spy is conventionally well-dressed, in smart dark clothing. For boys, the costume normally empowers their appearance by showing their muscles proving how strong they are whereas girls are normally dressed in a
seductive, revealing manner showing their vulnerability.

What I have learnt?

I have laernt from doing this research on codes and conventions what is included in a thriller, i have also learnt What filming techniques and skills should be used for example you would want to use a fast speed of filming to create tension also use close angle shots and different types of shots to show body language.
I will take some of this work into consideration in my own piece of work.
Researching this information has been very helpful towards the planning of the opening of my film.
This information has informed me about what type of characters should be included in a thriller making it look more realistic also sound and camera movements which is very useful for a thriller film.
In this piece of work i have learnt new things such as what things mean such as mis-en-scene and different edits.

My practice film

 
kayleigh, harriet, dani and kate from KayleighGill on Vimeo.

What have i learnt?

I have learnt by doing this practice filming how to film two minutes of a film and learn differents skills and techniques of filming such as side shots, close ups and two shots.
In this work we had to follow a sheet on what our filming was about which made it easier compared to what our real film task will be because we will have to do that ourself.