Evaluation post- Question 1

Question 1

Genetic conventions for a thriller film can be anything from low key lighting to diegetic sound. In our thriller sequence we tried to use as many thriller conventions as possible. To do this we watched a number of famous thriller films to try and gain ideas for us to then use within our own sequence. One of the films we watched was "The woman in black". From watching this film we gained the idea to use low key lighting within our thriller. In the film "The woman in black" there are a number of dark scenes where visibility is minimal. This effect created tension on the audience because the audience didn't know what could be lurking beneath the darkness. We took this idea and then used it in a scene just before our antagonist is first spotted. Like in the woman in black this created tension on our audience because they knew that the antagonist was hidden beneath the shadows.

Another thriller film we looked at was "The shining". From looking at this film we noticed that diegetic sound was often used in jumpy scenes. We noticed that this technique also added tension on the audience so we chose to add this into our thriller sequence. Before adding it to our main thriller sequence though, we first used it in our rough cut to see if it would work as well for us as it did for "The shining". After watching it back a few times we came to the conclusion that it fitted into our thriller film very well. Looking back at it now I would say that it was one of the best ideas we have used because of the way it draws the audience into the film and keeps them there for the build up to a jumpy scene.

The third film we watched was "Insidious". "Insidious" is the most recent film made out of the three and was named the scariest film of the year. Most of this is down to the tension music that can be heard throughout the film. This tension music sent shivers down the spine of the audience watching the film, making it sometimes unbearable to listen to. From noticing this technique, we pounced upon the opportunity to use it within our thriller sequence. We found a perfect sound to constantly play while the thriller sequence was taking place. We made it so that in some scenes you could hear it but in other scenes it was barely noticeable but still playing. We wanted to use this technique to try and replicate the effect it had on the audience in "Insidious".

Overall I feel like our opening thriller sequence is clearly linked to the thriller genre. This is down to us using the conventional thriller techniques that you would expect to find within a thriller film. We have used conventional thriller techniques like low key lighting, Diegetic sound, tension music, montage shots, shadows and different camera angles to try and make sure that our thriller sequence stays true to the thriller genre.