Question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Thriller films often use similar techniques, whether it be through use of camera angles, sound, locations, themes, costume etc. These are known as thriller conventions. In my short thriller opening I have chosen to use many of these so that a classic thriller feel is given to the film, and it is constantly injected with suspense and tension.

I would say that the main inspiration for the idea of my short thriller opening came from the bathroom scene in Peter Weir’s ‘Witness’. When watching this clip in class, a real impact was given. I felt that if I could achieve similar types of intensity and suspense, the project would be a success. I therefore took some conventions from this scene and developed them in order to make my thriller as successful as possible:

Contrast in lighting: Although this technique is not necessarily considered or listed as a thriller convention, I have seen it throughout many thriller films during my research such as 'Jackie Brown' and 'Taken'. I also felt that this technique is a primary contributor to the success of the toilet scene in 'Witness' and so should be identified and noted as a result. There is a strong and clear contrast between the dim lighting and very spacious surroundings of the airport, to the extremely bright, confined bathroom that the boy enters in the film by Peter Weir. We tried to show this obvious differentiation in our thriller by using the technique contrasting lighting. The juxtaposition of the two brightnesses in ambient lighting symbolises how the character entering the new location means that they are about to experience a drastic often dramatic change in action. In 'Witness', the boy plays witness to a murder, in our own thriller, the teenager who enters goes on to be attacked. The lighting is used to foreshadow events.

                          








Theme of claustrophobia: I also used the idea/theme of claustrophobic spaces in order to strike a similarity between 'Witness' and my own thriller. This technique is also used throughout many successful thriller films:

• In 'Essex Boys' by director Terry Winsor, a garage is used as a claustrophobic space as well as a white van later on in the film. Winsor's film mostly surrounds violence and this idea of placing a character within a small, confined space allows the audience to view him/her as trapped, linking with the theme of violence.

• In Quentin Tarantino's 'Jackie Brown', when Ordell meets with Beaumont outside his apartment, the small gap that Ordell leaves between him and Beaumont gives off the same, claustrophobic feel. Not coincidentally, Beaumont is murdered by Ordell shortly after this - meaning that the chlaustrophobic symbolism has been used to foreshadow something negative, in this case violence/murder.

• Tarantino uses this technique throughout several of his films - another notabale example and perhaps the most extreme use of this technique would be in 'Kill Bill Vol 2'. The Bride is buried alive in a coffin by Bud and his trailer trash friends towards the beginning of the film. There is no escape for The Bride.

• Perhaps most famously used in Alfred Hitchcock's 'Psycho' the confined/claustrophobic space is demonstrated with Marion Crane taking a shower - unaware of what is about to happen because of the curtain behind her and the diegetic sound of the water.

Drastic change in volume: A change in the volume of non-diegetic sound between each scene meant that the juxtaposition between the two different settings was emphasised. The music at first was quite slow, deep and quiet suggesting a gloomy feel, linking directly with the abnormally slow movement of the car at the beginning of my thriller. This is changed immediately once the boy in my thriller enters the bathroom, with an increase in the volume of the soundtrack as well as the diegetic sound of toilets, sinks and hand-driers; the drastic increase in overall volume created was obvious and so the intensity and anxiety felt as an audience is maximised.
This technique has been used many times across the history of the thriller genre, perhaps to best significance again in 'Psycho' by Hitchcock and the famous shower scene. The volume of the scene is filled almost entirely with the gushing water from the shower head. This is until the attacker begins his slaughter. The non-diegetic music comes into play with great effect. Piercing piano notes give the volume of the scene a dramatic increase and it is almost painful to listen to.
See the famous scene here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VP5jEAP3K4



Close Ups: An infamous camera shot used widely in the thriller genre is the close-up. I explored thriller films from some of the most successful directors of this genre in order to pin point, when, why, where and how this shot is explored. Below are a few examples of close-ups of both my favourite and the most successful directors of the thriller genre:

Quentin Tarantino - Kill Bill

Stanley Kubrick - A clockwork orange

Alfred Hitchcock - Psycho

Peter Weir - Witness

It is obvious that most truly successful close-ups shots are of a characters face. This is so that an association can be drawn up with this character. We chose to challenge this conventional aspect of the thriller genre by having close-ups of other aspects of mis-en-scene. For example, we have a close up shot of main character's 'Robbie's' hands when he is washing them in the bathroom sink. We felt that this symbolised the irony of how he is cleansing himself even though he is about to be brutally attacked. We also included a close-up shot of a wallet. We felt that this would allow the audience to distinguish the significance of this prop within the film as a whole - it has been used as a diversion by the attacker. Positive feedback towards these shots give me an understanding that I successfully used the 'close-up' to signify certain messages within my thriller and I did not need to use a character's face in order to do this. I have therefore successfully challenged thriller conventions.

My close ups:

Costume: I would again argue that I have challenged the conventions of the thriller genre with my choice of costume. With a vast majority of thriller films surrounding certain 'gangs' the costume described would be mainly for the male cast. A classic interpretation of a thriller costume would be a suit and trilby hat. Older films that fit this stereotype would be 'Once upon a time in America' by Sergio Leone and Carol Reed's 'The Third Man'. As the thriller genre has moved through time with society, films such as Essex Boys see a fairly plain and hard hitting mode of dress such as jeans and leather jacket - much like a thug of today's society.

My thriller fits neither of these examples. I could have chosen to adopt a 'film noir' feel to my thriller but I feel that this would hugely limit me to what I could do with the film. It is hard to pin point a thriller film that has the costume range I have selected. The mod inspired look I would describe my main character to dress like, originated in the 50's but was also hugely popular amongst certain subcultures right through to the late 80's. The look is more recently coming back into fashion with popular high street shops including 'Topman' stocking items much inspired by the 1950's culture. My explanation behind the decision was purely because I feel that the bulk of youths in todays society can relate to this culture and associate with the film as a result. I also felt that by challenging the conventions of the thriller genre, should my thriller prove successful, I will have gained a much greater sense of achievement than if I had played it safe and gone for a more traditional interpretation.


The process of utilising and challenging thriller conventions in my project was quite a complex one. After consuming numerous thriller films, I explored many different thriller conventions that I thought worked well on giving an edgy, tense feel to the film (the mood I intended to set in my opening) and tested them out in shooting to see if they would work in the project. If happy with the effect that the conventional techniques gave off to an audience, I incorporated these in my own thriller opening. I investigated thoroughly into many different types of thriller films in order to understand how techniques are used in a variety of ways. I have used similar techniques in order for our project to be successful and create the classic thriller feel amongst our audience. If feedback was successful, I would keep the shot/technique/theme and perhaps expand on it, otherwise it was back to the drawing board.