Conventions of Thrillers:

In order to create a piece that really embodied our genre, Lucia and I needed to do a lot of research to understand the conventions used and how to portray them in our opening film. For example, based on our research thriller films always have non diegetic music playing in the background, which helps set the scene.

This is one of the songs we used
for the film.

For this reason, we specifically looked for music that gave that suspenseful feel and it was not too upbeat, so it would not disrupt the flow of the film. This music continues throughout the entire opening scenes in order to maintain the same tone.  Also, silence is a very important aspect in thriller films. So we decided that the first few shots should only be diegetic sound of the leaves and wind, consequently, keeping the mood of creepiness and making the audience uncomfortable about not knowing what is going on. In addition, based on our research, many thriller films do not add music and have a lot of silence in order to make the viewers anxious and keep the "on the edge of your seat" feeling.




Furthermore, another convention important to the thriller genre is the lighting. Most thriller films use cool tones and dark rooms to create a sense of creepiness and the stereotypical believe that comes that in the dark bad things happen. For this reason we shot before the sunrise.

Also, many thrillers show the weapon of choice of the killer, we also incorporated next to the pink chair that the main character sits on, which is the bow and arrow. This is a subtle hint of how she kills the victim. Most thrillers also show a lot of violence and blood. However, we did not want to do that so we wanted sho show that message through the very red lipstick the main character puts on.

Finally after researching close ups and zoom ins are very important to create suspense in thrillers. That made us want ti choose a series of close up as the beginning and add a slow zoom in and out when the main character is looking at herself in the mirror.

We tried to incorporate as many thriller conventions as we could, but also giving it our own twist :)

Citations:

Keating, D. (2015, May 07). The weapons men and women most often use to kill. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/05/07/poison-is-a-womans-weapon/?utm_term=.6a77bf3eb767

Mac, L. (2016, April 14). Conventions of the thriller genre. Retrieved from https://www.mindmeister.com/685037204/conventions-of-the-thriller-genre

Summerfield, D. (2013, January 01). Target audience for a Crime Thriller. Retrieved from https://www.slideshare.net/DanaSummerfield/target-audience-for-a-crime-thriller