These are the 9 frames from our product which I will analyse.
Frame 1.
Frame one has been extracted from our primary ident, it helps to show one of the ways in which we suggested genre in our product. Using genre specific idents is a convention of all genres, including the thriller genre. Our idents are genre specific as they give connotations of mystery/ un-knowing, isolation and confusion to the audience.These connotations help our product to conform to some aspects of most thriller films. We have not developed this idea of genre specific idents as it is logical. If, for example, we put a ‘Dreamworks’ ident on our product, that would completely throw the audience in the wrong direction. Whereas having a genre specific ident tells the viewer that they are in the correct place, viewing the correct film. We also showed conventions of genre by using flashbacks. As in frame 5. However we challenged some aspects of the conventional flashback by not changing a visual effect or filter on the footage. We simply changed location and left the footage in the hope that the audience may struggle to define between flashbacks and real-time. However, we decided to add in transitions to lessen the confusion but keep the same initial effect. This is how we conformed to and challenged conventions of the thriller genre, but we also challenged some conventions, for example different locations and features of a setting like sets of stairs and narrow doorways. We felt that if we were to add these in, we would have to change our story line and so decided to leave them out as they are not integral aspects of the genre.
Frame 2.
Shows our use of special effects in the product. We used special effects such as filters on our secondary ident (as shown in frame 2) and transitions in our flashbacks and at the start of the product. The slow fade in at the start of the product is seen in a lot of thriller films, this is because it slowly reveals the picture and sound can often be heard first. This creates an effect also commonly seen in thriller films. This is a way in which we conform to the thriller genre another thriller products, for example ‘The Machinist’ uses a long fade at its beginning with sound throughout the fade. As I said for frame 1, we chose not to use special effects in the flashbacks which is a slight deviation and development from the thriller genre.
Frame 3.
This is the introduction of the only character seen in the opening sequence. And in keeping with thriller form, not much of him is shown and not much about him is given away. This is in-keeping with the thriller genre, we developed the way in which the character was introduced to the audience by showing his face straight away, but fir a short period of time, this allowed the viewer to ask questions about the character in-between shots of his face. Most characters are usually introduced via a series of extreme close ups encased in shadows. It also allows the viewer to slowly build a mental image of the character before seeing the whole character. This conforms to some aspects of the thriller genre, such as, the fact that it makes the viewer ask questions, but develops other aspects, such as, the fact that more of the character is shown in their introduction, but in shorter shots.
Frame 4.
Frame 4 demonstrates the font and text style of our product. As commonly seen in the thriller genre, we have used a plain simple font, in white, on a dark background. This is a convention of genre seen throughout most thriller films. Films, such as, Limitless use this simple style of font. So, for this aspect of the product, we did not challenge or develop anything, we simply stuck to the conventions of genre as we believed it to be the most effective way. The plain style font gives little away about the events to come and is not misleading in the sense that it gives the viewer a false sense of genre. Due to this, the text appears plain and clear, however, it in its self gives the incentive to ask questions as it bares no complexity and very few connotations.
Frame 5.
This frame is showing our only use of props in our product. We chose to use very few props as they would not suit our narrative, they would clutter the simple nature of the shots if we were to include them. We used money as a prop in the first flashback to offer some explanation as to why the main character was in his position. A lot of thriller films use limited amounts of props, for example, in ‘Flightplan’ the opening sequence only features an umbrella as far as props go. Costume was also very limited in our product as well, as we only had one character throughout the whole extract. We use the same trousers and shoes in the flash back as in real time to create small links, showing that they were the same people in different mindsets.
Frame 6.
Number 6 shows us how and where we set our product. We chose to use an empty town center as our location and setting. We did this in order to achieve the commonly used connotations of isolation and vulnerability. These connotations are used frequently in most thriller films, this is why using empty places and/or detaching the character from the public are massive conventions of the thriller genre. We conformed to this convention as it fits our story line and conveys the connotations I spoke about earlier. We chose the alleyway location as heavy shadows are cast by the street lights in the alleyway. Shadows are a further convention of the thriller genre which shows that we further conformed with genre specifics. We also developed the conventional setting by merging both a public place and isolation. This packs the maximum amount of connotations into one location to achieve the correct effect on the viewer.
Frame 7.
Cinematography and editing in the extract were a mixture between using conventional techniques and breaking conventions. We stuck to conventions by using predominantly short takes and lots of close up shots. Close up shots and short takes add to the sense of un-knowing and suspense in a thriller which is why they are two of the biggest cinematographically used conventions in the thriller genre. We complied to these conventions as they work in building up connotations of isolation and vulnerability. However, we chose to add in some longer cuts, the varied shot length shows the main character’s mental state of mind and connotes that to the audience, this is why we chose to develop shot length conventions. For editing, we simply used cuts rather than transitions, until it came to the flashbacks. We used shot transitions in order to define the difference between real time and flashback. We tried different transitions, both stock and manually made, but in the end a transitions called ‘bloom’ came out on top, although it is a stock transition, it gave the most definition to the flashbacks and distinguished the flashbacks creating a link between them.
Frame 8.
We chose not to challenge anything to do with the narrative of our thriller. We chose to keep the conventional thriller genre, which starts at the recognition disequilibrium and then starts from the beginning. We chose not to change it as it is one of the most distinguishing features of the thriller genre and in my opinion, is the most defining mark of a thriller. Our sequence, therefore, opens into recognition of disequilibrium, but features flashbacks of disequilibrium just being recognised, where as it opens more towards disequilibrium being fought against.
Frame 9.
This frame shows the main title of our sequence. As you can see, we kept to a plain font, as talked about in frame 4. We used mostly integrated titles in our sequence, this went smoothly with genre specifics of integrated titles. This use of integrated titles allowed our product to run smoothly without breaks, with the exception of the main title at the end. We kept the titles out of the flashbacks so as not to confuse the narrative and audience. However, the title break at the end of the product, as seen in frame 9, shows a clearly un-integrated title as it is on a black screen, we used the pinnacle of suspense in our extract to challenge genre conventions and to display our main title. The title flickers on to the screen as a car screech is heard. This shows that the suspense is broken and questions are asked during this time as they do not know who has been struck by a car. This develops title conventions as we merge integrated and separate titles, however, we use it to achieve another genre specific.
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