Research Into Conventions in the Thriller Genre - Miss Miller

Research into Conventions in the Thriller Genre

The definition of Convention is : Conforming or adhering to accepted standards.

Conventions are the elements in a film which are relevant to a specific genre. In the thriller genre conventions are masked villains, blood, tense music. They are the elements/patterns that the viewer expects to see when they are watching a film of this specific genre.

I have chosen a clip to analyse from the film Scream 2. I have chosen a clip from this film series as I fill it covers a wide range of conventions. The clip is of a Cici's Death Scene and shows a variety of conventions such as............. 

Blonde Female Victim

One of the most stereotypical conventions of the thriller genre is a blonde female victim. The scene is based around the death of the blonde female victim in a secluded location. This is typical of the thriller genre as blondes are portrayed as weak and dumb, although they are not, than other hair coloured victims.  This convention is effective in terms of the thriller genre as tells the viewer that something is likely to happen soon in the film if there is a secluded blonde female victim this enable the audience to build a relationship with the character as they know the characters life expectancy has been lowered and that character may be removed from the scene in the near future.  But also in addition they are also the first likely to be killed of in a group of people as they are seen as the weakest. The audience are likely to know a blonde female who they know follows the stereotypical of a blonde that they can relate to. By the audience watching various thriller films they will be able to create a greater relationship with the character as they already know the events that will occur to the blonde female victim.

Hidden Identity

 One of the next biggest conventions in the thriller genre is a killer that has a hidden identity in the terms of mask wearing. This is typical of such films as The Strangers and Halloween. The killer behind the mask gives the film a scene of mystery adding to genre. In the clip that I am using from Scream 2 the killer is behind a ghost-face mask, which takes away all identity of the killer as it is full face. This is effective of the thriller genre as seeing the killer doesn't give the same effect on the viewer as a masked one as the personally and facial features is removed giving a more tense scene as attributes are not seen. In addition masked killer seem to be a lot more violent than unmasked killers This enables the audience to build a relationship with the character as they feel as scared for the character as they have been put in the shoes of the character and cannot see what may or may not kill them. The audience feels threaten by someone that they do not know rather than they know because it is more eerie and makes a more effective and believable story line. By this they will be able to relate further to the character as they will be able to empathize with the female, as they experence they same emotions as they character, they do not know the facial features, gender or strength of the hidden character so they will feel intimidated.  

Killing Weapon (Knife)   

Killing weapons are another typical convention in the thriller genre. This most typical weapon of all is a knife or bladed weapon as it is a almost silent killer compared to a gun. The knife is effective in the thriller genre as it doesn't cause instant death and is hard to hurt and is slower than a gun but also can show blood on the weapon to indicate to the viewer that death has taken place.  This enable the audience time to bond with the character as they see that there death is likely to be near. This keeps the audience on their seats as they are wondering what they character fate is and whether they will get away from the killer as they have been given a considerable amount of time to get away compared to other weapons.  They may have cut themselves with it etc. Also this convention shows that the killer has confidence in themselves as they have picked a harder weapons to killer withThe audience can relate to this weapon as they are likely to own a sharp knife in there household or have used one, so they have an easy understanding of how dangerous they can be. If they watch the news depending on there region they will also understand that stabing is a modern and more frequently used killing technique. This is how the audience will be able to relate even further to the chacters in the scene as they may have experence some form of knife crime in their life. In addition thrillers contain knifes as it creates suspence for the audiecne rather than another weapon such as a gun. Knifes take longer to kill than guns giving the audience additional time to bond with the character.    

Tense Soundtrack
A soundtrack is a very important convention and plays a massive role in creating a suspense atmosphere in the thriller genre. The soundtrack is usually around the time of seclusion from other people. The soundtrack is an indicator that something important is about to take place. This is effective in terms of the thriller genre as in builds up the films tension and without this the film would be less effective in the way that the audience wouldn't expect something to happen. In the clip the music is tense while the character is wondering around the house until she sees the killer when it changes to high paced music. This creates a relationship between the character and the audience as alike the killing weapon time is given to get the audience consideration of the fate of the character. The audience starts to look around the setting of the scene alike the character for anything out of the ordinary that could be of danger to the character itself. The audience will have heard a sinister soundtrack in a previous thriller film that they have seen so the audience knows what will happen next, in addition it should be there immedite responce as the sound is used to create a sense of uneasyness in the audience. The soundtrack will play a important role in the understanding of the audience of the narrative because it will set the audience pace of the scene and how to react to certain parts.        

Evaluation
I think all these conventions are used because it is what the audience expects to see when they are seeing a thriller film. It is typical that there is a blonde female victim because of their stereotypical features, a masked killer give the film an element of mystery, a bladed weapon of some sort to give the character some hope to escape and a tense soundtrack to create suspense. They all at one given time give the audience an overall entertaining and frighting experience as they are kept on the edge of their seats pondering over the fate of the character or how the character life is going to come to an end. They are relevant to the thriller genre in the way that they are not typical of any other genres you would expect to see these conventions in such genres as rom-com or even fantasy etc.  Without these conventions the film wouldn't be part of the thriller genre as these are what is expected to be in the genre and it fall into another genre. The clip has inspired me in the way that the audience expects to see certain aspects when they are watching a film of the thriller genre and when I am creating my scene I will have to take these typical conventions into great consideration, so that they get the same experience as they have got from other films they have seen.