Research into conventions - Ms Miller

Conventions in films refer to elements that are common within different film genres and patterns that can be seen in different films from the same category. Some thriller conventions include, attractive female victims, enigma, chase scenes as well as shock, suspense and tension. The film clip I am going to analyse is from Scream, the first of the popular thriller series. I chose this clip as it contains many thriller conventions.




The first notable convention is the use of a female victim. It is common in thrillers for the victims to be female as they usually portrayed as weak and helpless against the male antagonist. Like in this scene, the females are often attractive blondes.This makes the audience care about the victim more than they would if the victim was an ugly male and they end up more engrossed in the film which raises tension. This is typical for thrillers as they aim to create tension and suspense and having the audience care for the characters is an effective way of doing this.

Another convention is the use of a mask to hide the antagonists identity. The antagonist is wearing a scary looking mask the entire scene and his identity is never revealed. Ghost like masks like seen in this clip are usually associated with evil and danger so the audience are scared for the victim as she is trapped with this evil being and the audience know she is in danger. The fact that the killers identity is a secret means that the audience feel like they have no idea what he is capable of which makes him even scarier. The hidden identity of the killer also creates an enigma as the audience are left wondering who is under the mask and what would make them do something so cruel. The enigma created by having the killers identity hidden is the main reason why it so conventional for masks to be used in thriller films.

Another thing I noticed that is conventional to thriller films is the sense of dread and the fear of the inevitable created in the scene. This mainly occurs around 1:45 when the soon-to-be victim is trapped in the dog door. As she is slowly being lifted up we see that she is stuck in the door and we know that her chances of survival are slim. This is what fills the audience with a sense of dread as they want the female to survive but know what is about to happen. As she kicks and screams the audience sympathize with her and are in shock when the inevitable happens. This is conventional to thriller films as they usually aim to shock the audience and gory deaths usually succeed in doing that.

The fight scene and the outcome of the fight scene is conventional to a thriller film. In this scene the victim fights back and almost wins. This along with the increased tempo of the music makes for a suspenseful scene and increases the heart rate of the audience. The audience see that that the victim is fighting back well and get a sense of false hope that she may be able to escape. This action scene excites the audience and the sudden change in tempo keeps the film engaging and stops it becoming boring. The audience will the female to win the fight and are on the edge of their seat as they believe she has a chance. This also emphasises the feelings of dread created when she gets stuck in the dog door as all the audience's hopes are destroyed and they nervously await her inevitable death. Fast paced action scenes are a common way for thriller films to engage the audience and keep them entertained by the film. 

To conclude I think that the film succeeds in creating a conventional thriller sequence and in using different methods to surprise, shock and create suspense and tension. During my research I have learnt how I can use short, fast paced sequences to keep my audience entertained as well as how I create enigma by hiding the identity of my antagonist.