Our media product is a crime thriller and to fit in that genre it has to use and exploit certain elements that have become conventions of the genre over the years. However, to be original, we also need to break the established conventions and form our own paths. In this essay I will explore how we used and challenged conventions of films in our thriller.
I initially we have the plot. This is the element that fits our film in to the thriller genre so easily. The elements that work with the current established conventions of a thriller are:
· Theft
· Gambling
· Mafia gang members
· Chase scenes
These all are well known elements of a classic thriller film. However we were quite original in our plot where we used an industrial estate as a set for our film. We were also original because we used the rarely seen action before narrative technique to set the scene and increase the tension in our film.
In terms of music and sound, we were using the accepted technique of tension through music to build atmosphere in our piece. However, decided to be different by writing our own basic jazzy track and applying it to the piece.
When we thought about cinematography, we generally used already well known techniques like:
· Swish pan
· Point of view shot
· Long shot to show isolation
· Close up shots to show emotion
· Handheld cameras to give a strong impression of movement
Our editing techniques were also fairly well established. We used rapid editing often and sped up much of our footage to keep it snappy and fast paced. We employed fades to simulate the passing of reel time so that we did not have to show full poker hands being played each time.
Overall, I think we stayed true to the thriller genre while still subtly pushing the envelope. However if I was going to do this again, I would have been more different and taken more risks in terms of the plot, editing and cinematography.
By Bart Lang
By Bart Lang
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