BRIEF - Conventions

What Conventions are you Going to use for your Thriller and Why?

At the moment we haven’t filmed our sequence so we do not yet no if things will go to plan so ideas may change. At the time being, there are a variety of conventions that we are going to use for the thriller.

Firstly, we have chosen our locations carefully. Usually thrillers are filmed in busy, crowded areas to create a realistic image. This would normally include busy cities, towns, train stations, foreign harbours. We have then decided to film in a busy station, perhaps Romford or Stratford, this can show the isolation of the character even in a busy place with the right shots and sound. We have then chosen to shoot in a warehouse which is abandoned, cold and gloomy, which again help to create enigmas and a sense of loneliness, also for the audience to become emotional towards the protagonist.

As we are filming in march this also helps us to convey a thriller. The weather will most probably going to dull and glim, also with the time of sunset it gives a sense of darkness. The naturalistic lighting will again help to put across realism, but also give a sense of darkness, horror, sadness and isolation.

In terms of props and iconography we have found that the most commonly associated with thrillers would be knives and guns. We have chosen not to use guns as this would probably fall under the sub genre of a crime thriller, we went with knives and more gruesome objects as we want to make a thriller/horror. Other props that we have decided to use would be rope, black plastic bags.

When deciding on the costume, with knowledge of other thrillers we have found that in some cases the costume of the main antagonist can go either casual or smart. Jack Torrance in the Shining (1980, Stanley Kubrick) wears a casual winter jack and clothes, where as Timothy Olyphant in the Hitman (Xavier Gens, 2007) dresses all in black in suit. Are idea at the moment it to have the main villain in a suit to give the idea of a normal person with a normal office job but with a hidden agenda. The clothes of the innocent will then be casual with items of white to show the innocence and vulnerability

When choosing the sound we have come up with music that is creepy but yet exciting allowing the viewer to make there own enigmas, it will keep them on edge and excited which is the common idea in most thrillers.