Genre Conventions

Genre is a way of categorising media products. As said by Joe Nicholas and John Price ‘the description of genre is traditionally organised around headings such as setting, character, storyline, key signs, messages, and so on’, in the book ‘Advanced studies in media’.

Different conventions are used to establish specific genres. Conventions use a combination of signs which are predictable in pattern and meaning. Therefore through conventions, genre is made obvious.

In a thriller, which is the genre of my production, there are specific conventions which are commonly present. These are listed below.

•  Binary Oppositions – Black and white can represent many things. Such as sane and insane; good and evil; happy and sad. For example, in the black swan, white represents sanity, and black represents insanity. In image 1 Nina is dressed in white which shows she's sane, however she's surrounded by insanity. Towards the end of the film, shown in Image 2, Nina is dressed in black to show that she has turned insane, and dark. 

Image 1 - Sane

Image 2 - Insane

•  Chiaroscuro lighting – low key high contrast lighting which creates a more sinister, tension filled atmosphere. Shadows are effective.

An example of chiaroscuro lighting

• Fitting soundtracks – eerie, jumpy, scary sound tracks are used to also create a more sinister atmosphere.

•  Protagonist and an antagonist

•   Enigmas – usually solved by the protagonist

• Camera shots – close ups and extreme close ups are used often to show facial expressions. Tracking for fast paced moving shots.

To ensure our trailer is recognized as a thriller we will adapt some conventions. Binary oppositions will be used to represent innocent and evil, where innocent will be associated with the sane version of the girl, and evil will be associated with her evil self. In addition to this we will also use face pace editing to create tension and uncertainty. Chiaroscuro lighting will also be used in our thriller as lighting is a key aspect of atmosphere, and in order to create a sinister, unnerving atmosphere, the lighting will have to be appropriate and effective. We hope to adapt as many thriller conventions into our production as possible. 

03/12/14 - Conventions of a Horror

After combining our initial idea with another idea, the genre of the production now is thriller with elements of horror; horror conventions within our production define it as this.

Conventions of a horror in reference to location are settings such as; narrow ally ways, dark streets, ghost towns, lakes, countryside, graveyards, abandoned places. Places as such create unnerving, scary settings. In our production we did a scene in which Rosie runs down a narrow ally way, as she does so the camera chases her, this in itself is a convention of horror films, as handheld shots are deemed so as they make it difficult for the audience to understand what is happening.

Below is a mind map of conventions of a horror.