RESEARCH INTO CONVENTIONS- Miss Miller

RESEARCH INTO CONVENTIONS

The film is has chosen to analyse is The Conjuring. This film is a thriller film and explores most features of a thriller convention. Conventional is conforming or adhering to accepted standards. In films it means elements that are common within different film genres and patterns that can be seen and used in different films from the same category.

Firstly, in a thriller film you would normally see many conventions, some examples of these are; low-key lighting, female victim, antagonist, violence, masks or props, mystery, blood and gore, always a main weapon, hidden identities and music that creates suspense or tension


. Conventions helps you to create an interesting and inspiring film which catches the audiences eye straight away. Most conventions are well known by the audience and are easily spotted by the audience that enjoy thrillers. Conventions are what make a thriller, create the excitement and the great relationship between characters and the audience.



The conjuring is a thriller film which I have chose to analyse for its conventions. The conjuring was not created not long ago, which means it is update to a lot of the things used in thrillers now, also meaning that the picture will be clear and easy to recognise conventions. The reason i chose to look and analyse this short clip is ebcause the conventions stand out to the audience and arent hard to pick out. There are various amounts of conventions and for me, this clip uses them very well.


The first convention which I clearly recognise is the sound of thunder. Although the screen is black a sound is used to introduce this scene, the sound isn't too loud but the thunder is used to show to the audience that the weather is stormy and bad, leaving the audience thinking anything could easily happen and any small sounds wont be recognised. The scene soon opens and the sound of wind is recognised, although this confuses the audience as it is night time and there is no reason for a window to be open. There is a small pendant swinging from side to side, this makes a small chiming noise, easily alerting the audience/viewers that something is going to happen next. Which this conclusion is correct, a loud streak of thunder hits the screen and the female victim is soon awaken. Here a small streak of light (low-key lighting) is used through the window to show the movement of the victim as well as the facial expressions.



 Low Key lighting is used a lot in thriller films and creates tension and suspense quickly. It is commonly used to hide identities, hide certain images in the room or may be even to show other things e.g. lightening or small flashes of lights from different directions, they can leave the audience waiting for the next scene to arrive. The low key lighting creates a mystery and the dark hallway up the stairs gives a point of view that we are looking upwards at something and waiting for something to jump out on the screen. The point of view also allows the audience to think that they are in someone elses shoes when watching, creating the feeling that they may be the antagonist.(point of view) The camera doesn't show clearly what we are looking at but The low-key lighitng is used in every thriller film i have watched, and is very unknown to not be used. From this, there is a sense of relationship created between the two, the audience and the young female victim. The low-key lighitng shows a minimal amount of background leaving the audience with throughts that something could be behind her or hiding in the small amount of scsne shown.


In this short scene we see that this is what has happened, the audience are confused by what they can see, leaving them wanting more. At the beginning of this short clip, there is also a reference to low-key lighting. The small amount of light shining in from outside gives a shadowing effect onto the girls face and the side of her bed. Again like most thriller films this has a female victim although in this case the female victim is very young and comes across as vunerable to the audience. A venerable young female victim brings more suspense to the screen and can create more empathy for the characters, the audience easily feel sorry for her and puts there mind saet in her shoes. The low-key lighting also brings surprise to the screen; the antagonist's face is not shown but clues are given away by the minimal lighting and shadows that are created, which is what occurs in most thrillers. Although in this short clip you don't actually see the antagonist, you can clearly see that the antagonists faces is being pot rayed through a mask (scary doll).

 Hidden identities is also an convention in thrillers. This can create empathy for the characters and bring tension and shock to the audience as the true identity is not actually revealed and leaves a hanging story line on who is actually underneath the mask, also leaving the audience asking questions.. is it someone we don't want to see? The mask is usually worn by the antagonist, this is used to scare the audience and the victim easier, rather than showing there real face, as it might be someone they know or are afraid of. Again, lighting in this clip creates a huge effect as it flickers on the mask's face showing the mask to the audience. This flicker of the light happens within a blink and is easy to miss. This creates suspense for the audience as we/they want to watch more and keeps you on the edge of your seats.

Furthermore, the horrific weather outside also adds to the tension being created. The weather in thriller films are usually dark, raining and stormy. In this clip the weather outside creates a huge effect on the film as its really stormy and the flashing lighting from the lightening is creating effects on the the woman victim. The flashing lightning creates minimal background light and the sound can makes the audience jump. The sound from the the thunder and lighting also creates effects such as; tension, shock, suspense and surprise. The lightening outside also opens up a pathway for the victim. As she walks down the small stairs, the lightening flashes lead her into a room. This is clever and creates a relationship between the audience and the character. The audience soon feel sorry and worried for her, as we can see the bigger picture.

The silence from the house creates suspense and the thunder is unexpected. Although many films use sound tracks as a convention, this film uses silence. Silence is a powerful way bring empathy to the audience and anticipates that something is going to happen. Unlike most thriller films they have a repeated sound track that is quiet but stands out to the audience a lot, this film uses natural sources for sounds. A repeated sound track can build up tension very quickly. The girl screaming is a convention of a thriller. In this scene, the young victim screaming brings empathy to the audience and the background noise soon becomes crowded and full. The overall noise is no longer silent, the rain begins to fall harder and faster and the tension begins to rise.

At the very first opening, the camera slowly zooms into a piece of jewellery swaying side to side. Zooming in is a convention of a thriller film and usually shows something that is important for the audience to see. The necklace swinging whilst the background noise is silent brings attention to this and the shadow on the bed cover may show that someone is in the room and bringing attention to themselves. Again, this creates a relationship with the audience very quickly and creates tension and suspense.