Research into Conventions - Miss Miller

Research into Conventions

A convention is something the audience expect to see to help them to recognize the genre they are watching and increasing the shock, surprise and suspense in the audience as the narrative unfolds. A convention of the thriller genre is that the killer's identity will be kept a secret in order to create suspense when the killer appears as they do not know who is under the mask. Another convention of the thriller genre is the use of a suburban area to show the power and confidence of the killer as he knows he will be able to kill the victim before help arrives. I have chosen the opening sequence from the film 'Scream' as it is successful at creating suspense in the audience due to the mysterious nature of the killer and the relatable nature of the victim in the sequence. The URL for the clip is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3lSvJ5RXKA.

A convention of the thriller genre shown in 'Scream' is the use of a female victim. The audience see a girl as she is getting ready to watch a scary film then the killer begins to harass her with more angrier phone calls. This tells the audience that the victim will not be strong enough to fend off the attacks of the killer due to women being stereotyped as weak while men are stereotyped as being strong. The fact that the killer appears to be a man tells the audience that should he attack her head-on she will not be strong enough to fight him off and will most likely die due to him being the more dominant character. This convention shows how strong the killer is while the victim is weaker than him and also that because the victim is a woman and he is a man shows he doesn't care about who he kills regardless of their gender or who they are. This creates suspense as the audience want her to get away from danger due to her being innocent but because she is female and the killer is male it seems that the odds are stacked against her. This is conventional as the audience expect to see the first kill to be a female to show how the killer will kill people even if they are innocent and weaker than him to display how he is a ruthless killer. This convention makes the audience feel sympathy for the audience as she is less likely to survive an attack from the killer due to her being a female who is usually stereotyped as weaker.

A convention of the thriller genre shown in 'Scream' is the killer's hidden identity. Throughout the sequence the audience do not see the killer or his face but instead hear him through a phone that the victim is using. This tells the audience that the killer will be able to escape capture from the authorities and remain an enigma to the characters and the audience as the killer remains anonymous to the audience, giving them nothing to go on as to who the killer could be as well as the fact there have been no other characters introduced at this point. This convention allows the audience to engage further in the narrative as they will want to work out who the killer is before he is revealed through the actions of the characters in the narrative in order to feel more connected to them, while also making themselves feel like they are in the same situation the victim is in and they need to find the killer in order to prevent more deaths . This creates suspense as the killer is presented to the audience with unusual qualities, horror movie fascination, and a violent temper and attitude towards people he clearly doesn't know, while the audience are looking to learn more about this killer to know a way to stop him from killing anyone else. This is conventional as the audience expect to see a mysterious killer whose identity is hidden at the beginning of the film in order to fuel the narrative as the characters attempt to work out who the killer is. This intrigues the audience as they want to learn more about the killer in order to feel more connected to the narrative due to them knowing a vital piece of information that the characters do not know that the audience believe that if they know it, the victims will be able to work it out as well.

A convention of the thriller genre shown in 'Scream' is the use of a realistic setting for the opening sequence. The opening sequence takes place in an ordinary house while the victim goes about doing ordinary things with nothing out of the usual until the killer starts calling. This setting allows the audience to relate to the victim's situation as they can imagine themselves in the same setting due to the audience having a place in their life that matches the one shown in the opening sequence while the audience may have done what the victim is doing, making it easier for the audience to see themselves in the victim's shoes. This convention makes the audience feel more relatable to the victim as so feel more uncomfortable with the events as they feel as if they could be the victim just as easily as the victim is. This creates shock as the audience can imagine what they would do in the situation and whether they would be able to fend off the attacks of the killer. This is conventional as the audience expect to see a setting that they can relate to and feel as if they are in the victim's shoes. This creates sympathy for the victim as she is alone in her own house and the killer has attacked her in a place that the audience would think is a private and safe place where this can't happen to them.

A convention of the thriller genre shown in 'Scream' is the use of silence in terms of sound. The audience can hear this when the victim is moving around the house while crickets are audible in the background until a sharp ringing is heard from the phone out of nowhere, this can be first heard at 00:08-00:10. This tells the audience that the killer is interrupting her everyday life and how the victim wants her sequence of events to go by calling and piercing this idea while using his power to insert his own idea of how the night should go. This convention is used to show how the killer has power over his victims due to his ability to make them act how he wants without physically being there. This creates shock as the killer's persistence and constant calling coupled with the piercing ringing of the phone can take the audience off guard as the calls come unexpectedly throughout the opening sequence, showing how the killer does not want to give up chasing the victim. This is conventional as the audience expect to see the killer hound the victim through any means possible while also torturing the victims mentally by constantly harassing them showing how he will kill people when he wants to due to his confidence in his abilities. This makes to audience see the victim as weak as she is unable to handle the calls and what the killer is threatening her with.

A convention of the thriller genre shown in 'Scream' is the use of a slow paced editing. Throughout the scene the timing of shots do not speed up to that of a chase scene and instead stays at the steady pace the scene begins with. This shows the audience that the victim doesn't understand what is going on and that the killer's calls are serious and that she will be in danger very soon. This also reinforces the idea that the victim thinks she is safe on her own home and so is not as scared as she would be if she were in an isolated setting rather than a familiar setting. This convention makes the audience not feel as threatened by the phone calls as the victim is as the slower pace leads them to believe that the killer can't get to her due to it not showing signs of a chase scene and so not having the same suspense and severity that a chase scene would have. This creates suspense in the audience as they want to know whether the killer will actually be able to get to her or if he is drawing the kill out for his own pleasure and her fate is unfortunately sealed. This is conventional as the audience expect to see the killer toy with the victim before killing them in order for the audience to feel more sympathy for them. The audience begin to feel sympathy for the victim as she is being harassed by the killer who is more powerful than her, telling the audience that she will most likely die.

This clip was successful in creating a conventional sequence as it featured a lot of suspense in the conventions used to make the audience feel uncertain of what was going to happen next due to the scene being drawn out with the audience having to wait to see what comes next while at the same time being left to come up with their own ideas of what could happen. I like the use of the telephone ringing at unexpected moments in the sequence as it can take the audience by surprise and make them more uncomfortable as they will not be able to see it coming and so when they have gotten used to random phone rings they will not expect the killer to enter the scene for real if I decide to use a sudden noise to signify their entry. I also like the use of a relatable setting to make the audience feel shock and tension as they will be able to picture themselves in the shoes of the victim and so  increasing the shock they will feel when the victim comes under attack from the killer.