CODES AND CONVENTIONS OF

OPENING SEQUENCE AND REAL THRILLER

FILMS.

ZARA

CODES AND CONVENTIONS OF A THRILLER FILM• Chase scenes– quick paced editing

• Low key lighting- shadows

• Plot twists -conventional

• Crescendo

• Tension

• Suspense

• Mysteries

• Diegetic /Non diegetic sounds

• Silence

• Jump scares

• Against the clock –conventional

• Rain/Storms

These are the typical codes and conventions that you would expect within the Thriller film and are the general codes that you are most likely going to see within the genre. According to this list, I do not believe that the opening sequence follows most of these but there are some that it does follow. E.g. Tension, Mysteries, etc. But overall, it does not contain the typical thriller film codes and conventions but the tension and suspense just about makes it look like a thriller film.

LUCY This film is a Thriller Sci-Fi about a woman who accidently gets caught up within the work of her boyfriend and ends up being given a deal of trying a new piece of technology which could benefit all of mankind. Unfortunately for the organisation, she agrees with the deal, but also double crosses and becomes a warrior of no mercy with the knowledge that is beyond human logic.

Overall, the film contains organisations and businesses which is what my own opening sequence to an extent with it being about an organisation who is trying to protect a briefcase from other antagonist organisations. Also, it relates to my opening sequence because the other side of the film genre is Sci-Fi. Ours contains psychological events throughout the film therefore it can relate to the film Lucy. Although, the film also does not follow the typical codes and conventions that you would expect in a thriller films due to the genre of it being a Sci-Fi thriller which is a genre hybrid. Because of it being a mixed genre, it doesn’t fully match up with the genre of my opening sequence since it is a Thriller film with no other genres mixed with it. Just only a few psychological events.

Moreover, the props that we have used are seen within the beginning of the Lucy film as the organisation that Lucy is caught up with contains a briefcase filled with evidence that is worth a lot of money with is what our has as well as the employers involved are in similar suits as the main protagonist in our thriller film. On the other hand, the setting is different compared to the Thriller films since the film Lucy is mainly based outside in a city where as the opening is mainly based inside within the premises. The Narrative is also completely different since the opening sequence is about an organisation protecting a briefcase from other organisations and the Lucy film is mainly focused on that once woman who has the ability to think further than human logic. Although the sound of the thriller film is quite similar but the Lucy film uses silence to create suspense whereas our opening sequence uses music that slowly builds up to create tension. Over all, it does just about match up with the codes and convention of our thriller film.

CABIN IN THE WOODS

This film is about a group of young teens/adults who were given an opportunity to spend their break within a remote cabin deep within the woods, and then accidently stumble into the hidden secret of it that most people do not know about and what and why the cabin was really built. This Thriller film contains nearly most of the codes and conventions of a Thriller film including Tension, Suspense, Dark weather etc. This film is almost could describes as a true Thriller film. Even the genre which is a hybrid of Thriller and Mystery. Although, this does not match at all with our opening sequence since it does not contain any sort of business or employees that work within a building. On the other hand, it does have a hidden group of people work in labs which has elements or an organisation that are in control of what is going on with the cabin as well as the age of the five teens/young adults does match the age group of our main character therefore the thriller film does contain elements of what can relate to our opening sequence.

But what does not relate to our sequence is the clothing. The main characters of the Cabin in the Woods film all wear going out clothes that suit the season of the weather whereas no matter the season, the main character of the opening sequence is still wearing a suit. Although they do wear normal clothing when they are at home so it could also relate to this also. But does match up is the use of music to create tension and suspense through the moments in both the thriller film and opening sequence to indicate that something bad is going to happen. Yet the Thriller film also uses more silence like the Lucy film to also create tension. Overall, the film may not have all of the elements to match up with our opening sequence but it does have a few codes and conventions that can relate to it to an extent.