Genre (Q1B)

What genre is your production?
AS - Thriller (More likely to choose for essay)
A2 - EDM

What are the codes and conventions of your production:
AS -

• Low-key lighting 
• Quick cuts
• Shadows
• Tension music
• Changes in the angles/ shots
• Diegetic sound of heartbeat 

A2-

• Bright colours
• Jumping/ dancing
• Club/ party scenery
• Strobe lighing
• Montage of clips
• Fast paced cuts/ editing to fit the beat

How is the genre established?

For my AS production we accurately conformed to our chosen genre 'thriller' by following conventions sum as dim lighting, by decreasing the saturation and contrast of the footage. We also included multiple quick cuts as well as different angles in order to build tension by the intense pace of the shots. We included a 'shadow' figure which walks towards the victim once they had passed out in order to represent mystery regarding who the villain actually is. We also built up the music by starting off slow paced to then intensify once the victim is in danger. We also added a sound of an 'heartbeat' in order to signify the the victims current fear and nervousness regarding the current mise-en-scene.

How does your mise-en-scene support the genre?

For my AS production we chose the location of an open field in order to signify as inescapable and endlessness. The empty field we attempted to encode to reinforce society's fear of loneliness and isolation to furthermore put the audience member in the shoes of the current victim.We used props such as a small 'poll' as the weapon to knock the victim out. This type of prop is an accurate figure of usual weapons in thriller films such as guns, knives etc. The protagonist wore fairly normal clothing to in order to represent her as similar to the audience and relatable due to her casual style. Considering thriller genre character often appropriate as normal/ relatable people it had to be a realistic look to audiences.

Have generic conventions been adhered to or subverted, and how will this appeal to the audience?

We adhered to usual stereotypes such as Levi Strauss and Roland Barthes 'Binary oppositions' which our opening sequences case was good vs evil which is a common portrayal in thriller films in which there is always a hero to solve equilibrium, as well as an villain to break equilibrium.We subverted the usual protagonist role of being a male to being replaced with a female part. We chose to feature a female considering most stereotypical thriller genre roles are dominated by males, furthermore reaches out to the female audience, attracting them to watch the film as a symbolism of female power. Although this can be seen as unusual by certain perspectives we attempted to approach a more forward type of thinking which would appeal to subculture audiences not only mainstream. However we did not want the female dominated role to reinforce Laura Mulvey's 'The male gaze', which was another reason we dressed our female role appropriately and not in any way sexual in order to not just be viewed as a sexual object by male audiences.

Important topics:

• Colour - In order to compose the evilness being portrayed in the atmosphere we  chose to slightly 'grey' the colours which added dullness to the colouration in the footage and a more more eerie looking setting. We completed this by using Imovie's brightness and contrast menu as well as by decreasing the saturation in order to darken the colours.
• Camera shots/ angles/ movements - The shots/ angles which we chose were primarily based upon how we would present the protagonist as most vulnerable and unsafe. Which is why we chose to film multiple angles from the perspective of the 'villain' watching her. We made this significant/ obvious to the audience by filming from angles in between long grains of grass to make it look as though the villain was hiding and waiting to catch its prey (the victim) when she was most vulnerable. We also chose the final shot to be an POV angle of the villain capturing/ attacking the victim in which only the victim could see who the villain was, unlike for the audience which furthermore fits the 'mystery' conventions of the thriller genre.
• Editing techniques - For editing we included multiple fast cuts/ quick panning shots in continuity order to represent tension and signify something is not right to the audience. However we used a long take for the first opening shot of the protagonist running which broke the common 'rules' of film. We done this so that once the long take was completed the editing would begin to speed up each time the villain got closer.
• Sound/ dialogue/ music - We also built up the music by starting off slow paced to then intensify once the victim is in danger. We also added a sound of an 'heartbeat' in order to signify the the victims current fear and nervousness regarding the current mise-en-scene.
• Mise-en-scene; such as costumes/ props/ locations - We chose the location of an open field in order to signify as inescapable and endlessness. The empty field we attempted to encode to reinforce society's fear of loneliness and isolation to furthermore put the audience member in the shoes of the current victim.We used props such as a small 'poll' as the weapon to knock the victim out. This type of prop is an accurate figure of usual weapons in thriller films such as guns, knives etc.

Genre theorists: You must explain how your video either conforms to the theorists or challenges them and why:

• Steve Neal

Steve Neal thinks that film genres are constantly changing and evolving and are not set in stone. 

"Genres are instances of repetition and difference. Difference is absolutely essential to the economy of genre"

• Rick Ultman

Rick Altman says that the way we define a genre is by two things:

- SEMANTIC ELEMENTS (e.g. signs of knives, blood, dark colours, eerie music). He thinks that these elements are easier for audiences to recognise and identify.

- SYNTACTIC ELEMENTS (includes THEMES such as fear, revenge, rage) he thinks these elements are more subtle and harder to recognise.

• David Buckingham

Suggests that "genre is not simply "given" by the culture: rather it is in a constant process of negotiation and change" 

Buckingham believes that genres change over time and are molded constantly by society. Also that children and young people have identities that do not exist at all or are constantly changing.