Thriller Conventions - How they relate to my film

To get a better grasp of how I should portray my film and to make sure it follows the right guidelines which enable it to be classed as thriller, i researched the some of the typical conventions of this genre.

• A crime at the core of the narrative (often murder, but not necessarily).
• A complex narrative structure, with false paths, clues and resolutions
• A narrative pattern of establishing enigmas which the viewer expects to be resolved.
• A protagonist who is systematically dis-empowered and drawn into a complex web of intrigue by the antagonist.
• Extraordinary events happening in ordinary situations
• Themes of identity
• Themes of mirroring
• Themes of voyeurism
• Protagonist with a ‘flaw’ which is exploited by the antagonist
• Titles often reflect an aspect of the pro/antagonist’s psychological state.
• There is often a scene near the end of the film in which the protagonist is in peril
• Mise en scene which echoes/ mirrors the protagonists’ plight.

Whilst comparing my film to the stated conventions above, I believe that there are various aspects which entitle the opening sequence to conform to this genre.
The most prominent feature which allows the film to abide by the thriller conventions is the fact that the narrative is extremely complex and is also structured to leave the viewers with a pattern of enigmas. The establishing shots of my film depict the fact that this plot is centered on an ordinary location but is infused with extraordinary events (low – angled medium shot of the door, swinging opening by itself). Within the opening of the film, the focal prop that is used is the mirror- to indicate something sinister and also to highlight the antagonist, who in reality cannot be seen through mirrors. Once the audience is introduced to the antagonist, they immediately are shown the theme of voyeurism through the close up shot that panning left, which revealed the antagonist watching the protagonist. However some of the other aspects of the thriller are not able to be illustrated through the two minute time constraint which means the viewers are not able to witness the “ scene near the end of the film in which the protagonist is in peril” and are also not presented with the “ protagonist’s ‘flaw’ which is exploited by the anatagonist.” In addition to the fact that the film represents the opening, the last bullet point about the mise en scene echoing the protagonist's plight, is not able to be witnessed due to the way in which i structured the form of the play. I decided to start with the middle first, but is actually the present.

To conclude, i believe that the opening addressed some of the conventions and some didnt but i feel this is justifiable due to the type of genre the opening in aimed to mirror. Moreover as it is a psychological thriller, there would be not much difference between the two slightly different genre's if my film followed everything in which the general thriller required.