Codes and conventions

Codes and conventions

• 1.
  Codes and Conventionsof Thriller film openings
• 2.
  Thriller films commonlyfollow the protagonist(s). It inevitably leads to the protagonist(s) meeting the antagonist(s) in some way. The film nearly always ends with the protagonist(s) overcoming the antagonist(s) and the protagonist(s) saving the day. In thrillers there is always an element of anticipation building to a main event creating excitement and breaking the tension that has the audience so tightly bound.
• 3.
  Thrillers have avery good use of sound and editing. For example quick cuts and camera angle changes, music that builds tension yet is eerily quiet when appropriate. For example just hearing footsteps but no figure would give a sense of unease and nervousness. They also have a good use of lighting, especially using shadow gives a sense of the unknown and foreboding.
• 4.
  For legal purposesall films start with the copyright warning and institutional titles. They also have the Production Company logo for example 20 th Centaury Fox. Then they will have names of the Directors, Producers, lead actor's, etc. In some films they do these while the establishing shot is already being played out, with music to set the scene. However in other Films such as ‘Arlington Road’ that I watched, they didn’t.
• 5.
  The Thriller Film‘Panic Room’ starts with an establishing shot of New York city, this sets the scene however if you just watch it without the sound it doesn’t really look like a thriller. The music creates the building of tension and the predictable bad providence and occurrence of something. In the first two minutes we already know where it is set and who the main characters are, so it is all very fast moving.
• 6.
  The Titles inthe sequence of ‘Panic Room’ are three dimensional, they are also very clinical and city like, this links to the location of the establishing shot http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v =sqIclb4qsJI