1) The document discusses how genres can change within a film, using the example of a student thriller that shifts between pure thriller and horror. 2) It examines the use of tension as a thriller convention in the student film through shots of an antagonist close to the victim. 3) Mystery is also explored as a genre convention, with stills from the student film showing an unknown man and clues about his character.

1. Mysteries being solved in a thriller is a very
common convention. Rick Altman said that there is
not a pure genre, since it changes through the
events of the film. This can be seen in my groups
thriller, where it changes from a pure thriller (top
picture on the left), to more of a horror genre when
the girl is being chased by the unknown man with a
gun (bottom left picture.)
Tension is a convention which is linked with thriller
films, my group and I used this convention through
out the majority of our trailer, since it connotes to
the audience that it’s a thriller. This tension can be
seen in the still shots on the left for example in the
top picture tension is being built up because it
shows the antagonist is extremely close to the
victim, if I apply Rick Altman's theory to this section
he suggest that it causes visceral pleasures since it
may cause a gut reaction from the audience. ( the
bit where the girl gets shot)

2. In these stills there is more of a mystery type of
genre, like in the film the illusionist. However having
problems to solve (clues) and cliff hanger are usually
popular conventions which are used in thrillers.
This can be seen in my thriller in the first still where
the man has no skin showing , he is wearing dark
clothing and does not reveal his face. This fits in
with the thriller genre because it makes the
audience think about who the mysterious man is,
this follows the conventions of a thriller
This is also represented in the bottom still. This still
reveals quite a lot about the main charter
(mysterious man) since it connotes he must travel a
lot because not people don’t normally keep a
passport and a world map at their bed side table. If I
applied Allmans theory he would say my groups and
I thriller has intellectual pleasures, since it
encourages the audience to unravel and look into
the story.
In the second still it also shows a title ‘ produced by
Lauren Parker’. We used these through out our
thriller because in our research we noticed that the
majority of films included the names of people who
played an important role in the film making process
such as director actors and camera men.

3. Violence is an extremely popular feature in
thriller films, this is because a thrillers are mainly
based around shock mystery and powerful
charters, so therefore violence fits in perfectly.
This is represented in the first still because of the
gun. A gun connotes fear and violence and since
the camera focuses just on the gun and blurs out
the background, it brings to the audiences
attention what is going to may happen, so
therefore shows the violent edge to my group
and I’s thriller.
This is also represented in the second still
because the gun, which is very fearful, is
extremely close to the girls head. This would
build tension/ cliff-hanger , this is a very popular
feature to have in an opening sequence, so this
is why my and my group chose to use it.