3. (un)conventional features of my
thriller film-Incriminated
• Protagonist
• Antagonist
• Enigma
• Settings
• Themes
• Visual style
• Iconography
4. Protagonist
Our protagonist isn’t as you’d think in a typical
thriller convention, he comes across as the
protagonist to begin with as he has gone
through trauma but it confuses the audience as
they begin to question whether he is the
protagonist or not.
In our thriller he is portrayed as innocent and
the audience are drawn to like him as he goes
searching for his friends when they have gone
missing. It is a protagonist alone trying to find
his friends which is not unusual for a thriller
so we have used a typical thriller convention.
5. Antagonist
We decided to leave our antagonist
unknown to cause mystery for the
audience and it allows them to keep
guessing. The tape recording at the
beginning instantly confuses the
audience.
Thriller films tend to confuse their
audience to make them more tense and
interesting to watch but it is usual easy
to guess who the antagonist is unlike in
our thriller where it is not know
therefore we challenged this thriller
convention.
6. Iconography
We used a tape recorder which told the
audience it was a crime/investigation
thriller as it is a recording of an interview
between a police man and an unknown
character. We used this prop to cause
confusion for the audience and also to
make it seem like Scott was not
completely innocent which follows a
typical thriller convention.
We used a torch when Scott wakes up and
starts to look for his friends to show the
audience that it is night time. A torch is often
used in thriller films, it connotes a sense of
mystery and darkness which makes the
thriller more thrilling and tense to watch and
it means the audience don’t know what will
happen next or what will be in the darkness.
7. Visual Style
Our scenes were mostly low key lighting
to show the audience it was night time
and also to connote a sense of mystery,
unknowing and uneasiness. A torch is
used in most scenes as well to allow the
audience to see what is happening. We go
this idea from The Blair Witch Project.
We used fast editing
when Scott is running,
also reflecting our genre,
a thriller. For example
The Silence Of The
Lambs.
8. Settings
Our protagonist and victims are spending a
night in a castle. The type of setting is
often used in thriller films as it is isolated
from anywhere else and it is dark and
spooky. Here we have used a traditional
thriller convention.
We used the setting of a castle to make
the audience question what has happened
whether it was paranormal activity,
abduction or murder. The castle setting
was great for building tension and
suspense and keeping the audience on the
edge of their seats which is the feeling we
wanted to create from our thriller.
9. Enigma
The protagonist creates a lot of enigma as
the audience is asking lots of question as
to why he didn’t go missing and if he was
involved in why his friends went missing
and also what he saw in the cave when he
drops his torch.
We used the thriller convention
mystery so that it was more exciting
for the audience to watch and for
them to try and figure out what
was happening which was cause
them to want to watch the rest of
the film to see how it ends.
10. Themes
We also conveyed a crime/investigation/detective themed
thriller, to do this we used a tape recorder as a prop to
record a police interview between a policeman and our
protagonist, the tape recorder is repeatedly shown
throughout the thriller sequence and is played over other
scenes to make it clearer to the audience what is
happening. The theme mystery is also used in our thriller
which is often used in other films such as Gone Girl which
we were inspired by.
A theme we included in our
thriller was abduction or a
missing person depending on
how the audience interpret it.
This is often used in thriller
films such as Taken.
We also covered the theme of isolation as it
is set in the castle away from anywhere else.
Scott is alone in this setting which is a often
used thriller convention.
