This document discusses conventions used in thriller films and compares them to an opening sequence created by the author. Typical conventions include quick cuts, low lighting, shadows, and tense music. The opening of American Psycho uses zooms, over-the-shoulder shots, and classical music. The author's sequence features close-ups, a bird's eye view, and unsettling music. It takes place in a dimly-lit bathroom and uses mise-en-scene like blue lighting to create an unsettling mood. Editing includes matching action and cuts between shots. The sequence aims to raise awareness of issues like gender inequality, catfishing, stalking, poverty, alcoholism and their impacts on relationships.

1. How does your product use or
challenge conventions and
how does it represent social
groups / issues

2. Typical
conventions of
a thriller
• Quick cuts
• Low level lighting
• Shadows
• Montages
• Black and white scenes
• Heavy breathing diegetic sounds
• Sudden tense music
• Angled shots to portray
weakness or power

3. Comparing example –
American Psycho intro
sequence – Camera work
• Pan shot of room during apartment showcase
montage
• Zoom in of room to show detail
• Zoom in on reflection of expressionless face in
framed painting adds a feeling of trepidation
• Over the shoulder shot when our protagonist
reaches into the fridge
• Zoom in on his body in the shower
• Close up shot of him in the mirror applying a face
mask
• Tracking shot of his hand navigating itself around the
cupboard

4. Sound
• Throughout the entire opening scene,
there is non – diegetic, classical music
playing in the background which really
helps to add an elegant feel to the
scene, almost as if it is a piece of art
• We hear a monologue from our main
character describing his morning
routine in great detail, however this is
non – diegetic as he isn’t speaking
during this scene
• Under this non – diegetic sound, the
normal, diegetic sound remains in the
scene, almost as if to maintain the
realism

5. Mise En Scene
• The apartment is spotless, and everything
is perfectly tidy and arranged in a neat
fashion
• Normal house lighting is used as well as
natural lighting from windows, which is
usually made artificially anyway, however,
this would help to keep the film from
becoming more surreal
• When we see the character open the
cupboard, we see that everything is
perfectly aligned in the cupboard as he
navigates it with his hand

6. Editing
• Montage of the rooms in the
apartment and the immaculate
kitchen and bathroom.
• Montage of him using lots of
different washes and shower
creams in the shower
• Montage of him working out
• Matching action
• Cross cutting

7. Our Sequence -
Camera
-Close up shot of protagonist when door
is closed to highlight the emotions she is
feeling.
-birds eye shot gives insignificant and
powerless sense to our protagonist
- Close up shots of the phone so that the
audience can read their texts

8. Sound
• For our sequence we used eerie and uncomfortable
music which created an unsettling sense for our
audience.
• As it was filmed in a bathroom, we had to make
sure that the sound had the reverberating effect
that a bathroom creates, so we put an
amphitheater filter over it and it worked perfectly.
• The music was a long build up, we cut it out
completely at the point of the jump scare to keep
the audience captivated and on the edge of their
seat, and when our stalker came into shot, we place
a jump scare sound over it which worked amazingly,
and we were happy with it.

9. Mise En Scene
• We wanted to create a dimly lit setting in the bathroom,
so we had a florescent blue light fit into the corner of the
room. This gave the room a cold and unsettling feeling,
and we feel that this fit in well with the typical
conventions of a thriller/horror film.
• We used gaffa tape to stick to the door for the POV shots
of her looking through the gap in the door.
• We also used a ring light for the shots of her eye looking
through the crack, as it gave it a beautiful look and had a
huge contrast with the lighting in the bathroom.
• We covered the main toilet light with a blue sheet to add
to the cold theme of the bathroom.

10. Editing
• With the editing, we made all of our cuts
mid – action as we felt that this would
help to maintain the fluidity and pace of
our sequence.
• We had to play around with the lighting as
there was a clear difference in lighting
between the shots filmed on iPhone and
the shots filmed on the digital camera.
• My group found that using Adobe
Premiere Pro was actually quite easy, and I
picked up on it very quickly.
• We had to use a different application on
the Mac to edit the sound to make it more
fitting with the area we were filming in.

11. Representations of social groups or
issues

12. Gender
Inequality
• Gender inequality is portrayed in this
sequence through many ways.
• The female protagonist is portrayed as
weaker and more vulnerable that the male
protagonist.
• She is conveyed as the typical ‘damsel in
distress’ roll and the Father is seen as the
hero who saves her.
• The Father in the full movie would work
long hours and provide for his daughter,
demonstrating the stereotypical ‘man of the
house roll’.
• The risks for the female gender when
making new friends online is presented and it
gives the impression that men are sly and are
in control when demonstrating who they are
and controlling the beliefs of the female
gender.

13. Catfishing
and stalking
- The overall idea of this film
was to raise and spread
awareness of the issues online
with people pretending to be
someone they’re not.
- This happens very regularly
and is very commonly done
through social media
nowadays, which is why we
decided to tie in the social
media aspect alongside our
sequence.
- Women can be in a lot of
danger when meeting new
people online, and are now
even more vulnerable with
the use of developing
technology

14. Issues Within
Lower Class
Households
In the full film, we would see
that the female protagonist in
our opening sequence lives in
a tiny flat in a dangerous area
with her Dad.
We wanted to spread
awareness of the issues that
people face with poverty, and
some of the mental and
physical challenges.
We were going to bring light
to the passing of her mother,
as this relates to real life
situations and people don’t
understand how hard it can
actually be.

15. Alcoholism And Its Effect On
Relationships
In the whole film we also bring
attention to the problems that
come alongside drinking all of the
time.
The idea is that we would portray
the Father as an alcoholic and
discuss mental health issues that
brings and how he feels that
drinking is an easy way to solve
that.
We would also show its effects on
his daughter and how it creates
more difficulties for her at home.