How does ‘REWIND’ challenge and develop thriller conventions

As you may have already identified "REWIND" is now a hybrid movie. It fulfils the conventions of horror movies just as much as it fulfils the conventions of thriller movies, in order for me to establish this, I had to do research on horror movies.

As a result my research enabled me to identify how "REWIND" fulfils the conventions of horror movie. Within the next few slide from the dominant elements e.g. mise en scene, there is a list of horror conventions that "REWIND" establish.

General information

Horror - Camera shots/editing:• Fast editing during shock: - At this point the audience feel very confused, the

tension is built as the enigma's set in place and the audience at this point are very focused. Slow and long cut when tension is built: - for example when the female character picks up the image, the shot is very slow, however, before that the shots are very fast, this builds tension as the audience are able to see the importance of the image.Long shots: to emphasis vulnerability of protagonistClose up of threaten face - This makes the audience feel sympathy towards the female characterPanning shot to build tension: In "Rewind" there is a victim who sitting on a chair, she then turns round, at this point the antagonist, (killer) has approaching however, a panning shot takes place so that the audience are in the perspective of the victim. At this point the audience are very engaged as they want to know whether the victim will see the antagonist, and if the victim doesn't see her, the audience know that the antagonist will still kill her. Therefore, at this point tension is built to be very high. 

Horror - Mise-en- scene:

• Dark, mysterious costumes for the antagonist or threat: In "Rewind" the character is wearing black, this emphasizes on the fact that she is a killer, and that there is death associated with her where ever she goes. For example, in funerals people wear "black" when somebody dies. Therefore, the same way, the character is wearing black to represent death. Ominous setting: in this case a house

Horror - Sound

• Silence is used to build tension: The opening of ‘REWIND’ builds tension through silence, which as a result build an enigma for the audiences; also at this point the audiences attention is grabbed as they want to know what happens next.Music is used to slowly increase anxiety in audience: When the female character puts the image back down the music suddenly change into a violin to represents which sounds painful. Loud sudden beats to shock the audience: when there is constant flashing shots, loud noises suddenly play, this shocks the audiences and makes them feel even more scared.Diagetic sound: This takes place when the female victim looks at the body. At this point the audience feel scared and are shocked to what they see, moreover they are positioned in the victims point of view therefore feel sympathetic towards her.

Thriller - Camera shots/editing

• Panning: This takes place when the female character is looking around the room and see’s newspapers on the floor. It grabs the audience attention as they are determined to know what is going on.

• Close up: A close up shot is a typical shot that is constantly used in thriller movies for example ‘Se7en’ and ‘Dark Night’. ‘REWIND’ also constantly contains close up for example when the female character identifies a body on the floor. The reason for this is to make the audience feel sympathetic towards the character as they can see she is scared through her facial expressions.

• High angles: are used to show those in powerful position. In ‘REWIND’ a high angle is used when the female character is killing the victim sitting on the chair. This illustrates to the audience who has the dominant power.

Thriller – Mise en scene

The main character in a lot of thriller movies wear costumes that are black. This emphasises the action and death within the movie. The main character in ‘REWIND’ is dressed in black to symbolize death. Most thriller movies take place in a house for example ‘When a stranger calls’ this is to make the actual movie look more realistic. The majority of ‘REWIND’ opening sequence also takes place in a house.

To conclude, by establishing the conventions of a Horror movie, I felt that "REWIND" does contain conventions of horror. However, just to make sure I decided to watch a few horror movies, these consist of "Saw", "The ring", "the grudge“ butterfly effect" and "The howling". One thing each movie had equivalent was the use of flashing shots. Each movie represented sudden flash back and flashing shots. Moreover, "REWIND” also contains constantly flash backs and flashing shots which builds tension, as the audience attention at this point is very focused.