‘EREBUS Trailer: How does it convey the thriller genre? And film inspirations

Here are the scenes that I feel are the most effective within our media product which develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products.

Our group throughout the process of research and planning were inspired by the thriller film genre, this lead us to make a thriller genre trailer as our final product. Within our trailer we conformed and challenged the codes and conventions of the thriller genre by the use of Mise en scene. The first aspect was the setting, we believe we chose location settings that conform to the thriller genre, as a part of our research tasks we researched locations within thriller trailers that are seen by the audience to convey a sense of mystery and suspense. We incorporated this aspect within a our trailer by our choice of locations, we chose locations that evoke a sense of fear and isolation by the audience. Such as window in a house, on a bus and inside a lift. These are typical location settings that conform to the thriller genre.

In the bus flashback scene there is build up of tension and suspense for the audience, because the character is alone, isolated within a public transport. This is key convention of thrillers as it gives a sense of mystery as the character and audience are unaware of their fate within that location. This location was inspired by the ‘Jeepers Creepers 2’ as there is the similar narrative plot which takes place within a bus. These narrative structures are constantly used to keep audiences at the edge of their seats. We have incorporated this buy using multiple flashback scenes of different characters in different locations in order to create a climactic and suspenseful ending.The other location that we used was within a house looking through a window, our group have tries to adapt this location as this setting is commonly used within thriller, horror genre films to cause tension and fear. We adapted this by making the scene seem not stereotypical by adding effects to the scene to make it seem like a dream than something to suddenly fear. The final two scenes that used establish the thriller genre as they are isolated and quiet location which look obscure towards the audience. The hall location in which we wanted to show it being isolated is key element of thrillers as it gives as places where its quiet and less occupied tend to be the most feared by the audience and have the most connotations of mystery. The lift location is which we were inspired from the ‘Devil’ Trailer we used as one of the flashback scenes, we conformed to this thriller location as we felt that this would be an effective location to highlight our narrative plot. Also lifts as locations themselves give a sense of entrapment, fear and isolation. We wanted to incorporate these scenes to bring our fear of he unknown which is a key convention of the thriller genre.

In the beginning of our trailer we see this scene of close up shot of hands of many individuals, we wanted our trailer to conform to the portmanteau thriller genre narrative so we wanted to establish more than one character as the very beginning of the trailer. This is why we have a panning close up shot of all the main characters hands to show the feeling unity and unrest at the same time as portmanteau thrillers are based on these two emotions. We based our portmanteau narrative on the plot trailer structure of the ‘Identity’ Trailer as we felt that this trailer incorporated the key conventions of portmanteau. By the use of multiple characters and narrative plots that link them together. We conformed and adapted this by using 3 to 4 characters and feature props that link them together, this is why we feature a point of view close up shot of the props as its iconographic of a persons characteristics.

Another aspect that we featured within our trailer that we conformed from thriller trailer s was the use of narration by the characters. We have several scenes in which the characters narrate the events that our happening or are going to happen especially within the flashback scenes. We show this by the use of L- cuts of voice over narrations. This was established in order to create enigma codes for the audience about the narrative and to focus our narrative to be villain driven to further create binary oppositions, such as good vs evil. This is key convention of the thriller film genre which attracts audiences.

The flashback scene within the trailer I think where the most significant in explaining the narrative and purpose of our trailer, as it established the main characters and the main antagonist. We developed this by highlighting the scenes as flashbacks by adding purple color effects and fast pace cut shots. We conformed to the thriller genre narrative by the different types of camera shots and movements we used. For example when each character see’s the dark figure the camera shots are point of view close ups or mid shots. This is to create momentum towards the climax of the trailer and build up suspense, which is a key thriller convention. Also the different camera movements show the emotions and behaviour of the characters, such zoom in shot of one of the characters looking at the picture of the dark figure show the intensity of the scene which causes a dramatic effect within the trailer for audiences. We also feature lots of fade in effect shots and black screen shots to highlight certain dramatic scenes, for example where there is sudden movement by a character there is a fade in effect to further personify the scene. Also where there is a important narration by a character there is a black screen to show its significance within the trailer. This is what many thriller trailers establish.The music in these scenes along with the fast pace editing cut shots convey tension throughout, this is what many thriller trailers use. For example they use non diegetic high pitch sounds to build up tension this what we conformed to within our trailer

These scenes within the trailer if the most significant in creating fear and the most suspense as it signifies the mid point of the trailer where the mood and atmosphere changes into more of a sinister outcome. This shown by the characters actions such as in the shot reverse shot conversation the scared character hesitates to speak at the same time the music stops and all you can hear is silence and the characters breathing. This is similar to ‘The Strangers’ trailer as there is a significant scene where there is silence which creates the most tension and fear for the audience. This is what we adapted within our trailer to fit into our narrative and conformed to as most thriller trailers have long pauses or silence as a convention to create tension and further show the binary opposition between the characters and the antagonist.

The add to effects and the change in lighting further changes the mood and atmosphere of the scenes, for example by us darkening the footage colour is shows the obscurity and the tension within the scene. Also highlights how these two characters are isolated, this aspect first challenged as it was hard to establish which effects looked more sinister . However we were able to look a thriller trailers and understand what lighting conventions were used and how, for example low key lighting is key in showing isolation within the scene.

These are the climax scenes in our trailer in which the audience are left with a cliff hanger at the end, which is a key convention of the thriller film convention. These scenes are also fast pace cut fade shots, in which we wanted to create the most tension and enigma codes for the audience.Whilst the music begins to build up, such as we used music that sounds like a heart beat. This creates fear for the audience and highlights the impact of the antagonist's role within the trailer. The lighting starts to change as well, it becomes more brighter as the actions of the characters intensifies. This is a key concept of thriller trailer as they use lighting to bring out emotions of characters.

The intertitles also show suspense as it can create momentum within the trailer and build up tension, which is a key thriller trailer convention for example in the ‘Final Destination’ there are many titles used to narrate the plot of the film within the trailer. We have conformed to this by having our titles as rhetorical questions, by this we are able to make audience question the narrative’s plot and message. This is also another thriller trailer convention.