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

2. What genre, and how does it align with the
conventions of the genre?
Our opening sequence aligns with the typical conventions of a
HORROR-THRILLER hybrid genre, however it also contains
unconventional differences (aligning with Steve Neale’s genre theory,
showing to have ‘instances of repetition and difference’), which make
the entirety of the film engaging and interesting to viewers.
This is due to the conventional colours, props, sounds, locations,
character types, and narratives of the horror/horror-thriller genre.
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3. CONVENTIONAL PROPS:
CONVENTIONAL SOUND:
Most conventional horror-thrillers tackle themes and
events like murder and extreme violence and so it’s
natural for horror-thriller movies to include props like
guns, knives, axes, chainsaws, fake blood (used to
show the results of such weapons being used) and ID
badges (like a police official badge) or passports.
A shot of some of our props (knife and fake
blood), which are deemed conventional to
the horror (and often the thriller genre).
A close up shot taken from Alfred
Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’ of one of the
conventional props used within it.
Often these conventional sounds are uncommon, sudden sounds
which can be either diegetic (and hence scaring the characters
within the scene) or non-diegetic (and therefore shocking the
audience, and building tension effectively). Low frequency drone
sounds are conventional, as well as screams, doors creaking, and
eery orchestral music with a dissonant sound. We used a couple
of these, however, I would say our choice of some diegetic, laid
back jazz music was fairly unconventional and surprising.
CONVENTIONAL LOCATIONS:
Conventionally, horror and thriller films are set anywhere which is
isolated, meaning the character is alone. Locations include abandoned
houses, cities, cabins, graveyards, dark streets and alleyways, forests or
basements.
Our film was set in the flat
of the killer. In a way, this
is unconventional as flats
are not able to be isolated
from the rest of the world.
I think it shocks the
audience more.
This is where ‘Funny Games’ was shot- a
cabin, in the middle of nowhere,
isolated from the rest of the world.

4. CONVENTIONAL CHARACTER TYPES:
- The hunter
- The policeman
- Serial Killer/ murderer
- The older, wiser person
- The sceptic
- The hysteric
- The victim(s), often women.
Normally, within the genre of horror (particularly
horror-thriller, where serial killers and murders are
common), conventional colours used are shades like
RED and BLACK, connoting things like blood, danger
and evilness. We used colours like this (predominantly
the red, as it is the colour of blood), meaning that our
opening sequence became closer to the horror genre
we intended to capture.
CONVENTIONAL COLOURS:
Nightmare on Elm
Street (1984), a
horror film,
compared to one
of our shots. Both
include black and
red colours.
Our own victim parallels the victim in
‘Psycho’. Both appear helpless women against
murderers with knives.
CONVENTIONAL NARRATIVES:
The conventional narrative of a horror thriller genre
is that there is a single (or group of) protagonists,
and then a few, extremely powerful antagonists (like
serial killers). There is always conflict between the
two, normally leading to multiple deaths and victims.
This parallels our narrative entirely. The serial killer
kills his wife, and the police are trying to find out
who committed this murder.

5. FUNNY GAMES
Michael Haneke, 2007
- A horror thriller (also further influenced by the psychological thriller genre), which is a shot for shot remake of
his own 1997 film of the same title.
- Starring Naomi Watts, Tim Roth, Michael Pitt and Brady Corbet.
- Follows a middle class family as it is captured and tortured by two young criminals on their holiday.
MIS-EN-SCENE:
• The way in which women present themselves, especially as the victim
of the killers within the film. Ann (in ‘Funny Games’) is presented as a
fairly passive women when she is killed, gagged and thrown off a
built. In our opening sequence, Mrs Chase is being put in a body bag,
already dead, and entirely passive. Both hold broken and sickly facial
expressions. In this way, this component of our film is entirely
conventional, following the passive woman victim pattern.
• Both killers in each movie don’t appear as if they are struggling with
the idea of their torturous actions, and instead seem fairly calm and
collected with the fact they’ve murdered people. Both killers’
costumes (with Funny Games’ white outfits, and my opening
sequence’s killer’s white shirt) are similar, and both reflect the
unbothered and calm nature of their characters.

6. SEVEN
David Finch, 1995
- A psychological crime thriller film, starring Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow and John C. McGinley.
- Tells the story of a detective who partners with the retiring William to track down a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as a
way in which to motif his murders.
- Principal photography took place in Los Angeles.
MIS-EN-SCENE:
• In the film ‘Seven’, there is a scene around halfway through the film which sees
the two protagonists knocking on a suspected serial killer’s door (the exact
same thing is happening in this image, in my opening sequence. Same location
too, outside a suspect’s door), presenting the conventionality of such narrative.
Both sets of pairs are wearing official looking clothes (shirts and ties, and black
trousers), as well as speaking in the same authoritative tone, in order to show
their authority and power. However, in ‘Seven’, it is a man doing the talking,
whereas in my opening sequence, we have challenged these misogynistic ideas
and included a policewoman, challenging stereotypes and going against typical
horror thriller conventions.
• Whilst these two shots look quite different composition wise, the mis-en-scene
is actually fairly similar. Both are set in places you wouldn’t expect to find such
evidence of violence (‘Seven’ being set in this nightclub-esque setting, and my
opening sequence in a normal, modern looking kitchen), furthering the thrilling
element of each event. Both scenes include a lot of the colour red, typical of
the horror thriller genre, connoting blood, danger and violence. They also both
make effective use of low-key lighting, emphasising the eeriness of the
atmosphere. For this reason, my opening sequence’s mis-en-scene seems to
have stuck to fairly typical conventions of the horror thriller genre.

7. SEVEN
David Finch, 1995
CAMERA:
• These camera shots are similar as they are close up shots of gruesome
injuries, or results of violence. The two shots from ‘Seven’ have the
injuries placed in the centre of the shot, shocking the audience, forcing
these images onto them. This is similar to my opening sequence, where
the blood-soaked tea towel in central to the shot, not letting the
audience look away, showing the significance of such violence. In this
way, we have stuck to the conventions of camerawork within the horror
thriller genre.
• These camera shots are similar in that they both are birds eye view close ups of the
typical ‘victim’ character. This birds eye view gives the audience the opportunity to see
the full extent of the injuries, and the perspective of the police (in ‘Seven’s case) or the
serial killer (in my opening sequence’s case). Both shots are conventional of the horror
thriller genre as they effectively frighten the audience, making them feel extremely
uncomfortable.
• My opening sequence included an extreme close up of the serial killer’s
eyes, as we wanted the audience to try and comprehend what he was
feeling, without showing his face (as we felt this suspended the audience’s
disbelief and furthered the tension), whereas ‘Seven’ has used a close up
of the serial killer’s face, showing his whole face, scaring the audience as
they are confronted with his emotions. However, I feel as if both shots have
the same effect, just with slightly different methods, and so for this reason,
I still see our camerawork to be fairly conventional.

8. SEVEN
David Finch, 1995
SOUND:
• In our sequence, I would say that our use of sound was
actually quite unconventional as a soundtrack within the
horror thriller genre. We used some laid-back, slow paced
piano jazz music to contrast the grotesque and horrific
nature of the killer’s crimes. It’s used to make the
audience feel uncomfortable. However, in ‘Seven’, the
conventional orchestral music has been used, using stab-
like dissonant chords, used to build tension and support
the action filled narrative. This completely contrasts what
we did in terms of sound, making our use of sound seem
untypical of the intended genre.
• However, there was an element of our use of sound which was
conventional, and aligned with the use of sound in Finch’s ‘Seven’. As
you can hear in both audio snippets, both films have made use of
non-diegetic, low frequency drone noises, enhancing tension and
suspense. Our low pitched drones are behind the jazz music
mentioned earlier. A common convention of the horror thriller genre.
PRESS ON EACH
SPEAKER TO LISTEN
TO SNIPPETS OF
AUDIO FROM EACH
FILM! <3

9. SEVEN
David Finch, 1995
EDITING:
• I would say that our editing is fairly conventional within the horror
thriller genre in that we made effective use of longer takes. These longer
takes made the pace of the sequence appear slower, and therefore
building suspense for the audience, making them feel as if something is
about to jump out at them. In our case, the slow pace builds suspense
and tension for the rest of the film. In ‘Seven’, the shorter takes and
longer pace build tension and pent-up emotion in the lead up to their
discovery of a fairly unrecognisable body.
• By including the whole clip, I am able to present
our most predominant editing technique: a
montage. I would suggest that this is fair
unconventional of the horror-thriller genre, as
horror-thriller genres like to change the subjects of
the shot around a lot, changing locations, or
following different action. However, this montage
keeps focus on the same action. Whilst this may
not be typical of the genre, I would still say it
effectively built tension and made the audience
truly realise the horrendous nature of our serial
killer, without having to show any further action.
THE CHASE
SEVEN

10. THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
Jonathon Demme, 1991
MIS-EN-SCENE:
• Both of these shots use low key lighting as a horror-thriller
mis-en-scene convention, to emphasise the creepy and
unknowing atmosphere of the scene. Both dead people are
also shown to have sustained fairly major facial injuries, a
common convention of the genre as it puts the audience on
edge, and is also an effective and gruesome way of showing
someone’s death. These shots also both heavily include the
colour red, typical of the horror genre, to connote danger and
blood. • Both of these shots include the conventional horror-
thriller prop of fake blood, covering the shot,
successfully shocking the audience, making them feel
uncomfortable. It’s good at showing the extent of any
violence that’s occurred.
• Costume wise, both ‘The Silence of the Lamb’ and
‘The Chase’ include police officers, wearing official
uniform, either shirts and ties, or shirts with badges.
This is conventional of the genre, adding power
dynamics and authority.

11. THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
Jonathon Demme, 1991
SOUND:
• One way in which our use of sound is fairly conventional is
through our use of the sound of footsteps, which I would say are
fairly conventional diegetic sounds within the horror-thriller
genre, presenting the idea of impending doom and danger. This
parallels the use of sound in the renowned ‘Silence of the Lamb’,
with the film opening to the sound of Claire running from
something, evoking fear and terror from the audience. However,
Demme’s film makes use of non-diegetic orchestral music,
complimenting the atmosphere, whilst I have made the decision
to keep this section of the sequence silent, solely focusing on the
footsteps. In this way, our use of sound could be considered to be
partially unconventional departing from cliché, overdone and
dissonant orchestral music.
• Another way in which I argue our use of sound is slightly unconventional is the
way in which we have used sound over the shots of the ‘victim’. Most horror-
thriller films have drastic noises, like screaming and shouting out of terror/ pain,
enhancing an atmosphere of horror. However, in our sequence, we have simply
muted the police officers’ dialogue, as well as continuing the piano jazz, in order
to portray the killers’ disinterest and coolness. The lack of traumatised screams
creates an eery and creepy mood. In this light, I think our sound has been used
unconventionally here.

12. THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
Jonathon Demme, 1991
CAMERA:
• One way in which the camerawork in ‘The Silence of the
Lamb’ contrasts to my opening sequence’s shots, is the
way that they have used a medium two shot, showing the
killer and the victim together in one room, presenting to
the audience clearly the relationship between the two.
However, in ‘The Chase’ we used mainly close ups of each
character, with a few medium shots which withheld the
killer’s face, to create suspense and withhold vital
information from the audience. Whilst they are different
shots, I believe both to be fairly conventional, as whilst
they are different, both shots create the same sense of
grotesque violence and horror.
• One thing that is used typically in horror-thrillers is high and low
angles, to show the victim’s power status against the killer’s. We
did not do this (and instead used eye level shots), as the man killed
his wife, keeping their statuses relatively similar, and henceforth
confusing the audience and making them engaged into what was
going on. It was not so conventional they knew what was going on.

13. CONVENTIONS OF OPENING
SEQUENCES
ENIGMA CODES
• Made use of HERMENEUTIC enigma
codes in our opening sequence, by
withholding from the audience the
identity of the serial killer. They do
not ever seen more than his eyes,
engaging them in the rest of the
film.
• It means that the audience are
asking questions like ‘Why has he
killed her?’, ‘Has he killed anyone?’,
‘Who even is he?’.
• In this way, our opening sequence is
fairly conventional, as many
directors make use of enigma codes
in order to encourage audiences to
watch the rest of the film, to answer
those unanswered questions.
(THE MOST WE EVER GET VISUALLY GIVEN OF WHO THIS KILLER IS)
KEY CREDITS
• We made use of approximately 21 titles, which are typically found
in conventional opening sequences, of most genres.
• We credited the directors, producers, actors, editors, casting
directors, costume designers and musical directors, just as most
opening sequences do.
• We have also made sure to match the font to the atmosphere (as
opening sequences typically do), using an old style, yet simple
font, in capitals (making sure the audience can read the titles, but
these also help support the creepy atmosphere). cc
TAKEN FROM ‘FUNNY
GAMES’
TAKEN FROM
‘THE SILENCE
OF THE
LAMBS’
TAKEN
FROM
‘THE
CHASE’

14. CONVENTIONS OF
OPENING SEQUENCES
ESTABLISHMENT OF GENRE
• One typical convention of an
opening sequence is to establish the
film’s genre within the opening,
introducing the atmosphere (and in
our case, the horror-thriller genre).
• We did this mainly through mis-en-
scene, showing fake blood, knives,
dead people and police officers. We
also used typical camerawork of the
genre (close ups mainly) and slow
paced editing.
• This is similar to other conventional
horror-thriller’s opening sequences,
establishing the genre before the
film starts.
• ‘The Silence of the Lamb’ makes use
of low key lighting, a girl running
(seemingly for her life), in an
isolated and ghostly forest.
THE SILENCE OF THE
LAMBS
ESTABLISHMENT
OF CHARACTER
• Another typical convention of opening
sequences is the establishment of the
characters within the film, drawing the
audience into the narrative, and the
character’s story.
• Looking at ‘The Silence of the Lambs’, this
opening sequence seems to be fairly
conventional in that it introduces the
character early, showing her to be doing
something she enjoys (running/ fitness),
as well as showing her determined and
strong nature, foreshadowing possible
helpful qualities she will need further on
in the film.
• However, in our sequence, the most we
see of the character is his eyes, and his
hands (cleaning up the crime scene).
However, whilst we discover that this man
has probably killed someone, we don’t
know why, and we don’t know much really
about his character (apart from the violent
and cruel nature).

15. SOCIAL GROUPS AND THEIR REPRESENTATION
In our opening sequence, we represented a few
different groups:
• Young men
• The police force
• Women

16. YOUNG MEN
• In our opening sequence, we have presented young
men in a fairly conventional manner, in that we
have made our movie’s serial killer a young man.
This shows this age group to be brutally violent,
and uncaring of women entirely. This is shown
through our use of fake blood, knives and the close
up shot of the dead women, presenting to the
audience the violence and pain this man has
initiated.
• However, we have also
represented this social group in
quite an unconventional way, in
that we have shown this character
to be smart and cunning, able to
completely clean up a crime
scene, and quickly escaping from
the police. We did this through
our use of editing, including a
close up shot of the killer’s eyes
averting to the side, after a shot
of the police. We have also done
this through the montage we
filmed of him cleaning slowly.
This shows the audience that he
has realised that he must get
away, in order to avoid arrest.
This contrasts the film and TV
industry’s typical presentation of
young men. For example, looking
at series like ‘Skins’ and ‘Friends’
and their comedic and fairly
dumb presentation of younger
men.
ROSS AND
JOEY-
‘FRIENDS’

17. POLICE FORCE
• Our representation of the police force, I would say, is quite unconventional
as we have presented the two police officers as fairly incompetent and
unable to get an answer out of the women who lives in the house, blissfully
unaware of the fact she is dead. We have done this through their use of
dialogue, begging the victim to ‘answer now’ and by presenting the
audience with a side shot of the two police officers, desperately banging on
the door. This tells the audience that the police officers are completely
clueless, and naïve.
• This contradicts typical representation of the police force, with police
officers usually being represented as smart, and more powerful than the
criminals, as they are able to arrest them. This can be seen in TV shows like
‘Brooklyn 99’ and ‘Eastenders’.

18. WOMEN
• In our opening sequence, we have presented women in a fairly
unconventional light, by having a female police officer. By having a
woman in a place of authority, we are breaking generic conventions of
film, having her shout orders through the door. Our use of costume
emphasises this, having a woman wear a shirt and tie, as well as a police
vest, showing her officiality. Her direct tone of voice also presents these
unconventional characteristics.
• However, we have also aligned with typical representations of
women within the film and TV industry, through the
presentation of the ‘victim’ in the film, and proving Laura
Mulvey’s theory to be true, with this woman having no direct
influence in the narrative. We have used a birds eye view shot,
from the killer’s perspective to show how she is under
complete control of a man, remaining entirely passive in her
role.

19. THE END!