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How we used Thriller Conventions –

• We used blonde victims as they show innocence and the audience automatically think that they are the victim, we took this idea from research into directors and found out that Alfred Hitchcock always used blonde women as his victims.

• We also used binary opposites for our victims/killers, one of the ways we presented their differences was the way they were dressed. One victim was wearing white to show her innocence, purity and goodness and the other was wearing a flowery top which represented her being homely and happy. The two killers were wearing dark clothing, one was dressed in a suit and the other in a dark coat. The dark colours suggested that they were dangerous and untrustworthy. The suit that one killer was wearing represented his seriousness, matureness and how sophisticated he was.

• In terms of props, one significant prop was the gun, which was used by both killers; the audience can see that the guns are identical and this is one of the links that we had between both killers, this is to show the audience that they were connected in some way.

• We also made sure that the audience could not see the first killers face at all and his identity remained unknown, this is a typical thriller convention. However, we decided to show the second killers identity so that is would mislead the audience and not seem as suspicious.

• Another way that we used conventions was through sound and music, we used wild sounds in the background of non – diegetic sound. This helped build up the action in the narrative.

How did we break Thriller Conventions?

• The first convention that we broke was the use of a younger man, from our audience research we discovered that many people thought that a man between age 40 – 60 is the stereotypical age of a thriller criminal. By using a younger man, we broke this convention which made the thriller more mysterious and out of the ordinary.

• We also used different settings to most thriller films. We used a nice, expensive house and a deserted forest. These two settings contrasted eachother to create an eary atmosphere and raise questions among the audience as to how the two settings are linked. We broke this convention as we found that many thriller films are set in a large city which is loud, full of action and where many crimes go almost unnoticed.

• We also used a mix of lighting, low key and bright lighting so that there was a further contrast between the two settings. The first scene in the forest uses low key lighting and we have edited the scene so that a majority of the colour is drained and it has a greyscale effect.

• We also broke conventions of the time of day that the plot was set in; most films will change times and jump from day to night or vice versa. But we kept the time of day pretty much within an hour and tried to keep as much natural light as we could so that this would seem out of the ordinary and keep the audience thinking that everything is normal.

How did the narrative apply to the Thriller Genre?

• The first way our narrative applied to the thriller genre was through the use of making sure questions that the audience will ask themselves; were unanswered. For example, when one of the killers locks the door and takes the key; why does he do this? Who is the first killer? Why are the two victims killed? What is the significance of the second killer wearing a suit?

• Also, many thrillers have a killer and a victim and their ‘fight’ is the main plot of the film, we used this but in the sense that the audience don’t know why the victims were being killed, we wanted the victim to seem completely innocent, although the idea of the title ‘Assassin’ suggests that the victims have done something bad or evil that makes them the targets of some hitmen.

• Hitmen are often used in thriller films, for example; the film, The Bourne Ultimatum has an assassin as one of the main characters. It is conventional as they produce the element of mystery, violence, confusion, action and the plot is often fast paced. This is what we wanted to try and produce, we used a fast paced story line as the killer steps into a house and a few minutes later he has killed the home owner already.

• We also wanted to use an equilibrium, we did this by building up the eeriness and confusion as the plot went on and then a short amount of action took place, followed by the return to ‘normality’ for the two assassins.

• Also, the use of Todorov Theory by suggesting that the assassins are going to go off and kill yet more people, so they will be going round in a continuous circle.