How our film compares with the Codes and Conventions

Now that we have done research into both the codes and conventions of thriller and horror genre, we are now going to see how this compares to our film. We are going to see whether our film is very typical to the genres, and also in what ways it differs in terms of the individual aspects.

Setting - The setting for our film is more typical of a horror genre than a thriller genre. This is due to the fact that the setting is a house late at night, which gives it a sense of tension and connotes danger to the audience due to the time of day. The time of day chosen by us not only connotes to the audience the idea of something evil, but also gives it more a sense of isolation than perhaps there would of been had it been set in the middle of the day. The location could still be seen in a thriller film though, as it is set near the middle of town and so therefore allows the audience to make the link with civilization and reality when watching it.

Lighting - The lighting of the film is dark for the majority of the opening, which not only creates suspense with the audience but also was intended to add a sense of confusion, which is something that both thrillers and horrors tend to do. Despite the lighting being dark on the outside, there are brighter parts in the opening, particularly the bathroom (hence the title 'Don't follow the light'). This differs from what the audience might expect in a thriller or a horror as it is normally in the dark where the danger lies, due to the lack of visibility. We expect as an audience for the light to provide some sort of clarity to the situation, or maybe even hope, although our film in this way is quite the opposite, as it only adds to the confusion.

Here is the opening of a famous horror film - Halloween II, which also uses location, time of day and lighting to create a sense of danger and suspense in a similar way to our film:



Typical Character Types - In terms of a typical character types to our opening, our film doesn't entirely meet the conventions of a either genre, due to their being only male characters in the film. However, although there isn't a female character, there is a vulnerable one who separates themselves from the rest of the group, which is something that is particularly seen in horror films. When a character is alone, this also connotes a sense of danger to the audience as when we are alone we have no-one to defend us. In this way, our film fits the conventions of a horror film, while also could be seen as typical of a thriller due to the psychological edge that is present throughout.

Costume - The costumes of the actors in our film were purposely chosen to be normal clothes that weren't too expensive and so therefore ensured that the characters would not become too distant from the audience. Unlike films of a similar genre that I had researched, such as Seven, the characters did not wear any clothes that added to their status. This is because we chose the age of the characters and the clothing to specifically appeal towards a teenage audience. However, despite this difference with some films such as Seven, the clothing of the age group was very typical in terms of both horror and thriller films. This was used as another way of linking the audience to reality as it gave the impression through the generic clothing that the teenagers were quite relaxed about life before entering the house.