Research into conventions- Miss Miller

Convention's is the conforming or adhering to accepted standards- this is the definition. Moreover conventions in films is the elements that relate with the specific film genre. Conventions would show the audience what each film would be like, such as an action film this film genre will always have conventions of stunt doubles as it could contain violence and fighting. There's always a hero that's preferably a man also a Female victim that is need of saving from the hero. Lastly there would be a villain. These conventions would show the audience straight away that it's going to be a action film. Low key lighting is always used in a thriller to build up suspense, which would make the audience feel wary. An enigma is always used in a thriller this is when a mystery is being created.

The film I'm analysing is Misery this film is based on a lady who is a massive fan of Paul Sheldon's books who is a famous author. This thriller film has key conventions in such as the lighting, the tense music, the setting and the iconography. Within this essay I'm going to be discussing how these conventions are being used in this sequence and how they make the film conventional.

A convention being used in this sequence is the setting of it as it's in the middle of nowhere, no one will know that Annie is keeping Paul captive in her home as no one would know where her home is.
This would create mystery to the audience as no one would ever know where Paul Sheldon was as he's in somewhere where no one knows about. This makes the audience think and worry for Paul as he might not ever be found and he might just be kept in Annie Wilkes home for a very long time. It would make the audience feel more engaged as they would want to know if he manages to escape from his "number one fan".This is conventional as it's an eerie location, which would scare the audience and create suspension more.

This sequence also includes a typical convention you see in a thriller such as tense music, which is used when the camera goes from Paul and straight onto the appearance of Annie, which is when the tension music is introduced. This is to make the audience feel wary, it draws attention on Annie's face which will let the audience know that Annie is about to do something bad as tension is being built up. This is conventional due to the fact that tension music is key in a thriller genre. When Annie's face suddenly appears with the tension building music it shocks the audience as they weren't expecting to see her in this part of the scene.

Also in this sequence iconography is used when she has a hammer as a weapon towards Paul Sheldon, when she breaks his ankles which creates fear to the audience. This makes the audience see that Annie is violent and has the control and dominancy at that moment as she is the one holding the weapon whilst Paul is drugged up and tied up to the bed. In this sequence also there's a needle, this is used when Annie drugs Paul up so he doesn't know what's going on. She uses this needle as it will take away the pain from Paul getting his ankles broken again as she doesn't want him to be able to escape from her. This shows the audience that she knows what she's doing because when she injects him it goes straight in the right place. This makes the audience again feel sympathetic towards Paul as he has no say in whats going on and no say in what Annie is doing to his body. This makes the audience begin to build a relationship with Paul and begin feeling sympathetic towards him as they now just want Paul to have the strength to get up and leave the torture that Annie has been putting him through.

Within this thriller sequence the victim is a male, which isn't conventional. However Paul the antagonist builds a relationship with the audience by making the audience experience his fears and struggles to escape from his worst nightmare; it makes the audience feel more attached to Paul as you begin to feel sorry for him due to him being in an accident then being tortured by Annie. As the sequence goes on you begin to learn a lot more about Paul as a person, such as how much he was willing to take from Annie's torture it makes the audience want to see him escape successfully.

Another key convention used in this is low key lighting when Paul is laying in the bed after being injected with a needle. The low key lighting is to create a sense of unknowingness and suspense due to the scene dramatically getting darker and more of a mystery. When there is low key lighting there is also a high angle shot of Paul which shows his weakness and vulnerability at this moment. This makes the audience feel sympathetic towards Paul as he's left in a bed weak unable to defend himself from Annie as he's tied to a bed with no escaping.

Overall the piece I have chosen to write about/analyse for my research into conventions has shown me that by having conventions in a film it makes the film more effective without the certain convention's such as lighting for example you wouldn't be able to tell what sort of mood is being set. This will help me with my sequence as it will give me a clearer outlook on what conventions I would need to include to create a successful thriller film. With the research I have done on the film Misery it's shown me that I can used different character's even if their not stereotypical just as long as I include convention's to go with a thriller genre. When filming my thriller sequence, the conventions I'd include would be the ongoing tense music as it builds a high suspense of fear for the audience.