Essay 1 - 'Inside man'

In this essay I will analyse the conventions of a thriller film, 'Inside man'. I will be doing this by looking at the four micro areas within the film opening.

In the opening of the film, within the first scene, the audience can see tha antagonist, talking to the camera. In this particular shot, there is low level lighting. Low level lighting is a common convention of crime thrillers as this helps build a level of suspense due to the mystery in the darkness of the shot.
Also in this scene of the antagonist talking to the camera, he describes being in a prison cell which obviously the audience has no idea what he is talking about, so this is an enigma, this too being a convention. An engima adds mystery to the narrative, which is usualyl what urges the audience to carry on watching the film. We hope to use both of these conventions in our film.

During the opening of the film, non-diegetic, contrapuntal music is added. The instruments used include drums and a guitar, these are played upbeat. When contrapuntal music is added to a film, this is usually supposed to highlight the significance of the moment in the narrative, added to the wide shot used in the camera work, really highlights the significance of that particular moment in the film. This soundtrack also adds a little bit of mystery (enigma), so this too is a convention.

The editing of the footage too is cleverly portrayed, in the beginning of the film, the camera work, added with the mise en scene shows the mystery and excitement of the narrative. The bank theives are driving to the bank in a dark van (convention of a getaway vehicle) and the fast paced jump cuts add to the mystery and excitement. The jump cuts are used to add mystery, as they're usually just short clips to make the audience intrigued in the film.
Also at the very beginning, before the creidts have begun, the narrative starts. This is a convention too, although it may not be widely used, it is occasionally. However, we will not be using this convention.

Throughout the 'Inside man' opening, characters that are directly related to the narrative wear darkened costume. This is related to the darkened frame including the lighting and costume. The reason for doing this is to build suspense, and the dark lighting (including darkened mise en scene) is a convention of crime thrillers. We hope to use these in our film opening.
When the antagonist is talking directly to the camera, during this, the antagonist is in the middle of the shot. The reason for this is the director wants the audience to only pay attention to the the character talking. This may not be a convention of a specific genre, but it is used in any genre when necessary. We will be using this convention.