Communicating the Genre of our Text

Communicating the Genre of Our Text

In our film opening sequence we will communicate the genre of our text through many ways. For example; 

• Editing on the title
• Dull colours/lighting
• Enigma code
• Location 
• Dialogue
• Camera shots

The editing on the title will be somewhat conventional as there will be mainly red, black and white colours which will convey the genre as these are common in psychological thrillers. Red connoting danger, death and love, black connoting death, mystery and evil and white connoting innocence and purity which not only will contrast with the black but will represent the woman in our opening sequence.

Similarly, the colours and lighting will be just as effective. The main colours in the opening sequence will be conventional of a psychological thriller as dull colours are very common in this genre as they can signify a sense of mystery. The dull colours will work in conjunction with the low-key lighting which again is very frequent in a psychological thriller as it can transmit the mystery to our film. There may be some more hopeful colours such as natural daylight colours when the missing posters are being put up as there is still a sense of hope for the sister of the missing wife as she will only know one side to the story. But as soon as the cellar is involved, the main colours will be dark and dull to show the contrast and how locked away the wife is. 

In terms of Roland Barthes Code Theory, we will be incorporating an enigma code by not revealing the identity of the husband in the opening sequence. This will add to the sense of mystery in the plot and get the audience questioning and on the edge of their seats as they’ll want to know the identity of this man. This is a genre signifier for a psychological thriller as in many opening sequences of this genre, it is extremely common for the directors to involve enigma codes as they want to get the audience gripped and encourage the audience to watch on and find out the answers to their questions.

Furthermore, the location of our opening sequence will be conventional for a psychological thriller. Our main location is a cellar which will immediately illustrate mystery to the audience and it is very commonplace for this genre, as the most used locations for psychological thrillers are usually abandoned as they add a sense of uneasiness and mystery within the audience.

The amount of dialogue will be very minimal to add to the mystery. But we are going to have a voiceover when the husband is cooking dinner to illustrate his thoughts about what has happened and maybe hint or even tell the audience what has happened in the past to help the audience understand the storyline better and will help them understand why the wife is in the cellar.

The semantic elements as a part of Rick Altman’s Genre Theory will be incorporated through the use of the location and the wife tied up in the cellar as these are visual iconography for a psychological thriller and will be easy to identify for the audience. Also we will involve syntactic elements as there are emotional themes involved such as love and also the husband getting revenge as he feels humiliated by his wife.

The point of view shots of the wife in the cellar will really help the audience to feel as though they are a part of the action and help them to understand what the wife is going through. Also to make the audience feel attached more emotionally to the character. We will also be using an over the shoulder shot which is extremely conventional for a psychological thriller as it is very effective in building tension within the audience. The use of various establishing shots will help the audience to get to know the location and maybe even establish a relationship between the location and the characters. 

Planned out by Robbie, Freya, Jess and Jack but written by Robbie.