Stereotypes

Stereotypical codes and conventions

It is known that in a crime film the main codes and conventions involve:

•     a chase scene
•     association with knives and guns
•     a villain who is troubled (problems usually become known towards the end of the film)
•     an investigating team
•     a highly intellectual detective
•     someone vulnerable
•     a gang
•     someone's private life becoming public
•     a stereotypical family - eventually become the villains
•     secluded areas
•     large houses
•     betrayal

From the crime codes and conventions, they interlink with the thriller codes and conventions with the characters, following the same principles as a vulnerable girl who begins with an everyday routine. We do not involve any dangerous props such as guns or knives due to accessibility and relevance. An investigating team are not present in our opening two minutes, however if this was too be a whole film then it is most likely that they will be because it is noticeable to the audience in the first two minutes that a crime will be committed.
The opening two minutes of our film can be classified as a crime film because it does feature a few of the codes and conventions. However, due to the limited amount of time, it has proved difficult to incorporate all of these codes to make it significantly clear to the audience that the genre of our film is crime. This is why we have tried to include codes and conventions from a thriller film, as it is a lot simpler. The main codes and conventions of a thriller film are:

•     deceptive mind games
•     fast paced editing
•     a villain - usually a vulnerable girl
•     the victim maintaining an everyday routine
•     flashbacks
•     protagonist placed in a threatening situation
•     stalkers
•     paedophiles
•     psychotic characters
•     torture
•     sexual assault

It seems evident that the thriller codes and conventions are increasingly more relevant to the plot of our film, and they seem easier to incorporate due to the main focus being on the characteristics and mise-en-scene of the protagonist and the antagonist.
From the thriller codes and conventions we are including a victim who begins to maintain, what seems to be, their everyday routine. In our film this is our protagonist going on a run, it is evident to the audience straight away that she is a teenager, and in the modern day era, it is part of normality for teenage girls to go on runs. We present our antagonist in a very suspicious and what would potentially be, a very grotesque manor. This fits in with the codes and conventions of a thriller genre.