Genre essay

Thriller is a genre that is used in films, literature, etc that’s main focus is to create tension, suspense and excitement. The entire purpose of this genre is to keep the audience on the edge of their seat as they are watching the content being presented to them. Main aspects that are usually in thrillers can range from plot twist, suspense, tension, betrayal and deception, etc. In my short film, I had used all of the mentioned aspects in order to keep my audience engaged with my piece of work. On top of these aspects, more techniques were used in order to make my short film seem more in the thriller category whilst also enticing the audience to watch further.

Camera work

Throughout my short film I had used a various amount of camera angles to show the scenery. as well as make my characters stand out more in the scene, conveying their importance in the narrative. This can easily be seen whilst watching my entire short film as every scene (except the introduction with my narrator) is able to be clearly seen by the audience. The reason for why I have focused a lot on camera work in my short film is because my entire storyline is based on the antagonist (Jinoo) betraying and deceiving my antagonist (Sooha) and with the use of the camera work that I have done, this can be conveyed to the audience which is the main purpose as it links with the thriller genre whilst keeping them entertained. It will allow for my audience to understand that the characters within the short film have the most meaning and need to be paid attention to. 

The types of camera work that I used range from high angle, low angle, close up, wide shot and eye-level as I felt these were the best ones to use in order to create emphasis on the characters as well as set the mood of tension within the audience. 

Furthermore, at the start of my short film I had used a green screen for my narrator and a close up shot of my actor who plays the narrator. I had done this as it creates suspense with my narrator explaining what is going to be happening in the story and helps with my psychological thriller side being the emotional side of my short film. This is because the story is about a girl named Sooha and her friend Jinoo who are both vampires and Jinoo tricks her into drinking her blood when she doesn’t want to. The green screen allows me to make my narrator be in any place of my choosing as I wasn’t able to pick a location that fitted the thriller scenery. 

Lighting work

In my entire short film I had used lighting work throughout my scenes to allow for the audience to be able to see the characters and the scenery. The main lighting that I had used was natural light which in this case was sunlight as a majority of the scenes in my short film were recorded outside in the park location. Having natural lighting such as sunlight allowed me to create realism within my short film which audiences love as it can possibly relate to real life scenarios and envy emotion within the audience which can leave an emotional impact on them.

Another light source that I had used in my short film was studio rig lighting in the scene with my narrator and the green screen. The way in which I have used this whilst making my short film was by having boom arms with spotlights attached to them and shining on my narrator who was standing in the middle of the green screen area. This ensures that my character has all of the necessary lighting lighting that would make him stand in the scene and it also allows me to control the amount of light needed with precision and high quality. I needed this as it would allow me to fit with my thriller genre by allowing me to create a moody type of lighting to create a tense atmosphere and mood.

Where I had taken inspiration from

I have taken inspiration from the thriller genre in my short film from the video above which is about a boy's sacrifice to a girl and him wanting for her to bite him, to relieve him of existence.

The first noticeable inspiration that I took from the video, is the green screen effect that they had utilised for a dramatic effect when one of the characters kills another. The scene is instantly switched from a real-life altercation to a red screen room to indicate how the sword had been used to slice and kill the other person. Instead, I had used the green screen idea to transfer the setting of where my narrator is located, to be put into a more sinister thriller-like area as it would create suspense and tension within the audience.

I had also based my entire short film narrative on this video by Enhypen as theirs is about a girl whose bite can make the person disappear and in my short film the characters are vampires which one wants to bite the other. Enhypen’s video is a thriller as it’s extremely tense with many fights/killing happening which creates a tense atmosphere for the audience. At the end of my short film, this inspiration is the most present as Jinoo is about to bite Sooha to taste her memories which is very similar to the video of Enhypen’s. This allows me to keep inside of the thriller genre as my short film is about betrayal and deception which creates a tense and suspenseful atmosphere for the audience to feel engaged whilst watching.

Lastly, I had also taken inspiration from the lighting aspect used in Enhypens video which was natural light. This can clearly be seen in the scene below where the natural sunlight is used to show the two characters in the middle of the field hugging each other. The sunlight provides a perfect light source to show the characters in the frame to the audience and I had also used the same in my short film with the only difference being the sun being more vibrant as the time of day is closer to the morning rather than mid-day like in Enhypen’s. As the location that I picked was the park, it allowed me to use the sun as a natural light source which perfectly allowed me to capture my two characters along with the scenery with immense detail. This natural light makes the film fit into a thriller genre as it creates realism and authenticity which makes the story more believable and immersive, therefore allowing the audience to connect with the characters much better which creates suspense as to what could happen to any one of them.