Social Groups

Social Groups

Definition

A group of people who interact with one another, share similar characteristics, and collectively have a sense of unity.

Thriller Codes & Conventions

• Characters can wear everyday clothing in order to be more relatable to the audience
• The protagonist may not be completely innocent
• The antagonist is most commonly a male who keeps a secret and is associated with danger
• Usually set in a location which the audience are able to easily relate to but is also quite isolated, such as the woods

Protagonist

We decided our protagonist should be a young female teenager who wears casual clothing but with a promiscuous flare, accompanied by heavy makeup and a dramatic up-do to highlight her sexuality and lack of innocence. Our research survey also helped us come up with this character because the most popular gender for a protagonist seemed to quite clearly be female. On top of this, our survey results show that the audience would prefer the protagonist to have a casual, rugged look which is why we decided ours will wear ripped denim jeans. This fits in well with the laid-back teenage social group who are a bit reckless (also shown through the mise-en-scène of the vodka bottle which she drinks from) , making the protagonist a more relatable character for the audience to sympathise with.

Antagonist

From our survey and research on conventions of characters from the thriller genre, we were sure to make our antagonist a male character since this is very typical of thriller films. To increase the 'creepy' factor we decided to use a male farmer as our antagonist so highlight the isolation of the man who has something to hide, which will be further emphasised by the location we have chosen. This allows for us to place the audience in a group setting of being part of a younger, reckless social group since not many people can relate to being a mysterious farmer in the middle of nowhere, uniting the audience to experience the emotions together.

Location

Because we wanted our film opening to be relatable in order for us to scare the audience more, we decided to use a woodland setting since it is so common to everyone yet very isolated. This creates a sense of helplessness for the protagonist and makes the antagonist seem far more dangerous and threatening.