Research Essay

Explore the genre and conventions of your chosen media text. How do you plan to adhere to or develop these conventions?

Our chosen Genre is something along the lines of Crime/Thriller. Their are many conventions used in most Crime/Thriller trailers, which we, as a group would like to replicate and even further to make it our own. Some of the common conventions used in these trailers are the use of a voiceover to inform the audience of the story and fast-paced editing and a multitude of shots, montaged together to show the  danger of the particular moments in time and cause the audience to feel an overriding sense of tension. The trailers often build to a climax and the stars are almost always showcased, with the focus usually being held on one particular character to highlight his/her importance to the story. Mise-en-Scene is also used to good effect in most Crime/Thriller trailers as it is an easy way to highlight a particular characters wealth and or position in society. Due to the fact that most Crime/Thriller films present the audience with a contrast in positions of power, Mise-en-Scene is an easy way to highlight this. The action in most Crime/Thriller trailers is also interspersed with the actor or director credits. This is used in almost every trailer you will see but is used in conjunction with sound bridges to great effect in most Crime/Thriller trailers. It is used to place an emphasis on previous shots and scenes of action. 

In terms of the narrative, most Crime/Thriller trailers are fairly similar in terms of the structure. Most Crime/Thriller trailers I have studied, begin with some sort of action or fast-paced editing to instantly bring the audience in to the story but is also used to establish the setting of the film and introduce the major characters. The Hummingbird trailer employs these techniques well as we are instantly brought into the action, which adheres to the genre of the film as combat, linked with dark alleyways and questionable neighbourhoods are major themes. This fast-paced start also identifies the characters with where they are from, again adhering to the crime genre of the film as crime is often linked with lack of wealth. This is shown through the fast pace editing and close up shots, suggesting some sort disagreement and the only way to resolve this, is through fighting. Many Crime/Thriller films employ the use of a love interest and they emphasise this in the trailers themselves. Hummingbird again uses this to highlight the different dimensions of Statham's Character and employs close-ups to suggest that their is more to his character than meets the eye. This is also used in 'Gangster squad', whereby Emma Stone's character is presented to the audience as an object of desire. This is a clever technique, which we would perhaps like to use and even develop in our movie trailer. This idea of making our leading character more three-dimensional is something that we would like to replicate in our trailer as we would use a multitude of different shots to suggest more about that

particular character. After the beginning the trailer where order is established in a particular way the rest is fairly conventional to most trailers. The order is disrupted, which is most often shown through fast-paced editing, exciting music and often longer, dragging or panning shots of the 'Bad Guy' in the film doing something, which he is not supposed to be doing. The lighting is often more low key in these parts of the trailer as well to suggest danger and keep the audience on the edge of their seat. The ending usually concludes with order being restored and then the final shot of the title of the film. This is seen in almost all Crime/Thriller trailers. However, many such as______, often finish with a large action sequence to keep the audience interested and draw them into watching the film.


A common convention in many Crime/Thriller trailers is to emphasise the importance of a particular character, often the main character but in 'Gangster Squad', they place particular importance on the 'bad guy', Gary Oldman. Much of the first 27 seconds of the trailer, before the introduction of the production companies, involves a lot of emphasis on Gary Oldman's character. The trailer employs the use of multiple close ups with tilts and pans to highlight his importance to the storyline. Low angle shots are often used to highlight his domineering presence and suggest his overwhelming authority. They choose to hold the final image of the 'bad guys' face for longer than usual, which again emphasises his importance and causes his image to stick with the audience going into the film itself. The 'Mob Boss' is presented in a fairly glamorous way, whereby he is eating in expensive restaurants and living a lavish lifestyle, similar to Statham in hummingbird. The 'lavish' side of being a criminal is not only a common convention in most Crime/Thriller trailers but it is presented to us in the first part of the 'Gangster Squad' trailer despite the dark colours, which is something we would like to replicate in ours. We would like to look into this idea of the different sides of crime and how some characters are extremely wealthy with crime, such Oldman's character and others are not, similar to Statham's character at the beginning of Hummingbird. Powerful establishing shots are used in almost all Crime/Thriller trailers, especially in Eastern Promises with the forensic team looking for evidence to link to the crime. This strongly links with the thriller Genre as the audience are instantly asking questions about what has happened and what the consequences will be. The quick cut from the establishing shot to a mid-shot of the dead man again adheres to the Crime/Mystery genre as it shows that the man has been murdered and this causes the audience to again question what has happened and why. The establishing shot of the London Skyline in Hummingbird is also powerful as it suggests a lot about the film itself. We would like to develop this idea by creating an interesting and powerful opening shot to instantly draw the audience into our trailer.
The opening mid-shot, the camera panning along with the shadowed man walking through what seems to be a car-repairs shop whilst smoking is a powerful opening image. It is quite common in many crime/thriller trailers to open with what seems to be the antagonist or his 'boss', with his voice over narrating an integral part of the story. We would certainly be interested in developing the idea of using a voice-over in our trailer to narrate the story. One of the main conventions used in almost all Crime/Thriller trailers, especially 'The Departed' and 'Hummingbird', is to employ the use of a montage, working in conjunction with fast-paced editing to adhere to the thriller genre but at the same time, highlight the dramatic parts of the film.

Location is extremely important as the audience only view two minutes of the film. Much of the 'Departed' trailer is set in darker, more gritty environments, which suggest a lot about the film itself. It is important to define how you are going to depict the world of crime in the
trailer and it is clearly defined as something less glamorous in this particular trailer. This is in stark contrast with Hummingbird and even Gangster Squad as they show the glamorous side of crime, whereby wealth and influence is involved. Another way to show the different sides of crime is through the characters costumes/clothes. Oldman's character in 'Gangster Squad' wears well-made suits and is presented as extremely wealthy, where-as this is not the case for Statham's character in the 'Hummingbird' who is presented as someone who was homeless. This is mainly shown through Mise-en-Scene, which is why we, as a group will pay particular attention to the choice of clothes our actors will wear as they inform the audience a lot about a particular character. We would like to develop to common conventions and challenge the boundaries of most conventional Crime/Thriller trailers in terms of the characters Mise-en-Scene as it is extremely important to the overall picture and quality of the trailer.


One common convention in almost every Crime/Thriller trailer is the use of a large, brooding sound boom, often to bring in the opening/establishing shot or to introduce the credits. It is commonly used to emphasise a particular point and or end/start a sequence of action. It is used effectively in conjunction with other non-diegetic and diegetic sounds in the 'Zodiac' trailer. The trailer does not use a graphic match when it uses police sirens against the establishing shot of the city. This is a clever way to suggest something more sinister in a shot that doesn't look all to threatening and it could suggests that some sort of crime is or is going to happen. This is an example of motivated editing, through the use of sound it could also imply that crime is major theme in the film. This is something we would like to replicate and or develop as aforementioned, it is a clever way of suggesting violence without actually showing it. Zodiac also employs sound-bridges, as seen with the fireworks and the sound of a gun going off, which is another common convention in most Crime/Thriller trailers and certainly something we would like to replicate in our trailer.

MT