Our film conformed to the thriller genre through the use of tension within our scenes. Suspense and tension was built through the editing and use of quick cuts when the protagonist discovers the government secret. From when the protagonist realizes he needs to test the theory a number of quick shots are used up until he reaches the science laboratory; this shows his rush to get there, leaving the audience wondering why he’s in such a hurry and also where he is going. The fast pace of each shot shows the protagonists anxiousness and rush of adrenaline as he runs to the lab, at the same time the audience feel the tension and suspense as they are eager to find out what the result of his discovery will be.

One of our main thriller convention focuses was to create many enigmas within our film. This was effectively done in most of the scenes: by the opening scene of the depressed and anxious protagonist, the audience immediately ask themselves ‘who is this man?’ and ‘why is he in this state?’. As the story goes on to answer their questions, more enigmas are presented; when the agent’s phone rings there is a mystery of who the caller is, and also what he is saying to the agent. This enigma is reinforced by how the agent is not entirely revealed straight away – the audience are only able to realise he is in fact an agent when the protagonist opens his ‘Top Secret’ email.

Another great convention used in our film was the concept of a flashback, this worked extremely well and gives the audience a feel of two different situations in time, the past and present. Within the flashback scenes we included point-of-view shots which were used to enable the audience to understand and perceive what the protagonist was looking at, at that specific point in time. This puts the audience in a first person view, making them feel involved while also allowing them to absorb more understanding of the situation the character is in. A point of view shot is used when the protagonist opens the agent’s email; from here the audience feel as if they have also opened it, making them feel like they’re in the protagonist’s shoes. The final shot consists of a tracking shot which then merges into a point-of-view shot, this was done to make the audience feel as if they are running with the character and looking up at the sky themselves; this makes them wonder how the protagonist is feeling after proving his theory.