CCR 1: Conventions & Representation

The presentation below answers the following question:

How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?

Transcript:

Welcome back, listeners!

This is The Purr-spective Podcast and it’s me, Raven.

Today, we have a very special guest with us..

Miss Aisha Waheed!!!

Miss Aisha will be answering our questions about her recent film opening, Bound By Evil.

First, how does your product use or challenge the conventions of psychological horror and thriller?

While planning for our film opening, we conducted detailed research into a range of psychological horror/thrillers  analysing the key codes and conventions commonly used within the genre. As a result, our final product follows several established conventions to create tension and engage audiences through guilt, fear, or hallucinations.. However, we also aimed to challenge aspects of the genre by introducing a more psychologically complex narrative, avoiding overused motifs to bring originality into our narrative.

I’m going to start by discussing the first convention used in our film opening: the protagonist. After research into psychological thriller and horror films we were shown that protagonists are often “heroic” or at least morally understandable, stable enough for the viewers to follow, or sometimes morally ambiguous and mentally conflicted. For example: Norman Bates in Psycho, Teddy Daniels in Shutter Island, and Nina in Black Swan, who struggle with guilt, fear, or hallucinations, creating suspense in the film.

In our film, we chose to challenge this convention by presenting the protagonist with extreme moral ambiguity. His actions, such as, brutally murdering his son is horrific, yet we wanted the narrative to present itself in a way that his perspective may foster empathy or understanding from our audience's perception. Unlike typical thrillers, where morally conflicted protagonists rarely commit such extreme acts while remaining the central aspect of audience engagement, our protagonist is both the source of the threat and the central character. By making the father an unreliable narrator, the viewers cannot fully trust his perception of reality. Whereas many thrillers feature complex protagonists who respond to external dangers, our protagonist’s internal instability drives the tension, blurring the line between hero and antagonist. 

Additionally, another key convention of the psychological horror/thriller genre lies in its narrative structure. Typically, these films create unease and psychological tension that keeps the viewer guessing, and are forced to read between the lines often through twists, unexpected reveals, and the careful masking of the truth until the climax. Uncertainty is also central, with open-ended outcomes encouraging the viewer to draw conclusions and analyse the story for themselves. Psychological horror/thrillers frequently explore themes such as guilt, fear, and moral dilemmas, engaging viewers on both an emotional and intellectual level. In our film opening, these conventions are evident in the uncertainty surrounding the character’s actions. The viewer is left questioning: “was the son truly possessed?” “Is the father hallucinating?” “is the film perhaps centred around shared psychosis?”. This approach allowed us to use and adapt the psychological horror/thriller convention while making it more original and thought provoking. 

Examining the cinematography and editing in our film, we utilised several technical techniques that reinforced the conventions of the psychological horror/thriller genre. The use of close-ups and extreme close-ups emphasised the fear and evil residing within the father. In the opening sequence, where he murders his son, the audience witnesses each deliberate action: he lights and extinguishes a cigarette in the ashtray as he notices his son entering the kitchen, empties a vase to prepare his weapon, and carefully wears the gloves placed on the table without displaying panic. By highlighting each step through multiple shots and careful sequencing, we conveyed to viewers his calculated intent. 

​​We also employed multiple point-of-view shots from the father’s perspective to engage the audience in his experience. The first occurs when he approaches his son, who is crawling to the door in a desperate attempt to escape. This POV shot places viewers directly in The protagonist’s presence, emphasising the brutality of his actions and creating a sense of uncomfortable empathy with the injured son. The second POV shot occurs in the hospital, when the father perceives his son in the corner of the room as “possessed.” This intentionally conveys his hallucinations, allowing the audience to understand the extent of his mental instability. By using these POV shots, we reinterpreted the psychological horror/thriller convention of exploring character perspective by shifting viewer sympathy and manipulating perception, once again, forcing the audience to question what is real and what is imagined. 

We also reinterpreted conventions by using unsettling angles. Such as low angle shots in the scenes where we wanted to portray the character as dominating or a threat, and high angle shots when we wanted to portray the character as weak. For example, during the scene where the father beats the son, we used both low and high angles where suitable, showcasing the father as a threat and the son as weak or helpless.

We used deliberate pacing and sequencing instead of fast cuts to create panic. I wanted to linger on small, calculated actions, letting tension build gradually. This editing technique subverted the expectation that horror/thriller editing must be rapid to create suspense.

While editing, I also utilised cross-cutting between the father’s confession during therapy and a flashback of him holding his son on the kitchen floor, while simultaneously zooming out from a close-up shot of the father’s face to a wider shot. This back-and-forth editing technique was intended to create a direct link between past and present, gradually revealing the truth to the audience.

By ending the sequence on the flashback, I wanted to emphasise the emotional weight of the father’s actions as he holds his son on the kitchen floor, hugging him, guilty. This reinforces the psychological impact of the scene. The use of this technique enhances tension and encourages the audience to reflect on the character’s guilt.

We also used and challenged conventions through our mise-en-scene. In psychological horror/thrillers, elements such as props, lighting, costume, setting, and positioning are employed to create unease and reflect a character’s mental state. In our film opening, we utilised symbolic props such as the flowers placed on the kitchen shelf in the opening shot before the father murdered his son, which was incorporated to represent innocence and contrast with the brutality that followed. The vase is then used as a weapon turning an ordinary object into something threatening instead of a knife or gun to make it seem more psychological rather than cliche. Additionally, the father smoking a cigarette, along with multiple cigarettes in the ashtray, suggests that he had been waiting, again, highlighting his calculated behaviour. As well as the use of gloves.

Low-key lighting is applied throughout to create a dark and unsettling atmosphere, strengthening the conventions of the genre. Costume is also used symbolically, for instance, the son is seen wearing the same clothing in the hospital as when he was killed by the father, hinting at the character’s hallucinations. The father is dressed in black throughout the film opening, indicating darkness and harm, whereas in the therapy sequence he wears white, which was incorporated to suggest innocence and his attempt to justify his actions.

The settings of the kitchen, hospital, and therapy room reflect different stages of the narrative, from the crime itself to its emotional aftermath. However, we reinterpreted conventions by using a normal domestic setting, such as a kitchen, to illustrate violence, making the scene more realistically disturbing. 

Finally, character positioning was carefully considered, with the father standing throughout the murder signifying dominance and then falling to the ground and sitting with his head down represents guilt and regret. 

The positioning of the father was intentionally shifted from the left side of the frame after the murder to the right side during the therapy. This change implies a transition in his mental state, from guilt and loss of control to a more composed and dominant position as he attempts to justify his actions. This subtle visual shift reflects his distorted perception of reality and reinforces his role as the central focus of the narrative.

In our film opening, sound design played an essential role in establishing realism and tension. I employed diegetic sounds to immerse the audience in the narrative, such as the son’s heavy breathing and whimpering on the kitchen floor, the father’s increased heartbeat once he realises what he had done, the creaking of the door when the son enters making the father and the audience both alert, the water dripping in the sink, and putting down of the vase. These sounds are not only deployed to ground the audience in the scene but also reflect the character’s mental states, such as fear, helplessness, and measured intent.

Non-diegetic sounds are used in our film opening to heighten suspense and signal key narrative moments, including rhythmic tension and risers before the father hits his son with the vase, and eerie music during the hospital and therapy sequences, which illustrates the father’s hallucinations and mental instability. 

We subverted the sound design conventions of the psychological thriller genre by layering diegetic and non-diegetic sounds, rather than relying on fast cuts and jump scares. This allowed tension to build gradually, immersing the audience in the father’s distorted perception of reality. For instance, in the back-and-forth therapy scene, I carefully adjusted the sound design: the diegetic ticking of the clock was synced with the flashback cuts, and as the clock’s pace increased, the flashbacks cut to the father’s face faster. Layered over this was eerie non-diegetic music, which intensified the unsettling atmosphere. Both the clock and the music stopped simultaneously as the father began answering the therapist’s question. This intentional approach would encourage the audience to interpret the father’s guilt and mental state, blurring the line between reality and illusion, conveying a more complex use of sound than is typically expected in the genre.

Bold choices, human.

keeping all of this in mind, my second question to you is how does your product represent social groups or issues?

Our film opening portrays the father as mentally ill, and his act of murdering his son signifies how severe mental illness can affect parenting and family relationships. This reflects the real-world events of “family annihilation,” where parents with psychological disorders sometimes harm their children due to delusions, a desire for control, or a belief that they are “saving” them. For instance, In our narrative, the father’s extreme moral ambiguity is highlighted by showing him as guilty and miserable after the murder, reinforcing the idea that these actions originate not from lack of love, but from distorted perception caused by mental illness. Such as schizophrenia, Paranoid Delusions, Religious Delusions, Bipolar Disorder, Severe Depression, or Borderline Personality Disorders.

The protagonist's hallucinations and therapy scenes further represent people struggling with mental disorders, showing how individuals can sincerely believe their own actions are justified, even when they are terrifying. This aligns with broader societal issues: mental health in Pakistan is often under-recognised, with roughly 60% people in need of professional help avoiding treatment due to limited knowledge, poverty, and low literacy rates (Pakistan’s literacy rate is approximately 60–63%). Family annihilation and domestic violence in Pakistan also often overlap with economic instability and patriarchal social structures, highlighting the pressures that contribute to these extreme acts. For instance, a study analysing Pakistani newspapers from 2019–2020 which identified 114 homicide-suicide incidents, many involving multiple family members, showing that such tragedies, while extreme, are a documented social concern.

By incorporating these elements into our film, we are not only using and challenging psychological horror/thriller conventions but also representing pressing social issues such as mental illness, parental abuse, and societal neglect of vulnerable individuals, encouraging the audience to consider the psychological and social contexts behind extreme behaviours.

Well, listeners..

it seems my human has proven herself somewhat competent.

Thank you for having me here!! :)