Codes and conventions of the crime thriller genre Kieran Drury

 The Crime Thriller genre has many different codes and conventions that can belong to the stylistics of mise en scene, setting, sound and so on. As my creative piece is going to belong to the crime thriller sub genre I must use the appropriate codes and conventions to show that my film belongs to this genre. The genre I’m looking at specifically is the British crime thriller genre with films such as Snatch and Lock Stock and two smoking Barrels (Ritchie) rather than the American crime thriller with films such as The Departed (Scorsese).

One of the main conventions of the Crime Thriller is the use of specific props, especially weapons; throughout the crime thriller genre many weapons are used as props to convey different things. There are many conventional weapon props such as bladed weapons such as knives to show character seriousness and willingness to murder and blunt weapons to define the low level thugs and to show brutality. Finally probably the most used convention of the crime thriller genre is the use of guns. Guns conventionally within this genre reflect the power of the character, the bigger or more complex the gun the more powerful the character is the usual trend, however they can also be used to invert expectations and create humour. Humour is also a convention of the crime thriller genre as it is used throughout the films to counter balance the seriousness of the murders and crime occurring within the films.

 

This clip from Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels below is an example of how conventional weapon props can be used to show power and to create humour in a crime thriller. As seen in the clip most of the serious criminals have sawn-off shotguns a gun typically used by criminals in the crime thriller genre. This shows that these characters are serious about there work and ready to kill to achieve there goals. The fact that the amateur drug dealers have an air rifle to defend their money and drugs creates humour as it is completely ineffective against the serious criminals and unexpected by the audience. By using the air rifle prop and the characters reactions to it, Lock Stock creates humour achieving one of its main conventions.
Another prop that is a convention of the crime thriller genre is the use of costume. The more powerful and sophisticated/experienced criminals are usually dressed in expensive suits, whereas the less experienced criminals (conventionally the protagonist/s) are usually dressed in relatively normal/cheap clothes, this is well illustrated in the following screenshots from Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch.
In these screenshots below from Snatch we can see that the less powerful characters are dressed in casual gear to signify that they pose no great threat to the character. The protagonist however is dressed in an expensive black suit to show his power and the danger he poses to the character. This use of costume is a typical convention of the crime thriller and is one of the most effective ways to suggest character importance and the characters power within the diegesis.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In these two screenshots from Lock Stock we can see that the most powerful gangster in the film is wearing a black suit which is almost exactly the same as the attire the antagonist wears in snatch. This would suggest that suits are certainly a convention of the crime thriller genre. Also in the second screenshot we can see the low level unimportant thug in Lock Stock dressed in tatty, old clothing similar to that worn in the screenshot from snatch. This also shows that specific costumes or style of costume are conventions of the crime thriller genre.

 

 

 

 

Within the crime thriller genre another convention would be use of certain settings, especially the British crime thriller. Both Snatch and Lock Stock are both set in large urban cities and many more non British crime thriller films are also set in large cities, for example The Departed. The reason for this convention would be that it allows the audience to see the secret crime infrastructure which operates right under the noses of average people; this increases the thrill for the audience and thus achieves the aims of a thriller. As can be seen below by a screenshot of city from Lock Stock

 

Another conventional setting within this genre is the use of dark and seedy interiors, usually gambling dens or places where criminals hide their stashes or plan their crimes as seen in this screenshot from Lock Stock.

 However this can be juxtaposed against another conventional setting from the crime thriller genre which is the grandeur and obvious expensiveness of where the head gangster/antagonists reside.