Movie Conventions Research: Nope

 What elements (Conventions) of the genre that you chose to base your final task on does this movie have? 

Nope has conventions of a thriller film such as having a protagonist and antagonist, whether it be external or internal. Also, it uses wide angles that show the entirety of the setting, throughout the opening scene. This is done to imitate the uneasy feeling of anonymity of the beings present. Nope also follows the typical suspense-inducing elements of a thriller. This includes the mis-en-scene of dark lighting and eerie diegetic sound such as the whooshing of objects flying outside that amplify the tension thriller directors want the audience to feel. 

What elements (conventions) of the genre did the movie have that you like? 

Nope has the element of unnerving realism that can be seen in convention-following thriller. The characters have very realistic mindsets of how to react in an extraterrestrial situation. I like this element because it makes me, as the viewer, feel a heightened sense of uneasiness. This is ideal for me to enjoy a thriller because it creates the illusion that the unnerving events that occur throughout the film could actually happen to me. So, the use of common props as well (e.x- phones, record players, etc.) added to the realistic element of the movie which I really enjoyed. 

What elements (conventions) of the genre did the movie have that did not appeal to you? 

The movie included many dutch angles and close-up shots to normalize the feeling of fear to the viewer. This added to the film’s psychological elements to confuse the viewer and further followed the typical conventions of a psychological thriller. However, I prefer thrillers with more prominent jump scares scenes that keep the audience on their toes. Instead, this film kept the readers thinking and analyzing the scenes in order to experience the full fear aspects of the film. The constant tilts and dutch angles became too redundant and bothered me more than they kept me interested in the movie. I did not like how the director didn’t just make the “scary” scenes scary by jump scares, and instead they utilized other angles to show movement and disturbances.