Movie Conventions Research: Get Out

 Dearest reader,

Below is our research on the thriller movie Get Out directed by Jordan Peele.

Jordan Peele's sensational film Get Out, which debuted to great acclaim, redefined the thriller genre. In addition to being a financial success, this provocative movie has generated heated discussions regarding racial issues and societal criticism. Get Out is a psychological thriller with social satire aspects. It tells the story of a young African American man who spends a weekend with his unseemingly harmful white girlfriend's family. Chris soon learns the sinister truths lurking beneath the surface of the seemingly perfect suburban community, turning what begins as a harmless visit into a terrifying and unsettling encounter. 

The film Get Out is well known for its astounding plot twist ending that stunned viewers. Plot twists appear frequently in suspenseful films. Its unexpected turn of events and the additional intricacy it brought to the narrative elevated it to a new level of impact. It's an exciting and engaging watch since every scene is meticulously designed to evoke a sense of discomfort and suspense. Any thriller movie needs suspense to keep viewers on the edge of their seats, so it's imperative that our opening sequence has plenty of it. 

Props are used in Get Out as part of Mise-En-Scène to communicate the film's central theme. Take the character, for instance. Rose separates her colored cereal from her white milk. Director Jordan Peele purposefully shows the audience this frame. Rose's persona is able to keep these things apart, as the spectator can see from the close-up of the colored Fruitloops and the glass of white milk. This is another illustration of his film's subliminal racial philosophy. 

Conventions used in this thriller genre include:

Close-up shots to display the main character, Chris's discomfort and horror or fear and to draw attention to the mother when she uses the tea cup to hypnotize Chris, when the neurosurgeon is performing the procedure and on the person her is performing it on. Close-ups are also used to show cotton coming out of a seemingly scratched chair, signifying its upcoming importance.

Over the Shoulder shot - used to show Chris walking up to people and their reactions and their actions prior and while he is talking to them.

High Angle shot: Mostly used when Chris is in a position of vulnerability, when he was held hostage or faced with a group of people he was uncomfortable with. 

Medium Close Up: Mainly used when Chris is talking with his girlfriend, Rose or when any dialogue appears. 

Low angle: When Chris is shown with Walter holding a gun, which could signify the power that Walter has over him.

Point of View Shot: To create suspense when Chris is moving around the house and when he stumbles upon the mother and when he views the gardener running towards him. 

Two Shot: When Chris and Rose are talking.

Diegetic Sound: Cars driving, rose shooting her gun, tea cup stirring, doors opening and closing.

Non-diegetic Sound: When Georgina appears creepy strings of an instrument are played.

Acting: In this movie a lot of facial expressions are used to determine what emotion is meant to be portrayed. Chris especially uses his eyes, eyebrows, and mouth to convey emotions of fear when being attacked, feelings of love before he realizes he has been put into a trap. The other actors use their facial expressions to convey possible fascination with Chris, while members of the Armitage family have smug looks on their face when they attack Chris.

Costumes: The costumes are very casual, Rose's are very preppy and Chris's are simple at the beginning. However in this film they use the outfit of one character, Walter being cool and modern before he went into the house, to now depicting someone from the past as a piece of evidence to motivate Chris's story that something suspicious is occurring. The people in the film also dress in white, black, and red when attending their annual "party", this could symbolize being a part of their "cult". 

Lighting: The lighting is only bright when Chris is in his home and when he enters the home and walks around the home, the lighting has a more dim effect and a foggy yellowish hue. However when Chris's friend is at the police station the lighting is more of a fluorescent white. 

Dialogue plays a large role as it allows the audience to understand the tone of each character, if Rose is being sincere or if she is just playing into a safe fantasy. Dialogue was used to create an underlying meaning in a scene, when Walter is flashed with light and shouts at Chris to "GET OUT!", this could be seen as Walter only being angry at Chris for taking a picture of him, or as a warning that Chris needs to get out of that house before it is too late.

Props such as the guns, keys, tea cup, picture frames, and phones were used when Chris was getting chased with a gun, Rose wouldn't give him his keys, when Chris is getting hypnotized, when the people were auctioning Chris off with a picture of him, and when Chris was frantically searching for his phone at many instances.

After researching this movie, the main convention that we found that we all liked was having a plot twist. The plot twist in this movie really makes this piece of film feel unexpected in the most thrilling way. You have no idea what to expect so it keeps the audience on their feet. After we have seen the impact of the plot twist in get out, it is imperative to include to on our final task 

Elements of the movie that did not appeal and I don’t want to include

Elements of this movie we do not want to find appealing or want to include are close up shots, these shots require a good amount of professional acting which could be difficult for us to replicate. Another element we don’t want to include is a point of view shot, we just think it might be difficult to accurately film this shot and make it correctly demonstrate a person’s point of view. Lastly, we might find it hard to implement non-diegetic sound, simply because it could be hard to find the right areas to introduce it or if they really fit well with the scene, however our opinions may change if we realize it is necessary to include.