Generic Conventions of a Thriller Panic Room

The thriller Panic Room’s narrative centres around a robbery, although from the opening sequence the shots of high buildings around the city leaves us wondering what it is leading up to.

The two main characters are Meg and her daughter Sarah, they are the weak victims as they are they ones who have the crime based around them. The films protagonist would be classed as the mother Meg as she is protecting her daughter through out the film and in the end contacts the police who also come to the rescue. The title ‘Panic Room’ relates to their weakness as when the girls get burgled Meg makes a move to the panic room which they had previously found is the most secure room in the whole mansion they had recently moved into.

 In many of the scenes Meg and Sarah were in danger firstly from the robbery taking place and the robbers were also armed with guns, when they thought they were finally safe in the panic room, little did they know, what the robbers wanted most what was inside the panic room so were no longer safe. Throughout most of the movie they were helpless and robbers done everything they could to make them feel like this.

The narrative presented the ordinary situation of moving into their new mansion with the extraordinary situation of being burgled only on their first night of being there. Also of the setting being in a mansion is extraordinary for having the privilege of having a panic room in their own house which is very unordinary for most people.

The use of the micro elements helped with the atmosphere of the scenes. Mainly the light was dull and dark to give more suspense, the camera work used appropriate techniques for example looking down on the little girl Sarah to make her look weak and vulnerable. The main setting was in the panic room which the whole movie revolved around and the soundtracks of tension building scenes makes the audience feel how scared the characters must have been feeling and gives it more of a realistic vibe.

In this thriller there were no optical illusions, doppelgangers or manipulations. Although at the beginning Meg did have insomnia as she couldn’t sleep which led her to hear the robbers. From one of the robbers we see a change in representation as in the end he helps the family; this is uncommon for the ‘bad guy’ to change which makes the concept of the film much more unique.

The film begins with three-dimensional, granite architectural titles suspended before New York City buildings, this creates the enigma at the beginning, setting the scene and creating the establishing shot of where the whole film is set. But the whole story is based around the panic room which does get resolved at the very end and the mother and daughter end up safe.