Thriller Research

Thrillers are ‘One of cinema's largest, all-encompassing genres, this type features films whose main ingredient is suspense, excitement and tension.’ [8] There have been hundreds of thrillers which have been created and some of these thrillers have been hugely successful whereas others have failed.

The most famous thrillers include:

-Pulp Fiction (1994)

-Se7en (1995)

-Fight Club (1999)

-Psycho (1960)

-The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

-Vertigo (1958)

and some of the thrillers which have failed are:

-Compelling Evidence (1995)

-The Sobbing Stone (2005)

-Blood Deep (2005)

As you can see by the date that these films were released it is clear and easy to realise that thrillers used to be extremely successful but in this modern day they are failing slightly and not reaching their potential. However thrillers are still fairly popular.

As well as influential films in the thriller genre there are also influential directors, actors and actresses which have had a great impact on the thriller genre.

The most famous directors of thriller films include:

- Alfred Hitchcock

- David Fincher

- Stanley Kubrick

- Martin Scorsese

- Christopher Nolan

- Brian De Palmer

- Ridley Scott

-Quentin Tarantino

The most famous actors and actresses in the thriller genre are:

- Jack Nicholson

- James Stewart

- Cary Grant

- Janet Leigh

- Leonardo Di Caprio

- Robert De Niro

Thriller is a genre of film which ‘promote intense excitement, suspense, a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, anxiety, and nerve-wracking tension’ [5] which are used as the main elements to scare and shock the audience. There are also subgenres for thrillers and the primary subgenre is psychological thrillers and other popular subgenres for thrillers are political thrillers and paranoid thrillers. Fight scenes and chase scenes are common conventions for thrillers to excite the audience and they also hide important information from the audience to build suspense and to scare and surprise the audience. Death is also a code and convention in thrillers and it also creates mystery.

There are many different subgenres of thrillers but the main subgenres are:

- Crime Thriller,

- Conspiracy Thriller,

- Psychological Thriller

- Mystery Thriller

There are other subgenres of thrillers which are a Disaster Thriller, an Erotic Thriller, a Legal Thriller, a Medical Thriller, a Political Thriller, a Rape and Revenge Thriller, Religious Thriller, a Supernatural Thriller and a Techno Thriller. I have chosen to look at the different subgenres of thrillers to help me decide what genre of thriller mine will be and I will mostly likely use the main genre of thriller and create a psychological thriller because these are interesting and exciting.

There are a various amount of different codes and conventions for thriller films. These codes and conventions are what make the thriller. ‘An atmosphere of creeping menace and sudden outbursts of violence, crime, and murder characterize these films’ [9] and ‘Thrillers often present a vision of the world and society as dark, corrupt and dangerous.’[10] Thrillers are usually mysterious so that the audience do not know what is going to happen next. Thrillers usually have fast cuts which are simple because this builds up tension and suspense but it also keeps the thriller flowing so that the audience don’t get bored and are constantly on the edge of their seats and they don’t know what is going to happen next. Thrillers are used ‘to provide thrills and keep the audience cliff-hanging at the 'edge of their seats' as the plot builds towards a climax.’ [6] Some of the shots however are sometimes long and this is done on purpose to build suspense. The plots in thrillers aren’t usually clear and this is done to keep the audience guessing so that they don’t know what is going to happen. The lighting used in thrillers is usually dark and dull and the lighting is also used to create shadows to make the thriller more mysterious and also to scare the audience. Fight and chase scenes are also usually common in thriller films because they are exciting. Thrillers use ‘suspense and atmosphere to cause feelings of dread in their audiences.’ [1] Thrillers are also supposed to ‘thrill’ the audience and keep them on the edge of their seats. A common convention of thrillers is death because most thrillers include at least one death because this is seen as scary and there are also dangerous situations. Another convention of thrillers is that the male characters are usually the villains and the female characters are usually the victims which can be a negative stereotype of women because it views them as vulnerable and weak. ‘The main characters are also traditionally men’ [7] however women lead characters are becoming increasingly popular but thrillers are still mainly male dominated. Thrillers usually take place in ordinary cities so that it scares the audience because the audience will then be able to relate to the film. These are the main codes and conventions of the thriller genre but some subgenres of the thriller genre have slightly different codes and conventions so that it fits in with the subgenre.

The target audience for a film is probably the most important aspect that will make a film successful because the bigger the audience the more successful the film will be. This is why I need to decide a target audience for my thriller and it will be better if it has a wider target audience because this means it will appeal to more people and more people will view it therefore it will become more successful. I need to decide which audience to target my thriller at. There are many different audiences such as different ages and genders and I need to aim my thriller at the correct age and the correct gender to make it more successful. To give my thriller a wider target audience I will most likely direct it to all age groups and both genders. Most people believe that males prefer watching thrillers more than females but this is not always the case.

Opening credits and sequences for thriller films are extremely important because they set the tone of the film. In my thriller I only have a maximum of two minutes which means that I don’t have a lot of time to show the credits for my thriller however this makes it easier for me to edit. According to Wikipedia the most common opening credits order is: (Name of the Distribution Studio), (Name of the Production Company), (Producer's Name) Production or/and (director only) A Film By (Director's Name),Starring, Film's Title, Featuring, Casting, Music, Production Design, Editor, Director Of Photography, Producer, Story, Writer, Director. [4] As you can see there are a lot of credits that I need to include in my thriller because I want my thriller to look professional.

Sources

[1] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thriller_%28genre%29

[2] – http://www.imdb.com/chart/thriller

[3] - http://www.imdb.com/chart/thriller

[4] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opening_credits

[5] - http://www.filmsite.org/thrillerfilms.html

[6] - http://www.filmsite.org/thrillerfilms.html

[7] - http://www.illiterarty.com/genre-thriller

[8] - http://www.allmovie.com/explore/genre/thriller-942

[9] – http://www.allmovie.com/explore/genre/thriller-942

[10] - http://www.allmovie.com/explore/genre/thriller-942

[11] – http://pinartarhan.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/pulp-fiction-poster.jpg

[12] –http://mymoviebanners.com/pics/fightclub/fight-club-3.jpg

[13] - http://www.nndb.com/people/664/000026586/hitchcock_drella.jpg

[14] - http://www.realbollywood.com/news/up_images/11115700.jpg

[15] - http://www.nndb.com/people/722/000022656/jn75.jpg

[16] - http://images.buddytv.com/articles/movies/profiles/janet-leigh.jpg

The Silence of the Lambs

'The Silence of the Lambs' is another American thriller which was produced in 1991. The film is a hybrid as it is a thriller and crime film. The film was directed by Jonathan Demme and stars many famous actors and actresses such as Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn and Ted Levine. The film was released on February 14th 1991 and received much critical acclaims and many awards. As in all thrillers there are a various amount of different camera angles, editing techniques, sounds and mise-en-scene is used. These are all purposefully chosen by the director to create a certain atmosphere and to build tension.

The first shot of the opening sequence in 'The Silence of the Lambs' is an establishing shot. The shot reveals the setting and location which is a forest which is overlooking a lake and this shot is used for a few seconds to set the scene for the audience. The camera then begins to track downwards which makes the setting seem darker, constricted and much more isolated. These two shots create an important atmosphere and the audience are focused on the setting. The background music at this point has a slow tempo which helps the audience focus on the visual side of the opening sequence. Throughout the opening sequence there a variety of different tracking methods which are used such as frontal tracks and side tracks. These tracks are important and useful because they begin to quicken the pace of the film. The camera then focuses on a character climbing up a hill towards the camera so the character becomes bigger and bigger to audience as they start off in the distance and slower get closer. The sound at this point in the opening sequence is also slow paced which helps the audience focus on the character and the mise-en-scene.

The character has been established as a female by a mid-shot which shows the setting and the characters clothing as dirty and her facial expressions as quite afraid and confused. A tracking shot is again used as the female character begins to run and this allows the audience to guess what she is running away from or what she is running to. The more the character runs the further she is away from the camera and this is to demonstrate the fact that she is alone. As she is running the music begins to speed up to build up tension and suspense and to match the movements of the character which are fast paced and the music is also slightly mysterious which is a common convention of thrillers. The camera then shows a close up of the characters shoes and then cuts to a close up of the characters face. A climbing wall is used which the character climbs over, this can be slightly confusing to the audience, and as the character climbs over it the camera pans from right to left. Tracking shots are also used to engage the audience because it makes the audience feel like they are following the character.

The sound is another key aspect to thrillers and adds fear to the film to frighten the audience. There is non-diegetic music which is playing throughout the opening sequence which starts of slow paced but then the tempo builds and as the character is running the sound is than more fast paced and the sound creates a mysterious and scary atmosphere and this is what the director had intended the sound to do which also make the audience feel uncomfortable. Diegetic sounds are also being used in this opening sequence via ambient sounds. There are a variety of different ambient sounds being used throughout this opening sequence such as birds, footsteps crushing leaves, insects such as crickets and the wind and these are all used to add to the atmosphere which is created by the non-diegetic music and these sounds also make the character appear isolated, afraid and vulnerable which is an old negative stereotype of women saying that they need someone to protect them. Also the non-diegetic music used starts before the first camera shot is used which is done to already set the tone of the film before anything visually has been revealed. Another sound used is the breathing of the character to show that she is out of breath, this also shows that she must have been running for sometime which is why it creates suspense. Another diegetic sound used is the ambient sound of the bird flying away as the women reaches the top of the hill which could imply something dangerous and scary could happen.

The majority of the shots in the opening sequence in 'The Silence of the Lambs' are fairly long. The first shot used is faded in and lasts for just over a minute and the second shot then lasts for around fifth-teen seconds. These long lasting shots create a slower pace which is not conventionally of thrillers. However after these long lasting shots are then replaced by shots which last for about seven seconds because the pace of the editing is increasing with the pace of the music. The cuts used during this opening sequence are straight cuts. These are the most common type of editing and are extremely simple and this editing technique is another convention of thrillers. Unlike 'Se7en' there is a large setting and location for the opening sequence of 'The Silence of the Lambs' which makes it more revealing.

There is only one character shown in the opening sequence which means that she must be an important character to the film. The location is important because it is outside in a forest which means that the character is isolated and alone and a connotation of a forest is murder and this film being a thriller the audience will begin to think this event will occur. Mist is also used in the setting to make it seem more scary as well as using an empty lake and an empty forest. The lighting is dark and it is at sun-set which makes it seem that the character is trying to escape the forest before it becomes too dark. The film looks like it was filmed in autumn because there are leaves falling off trees and leaves on the floor. Also the weather is dark and dull which is common weather for autumn time. The character's costume isn't stereotypical of what the audience would expect a women to be wearing because women are normal wearing skirts and are dressed up however the character is wearing casual clothes which are a jumper and a pair of jogging bottoms.

Only one character is revealed in the opening sequence of 'The Silence of the Lambs' and this character is female. Also because only one character is introduced it implies that this character is one of the most important and main characters in the film. However the director might have chosen to only reveal one character in the opening sequence so that the audience continues watching. The character does not say anything during the opening sequence but we can tell that she is running however this does not give the audience an idea about the character's personality etc. The character is also wearing casual clothes which the audience would not expect women to be wearing especially in the 1990's.

The narrative and plot are not revealed in the opening sequence of 'The Silence of the Lambs' because the director does not want to reveal too much about the film at such an early stage because they want the audience to continue watching. It is difficult to work out the plot or narrative in the opening sequence because we only see one character and that character is running. The audience does not find out anything about her or what she is running from or what she is running to and this keeps the audience engaged as they can guess why she is doing this. The slow background sound and long lasting shots also help the audience think and guess about what the character is doing this and why because it gives them time to think and does not distract them and the sound also gives a sense of mystery and the music used allows the audience to realise that the film is a thriller because it can slightly scare some of the audience.

Typical codes and conventions to the opening of thrillers usually use fast paced editing. However instead of using fast paced editing in the opening of 'The Silence of the Lambs' the director chooses to use slow paced editing which means that the shots used last longer and this is unconventional for a thriller. The music is usually fast paced however in the opening it is fairly slow to match the editing and camera shots which are being used and the director has chosen to do this on purpose to create and scary and isolated atmosphere. The credits are displayed in the colour black and a connotation of the colour black is death which implies that death will occur in this film. Also in thrillers women are usually the victims and in the opening sequence the only character revealed is a women which implies that she will probably be a victim. Another convention of thrillers is a dark, isolated location and setting which is done superbly in the opening by having a isolated forest next to an empty lake and it is also set in the evening in the season of autumn making it more scary and the character more vulnerable and alone.


I watched this film on my DVD and the only video available on http://www.youtube.co.uk/ of the opening sequence of 'The Silence of the Lambs' was flipped and this was done to avoid copyright.

Se7en

‘Se7en’ is a 1995 American thriller film, which also has horror moments contained in the film. The film was directed by David Fincher and written by Andrew Kevin Walker, it was also distributed by New Line Cinema. 'Se7en' also stars many well-known actors such as Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman and Gwyneth Paltrow. The film involves a series of sadistic murders which have taken place previously. ‘Se7en’ was commercial success and received positive reviews from the majority of critics. In the opening sequence of 'Se7en', the director uses different camera angles, sounds, editing techniques and mise-en-scene for a variety of different reasons such as building tension and suspense.

The first shot the audience sees is a close-up of a book which appears to be old with pages blowing in the wind which has already created mystery in the film as the audience do not know what is written in the book. Close-ups are used throughout the opening sequence to reveal different objects which are important to the story of the film and also suggests that these objects will be used throughout the rest of the film. Shadows are also used in the opening sequence. A picture of a man is also used which is covered by red and the connotations of red are blood which allows the audience to assume that a murder will occur int he film. Also the lighting used throughout the opening sequence is dark which also implies mystery and danger. The sound used throughout the sequence is quite tense and dramatic and the director has chosen this music on purpose for a particular effect. The background music sets up the rhythm to the film and gives it a pace.

The sound at the start of the opening sequence is slow with a beat with some other sound effects added in. Around the midpoint of the opening sequence the tempo of the sound increases slightly and the beat happens more frequently at the same time the editing becomes quicker because it signifies the upcoming events that it is building up to and creates tension and implies that these events will be bad which makes the sound become more interesting. Different ambient sounds are also used throughout the opening sequence such as the wind and screaming which have all been added in to make the film scarier to the audience and this creates a mysterious and frightening atmosphere for the film. The music played during this opening sequence in the background is quite sinister which gives the audience a hint as to what to expect in the film, this means that the music is foreshadowing the events that are going to happen in the film. The soundtrack used makes the film seem much more frightening for the audience. The font of the credits and the way they appear on the black screen by fading in also show that this film is a thriller because the font is white which makes it stand out and is also easy to read.

Characters and locations are not really revealed in the opening sequence of 'Se7en' and the director has chosen to do this on purpose so that it does not reveal too much of the story and to make the audience continue watching. Within the opening sequence of 'Se7en' a man is revealed to the audience and because of the tasks that the man does in the opening sequence the audience can guess the mans personality and realise that he is slightly disturbed. Some of the activities he does in the opening sequence which give this sense of personality to the character is that he is shown cutting the skin of the tips of his fingers and he also highlights passages and phrases in the bible. The connotations of a man performing activities such as these are mentally unstable and religious.

The narrative and plot is also not really revealed in the opening sequence of 'Se7en' and this is done on purpose by the director so that it does not reveal to much of the story to the audience and to make the audience continue watching because they want to find out what happens. During the opening sequence of 'Se7en' it is difficult to work out the plot and narrative of the film. The narrative and plot of the film is unclear to the audience which creates a sense of mystery as the audience do not know what to expect and this also creates and builds tension. However although the narrative and plot are unclear, we can tell that the film is a thriller because of the music played in the background and what the character is doing during the opening sequence which is not normal which already makes the audience slightly scared.

Typical technical codes and conventions which are used in thrillers are also used in 'Se7en'. Usually in thrillers like 'Se7en' the editing is fast paced and this is used to build tension as it shows that events are happening quickly which doesn't give the audience time to think about what is happening which makes it seem more of a surprise and therefore scarier to the audience. Also the fast paced editing used can also show the state of the mind of the man in the opening sequence as he is slightly crazy. Towards the end of the opening sequence a black cut is used which displays some credits and the colour black is significant as it is a convention of the thriller genre and a convention of the colour black is death which means the audience can assume that a death will occur later on in the film. The fast paced editing also reveals a variety of different props in the opening sequence. This therefore doesn't allow the audience time to think about what is going to happen and this is done on purpose by the director.

The mise-en scene in the opening sequence allows the audience to see what type of film this is however the opening sequence of 'Se7en' is not very revealing which makes the audience want to continue watching. Shadows are another convention of thrillers because they don't reveal the character which makes it more frightening for the audience. Shadows are also used in 'Se7en' to create tension and mystery because the audience does not know who they are seeing and this also engages the audience because they want to find out who the character is, which therefore makes the audience want to continue watching. During the opening sequence the audience only see the hands of the character but not the face or the body which also makes the audience want to carry on watching. The location of the opening sequence appears to be in a dark isolated area which is also quite frightening for the audience because there must be a reason why the man is living in a dark isolated area. The colours used throughout the opening sequence are dark dull colours which implies that nothing positive will happening and that there will be negative events in the film which are to come which creates a mysterious atmosphere. The pen used to highlight passages from the bible has black ink and the colour black indicates death which is why the colour black has been used. The character also cuts out the word 'GOD' from the newspaper as the lyrics from the music playing are 'you bring me closer to god'. This also links with the character highlighting passages from the bible and also shows that the character is religious and an event which happens in this film must relate to this.

Preliminary Task

17/01/10, Storyboard - The class was able to choose groups to work in and each group could contain no more than four members. I chose to work with Jonathan Hawes and Oliver Morrol, we also used William Stevenson as an actor from another AS Media class. Firstly we came up with a list of ideas to choose from such as an interrogation scene, chess competition etc. and then chose the best one which was an interrogation scene. We then came up with a story to pursue. The story we decided upon was a man interrogating a murderer who ate murdered the man’s daughter and had possibly eaten the daughter. Once we had chosen a story we began to produce a detailed storyboard which showed in detail the camera angles, editing techniques and some of the sounds that we will be using in the production of our preliminary task.

21/01/10, Storyboard – We carried on with our storyboard for the first part of the lesson so that it contained more detail such as the different camera angles we would be using whilst recording. For the second part of the lesson we went around the college and school to find a suitable location which is available to begin filming our interrogation scene. We then looked at the Mise-en-scene such as which props to use for the scene and we chose what to keep in the camera shot and what to take out. We also carefully planned out and chose which dialogue would be used when filming to add more effect.



The two images above are pictures of our completed storyboard which consists of 16 different shots however we had to change some of the shots slightly which included removing some because they would’ve have been too difficult to film in the location which we had managed to use. Although this happened we didn’t see it as a major setback and whilst filming we also came up with other ideas to use as a replacement. The storyboard indicates which props we have used and also parts of the costume such as the murderer wearing a hoody which makes him seem more dangerous and mysterious and also making him look similar to a thug. Also in the storyboard we added some editing techniques which we knew we would be using when it came to edit the footage we had recorded. The ‘black screen’ is an example of this because we decided to use this because it created tension and suspense because the audience do not know what has happened. Another point which was addressed in the storyboard was camera angles and techniques which we used, these included close ups, point of view, low angle, panning and a few more different shots. The storyboard made it much easier to film because we already knew what we were going to record which helped a lot. I believe that the first shot of the murderer in handcuffs breaking free was very dramatic and created a sense of fear for the audience and involved a close up shot being used. The next shot involved another close up of the eyes of the murderer which made the murderer seem more evil which was again used to add effect and a sense of fear for the audience. Another close up of the image of the young girl and the murdering smelling it also creates a sense of fear for the audience and shows that the murderer is dangerous and weird and that the little girl was innocent and the use of it being a little girl makes the clip more emotional. The point of view shot was another exciting shot which shows the murderer being grabbed from the other mans point of view this gives the audience a sense of that characters feelings and emotions. The black screen is very effective and engages the audience and allows them to guess what has happened and the close up shot of the hand covered in blood also allows the audience to guess the ending to the clip as we purposefully chose not to reveal this.

24/01/10, Filming – Once we had completed the storyboard and found a suitable and available location to film our preliminary task we began filming. One of the key props we decided on using was a pair of handcuffs used to keep to murderer locked up to show that he is in jail and has committed a sin and using this prop allows the audience to establish this view on the characters as a villain and someone slightly crazy and insecure. Also with the use of the handcuffs being broken by the murderer it implies that the murderer is strong and it is unsafe for him to be around. Another addition to the clip was when we used paint at the end of the clip which was used to show blood to indicate to the audience that someone has been killed, however we decided not to show the audience who had been murdered but instead left it up to the audience to decide which will also engage the audience and gives a sense of mystery to the clip. Whilst filming we used several different camera shots and techniques to make it look more professional. The only negative aspect of the filming was that we didn’t think enough about the costumes that the characters were wearing. Another prop which we used was the image of a little girl which we used as the victim in this scene which was the daughter of the man questioning the murderer. By using this it added prop it added more emotion to the scene because it was the man’s daughter who had been murdered and the image made this seem more upsetting and dramatic which is what we had intended the image to do. We also screwed up the image and had the murderer smell the image to add a sickening effect to the clip because we wanted it to be slightly scary and weird and the silence helped this to be created.

28/01/10, Editing – Once we had finally completed and finished all the filming we then began to edit what we had filmed. Firstly we edited everything that we have recorded into different scenes and made named each clip to make it easier to edit the film. Naming all the clips made it much easier to put the clips in chronological order so it the clip made sense. We then cut a couple of clips slightly so that time was not wasted in the film for no reason. After we had done all this we added some editing effects to make the clip look much better when the shots changed and this also made the clip look much more professional. Another effect that was added whilst editing was a slapping sound which occurred when the murderer was slapped and this was used to make the clip seem more dramatic. The editing was fairly simple and straightforward and this was made possible because of the fantastic editing software which we used. However before we added some effects and editing techniques we experimented with different ones until we found which we believed the right techniques to use because of the atmosphere which is created in the clip. Also to add effect and create tension we used fast paced editing which builds up the suspense and makes it look like a serious event is about to occur. The black screen was another editing technique we decided to use because this engages the audience to decide what happened and also adds effect because they do not know what has happened. We also decided as a group not to have any background music as we thought that the silence in the background made the clip more dramatic and exciting.