Thriller Conventions

During a thriller film the plot usually consists of a battle whether that be physical or mental between the protagonist and antagonist when there is a disruption of the equilibrium. The antagonist is trying to destroy or disrupt peace, whereas the protagonist is attempting to find justice.

Typical Conventions:

• Low key lighting
• Quick cutting
• Shadows
• Tension music
• Changes in angles of shots
• Diegetic sound of breathing and heart beat
• Montage of shots
• Protagonist in the mercy of the antagonist

Characters

• Typically the protagonist is a brave male who seeks to restore unbalanced equilibrium
• That antagonist usually has a hidden identity that the audience will uncover as the film progresses. Often the protagonist goes out in an act of revenge for past events.

Cinematography

• There is usually a lot of close ups and extreme close ups of the protagonist character, usually to show their emotions or reactions to an event. There are usually a lot of close up of props included as important clues during the narrative.
• Shots of the antagonist are usually quick and do not reveal too much of their identity e.g. a shot of the back of them or their shadow.

Editing:

• The director will usually use a lot of jump cuts throughout the thriller because there will be a lot of things which will happen which will not make sense to the audience initially. Cross cutting is used a lot to build suspense, which is an essential part of a thriller.

Sound:

• Music is essential to determine the mood of a scene, usually thrillers will include a large amount fast paced backing music which gradually increase in pace to increase suspense and tension.
• 'Jaws' is a brilliant example of a film score that was infamous for its scare factor, the use of two notes starting from slow to fast creates a tenuous atmosphere.

Title Conventions

Title Conventions for Thriller films

 Research examples

 

The Dark knight Rises:– The opening title sequence for ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ establishes an eery and mysterious atmosphere. This is due to the pace of the non-diegetic soundtrack being played. Also, the colours in the opening only consist of black, white and grey, this again reinforces the intended atmosphere.
– During this sequence we are introduced to some of the characters within the film indirectly, as we only see pictures of them.
– The titles are included within the image and alter positions simultaneously with the camera movement.

Inception– Within the opening sequence we as the audience are not shown any titles.
– The opening establishes the main character and the setting for part of the film.
– The non-diegetic sound creates an eery atmosphere and leaves the audience wanting to continue watching to find out the plot of the film.
– There are 2 contrasting settings that we are shown, 1) on a beach in daylight 2) in a dark mysterious room with men talking in a foreign language. The contrasting scenes emphasises the darkness and eery sound playing in the background.

Three films from the thriller genre

Gone Girl

SETTING -The setting of gone girl is in such a normal town. This is a key reoccurring thriller setting. Being in a suburban area. The whole movie takes place here, in most Thriller movies all the bad things happen in the same place.

CHARACTERS - the enemy to the protagonist (villain) always tries to harm or hurt another person whether that be physically or mentally. Half way through Gone Girl we learn that Amazing Amy, supposed innocent protagonist turns out to be the antagonist causing the disruption in the story. Turns out she is a women full of revenge and plots.
 PLOT - In crime thriller films the plot usually involves an investigation on a committed crime. Typical to Fincher's style his film plot involves an ill-fated relationship. It contrasts to the non -restricted narrative that most directors use when producing thriller films, as its not until halfway through the movie do we realise Amy is in fact the enemy rather than the victim.

VISUAL STYLE - Throughout the film the lighting within their house is a lurid faded yellow tone, and the layout of their house is generic and un-homely. This is done to indicate that their marriage is a façade of happiness rather than genuine. This colouring is uncomfortable and it poorly lights the character's faces which adds to the element of mystery within the thriller.

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The Girl on the Train

SETTING - The set covers two main locations the train and Rachael's old home, which is important because the train is the place where she observes the house and the affairs which take place. The house is important during flashbacks as it is the focus on Megan's life and how her murder took place.

PLOT - One of the central concepts of the movie is that the unreliable alcoholic narrator blacks out when she drinks.  This would seem to be a difficult part of the novel to portray on film, but the director does a good. This contributes to the dissolution that should occur during a psychological thriller, also with a restricted narrative which leaves the audience confused and mislead. job of putting the audience in Rachel’s shoes and showing what that is like.

VISUAL STYLE  - The director portrays this using a shaky camera with a focus that keeps shifting as she stumbles her way through each scene.  Then the next day, her memories rush back in jumbled flashes.

The Black Swan

PLOT - Complex narrative structure full of false paths, clues and resolutions. This is key to psychological thrillers as it leaves the audience questioning whether what they are seeing is a construction of her mind or reality. this keeps the audience gripped throughout the film which is another thriller convention.

CHARACTERS - The main character does not narrate the film but we are inside her mind in the sense that we see her anxiety and hallucinations. Because of her unstable personality she creates an interesting protagonist but not one the audience trusts. This is atypical to thriller films as there is always a sense of mystery within the film.

VISUAL STYLE - there is a theme of voyeurism throughout, where it is directed to feel like the antagonist is being watched, as this helps the audience feel the anxiety she does. The use of mirrors is a common theme throughout as they provide the split between reality and fantasy, as her reflection is transforming into this dark creature. Mirrors are involved in many thrillers as they usually reveal a sinister character behind the main character, but strangely in this film she is the monster.

 

'Psycho' Shower scene

The Shower scene


https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj5p4yR7sHTAhVnB8AKHZW9AdcQyCkIJzAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DatjhOhH-V3E&usg=AFQjCNEZE8sVpMLcBA3NpMATukmiJuG3vg&sig2=UIyZMcRyIpq09sGxHzO85A
 

The infamous shower scene from Hitchcock's thriller 'Psycho' includes many of him typical conventions for his thriller films, one of the reasons why it is so memorable and famous.

The scene consists of a female character in the shower and the unknown murderer catching her off guard and brutally stabbing her to death.

Hitchcock's convention of suspense over surprise is used here as the anticipation of her murder creates an extremely tense atmosphere. The audience have full knowledge of the murderer's presence, but Janet Leigh's character is completely unaware, which puts the audience on edge.

This is due to the unrestricted narrative he has used, where audience know more than the character, and at this point as Leigh's character is the unaware it agitates the audience as they want her to be prepared for the attack.

 

 

Hitchcock

Hitchcock's Theories and conventions

 'The ticking bomb theory'

Hitchcock believed that it was not the explosion that created suspense, more so the threat of the imposing bomb that created a suspenseful atmosphere. he quoted that "there is no terror in the bang, only the anticipation of it."

We used his theory during the planning of our film 'Vanished', where we created suspense with non-diegetic backing music which was creepy and sinister, overlaying the "happy family" on the beach. The incongruence causes tension to build.

Fear Factor

Hitchcock also proposed that “It’s what you don’t see that frightens you, what your mind fills in, the implicit usually being more terrifying than the explicit.” The whole point being the manipulation of the audience

Which is another convention we in cooperated into our film, as when Phoebe becomes unconscious the audience is completely unaware to what happened to her, which therefore allows their imaginations to question what happened to her.

Narrative style

 

Hitchcock usually uses an unrestricted narrative as it is suspenseful, where the audience are aware of the villain's presence but the characters are not. but in our film we used a restricted narrative as we wanted a surprise to the audience when Phoebe becomes unconscious as their minds fill in the gaps for the lost time.

Story Board for 'Vanished'

This is the initial story board we had planned before we went out filming. Obviously this in comparison to our final film, are quite different, but the basic ideas of what camera shots and angles we wanted to include in the filming of 'Vanished'. We have added a lot of extra filming gone the day because we felt more media material was necessary, so in addition we added the police station shot to establish the jump cuts are going back and fourth between the police scene and the beach.

We also decided to add more close up shots of Phoebe and Ben, as a mirroring device to show both of their emotive reaction to the series of events that lead to the loss of Olivia. But although there has been several alterations, we persevered with most of the main camera shots we included within our planned story board.

Thriller Research

THRILLER FILMS

there has always been a market for films which intend to scare and thrill the audience. Thrillers originally started out as horrors, including gore and scary themes. Nowadays thrillers have many different sub genres:

• Psychological Thrillers i.e. Gone Girl, Girl on the Train and The Hole (2011) These type of thrillers are supposed to mislead the audience and create a false conception of what is going on.
• Horror Thrillers i.e. The Ring, Sinister and The Shining. These films are created to scare the audience, they do this by creating tension and making the audience jump. They usually involve gore and blood and have a creepy theme.
• Adventure Thriller i.e. The Hunger Games, Divergent and Pirates of the Caribbean. These films are created to excite the audience and entertain, there is an element of tension and fear involved, but are usually more light-hearted.
• Crime Thriller i.e. Sherlock, The Missing and Thirteen. Usually has a mystery element to the plot and is focused around detective work or the police force.

Our thriller film was the sub genre of Psychological thriller because we didn't want to make a film which was scary or tacky with a large excess of special effects, instead we wanted to create something which manipulated the audiences' minds but had a thrilling sort of theme to the plot.

The audience like to be challenged and mislead, predictable storylines make a film not worth watching. Whereas the idea of surprise and bewilderment is an intriguing concept to the audience therefore draws people in to solve the mystery themselves.


Because we were aiming to make an independently produced English film, we are involving the crime related theme as well as it being a psychological thriller, as that is a popular genre for the British public to watch.

Opening title sequence film analyses

Opening title sequence film analyses


In order to create my own film opening, I researched and began to analyse the opening title sequences of 3 films which I believe to have iconic opening title sequences. I used the website https://prezi.com/ to present my ideas. Below are the links to my 3 film analyses:


Scott Pilgrim Vs the World:
https://prezi.com/zdlv6sjjvh_3/scott-pilgrim-vs-the-world-opening-title-sequence/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy


Napoleon Dynamite

https://prezi.com/r3epwhk3hw_x/edit/#19_251582808

Se7en: Opening title sequence analysis

David Fincher: Se7en





Se7en (1995) is a neo-noir crime thriller directed by David Fincher following the story of two detectives (Pitt & Freeman) hunting for a serial killer whose murders are based around the seven deadly sins.

Camera shots and angles

- High angle shot of old, veiny hands on a book.

Conventionally, a high angle shot is used to emphasise the power of a subject. The only part of the subject that is revealed in this frame is his hands which depicts his anonymity. The camera angle is slanted which gives a disorientating feel to the image and forces the audience to reciprocate the feelings of the detectives in that they feel confused about who the subject is.

The opening title sequence features many close ups put together with fast pace editing. Due to the speed of editing and how zoomed in the shot is, it is sometimes difficult to make out what some of the images are showing. This links to the film's crime thriller genre as the audience doesn't know everything that's going on, similarly to how the detectives don't know everything that's going on. Just as the detectives have to undergo a process to unveil what is happening, the viewer has to watch the film to learn about these happenings - both parties are looking for answers. The fact that we cannot fully make out every item that is in each shot highlights the purpose of a title sequence: to reveal  enough information about the film to entice the audience to watch more, whilst not giving away too much of the film's plot. The use of low-key lighting adds to the difficulty of interpreting each item, especially the unconventional ones, and creates the chiaroscuro effect. This title sequence outlines the key themes explored within the film.

-Medium Shot of a young boy whose eyes have been crossed out

The crossing out of the boys eyes shows he must maintain a hidden identity. The assumption is, considering the film's plotline, that this boy has been murdered. The fact that this is clearly a young boy plays on the audience's emotional investment - tragedies tend to be even sadder when young children are involved due to their innocence. This also reveals that the killer must be especially heartless as to be able to take the life of an infant. The black fading surrounding the images creates a smooth background in which for the casting titles to be written across, and also leaves the image with dark undertones, the colour black insinuating that not all is well.

Titles

- Kyle Cooper: “Fincher and I decided to use hand-drawn [type] mixed with Helvetica, and he was very excited by it. He knew that he wanted it to be drawn by hand, because it was from the mind of the killer, and I was taking that further, wanting it to be like the killer did the film opticals himself.”

The fonts used in the titles are appropriate to the film genre. White titles on a black background are easier to read than black titles on a white background and the inversion of colours makes it stand out more. The black background also gives the feeling of not being able to see everything, which reflects both where the detectives stand at the beginning of the film and how the victims of the killer would feel - they do not foresee their upcoming murder.

The writing appears fuzzed-up with glitchy graphics, almost leaving the screen in total blackness, adding to the intensively suspenseful feeling of this title sequence and making the audience feel uncomfortable - a feeling desired by those who watch horror films.

Mise en Scène

The colour scheme for this title sequence is almost entirely black and white, giving the film a sinister feel, but also features hints of the colour red, connoting danger, violence and blood spill(which there is a lot of in this film).

The opening sequence is full of unsettling images such as blood dripping onto a piece of paper, victims faces crossed out by marker pen and various lethal weapons such as a gun and a razor blade.This immediately highlights the kind of film the viewer is about to watch, full of death and other dark motifs.

Many of the shots making up this title sequence consist of papers and writing on pages. This could be to show the amount of paperwork involved in the detectives findings through attempting to follow the killers complicated tracks and twisted mindset, or possibly could be to demonstrate the in-depth calculation that goes into each one of the killer's murders, adding to the viewers feelings of suspicion and making them ponder the killer's motives. The fact that many of the journals/books appear old and torn makes the sequence seem more distressing and perhaps figuratively present the killer's fragmented and disturbed mind.

The Mis-en-Scéne of the title sequence is used to portray the amount of precision that goes into the film's killings, represented through symbols such as sewing, multiple shots focused on hands and threading the eye of a needle - fiddly and precise tasks, as would be calculating murders without being found responsible.

Music/Sound

The mood is set through the use of an eerie remix of the instrumental to 'Closer' by Nine Inch Nails (1994) playing throughout the title sequence, with the only lyrics not removed being "you bring me closer to God" at the end. These lyrics link to the biblical theme that runs throughout the film with the killer seeming to act upon to 7 deadly sins.

As the title sequence goes on, the pace of the music quickens, creating a build up of tension. Harsh, ambient noises appear throughout as an attempt to unsettle the viewer, and the sounding of random screeches are used to shock, preparing the audience to be shocked later on in the film by its dark content.

Editing

This is an extremely action packed title sequence, as is demonstrated through fast-paced editing, with no shot lasting longer than 4 seconds. The editing is carefully timed, with the image changing to the beat of the music. Some transitions are straight cuts, and some fade to black or cross fade. Fading to black embodies the sinister and dark feel to the whole film, and cross-fading shows a relationship between the images, demonstrating that they are all the workings of one person.

Shot lengths vary in this sequence, with the more taboo/dangerous items staying on screen for a shorter amount of time. For example, 3 images flicker very quickly of somebody filling a gun. This makes the actions seen seem more suspenseful and secretive.

As the sequence plays out, the editing quickens, creating tension and putting the audience more and more on edge. This suggests the whole film will have this same tense feel.