Thriller Film Coursework Questions

What is the purpose of the opening to a film?


To capture the spectator, to draw them in and to get them involved and watching. the opening to a thriller film can also set the tone and help identify the genre, it could also be a passage to the ending, could be like a circle linkup.


What Techniques can a director use to create suspense in a film?
loud and dramatic build up of grand music - string instruments, drums ect. cinematography is intimate - focuses on certain bit, low key lighting, jump cuts and cross cutting, false shocks.


Define the term - thriller film?
'Thriller is a broad genre of literature, film and television that includes numerous and often overlapping sub-genres. Thrillers are characterized by fast pacing, frequent action, and resourceful heroes who must thwart the plans of more powerful and better equipped villains'






What films can you think of that would fit into the thriller genre?
there are so many films that i have looked at that will fit into this theme, here are a few examples:

THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT

SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY

IN THE NICK OF TIME

INCEPTION

SINGLE WHITE FEMALES

RANSOM

THE GLASS HOUSE

FLIGHT PLAN

DON'T SAY A WORD

CELLULAR

ALONG CAME A SPIDER

RED EYE

WHAT LIES BENEATH

What are the characteristics or conventions of a thriller film? 

narrative,

charactrers

mise en scene

stars- have a massive influence and star appeal is a technique continuously used to maximise film appeal. 

What do you think are the differences between a horror and a thriller film?

"Thriller is a genre of literature, film, and television that uses suspense, tension, and excitement as the main elements. The primary subgenre is psychological thrillers. After the assassination of President Kennedy, political thriller and paranoid thriller films became very popular. The brightest examples of thrillers are the films of Alfred Hitchcock. The cover-up of important information from the viewer and fight/chase scenes are common methods in all of the thriller subgenres, although each subgenre has its own characteristics and methods. Common methods in crime thrillers are mainly ransoms, captivities, heists, revenge, kidnappings"

 "Horror films are unsettling movies that strive to elicit the emotions of fear, disgust and horror from viewers. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres. Horrors also frequently overlap with the thriller genre.

Horror films deal with the viewer's nightmares, hidden worst fears, revulsions and terror of the unknown.

Although a good deal of it is about the supernatural, if some films contain a plot about morbidity, serial killers, a disease/virus outbreak and surrealism, they may be termed "horror." Plots written within the horror genre often involve the intrusion of an evil force, event, or personage, commonly of supernatural origin, into the everyday world. Themes or elements often prevalent in typical horror films include ghosts, torture, gore, werewolves, ancient curses, satanism, demons, vicious animals, vampires, cannibals, haunted houses, zombies and masked serial killers. Conversely, stories of the supernatural are not necessarily always a horror movie as well."

'Top 20 thriller films' what ones have you watched? if it is not many why do you think this is?

1. Pulp Fiction
2. Inception
3. The Dark knight 
4. Goodfellas
5. Fight Club
6. Rear Window
7. Psyco
8. The Usual Suspects
9. The silence of the lambs
10. se7en 
11. Memento
12. Leon
13. North by Northwest
14. Double Indemnity
15. M
16. Taxi Driver
17. Vertigo
18. Terminator 2
19. Elite Squad 2
20. Alien

Overall i have watched 9/20 Thriller films from the Top 20 according to IMBD, i think this is because, i tend to watch the more science -fiction thriller films with my dad and brother such as Terminator 2 and Alien, as just forced habit, whereas ordinarily i would not go out to a shop and pick out that particular film to sit and watch. Films like Dark Knight and Inception I watched in the cinema when they were released, as there special effects and no expense spared action appealed to me the most. Se7en is a classic film that I watched at home and was totally Dad inspired as he enjoys the pyschological thriller with a puzzle to solve and chase scene, heavy action.

Textual Analysis - 3 thriller film openings

American Psycho 2000-1min 49sec clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7H_UVPPFpS4

 …Is a blunt, gory, sarcastic humorous comedic thriller. I watched a clip of Patrick Bateman killing off another prostitute and noted the mise en scene, mood and atmosphere, sound – diegetic and non diegetic and also the camera angles to induce fear and editing, I made some notes below;

FIRST PART:

Lots of dark lighting and Shadows,

Hand held camera, unsteady – adds to realism.

Mise en scene – blonde young woman running around terrified in silk WHITE camisole, makes her seem more vulnerable and innocent, spotlight is on her.

Fast paced, camera becomes the audience’s eyes, we feel like we are in the film, very jumpy, adds to realism, scream is piercing. But we still do not know what she is running from.

PART TWO:

See man with chainsaw wearing only trainers and we realise – Mise en scene shows he is crazy! He has a spotlight too. Everywhere is dark and shadowed in the huge flat, like a giant maze, lots of doors, the  blonde keeps bursting through, like we are half expecting murderous killer to attack and enter through. Sounds of gushing water as if blonde’s being drowned as she scrambles and reads the blood stained wall, tensions is being built up here. Small speech, it’s all about action. Lots of blood and dead/half eaten female bodies in this scene.

Mise en scene: all furniture in house is bright and white, and light, indicating purity amongst where a psycho lives. The halls are white we think she’s escaped and then….

PART THREE:

Numerous stairs, innocent girl screaming and nearly escaped, then chainsaw drops and kills her. MASSIVE prolonged eye-catching jaw dropping built up for the INEVITABLE. Damsel in distress, ditzy blonde prostitute, who  after putting up a good fight is killed in the most tragic way – falling chainsaw? Kinda adds to the humour and drama of the film.

MEMENTO 2000

 – 10mins 44sec clip opening scene!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HnW_930nmQ

PART ONE:
- creepy, time lapse, rewind effect is good, FLASH BACK or fast forward to what is to come. quick paced, POV shots and hierachial shots, man with gun standing above man beaten to the floor.

PART TWO:  in greyscale, black and white as if before the present day. strange monologue man talking to himself, sussing out the situation keeping the audience up to date.
confusing the present day is filmed in colour alongside in black and white when he is back in his roomr. Definitely within the psychological thriller boundaries – VERY CONFUSING. Interesting movie. Like the rewind, take two kind of action.
The film startsin the middle and kind of completes a full circle, explaning everything as it unfolds, plenty of puzzles and twists and turns for the audience to try and keep up with.

THE CAR JOURNEY:
there seems to be an increase intention until they reach there destination, speech and conversations are directed which the audience do not fully understand, which grips us in and challenges us to follow.  180 shots and over the shoulder shots, plenty of POV shots to five audience real insight into situation. take an instant disliking to character with the car and glasses, he seems suspicious, we feel like the monologue is us speaking and that we are very much apart of what is going to happen next.

REPLAY OF THE FIRST SCENE - ( THE SCENE DOES FULL CIRCLE) :

- then the scene completes full circle and we are back to where started and piece oft he puzzle fit together. then there is more b/w and the audience become as confused and the central character.

BLUE VELVET 1986

– 9mins 50sec clip

 – old man strangled by anonymous stranger in garden.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDIdonK4XDQ&feature=related

PART ONE:
man casually hosing the garden and

made in 1986 hardcore thriller film, lots of basic cuts - the simplicity is brilliant  has a kind of midsummer murders / rosemary and thyme feel to it at the start, but a lot more sinister.
Creepy -blue velvet- music, bright summer day. first image is red roses standing upright in the garden, then wilting yellow flowers, no dialogue. woman inside house watching movie with man and gun, quick cuts to garden scene. 

man has stroke and dies, creepy bugs in garden.

CUT:
quick cuts back to the Television image of gun being aimed, adds to drama and tension in the scene then quick cut to the garden scene, man having a heart attack is a contrast, as he appears to be suffering due to his body giving up, but what has induced the heart attack?
the rustling in the garden grass and the boy watching the drama unfold, the dog jumping at the water hose; all these create extra drama and tension as there is so many different things to build up suspense going on, lots of direct cuts, slow moving zooming ins and outs, POV shots, closeups as they move into the grass and shubbery.

THRILLER FILM SUB GENRE

The thriller genre can include the following sub-genres^, which may include elements of other genres:

• Conspiracy thriller: In which the hero/heroine confronts a large, powerful group of enemies whose true extent only he/she recognizes. The Chancellor Manuscript and The Aquitaine Progression by Robert Ludlum fall into this category, as do films such as Three Days of the Condor, Awake, Flightplan, Snake Eyes, Edge of Darkness, Absolute Power, Marathon Man, In the Line of Fire.
•  
• Crime thriller: This particular genre is a hybrid type of both crime films and thrillers that offers a suspenseful account of a successful or failed crime or crimes. These films often focus on the criminal(s) rather than a policeman. Crime thrillers usually emphasise action over psychological aspects. Central topics of these films include serial killers/murders, robberies, chases, shootouts, heists and double-crosses. Some examples of crime thrillers involving murderers include, Seven, A Perfect Murder, Firewall, Hostage, Silence of the Lambs, Kiss the Girls and Copycat. Examples of crime thrillers involving heists or robberies includes The Asphalt Jungle, The Score, Rififi, Ocean's 11, Entrapment, The Killing and Reservoir Dogs
• Disaster thriller: In which the main conflict is due to some sort of natural or artificial disaster, such as floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanoes, etc., or nuclear disasters as an artificial disaster. Examples include Earthquake, 2012, The Day After Tomorrow, Poseidon, Knowing, Deep Impact and Twister.
•  
• Erotic thriller: In which it consists of erotica and thriller. It has become popular since the 1980s and the rise of VCR market penetration. The genre includes such films as Basic Instinct, Chloe, Color of Night, Dressed to Kill, Eyes Wide Shut, In the Cut and Lust, Caution.
• Legal thriller: In which the lawyer-heroes/heroines confront enemies outside, as well as inside, the courtroom and are in danger of losing not only their cases but their lives. The Runaway Jury by John Grisham is a well known example of the type. Other examples include The Client, Fracture, A Time to Kill, Primal Fear, A Few Good Men, Law abiding citizen Presumed Innocent and The Juror.
• Medical thriller: In which the hero/heroine are medical doctors/personnel working to solve an expanding medical problem. Robin Cook, Tess Gerritsen, Michael Crichton, and Gary Braver are well-known authors of this sub-genre. Nonfiction medical thrillers are also a subcategory, comprising works like The Hot Zone by Richard Preston. Films such as Extreme Measures, The Experiment, Anatomy, Coma and Pathology are other examples of medical thrillers.
• 
  
• Mystery thriller: Suspense films where characters attempt solving, or involved in, a mystery. Examples include Flightplan, Mindhunters,The Number 23, Unforgettable, Shutter Island, Secret Window, Vertigo, Identity and Memento.
• Political thriller: In which the hero/heroine must ensure the stability of the government that employs him. The success of Seven Days in May (1962) by Fletcher Knebel, The Day of the Jackal (1971) by Frederick Forsyth, and The Manchurian Candidate (1959) by Richard Condon established this sub-genre. Examples include, The Constant Gardener, Rendition, The Good Shepherd, Topaz, Syriana, The Interpreter, Proof of Life and The Ghost Writer.
•  
• Psychological thriller: In which (until the often violent resolution) the conflict between the main characters is mental and emotional, rather than physical. The Alfred Hitchcock films Suspicion, Shadow of a Doubt, and Strangers on a Train and David Lynch's bizarre and influential Blue Velvet are notable examples of the type, as are The Talented Mr. Ripley, "Orphan", House of 9, Cape Fear, Red Eye, The River Wild, Psycho, Breakdown, The Collector, Panic Room, Don't Say A Word, Frailty, The Good Son, Dead Calm, Misery. phonebooth, one hour photo, the cradle will fall and vacancy.
•  
• Rape and Revenge films: Out of the sub-genres of exploitation film, this focuses more on the thriller elements such as suspense, tension, some action and fast-pacing rather than scares and the supernatural. Some famous rape and revenge films are The Last House on the Left, Irréversible, Thriller - A Cruel Picture, Baise-moi and I Spit on Your Grave
•  
• Supernatural thriller: In which the film brings in an otherworldly element mixed with tension, suspense and plot twists. Sometimes the hero and/or villain has some psychic ability. Examples include, Lady in the Water, Human Trace, Possession,Fallen, Frequency, In Dreams, Flatliners, Jacob's Ladder, The Skeleton Key, Signs, What Lies Beneath, Darkness falls, Unbreakable, Rosemary's Baby, The Others, the hills have eyes, the village, The Gift, The Dead Zone and the TV series Medium.
•  
• Techno thriller: A suspense film in which the manipulation of sophisticated technology plays a prominent part. Examples include The Thirteenth Floor; The Matrix; Jurassic Park; I, Robot; Eagle Eye; "Terminator" Hackers, and Virtuosity.

BBFC - FILM CLASSIFICATIONS

INFORMATION ACCORDING TO  http://www.bbfc.co.uk/

 RATED 15

"Suitable only for 15 years or over
No-one younger than 15 may see a ‘15’ film in a cinema. No-one younger than 15 may rent or buy a ‘15’ rated video work.

Discrimination

The work as a whole must not endorse discriminatory language or behaviour.

Drugs

Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse. The misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous substances (for example, aerosols or solvents) is unlikely to be acceptable.

Horror

Strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualised.

Imitable behaviour

Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.

Language

There may be frequent use of strong language (for example, ‘fuck’). The strongest  terms (for example, ‘cunt’) may be acceptable if justified by the context. Aggressive or repeated use of the strongest language is unlikely to be acceptable.

Nudity

Nudity may be allowed in a sexual context but without strong detail. There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.

Sex

Sexual activity may be portrayed without strong detail. There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour, but the strongest references are unlikely  to be acceptable unless justified by context. Works whose primary purpose is sexual arousal or stimulation are unlikely to be acceptable.

Theme

No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate for 15 year olds.

Violence

Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic or sexualised violence is also unlikely to be acceptable. There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence but any portrayal of sexual violence must be discreet and have a strong contextual justification.

---

RATED 18

Suitable only for adults
No-one younger than 18 may see an ‘18’ film in a cinema. No-one younger than 18 may rent or buy an ‘18’ rated video work.

In line with the consistent findings of the BBFC’s public consultations and The Human Rights Act 1998, at ‘18’ the BBFC’s guideline concerns will not normally override the principle that adults should be free to choose their own entertainment. Exceptions are most likely in the following areas:

• where the material is in breach of the criminal law, or has been created through the commission of a criminal offence
• where material or treatment appears to the BBFC to risk harm to individuals or, through their behaviour, to society – for example, any detailed portrayal of violent or dangerous acts, or of illegal drug use, which may cause harm to public health or morals. This may include portrayals of sexual or sexualised violence which might, for example, eroticise or endorse sexual assault
• where there are more explicit images of sexual activity which cannot be justified by context. Such images may be appropriate in ‘R18’ works, and in ‘sex works’ (see below) would normally be confined to that category.

In the case of video works (including video games), which may be more accessible to younger viewers, intervention may be more frequent than for cinema films.

Sex education at ‘18’

Where sex material genuinely seeks to inform and educate in matters such as human sexuality, safer sex and health, explicit images of sexual activity may be permitted.

Sex works at ‘18’

Sex works are works whose primary purpose is sexual arousal or stimulation. Sex works containing only material which may be simulated are generally passed ‘18’. Sex works containing clear images of real sex, strong fetish material, sexually explicit animated images, or other very strong sexual images will be confined to the ‘R18’ category. Material which is unacceptable in a sex work at ‘R18’ is also unacceptable in a sex work at ‘18’."

Our Film Certificate:

I feel our film fits into the age 15 certificate, as it will contain certain scenes of violence, blood and sexual content and will be aimed at older viewers. It will have aspects of psychological twists , which younger viewers may find hard to understand. Our film will also consist of murder and weapon and artillery references, which is frequent in other present thriller films.

Equipment needed to make the 2min thriller film.

Camera, tape and camera tripod!

8/2/11 -FURTHER RESEARCH into THRILLER MOVIES

Psychological thriller research

Today I have been doing some more research into the different kinds of classic timeless thrillers of the past 3-4 decades.

ORPHAN –three-quarters through, caught up to the action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elNql4ZwINo&feature=related

Trying to seduce father and kill little deaf girl, really creepy. Dark lighting, really eerie, sinister music such as violins, volume increased as tension builds.

 Clip: When everything comes to ahead, Esther’s secret revealed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfYdyMf98Lw&feature=related

Scary, switched between two scenes, one control scene with main character (Esther) other scene-detailing story. Good editing.

THE PRESTIEGE – mystery thriller

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwBOshDbxmM&feature=related

JOSHUA -2007 film trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpeTkVEJqDE

FUZZY TV IN THIS CLIP.

Objects places an activity into a more sinister atmosphere.

KISS THE GIRLS - 1997 – THEATRICAL THRILLER

 SERIAL PATHOLOGICAL KILLER- really good early thriller story.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pC0Ul29wCj4

One Hour Photo – psychological thriller

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjIBX5RrG4Q

THE MACHINiST

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0fuHY4U1UA&feature=related

INSOMNIA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG_BPV3oCuw&feature=related

synopsis:

"Sent from the city to investigate the murder of a teenage girl of a small town called Alaska, police detective accidentally shoots his own partner while trying to apprehend a suspect. Instead of admitting his guilt, the detective is given an unexpected alibi, but this "solution" only multiplies the emotional complexity and guilt over his partner's death.
He's also still got a murder to solve, in addition to the blackmail and framing of an innocent bystander being orchestrated by the man they were chasing. There's also a local detective who is conducting her own personal investigation... of his partner's death. Will it all come crashing down on him?"