Thriller Ideas

From watching past As level thriller movies and Cinema Thrillers i have found out a few things that are key to making a thriller effective.
- The lighting should always be quite dark, this exploits the viewers fears of the dark and also leaves the audience with an unawareness of what is going on. Heroes and villains can hide without being seen and it allows a lot more suspense to build up than in a lighter environment.
- The settings that are most effective are those that appear to be places of innocents which don't usually contain violence, such as a kids playground or the comfort of your own home. This in particular is effective as intrusion of homes is very common to this day which allows the story to appear more realistic. (e.g. Roberts home in Disturbia)
- The victim should be visually pleasing towards the intended audience so we can build up a liking for them, that way the scene is even more dramatic as we do not want them to get hurt. (e.g. Jennifer Love Hewitt from "i know what you did last summer.")
- Jumping into a scene without the introduction at the start of a film can be very effective as it is very enigmatic, it makes us ask questions in our head about what is going on. In Momento The man appears to have shot someone in the head but we do not know the reason for his actions, this leaves me to wonder if he is a bad guy or a good guy and makes me more engaged in the film.
-Locations Shots

Characteristics of the Thriller Genre from Saw 2

I think Saw 2 is a great thriller with a very exciting plot, this is because it creates a fictional, real life scenario and makes it seem realistic to the audience. I have broken down the main characteristics of the film into four categories:
Themes - Deception, Illusion, Torture, Entrapment, Vulnerability, Danger, Corruption of innocence, mentally unstable and Memories.

Iconography- Dark rooms, Small rooms, Deadly Traps, Unknown Places, Shadows, Sharp Objects, Blood, Masks and Artificial Light.

Characters - Mental Patients, Victims, Protagonist, Antagonist, Family and Female Victim.

Narrative - Murder, Accidental Death, Self Mutilation, Insanity, Torture and Abduction.

latymer media thriller project AS 2006 5

After looking at past thriller videos made at As-level I have realised that there are certain parts of the clip that are not done too well and parts which are done very effectively.

In this particular video the opening is very effective, it is black and white, which together with the typical bar scene and old style music gives a feel of a gangster scene. This is also due to the dress code of the man sitting in the seat as he is dressed smartly and looks very serious.

The plot seemed good, as it was quite enigmatic; this is because even though it showed a lot of information, you weren’t introduced to any of the characters.

This to me was a slight problem, as I was unclear of who the main characters were and who had a significant role in the story.

The story line seemed to meet the thriller conventions well as it did create a tense atmosphere but did not have any unique properties that made it different from any other thriller that we see today.

The camera types of shots were used on a wide range, which leaves the viewers more engaged in the scene, high angle shots were used on the girl at the near the end to show her authority over others.

I was able to understand what film genre the scene was from and what type of thriller it was as they were shown clearly though dress and style of music.

The lighting did not help to show what the characters were feeling or what the camera is focusing on, which could have been improved by using a small light source such as a lamp.

I Know What You Did Last Summer- DvD Cover

When breaking down a Dvd cover of a film you must look at three main aspects to fully explore its meaning, these are; Camera, Character and Mise en scene.
Camera- There is a medium shot of the main woman with close up shots of three side characters in the background, they each have a serious expression on their faces. There is a long shot of a person who's facial features are hidden by his hat and the low level of light.
Character- there are 5 characters shown on the cover each very serious looking and all cast in shadow, this could represent doubt or the fact that they are hiding from something.
The image of the unknown person is small and hidden, he is black and red, black which shows that he is hiding in the shadows and red signifies blood or danger. The other main characters are in black and white which could be hiding their personalities in an enigmatic way. The fact that four of the five characters can be seen properly i would say that they were the good people in the film, and the hidden person is the villain.
Mise en Scene- The main colours used are red, white and black, this is important as it gives a tense and serious atmousphere. The white and black colours signify the good and the evil of the characters as they are good people who have done bad before. The title is relatively small in comparison to the rest of the cover, it is enigmatic in the way that we want to know what they did last summer. The slogan is in even smaller writing but is a reference to the title and paints a clearer picture to the audience of what its about. It talks about burying bodies which is possibly what they did last summer. The small parts of the background that is not covered by the images are in black, it blends in well with the shadowded part of the characters faces. The lighting on their faces looks artificial and focused on one side of their face, The hair of each character is away from their faces apart from the main girl which could show that she was the cause of the bad thing last summer.

Theory of Thriller films

There have been certain theory's made which are used to distinguish the structure and story line of a film. I will show a deconstruction of the film Disturbia using four of these theorems.
Firstly i will start with Levi Strauss who is French, he had come up with the idea of binary opposites, when applied to Disturbia these were found:
-Adult vs Youth- possibly Kale and his friends against the murderer or the police.
-Normality vs Abnormality
-Good vs Evil- typical of any film in the thriller genre, in this case Kale could be seen as the good and Robert ( the murderer is the evil.)
-Light vs Dark- I see this in terms of what the viewers see, this is because you can see Kale and his friends and their characters but much of Roberts character is hidden from us so he is kept in the dark.
-Freedom vs Entrapment- This is a reference to the different situations that occurred throughout the film, Kale is trapped in his own house as he is under house arrest which leaves the freedom of Ronnie to be compromised as he enters the suspects house.
-Society vs Situation-From what we see Kale and Ronnie's thoughts and actions seems right but in the law and society its wrong of them to spy and invade another persons privacy.
-Warm vs Cold- This shows a difference in two ways; the cold heart of the killer that in Robert and the warm heart of Kale for trying to stop him, and Roberts house where he keeps bodies in the freezer in contrast with the warm family home of kales.

Barthes Theory of Action/Enigma codes
Action codes in disturbia-These are scenes in the film which allows it to lead onto the next part such as:
-The car crash- This leads on to Kale punching his teacher
-Punching the teacher- Leads to becoming on house arrest
-Kales mum taking away his methods of enjoyment such as computer games- Lead to him watching the neighbor and witnessing a murder.
-Robert seeing him and kidnapping his mother
Enigma codes in Disturbia- These are scenes which are not clear and contain hidden meanings which provoke questioning.
-Robert buying a shovel
-The dead rabbit
-Scratches on the car
-Blood spatter on the window
-A body bag being dragged by Robert.

Todorovs theory of narrative structure in a film:
Equilibrium- A simple everyday family life with no complications with feelings of innocents.
Disruptions- The accidental death of Kales father
-Punching his teacher leading to his house arrest
-Witnessing Robert through his window
Resolution-Kale tells others of what he has seen and tried to convince them.
- He solves the mystery by investigating himself
A new found equilibrium is restored the hero (kale) gets the girl and they move on with life.

Propp-character types
The Hero/Protagonist- Kale
The Villain/Antagonist- Robert
The Helper- Ronnie
The Princess- Kales mother and his girlfriend Ashley
The Donor- The mother/Police/Father
Dispatcher- thoughts and memories of his father
Authority figures- Mother/Father and also possibly the police
False hero- The police.

Genre Characteristics

Genre characteristics break into 4 different categories, they are as follows; Iconography, Narratives, Themes and Characters. When these separate areas are used to break down a certain film you can understand and see the similar conventions it has to its genre.

When applied to the film Disturbia:
Iconography- There are dead bodies, blood smears, mist, empty spaces, shafts of light, masks and confined corners. These are all typical as part of a thriller genre as they are suggestions of mystery and contain enigmatic codes as they don't quite show you the whole story. The weapons used are knives and guns with knives being the preferred choice, this is because it means the killer must trap the victim before killing him/her.
Drugs, money, large houses, garages and basements are all used and suggests the mise en scene.

Narratives- The narrative events, sounds and actions in Disturbia all contain typical features of the thriller genre. Death, crime scenes, fight scenes, sex scenes, secret conversations and spying are all part of the genre and parts such as spying is especially used in Disturbia as Kale looks through his window into other peoples houses.
Narrative sounds could be from diegetic sounds such as screaming, police car sirens, gun shots, and non-diegetic sounds such as slow pace classical orchestra get faster paces as the action continues.
The narrative actions in the film are suspicions, which is the main one that starts the story, drinking, smoking, searching for clues, kidnappings, murders and stabbing. These are all part of the story and build up a big picture of the narrative of the film as a whole.

Themes- There are many themes that are used throughout the film, some more dominant than others those were, suspicion, murder, mystery, danger, family, tension and uncertainty. Others that were not quite so important were things such as corruption of innocents, law and order, political conspiracy, excitement, suspense, treachery, threat to life and anxiety.

Characters- These are character roles in the film which also refers to typical thriller conventions, Corrupt police, young female victims, unexpected hero, girlfriend, phycopaths, criminals and protagonists sidekick. Each characters role plays a part in the story to make it fit together realistically but also to allow unrealistic events.

Just updated the photo to go with the analysis

Hannibal film cover

My Dvd cover is a close up shot of the main character in Hannibal. His face is cast in half shadow which could show that he is constantly in doubt and regret throughout the film. His eyes are red which suggests insanity and maddness. His facial expression is quite confident which could show that he is quite a key part in the goings on in the film. The title "Hannibal" is quite enigmatic which is how it leaves a lot of hidden meanings in to be seen in the film itself. Most of the cover is dark which signifys mystery and that there is a lot of story line that is uncovered. The man looks like the protagonist in the film as he is the only image on the cover which suggests that he has a quite important role. The cover features all the same conventions as any other traditional covers would have, this allows the viewers to recognise the genre so they know what type of film it will be. In this case it is only suitable for the ages of over 18. The fact that the main shot is a close up suggests that there should be an emphasis on his facial expression, this gives you a clue to the type of thriller it is trying to be. The fact that there is not much information on the cover could show a sense of abnormality which is also suggested from the scary sounding title.

Analysis of films

i have started watching thrillers such as the series of Saw movies, The Ring, Final Destination and "I know what u did last summer". I shall post my analysis' when they are all completed.

Thriller Shot – Denotations and Connotations

This shot is supposed to be part of a scene where a killer has just stabbed his target who is trying to get away. I tried to make a sense of being trapped and enclosed in a small area by using an isle in between chairs. The killer can not be seen which gives added suspense to what is going on and the shirt on the floor with blood on it suggests that there has previously been a struggle between them. The lighting is mainly coming from one area, which again gives this trapped feeling. The foot appears to be blurred which suggests movement like the target is trying to get away from the villain.Through this shot I was trying to achieve feelings of being trapped and conflict between the two characters, and also a sort of struggle to break free from the enclosed space.It represents thriller in the way that its about murder and leaves the suspense of hiding the killer. There is minimal blood which is what makes it different from a horror movie and the camera is very low which is different from the perspective of any character in the shot.The lighting could have been better as it was not very clear as to where the main source came from.I could have found a better area to give the sense of being trapped, as chairs do not really enclose the characters in one space. The movement of the characters feet works well as it gives a purpose to the shot.The shirt is too perfectly laid out on the floor which would make the shot look slightly more posed and fake which is not what a thriller would be trying to do.

HW

posted here for HomeWork, hopefully this is the right place...

Welcome

Welcome to the Latymer School Thriller Video Project!!!

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