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THRILLER Thriller Research
The Thriller genre an overview • Full of mystery and restricted narratives that keep the audience in high suspense and keeps them guessing throughout the film. An example of this is in the film ‘shutter island’. In this film we start the film in the middle of the action and don’t get the whole plot until the end of the film – creating lots of questions and suspense in the film. • It creates moments of breathlessness and fills you with anxiety due to the unpredictable and complex characters and plot with lots of twist and turns that lead to a climax. • It contains a chain or evens that lead to a problem that the protagonist has to solve • The thriller theme can have a physiological or emotional theme and this can be related to by the audience and make the film more personal and have a deeper meaning.
ThrillerThe history behind the genre • The essential ingredients of the thriller genre come into three main categories. There is: intrigue (who is this balaclava-ed figure?), suspense (will I complete this in the little time I have?), with the added potential for derring-do spectacle (will I wrestle the gun from my mystery commissioner?). Typical thriller films also have a gripping ending where the hero is left in a life threatening situation that stuns the audience. Throughout the 1930’s thrillers contained a heavy crime theme with a clever detective that uses wit and slapstick comedy to get through the dangers. • Alfred Hitchcock arrived with the new wave of thriller films. This brought thriller from comedy and crime and added action and adventure to create fast paced movies. As time when on the thriller genre had developed a style of being very fast paced whilst keeping the essential ingredients of suspense, conspiracy and derring-do spectacles. • 1962 saw the start of the huge movie franchises of ‘James Bond’. The ‘bond’ films were very typical thriller and they show how the genre has adapted and changed over time. The film ‘Dr. no’ was the start a wave of a full on action movies. They have lots of guns and gadgets. They also had a strong theme of crime running throughout the films. These films are a great example of how the thriller genre become a more action/adventure genre.
Narrative themes & conventions • There are many different sub genres of thriller; there are crime-thrillers like the dark knight, action- thrillers like die hard, there are physiological-thrillers like se7en, medical-thrillers, legal-thrillers and romantic gone bad-thrillers. • Todorov’s had a theory that thriller films were made up of 5 stages of the narrative. To explain the theory you can use a film as example; like ‘inside man’. • Firstly there is a state of equilibrium where everything is calm and normal. In the inside man the state of equilibrium is when the bank and the city is open to the public and people are living their normal day lives. • Then there is a disruption of the equilibrium by some action. In inside man the disruption would be cause when the robbers attack the bank and take people hostage. • The next stage is recognition of the disruption. The film inside man shows this stage when the robber have the bank under hostage and an officer call the police to come a sort of the area. • The 4th stage is an attempt to repair the disruption. In inside man the main character tries to reason with the robber and save the people trapped in the bank. • The last stage is a reinstatement of the equilibrium and in the inside man this happens when the robber are obtained and the people are released. This leads to the bank being reopened and the city goes back to normal life.
Character profiles • Mainstream thriller films, such as die hard, contain a chain of evens that lead to a problem that the protagonist has to solve. In die hard Bruce Willis has to solve the trail to find the antagonist. A good example of this is ‘the dark knight rises’. Bruce Wayne starts off as the hero that is keeping the world safe. Throughout the film ‘the joker’ causes lots of crime and problems that Bruce Wayne – ‘Batman’ has to solve/fix. • Thrillers have a very mysterious antagonist that uses the flaws and weaknesses of the protagonist to try and for fill their plans which normally cause a lot of danger and devastation to incident people. There is a scene in ‘The dark knight’ where the joker has placed bombs in two boats that contain civilians and criminals. His plan then is to make one boat blow the other one up killing all the people. This is a very intense scene that can make you very breathless at the time. • The protagonist is normally a normal person with an everyday life living in the city. • The antagonist normally has a hidden identity that is very mysterious and keeps the audience in the dark on their real life; like in collateral. The antagonist ‘Vincent’ appears in the film as a very smart man that wears sunglasses. The slick grey suit that he wears makes him look very powerful and professional; yet the colour easily hides him amount the city. The sunglasses cover his eyes (the window to the soul) hiding his identify and his emotions. This creates a very unreadable character that maybe very dangerous and fatal for the protagonist; Max an ordinary taxi driver in this film. • The characters can often have a double/ secret life from their normal life as the film goes on (Spiderman).’Spiderman is a very good film at showing off this point. To his friends and the world ‘Peter parker’ is a normal guy with an average reporter job in the city. However then he puts on his suit and he is the crime fighting, masked hero – Spiderman. • Vladimir Propp’s had a theory when he studied folktales. He came up with seven main parts: • There is a hero that everyone wants to succeed and beat the antagonist. • An aider or helper that helps the antagonist out with solving the mysterious. • A princess or victim that has a connection to the hero and is normally a flaw of the hero. • The villains that create a problem and sets up the narrative disruption. • There is a dispatcher that gives the hero the task of saving the princess. In many fairytales the role is played by the king that wants his daughter back. • The donor give the character that give the hero sometime to help complete their task. • And the false hero appear to be a good person but by the end of the film turns out to be bad and can cause more problems for the real hero.
Mise – en - scene • Are all the elements that we see inside the world of the film. • Setting: setting is the location of the film/scene. The location can tell you stay away when the film is set and where the scene is happening. Typical thriller films are located in busy cities to deserted house in the countryside. The ‘Bourne’ series is set in busy cities; New York, Moscow, Paris, Berlin. This can create mazes where the hero and villain can hide, whereas ‘Unthinkable’ is set in a bunker in a deserted school outside of the city, where no-one can hear you scream. • Props: the props are the object that can be used by the character and it can be iconic to the character, for example Batman batmobile, to decorate the set like a lamp or piano to make the house look expensive or working class- which can tell you about the situation of the character in the film; poor or rich. It can be part of the solution or problem in a film e.g. in ‘collateral’ the gun is a problem for Max as its being use to kill people and it’s the solution to stopping Vincent. Figure expression: the figure expression is the way the actors perform with their body language. The figure expression is the way the actor create very mysterious moods without dialog and the way the characters can say so much with just their eyes or body language. • An example of this is in the film taken. There is a scene when the daughter sees these men in her house and they take her friend. She run and hides under the bed and calls her dad. There is a moment in this scene when her father says ‘you will be taken’. At this point there is a pause in the music and we can see the fear and anxiety in her eyes. Her eyes fill with tears and hopelessly search the room for an exit and the panic takes over as she fears for her life. It is a very intense moment and leaves you very breathless and you are on the edge on the seat to what happens.
Costume • Costume: The costumes are the deliberately chosen outfits for the film. They can give a lot of information about the personality of the character (or mysteriousness of them, like Vincent in ‘collateral’. Vincent wears a very sharp grey suite and sunglasses. These combined leave very little of Vincent left as he can completely hide who he is behind them. Also the suite he is wearing gives him a sense of power and authority, and it looks like he is a strong business man. This suggests that what he is doing is a business and he is a professional at it. The costume will also be chosen to fit the specific genre of the film. For example in a thriller the protagonist will be wearing normal and everyday clothes to reflect their role as a ordinary person that just happened to be caught up in the antagonists plans; like in die hard when the retired police officer wears tops and jeans and ends up getting caught in the action. The protagonist may wear suits and uniform to show that they can hides their identity and the uniform also gives them statue. For example Batman is the hero but he wears a suite and hides his identity from the world. • Make up: The make to can be used to create very pale or dark characters. It can be used to create very scary and memorable character like the joker in batman. It can able be natural to make a subject look more ordinary. His grey suite and his grey hair may show that he is quite old. This suggest that he has been doing this for a while and its a job and he very good at it. the colour of the suite is very boring and blend in to the background. This shows that he does not what to be noticed and may show that he is a secretive man that has things to hide. Personally I think that the grey is a very clever colour that could have misleading meanings. To me grey is a ‘safe’ colour as its does not stand out like black or white. However Vincent is not safe character at all. I think this highlight the fact he cant be trust as he can trick people into his trap, i.e. max. He is wearing sunglasses which hides his eyes and where he is looking. Also the sunglasses are black. The eyes are said to be the window to the souls and in his case its bad. This is show that he is a machine that has no feeling or soul. This makes his a very dangerous and suspicious man.
Cinematography • Cinematography is the word used for the camera angles and shots used in film. • P.O.V.’s & Associated P.O.V.’s – P.O.V.’s are camera shots that put you in the shoes of the character. This is used in thriller films so that the audience feels the emotion and fear of the character. In ‘Brick’ a P.O.V is used when ‘Brendan’ is locking around to show where he is looking and that he is panicking a bit. An associated P.O.V./over the shoulder shot is when you can see the characters shoulder in the view, seeming like you’re on their shoulder. This shot can be used to create more of a spectator of the action instead of part of it. It can allow the audience to see a little more than the character. In thrillers it can be used to show the view of a character but no give a specific detail of their face. • Wide shot & Long shot – A wide shot can be used to show the whole character and their surrounding; while a long shot show the whole character with distance between the camera and the action. A wide shot is used in thriller to show where the character is and what they are doing. It can be very useful in a conversation as it allow the audience to map out where the characters are in relation to each other. A long shot can be used to give a big view of what is going on in the scene. In ‘Brick’ the opening shots are a close up shots of the boy (Brendan), a girl’s body and a blue bracelet. The sight of a boy curled up in a ball gives little away and create a sense of fear and anxiety for the boy and his situation. The lack of a wide shots allow the director to hold back the detail and create mystery, and not give any information away and so keep the audience guessing and in suspense. Also the sight of a body makes you think danger and with the lack of the ‘bigger picture’ the audience are gripped to a plot they hardly know anything about. The boy is curled up which shows that he is not coping he is no use to this situation and maybe not the cause? The close ups in Brick allow the audience to focus on the emotion in the boy’s eyes and also on the bracelet which the director used to link idea though out the film.
Sound • Sound is the music from dialogue to the soundtrack that has been created to enhance the film. The sound can be deigetic or non-deigetic. • Diegetic sounds: The deigetic sounds are the noises that exist in the world within the film. It is the sounds the character can hear as their origin is coming from a source in the scene/environment – e.g. dog barking, car horns, background noise, etc. • Dialogue -Dialogue is one of the main deigetic sounds as it is the words that characters says and hears. It helps explain the narrative and the emotions of the scenes. • Ambient – Ambient music is the terminology for the background noises during a scene. They can help set the location i.e. birds and traffic would be for an inner-city park and phones ringing and people talking would be for a busy office setting. • Voiceover: Voiceovers or narrations are when the voice of the character has been placed over a single or multiple scenes in the film. The voiceover can be explaining what is happening or telling the narrative of the film to the audience. An example of this is the opening title sequence of ‘American beauty’. The film starts with Ariel shots of the American suburbs while you can hear the voice of Lester talking about the narrative of the film. A voiceover is a non-deigetic sound as it is not coming from within the world of the film; whereas a narrative would be classed as an internal monologue and therefore deigetic. • Non – deigetic sounds: The non-deigetic sounds are the extra sounds that would not exist in the made up world within the film. These sounds would be soundtrack and/ a film score that can highly intensify the scene of whole film. • Score – The film score is composed music specifically created and becomes part of the overall soundtrack. This music is composed for a scene or more to create the exact mood the film producer/director is looking for. • Pleonastic is the term used to explain when music has been chosen as it reinforces and relates to the action on screen. An example of this is Jaws. Contrapuntal is the term used to describe when the music seems to contrast and contradict what’s happening on screen. This creates a very uneasy scene and can highlight when a character is feeling uncomfortable or anxious; like in clockwork orange. We hear classic music that is very happy and peaceful over a scene that contains violent.
Editing Editing is the process that happens during the post production stage when making a film. Editing is the stage when all the shots and images taken and the music chosen are cut together to create e the film narrative/story. • Continuity editing – Continuity editing is what most films aim for. It is editing that can’t be notice by the audience; and the shots all flow together. This allows the audience to be capture by the action and not be caught up with the changing shots. It is used a lot in thriller films as it creates ‘suspended belief’ so the audience can focus on the action and not think about the editing. It can also be used in thriller films to create the idea that the shot are motivated by the event and this helps make the film more realistic and alive. • Match on action – match on action is when a sequence of shots are used to show a piece of action. A good example of this is in ‘batman – the dark knight’. When batman shots a wall down there is a different shot for each action he does. There is one for him leaning down, one when he pushed the button, etc. This helps add to the pace of the film and shows clearly what is happening. • Graphic match – Graphic match is when a shot changes to a similar shot to make them look smooth. This is exercised in ’Wallace and Gromit-curse of the were-rabbit’; when the moon in the sky becomes a moon in a puddle that someone steps through as the scene changes. • Graphic contrast – Graphic contrast is the opposite to graphic match; when the shot changes it is followed by a very different shot to great impact and obvious contrast. This is used a lo in thriller as it can make a scene/ shot change very uncomfortable and uneasy to watch. This adds to the feel of the film and can highlight how a character or what the mood is like. • Shot reverse-shot – Shot revise-shot is used a lot in conversation. It is method of placing the camera facing one actor as they talk and the cutting that next to another actor talking facing them to create the effect they are talking to each other. This can be followed by or start with a wide shot of the location so that the audience can make a mind map of the characters location within the shop, cafe, city, etc. This shot sequence is also used a lot in thrillers as it can allow the camera to focus on how the character is saying his lines, and also how the other character is reaction as the camera is focused on one person at a time.
Thriller Target audience. • The typical thriller genre has a wide range of people that range in age and gender. People go to watch these films because of what the genre offers. The audience want the thrills, the anxiety and the breathless moments. The views want to feel the fear and tension in the air and be scared as it builds to a climatic moment towards the end. The age range for the audience is young and middle aged. This can range from late teens to 30 year olds, and from 30 years olds to 50. Also the thriller genre is open and appeal to both the male and female market. Men go for the thrills, the fights, chase scenes and raw action; where as girls do want the thrills and fear elements but they are a lot more interested in the strong male protagonist characters. • Thriller genre has lots of different sub-genres and so can be very diverse. This means that they are open to both genders but they are also open to all the social classes. The lack of social class specifics allows a wide group of different people to enjoy the film and relate to the characters and plot on their own personal level. However because thriller genre can be very complex and unclear to create a suspense and mysterious plot. This may put some people off this and it may cause a class divide as the movies involve a intelligential element and the narrative are and can be very challenging to some people.
Unthinkable Certification Sub genre – thriller, drama. BBFC rating of: 18 – No-one younger than 18 may see an ‘18’ film in a cinema. The rating of the film relates to the following content: • where the material is in breach of the criminal law, or has been created through the commission of a criminal offence. • Unthinkable – terrorist activity against the state of America. • 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. • Unthinkable – terrorist attack and prolonged torture to characters in the film. • Unthinkable – very strong and graphical violence showed, centred around continued torture against terrorist actions.
CASINO ROYALE CERTIFICATION. Sub genre – action, adventure, thriller. BBFC rating of 12. The rating of the film relates to the following content: • Drugs • Any misuse of drugs must be infrequent and should not be glamorised or give instructional detail. • Casino royale – contains open uses of drug on an individual. • Horror • Moderate physical and psychological threat may be permitted, provided disturbing sequences are not frequent or sustained. • Casino royale – contains occasional threat of pain or fatal action. • Imitable behaviour • Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied, or appear pain or harm free. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised. • Casino royale– contains torture and scenes of people getting murdered. • Nudity • Nudity is allowed, but in a sexual context must be brief and discreet. • Casino royale– contains briefs scenes of nudity. • Sex • Sexual activity may be briefly and discreetly portrayed. Sex references should not go beyond what is suitable for young teenagers. Frequent crude references are unlikely to be acceptable. • Casino royale– contains very little use of sexual activity • Theme • Mature themes are acceptable, but their treatment must be suitable for young teenagers. • Casino royale – contains themes of terrorism and gambling. • Violence • Moderate violence is allowed but should not dwell on detail. There should be no emphasis on injuries or blood, but occasional gory moments may be permitted if justified by the context. Sexual violence may only be implied or briefly and discreetly indicated, and must have a strong contextual justification. • Casino royale– contains graphic scene of fighting and attack on people throughout the film. • Casino royale- contains one scene of torture and vast scenes of action violent.
