Thriller Research

1. Thriller Research Jane Lawrance Varndean College

2. Main Elements of a Thriller • The three main elements found in a Thriller film are; Suspense, Tension and Excitement. • Thrillers rely on the emotional connection of the audience to play on these elements and create a better film experience. • ‘The Shining’ is a great example of how Thrillers use music to create a feeling of unease in the viewer, in the opening title sequence it uses a Devil’s Chord (which used to be said to summon the Devil) also known as a Tritone. The Shining (1980) Stanley Kubrik

3. Thriller Films and Audience • For a Thriller to be successful in Thrilling it needs to be able to keep its audience on edge. • Lots of films use the use of climax to create this suspense, For example the entire plot of Shutter island is playing on what it is exactly that is in the lighthouse. • As I touched on previously, Thrillers like to play with the audiences emotional connection creating; intense excitement, suspense, high level anticipation, ultra- heightened expectation, uncertainty, anxiety and tension. • This variety of conflicting emotions (i.e. expectation and uncertainty) draw the spectator into the story to help them find clarity. • Voyeuristic positioning is used a lot in thriller films to help visually show someone being followed or stalked a good example of this is the movie quadrilogy ‘Scream’. Shutter Island (2010) Martin Scorsese Scream 2 (1997) Wes Craven

4. Thrillers work on two levels • The first level true to the name is to Thrill the audience. Being put to our emotional limits is one of the main selling points of a thriller, drawing in the audience and then scaring them off their seats. E.g. movies like the Scream quadrilogy. House at the end of the Street (2012) Mark Tonderai • The second level of a Thriller is a Psychological element. Thrillers always add in red herrings and twists in their plots the in-depth story lines of these films allow the audience to have a greater psychological connection and so when a twist happens it leaves the audience in shock and confusion as to how they didn’t see it. E.g. The complex story between what everyone thinks and what actually happened in House at the End of the Street. Scream (1996) Wes Craven

5. Alfred Hitchcock – The Master of Psychological Thrillers “The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder.” – Alfred Hitchcock. • So why is Alfred Hitchcock the master of the Psychological thriller? Well apart from making one of the most famous Thriller movies, Psycho. • He also broke the modern stereo types of such films, such as; killing off the protagonist half way through the movie and Using a women as a protagonist. • Hitchcock made films (silent and non silent) from 1926 – 1976 and is acclaimed for his works. As well as this he was once quoted for saying; "Even my failures make money and become classics a year after I make them." Psycho (1960) Alfred Hitchcock

6. Visual Aspects of posters A dominant image revealing a complex narrative. Film posters normally use half shadows on the characters face or in some cases, The Sixth Sense, a full silhouette. Use of a dark colour pallet with a bold Red title to catch the viewers eye and Indicate danger and death (and in some cases both). Spectator is drawn into Dark spaces, reminiscent of Film Noir (shadows, low key lighting etc.) Shutter Island (2010) Martin Scorsese Brighton Rock (1947) John Boulting

7. Introduction to Characters • Protagonists of thrillers are normally introduced through the clues of the story. E.g. The Detective Badge and belongings shown in an OCD order in ‘Se7en’ shows little parts of his story before the character is completely known to us. Or the Plaque given to Dr Cowe in the sixth sense (it tells us he is good at his profession and that he is a child physiatrist before we see him) Se7en (1995) David Fincher The Sixth Sense (1999) M. Night Shyamalan • As well as this a common theme in Thrillers is that we see our protagonists face first through either a reflection or a blur. E.g. Se7en, Shutter Island and Arlington Road. Se7en (1995) David Fincher Shutter Island (2010) Martin Scorsese Arlington Road (1999) Mark Pellington

8. Mise-en-Scene • Mise-en-scene is a French phrase meaning Place on stage. • Mise-en-scene is talking about details in scenes. These details include; Setting/Stage design, Props, Costume, Make up, Acting, Lighting and Colour. • These choices can make or break the atmosphere of a scene and it is important to get things spot on as it allows the audience to connect with the story. • Iconography should also be taken into account when thinking about Mise-en-scene as it is an aspect that relates to genre and specifically things we expect to see within a certain genre. E.g. Detective badges and guns in Crime/Detective films and a knife or murder weapon of some kind in a Horror. Choice of Drastic Hair colour, not just grey, almost silver. Facial expression isn’t entirely Mean. Suit suggests wealth, good education. And colour chosen is close to hair colour making the character look characteristically grey and neutral but the boldness of the gun gives him a violent persona. Weapon – suggests a violent side.

9. There’s always a twist • Extensive use of Cliff hangers, Red herrings and Plot Twists. • A very important part of ANY Thriller film is its plot. • A good Thriller will constantly trick the audience into changing their minds about the outcome without giving away the truth. • There are many great examples of plot twists. For example; House at the end of the Street has the love interest as the real murderer and Shutter Island switches the entire plot on its head at the end when revealing the truth. • Thrillers always like to establish plot riddles through specific shots and language used. House at the end of the Street (2012) Mark Tonderai Shutter Island (2010) Martin Scorsese

10. The Protagonist Brighton Rock (1947) John Boulting • The protagonist of a Thriller film is normally a powerful male in a high status in society. • In many films we see the protagonist as a well educated man. • However, in some films we see exceptions such as in 2012 film ‘House at the end of the Street’ where the protagonist is a seventeen year old girl. • Good examples of traditional thriller protagonists are; Pinkie (Brighton Rock, A gang leader), Teddy Daniels (Shutter Island, A Detective) and Dr. Malcolm Crowe (The Sixth Sense, A child psychiatrist). The Sixth Sense (1999) M. Night Shyamalan Shutter Island (2010) Martin Scorsese

11. The Antagonist • The Antagonist of a film is normally the Villain or enemy of the Protagonist. No thriller is complete without one. • Antagonists are normally villains, thieves, rapists, terrorists etc. However in certain films these roles are turned round where the protagonist of the story is a criminal. These are called false heroes. • A great example of a false hero is Pinky from ‘Brighton Rock’ because in Rose’s mind he is a hero and a nice guy when in fact he want her to kill herself and she never finds out the truth so his false hero label is never broken. • Another example of the Antagonist playing the Protagonist is Alex from ‘A Clockwork Orange’ he is seen as doing the right thing in his own eyes being desensitised to violence. Brighton Rock (1947) John Boulting A Clockwork Orange (1971) Stanley Kubrick

12. Extraordinary events happening in ordinary situations • Thrillers love to use normal settings. It gives the film a sense of normality before everything gets confusing. Personally, I feel having that normal setting helps the audience connect with the scene this is a good technique as it helps them imagine it happening to themselves. One Hour Photo (2002) Mark Romanek • Good examples of films that use normal settings to set up strange events are; “One Hour Photo” where Robin Williams is seen walking around a house in comfortable clothes before a family walk in on him lounging around their house and “Phone Booth” where the whole story is based around something strange happening in a normal location. Phone Booth (2002) Joel Schumacher

13. Hybrid Genres • Nowadays there are so many hybrid genres around its hard to know what one actually is. • Hybrid genre writing blends styles and structures of two or more genres together to create a hybrid of the two. • Not to be mistaken with Sub Genre which is a sub category within a particular genre such as psychological thriller is a sub genre of the thriller. • Examples of hybrid genres are; *CRIME. The usual suspects(1995,Byran Singer). *ECO/DISASTER THRILLER. The day after tomorrow(2004, Roland Emmerich ) and 2012 (2009, Roland Emmerich) *STALKER (ROMANCE ‘GONE BAD’).Fatal Attraction(1987, Adrian Lyne). *SPY. Mission Impossible(1996, Brain De Palma), James Bond *ACTION.Die Hard(1988, John Mc Tierman), Crank(2006, Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor)

14. Sound “Dialogue should simply be a sound among other sounds, just something that comes out of the mouths of people whose eyes tell the story in visual terms.” – Alfred Hitchcock Diegetic sound is the sound/ noise associated with a given action seen by the audience. For Example, if someone turns a knob to turn the radio on and there’s a click. The ‘click’ is Diegetic sound. As well as this the sound that comes out of the radio once it is on is diegetic because we know and can see where it is coming from. Non-Diegetic sound is sound that Is completely unrelated to the scene in motion. For Example in a Horror or Thriller movie when something/someone jumps out of no where and the background music spikes. Background music is a good example of Non Diegetic sound as it normally is just music coming from no where to add emotion to the scene. Ambient sound is the sound created in a scene used to show an atmosphere of the surrounds. For example if I set my scene in the country side I would have bird song in the background and maybe some wind blowing. Although you cannot see the things making the sound there is an place for them logically in the scene and so they are neither Diegetic or Non Diegetic.

15. Sources • Class Notes • VLE • IMDb www.imdb.com • Google Images • http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/alfred_hitchcock.html • http://www.mysterynet.com/hitchcock/filmography/ • Youtube