Conventions of Thrillers- SHADOWS

This image is a prime example
of a shadow scaring the audience.

There are many different themes that feature in thrillers such as the use of excitement or suspense. However most films usually use the similar types of effects to entertain the audience or scare them. For example when I watched Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’ the other day I realised that a common scaring technique that is used amongst thrillers is the idea of a shadow. Using shadows helps tell the audience that someone is there and the other characters don’t know, also it creates suspense as usually something dramatic happens after the appearance of the shadow.

I think the use of shadows in our thriller opening would be a good idea as it would help make the film more scary and revealing, however if we did use shadows we could maybe put a twist in it and surprise the audience, this would help make our thriller opening more exciting.

Bullitt

Bullitt was produced in1968 and was directed by Peter Yates, the thriller film is about an American cop that becomes determined to find the underworld kingpin that killed the witness in his protection.

I found the opening credits to the film at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S__L_OQe6NE The opening credits last for 3minutes and 34 seconds. Through-out the credits non-digetic music is played in the background, the music sounds very creepy and mystical. This music helps create and set the scene for the audience. 12 seconds into the opening credits the first title appears ‘Warner Bros’ this immediately tells people who helped distribute the film, it would also help create an audience as it is a well known company. 26 seconds in, the first name appears ‘Steve McQeen’, he was a very well known actor that had starred in films such as the great escape. 9 seconds after this credit, the title of the film appears ‘Bullitt’ it is blended into the back ground of the scene. Through-out the rest of the opening credits, credits such as famous actress Jacqueline Bissett appear and many other people that featured in the film are presented. Having these names appear has a huge effect on the audience as it helps draw in and attract an audience.

Bullitt opening scene

Timing of the opening scene

After twelve seconds of an aerial view of a city the credits for "Warner Bros - Seven arts" fades into the screen. This lasts five seconds and then is followed by "presents". We then wait eight seconds for "Steven Mcqueen" to appear. After 34 seconds of the opening credits "In Bullitt a solar production" is faded into the screen. Then eleven seconds later "Robert Vaughn" appears onto the screen. After fifty two seconds "Jacqueline Bisset" is again faded into the screen. After one minute "Don Gordon, Robert Duvall, Simon Oakland, Norman Fell" fades into the screen. On one minute eight seconds "Featuring" is faded into the screen.This is followed by "Georg Stanford Brown, Justin Tarr, Carl Reindel, Felice Orlandi, Victor Tayback, John Apea, Robert Lipton, Ed Peck, Pat Renella, Paul Genge, Al Checco and Bill Hickman appears four seconds later. At one minute twenty nine seconds the director of photograph is shown. At one minute forty three the art direct, film editor and production manager are shown. This is then followed ten seconds later by "titles by Pablo Ferro films".

Timeline for the opening scene to Bullitt

Bullitt is an American Thriller film made in 1968, and its opening scene lasts for almost four minutes.
The first credit that appears is 'Warner Bros.- Seven Arts Presents' at 11 seconds, there is then their logo which appears and disappears off the screen at 17 seconds. There is then the lead actors name 'Steve McQueen' at 25 seconds, which then exits of the screen at 33 seconds into the opening scene. It then says 'In Bullitt a Solar Production' at 36 seconds, and exits off the screen at 44 seconds, there is then another actors name 'Robert Vaughn' at 46 seconds, and leaves the screen at 52 seconds, and as soon as it’s gone the name of the lead actress' name appears 'Jacqueline Bisset' and leaves the screen at 1:00. It then goes on to show other actors and actresses featuring in the film until 1:30, after this it show the ‘Director of Photography- William A. Frankner’ at 1:50 it shows the ‘Art Director- Albert Brenner’ the ‘Film Editor- Frank P. Keller’ and the ‘Production Manager- Jack N. Reddish’. At 2:00 it shows ‘Titles by- Pablo Ferro Films’ which is on the screen for 5 seconds, and at 2:10 the ‘Costume Designer- Theadora VanRunkle’ there is then the ‘Unit Manager’, ‘Assistant Director’, ‘Sound’, ‘Set Decorators’, and ‘Assistant Editor’. There are then the ‘Special Effects,’ ‘Script Supervisor,’ ‘Costumer’, ‘Make-Up’, ‘Hair Stylist’, and a ‘Copy Right’ message. At 2:40 there is ‘Music by- Lalo Shrifrin’ shown, it then shows ‘Screen Play by- Alan R. Trustman and Harry Kleiner’ and ‘Based on Novel ‘Mute Whitness’ by Robert L. Pike’ it then shows the ‘Producers’ and ‘Directed by- Peter Yates’ and ends at 3:47.

Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock was a hugely successful English filmaker, who was a very important character in the Thiller genre. He pioneered many techniques in suspence, and in the psycological thiler sub genre. His distictive directal style help the audience relate, and feel apart of his movies. Some of his films include:

Notorious (1946)

North by Northwest (1959)

Psycho (1960)

and The Birds (1963)

Progress Report

For my blog I have completed most of the tasks I have been set, both with my group and individually. With my group i have completed a questionnaire, and collected information from it. Individually I have done my own research on Thriller such as 'Sleuth', 'I,Robot', and 'Seven'. Individually I have also watched to opening scenes to the films 'Zomieland', 'Reservoir Dogs', 'Twelve Monkeys', 'Lord of War', 'Max Payne', and again 'Seven'.
To improve my blog, I need to do more posts, more often. I also need to make my posts more attractive, and to make sure that each post has the same colour scheme and fonts, to make it seem more professional.

Progress report

 Progress report

For my blog I have completed many of the tasks I have been given. I have tried to incorporate many different images into the blog to make it more appealing to the reader. I have also tried to use colours to make my posts look more unique.
However I do not feel I have done enough work as I should be. This is why I will be completing more individual research as well as not only doing the tasks given by adding to the blog by making more outgoing posts. In addition to this I have to analyse my posts more and try to figure out what we should try to use in our own thriller piece.

Vacancy Film Research

Vacancy

Vacancy is an American made film with a horror/thriller theme. It was distributed in 2007 through the company ‘Screen Gems’. Screen Gems is part of Sony Pictures entertainment’s Columbia TriStar Motion Picture group, Gems aim for mass audiences, the film was released onto DVD in 2007. In the first week at the box office takings the film grossed $7.6 million at 2,551 locations. This turnover profit shows us how big the film was and how it aimed for a mass audience.

Vacancy is about a married couple that become stranded at a motel and then realise that they are being watched on hidden cameras. Nimrod Antal was the director of the film, he has made other films such as Predator and also Kontroll. Having a known director helps attract an audience as they will have a vague idea of what his work is like.

On http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0452702/ratings showing us the demographic breakdowns. The graph shows us what sex preferred the film and what age group they are. Having these facts helps us in making the decision of to aim our thriller film at.

This graph tells us how more males watched it and reviewed in comparison to females. Also there were more Non-US users than Americans. According to this graph the most popular age group was 18-29. I think this age group would be ideal to aim our thriller at, as according to most film reviews this age group is the most popular. However I think a thriller aimed mainly at females would be a good audience to reach as there are not many thrillers that target that audience.

MEDIA PROGRESS REPORT

MEDIA PROGRESS REPORT

On my blog I have completed many of the tasks given, using different size fonts and also images. I have used these fonts and images as it makes my blog looking more attractive and does not bore the reader.

I have done some individual film research of thriller films, including the films, ‘Severn’, ‘One Hour photo’ and also ‘Omen’.

However to improve my blog and to higher my coursework mark I need to do more research on thriller films, also for each blog I need to say what that piece of work tells us.

CEMS for opening credits of ‘North by Northwest’.

The opening credits for the film blend in with surrounding buildings, these buildings may have a certain significance in the film, however the audience are not sure at this point as it is right at the beginning of the film. There is also music played in the background of the credits, the music is energetic and bouncy, having this music helps set the scene for the audience and it creates a certain mood.

 This is an example of the opening credits blending into a building.

CAMERA-

The first shot in the film is an establishing shot, this helps show the audience what surrounds the people in the scene and what the environment they are in is like. As the scene carries on, there are different types of camera shots used. We are confronted with a man and woman walking together talking, there is a two shot used, this helps show the audience that two people are talking to each other and the other people in the scene are irrelevant. The camera tracks the people all the way to when they get into the cab. Whilst the two people are getting into the cab there is an over the shoulder shot of the man and woman. There is also a high angel shot used when the man tells another person that they are getting into that cab, this use of the high angel shot makes the man who wants to get into the cab look superior and more powerful.

EDITING-

 When the man and woman are in the cab driving, there is obvious use of special effects as you can tell that they are not really in a cab driving,- the back window of the cab gives this away. The special effects are obviously not going to be as good as they are these days as the film was made in 1959 and since then there has been a lot more technology invented. The use of special effects helps convey the image that the two people are actually in a cab. From each scene in the film there is jump cuts, this helps save time in the film and also it shows what other people are doing in the film. The use of jump cuts helps keep the audience interested and it also tells them what is happening in the film.

MISE EN SCENE-

SOUNDS-

There is non-digetic sounds in the background of the first scene with the hotel, the music is quite classical, this conveys an image to the audience that the hotel is posh. There is also non-digetic sounds in the restaurant when people are talking in the background, this helps set an atmosphere and shows that there is other people eating.

This is the front cover of the film. With the man’s expression on his face and the plane chasing him, helps attract the attention of the audience. As it stands out and looks very exciting.

The man is dressed up in a suit and tie, this helps tell the audience that he is an important person and maybe quite wealthy. Also in the first scene there are many people in suits this tells the audience that the area maybe in a city with lots of people working for businesses. The man also reads ‘The Times’ newspaper in the cab, this helps tell the audience that he is quite intellectual.

 This is the main character in his suit, with others around him in suits, they look very wealthy, it conveys an image to the audience that they are rich and important.

Alfred Hitchcock

ALFRED HITCHCOCK

Alfred Hitchcock was an English filmmaker and producer, he had a hugely successful career, he mainly made films with psychological and suspense genres, which were thrillers. After making his name in England he moved to Hollywood.

Alfred often had strange psychology of characters, this helped make his films so popular and it helped them fit into thriller themes. 

He made many famous and popular films such as ‘Foreign Correspondant’, ‘Mr and Mrs Smith’ (which later on had a remake), ‘North by Northwest’ and many more.

                  

Conclusion of Questionnaire

Conclusion from Online Questionnaire

To find out about what sort of audiences watch thrillers and what they enjoy about them we posted an online questionnaire. This questionnaire gave us an idea of what we should look to do in our thriller opening. We asked 5 questions which we thought were relevant and would help us. Five different people completed the questionnaire.

The first question was, ‘What are your favourite thriller films?’, we asked this question as we thought it would help us have an idea of what type of thrillers people enjoy the most. The response this question was..

1. Blair Witch, Paranormal Activity, Inception, Batman Begins, Terminator, Bourne Ultimatum, Taken, Sixth Sense, The Shining, Rear Window, Jaws.
2. Dark Knight
3. Rear Window
4. Inception, The Godfather, Dark Knight
5. Inception, Alien

The results show us that we should include a dark feel in our opening scene. As well as including physiological features. The answers help show us this as Inception and Dark Knight have appeared more than others in our questionnaire. As inception is a physiological thriller we think we should include this in our feature, as well as including a sinister feel from Dark Knight.

For our second question we asked what people enjoy about thrillers as we knew this would help tell us what people look for in a thriller and what we should do for our opening scene. The question was ‘What do you enjoy about thrillers?’

1. Fast pace, twisting storyline, suspense
2. The mystery
3. Twists in the plot
4. Good story and acting, stunts
5. Plot twists, cliff hangers

These answers tell us that we should include twisting plots in the story. As well as including suspense and a cliff hanger at the end of our feature. Also we know this from our own knowledge of thriller films.

For question 3 we asked people ‘what was the last film they watched?’ this would give us an idea of what types of thrillers people watch, whether they’re modern thrillers or old classics.

1. Bourne Ultimatum
2. The day after tomorrow
3. Inception
4. Inception
5. Inception

These answers tell us that people go to see thriller films at the cinema as Inception is not out on home release yet. It also tells us how the people don’t often watch the classic old thriller films again, as all of these films are modern.

For our next question we asked ‘What people look for in a thriller?’ as this would help us immensely in telling us what is popular in thriller films.

1. I like fast paced films with matching soundtrack, action, good characters, good vs evil.
2. Mystery and intensity
3. Good story-telling, slightly disturbing mood
4. Believable story
5. Plot twists, cliffhangers

All five of these responses tell us different things that we could include in our thriller. It shows us that there is a range of possible thriller themes that we could use, and that we will have to think carefully about what theme to use.

Our fifth and final question asked ‘which of these is your main interest in a thriller film?’ the options were, technology, special effects or online. The response for this question was very straight forward, 100% of people opted to choose Technology.

From this questionnaire we can conclude that not everyone enjoys the same type of thriller however everyone prefers technology based thrillers. If we were to do this questionnaire I think we should have asked what was the age of the person filling out the questionnaire, as this would have helped us immensely in what age group to aim at.

Character Growth

Another important aspect of making a great thriller is to make sure that the audience get to know and understand all of the fears and weaknesses of the protagonist’s character. Also, as they begin to overcome the challenges they are given, the film or video also must reflect their determination and strength and have the final outcome showing that how they have overcome their greatest fear and rising to the challenges they were set, has made them a better person. At the same time, it is also important to show the antagonist’s weakness and their fears as the balance of power finally shifts and good wins against evil.

A film which relates to this topic perfectly I think is 'Disturbia'.
Disturbia is a film when a teenage boy named Kale played by Shia LeBeouf loses his father in a tragic car accident of which he was a witness to. After punching his Spanish teacher, Kale is placed under house arrest and finds himself a new hobby; spying on his neighbours. After a while, Kale begins to realise something isn’t right with his neighbour, Mr Turner. After a number of unsettling events, Kale is almost certain that Mr Turner is a violent killer and shares the news with his best friend Ronnie and his new next door neighbour, Ashley. Throughout the film, we see Kales progression in confidence and maturity, especially when he has to take matters in his own hands after his mother is in serious danger after getting on the wrong side of Mr Turner...

Thiller film research

Sleuth:

A Thriller film directed by Kenneth Branagh, and starring Michael Caine and Jude Law, It was released on the 25^th of November 2007 in the UK, it opened on 146 screens, and in its opening weekend it took £165,788 and by the end of its theatrical run on the 2^nd of December it had grossed £315,766. From using the ‘Rotten tomatoes’ website, I found that the film received generally negative reviews, gaining a 36% rating from all critics, and a 27% from top critics, an example of one of the films ‘rotten’ ratings is: ‘the wicked charm of Sleuth Mk1 (the original film in made in 1972) has been stripped away to leave a nasty, dispiriting and strangely cold psychological thriller.’ The film earned a 53% audience rating, an average rating of 3.2/5.

Conculsions from target audience research

From the research we did on target audiences for thriller films, I have seen that because the film ‘Dark Knight’ appeared frequently in our surveys results  in our opening scene we should consider using a dark feeling and a sense of mystery , as ‘Dark Knight’ has a very dark and mysterious themes running through it. As the film ‘Inception’ also appeared in our results frequently, it would be a good idea to include themes from a physiological thriller. I have also deduced that because people like plot twists, cliff-hangers, and suspense, it would be a good idea to try and include these in our scene. We also found that everyone that voted chose technology to be an important part of a Thriller film, and therefore we should consider looking at a film such as the Matrix to gain an understanding of what to put in our scene.

Preliminary Task Plan

Preliminary task

There is many ways you can film this preliminary task using the match on action technique. This filming technique is where you skip from one bit to another usually to save time, for example when someone starts walking up the stairs, the next camera shot skips to when they have reached the top of the stairs.

For the task, there is many different ways we could do it. However we opted to choose and use a lift. This would show the actor walking towards the lift and entering it and then the next shot would be the actor leaving the lift.

The diagram below shows us how this would work.

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Also in the task we have some dialogue between two characters, this bit of dialogue has to be filmed using the 180 degree rule. The 180 degree rule just helps stop the audience from getting confused, the rule states the camera should always have the same right/left relationship with each other.

The diagram above shows how the 180 degree rule works.         

Preliminary Task Ideas

Preliminary Task Ideas

For the preliminary task there are many different examples we could use, ideas such as stairs would be a good example as it is easy but it also conveys the filming technique to the audience.

The diagram of stairs below shows us how this idea would work.

Questionnaire results for audience research

1. What are your favourite thriller films?

1. Blair Witch, Paranormal Activity, Inception, Batman Begins, Terminator, Bourne Ultimatum, Taken, Sixth Sense, The Shining, Rear Window, Jaws.
2. Dark Knight
3. Rear Window
4. Inception, The Godfather, Dark Knight
5. Inception, Alien

Our analysis of these answers shows us that we should include a dark feel in our opening scene. As well as including physiological features. We know we should do this as Inception and Dark Knight have appeared more than others in our survey. As inception is a physiological thriller we think we should include this in our feature, as well as including a sinister feel from Dark Knight.


2. What do you enjoy about thriller films?

1. Fast pace, twisting storyline, suspense
2. The mystery
3. Twists in the plot
4. Good story and acting, stunts
5. Plot twists, cliffhangers

Our analysis of these answers tell us that we should include twisting plots in the story. As well as including suspense and a cliffhanger at the end of our feature. Also we know this from our own knowledge of thriller films.

3. What was the last thriller film you watched?


1. Bourne Ultimatum
2. The day after tomorrow
3. Inception
4. Inception
5. Inception

These answers tell us that people go to see thriller films at the cinema as Inception is not out on home release yet. Also this might show us that we should include features from Inception as that is the most recent thriller film seen.


4. What do you look for in a thriller film?

1. I like fast paced films with matching soundtrack, action, good characters, good vs evil.
2. Mystery and intensity
3. Good story-telling, slightly disturbing mood
4. Believable story
5. Plot twists, cliffhangers

Our analysis of these answers tell us that we should include again plot twists and cliffhangers. As well as including the use of a disturbing mood, realism and a sense of mystery. Also as fast paced was an answer we should include some sort of pursuit in our feature possibly including CCTV.

5. Which of these is of your main interests in a thriller film?

Technology

100.0%5

Special effects

0%

Online

0%

These answers tell us that we must include a feature of technology as technology gathered 100% of the main interests we should include. Also this tells us that we should include something to do with conspiracy as this shows that we must include technology. Therefore we should look at the Matrix and how technology is used. 

Twists and Turns

Most good thrillers use twists and turns to attempt to draw the audience into a false sense of security where they should be led on an adventurous journey, unsure of what lies ahead. An excellent way to maintain the suspense and tension is to have scenes which build up to a certain point where the audience think they know exactly what to expect and to then dramatically change the scene to and unforeseen outcome

A great thriller film which involves twists and turns is the film, 'Alien'.
Alien is about when a mining ship lands on a planet investigating a suspected SOS signal with the entire crew completely unaware of the dangers which lie ahead. The whole film is an adventurous journey with the crew trying to stop this alien life form before it’s too late.

Christian Bale

Christian Bale was brilliant as Batman in Dark Knight, even though it was Heath Ledger who won all the accolades. He was good because he seemed to be holding in the anger of Batman – if he had let his rage out, he would have been worse than the criminals he was chasing.

He was also scary in American Psycho as an average banker who hides another persona – that of a murderous serial killer.

Importance of Pace

I’m sure that everyone has previously watched a thriller in the past and has got very bored after the first 40 minutes. When one makes a thriller film or video, they must make sure that it is fast paced throughout in order to make it work. Usually, the beginning of a thriller wastes no time in putting the main character (the protagonist) in a dilemma from the very start which enables the audience to relate to their situation immediately.

A film i can relate to this with is 'The Dark Knight'.
From the very beginning of this film, Batman is faced with an extremely dangerous villain which he tries to stop thorough the whole movie. Another villain who also introduced towards the end of the movie is Two-Face. Both of these factors keeps the audience entranced with the film and stops them losing interest at all.

The Thriller Genre

Thrillers, in the main, take place in ordinary places. They tend to use regular people as the hero, although often the lead character could be described as hard bitten, and could be a member of law enforcement. Action thrillers such as the Die Hard series and The Last Boy Scout have members, or ex-members of the police as their hero. They often contain chase scenes, mystery and important facts are hidden from the audience. Some have a psychological element; stalking kidnapping and torture would come into this and examples include Cape Fear and Dead Calm. However, all thrillers have suspense, atmosphere and a feeling of dread, which the audience feels through the use of imagery, music, lighting and acting.

There has been a recent turn from these types of thrillers into a more horror type. Films like The Last House on The Left, which is a thriller, could also be classed as a horror. There is a lot more gore and a much higher body count, and instead of the audience perhaps seeing the result of torture, they now see the torture itself. Audience viewing and likes have changed. I think our film should have more of an implied murder in it, and some gore should be seen, but not the actual murder itself.

Individual Film Thrillers Research

The Omen (2006) version

The Omen (also known as The Omen: 666) is a remake of Richard Donner's The Omen that was made in 1976. Directed by John Moore and written by David Seltzer, the film stars famous actors and actresses such as Liev Schreiber, Julia Stiles and Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick. It was released worldwide on June 6, 2006.

The Omen would have been produced to appeal to a niche audience like most thrillers. After looking at reviews and ratings on http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0466909/ratings, it is clear to conclude that mostly males watched the thriller.

This ratings report tells us many things, such as the majority of voters in this rating were males ages 18-29 as we would expect. However this does tell us many females watched the film and the majority of females were also aged 18-29. This implies that the main age group of the audience for the film was in the age group 18-29.

I also looked at the ratings and statistics on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dxEtoTXZE0 these statistics show that the main age group for the film was 18-34, which is in the same area of the ratings I found on www.imdb.com However in contrast, on the youtube ratings claim that the film was most popular with females aged 13-17.

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Questionaire

1. 

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Q1

1. What are your favourite thriller film?

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Q2

2. What do you enjoy about thriller films?

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Q3

3. What was the last thriller film you watched?

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Q4

4. What do you look for in a thriller film?

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Q5

5. Which of these is of your main interests in a thriller film?

Technology

Special effects

Online

Our thriller survey

Thriller survey:
This is a link to our survey, on surverymoney.com. This survey is to be used to show us what people want to see in a thriller film as well as telling us what interests they would like to see in our film.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/MySurvey_EditorFull.aspx?sm=iXA1Ad8Kro1CgEnY1zeAhqi5jkyn1mqOQvPWQbIbYAg%3d

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/N3JFXWW

We have also linked this survey to facebook so we can get a larger response to our survey. http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Iris-entertainment-Thriller-survey/176033019076079

Research on the film Eagle Eye

Eagle Eye research:
The storyline of the film includes Jerry and Rachel who are two strangers thrown together by a mysterious phone call from a woman they have never met. Threatening their lives and family, she pushes Jerry and Rachel into a series of increasingly dangerous situations, using the technology of everyday life to track and control their every move.This film was released in 2008 firstly in the USA on September the 16th and in the UK it was released a day later on the 17th.
This film is mostly viewed my males but is also viewed by females. This expands our theory that more males view thrillers films than females.