Q1: DRAFT

What is a Thriller film?

A thriller film is made up of moving images, which has been made to create tension, excitement and suspense within the audience. Many soundtracks and music can depict the mood and setting of the film, giving an overall feel to the film. There are many sub genres to thriller films; here are some examples:

·      Crime – This is a film that fits crime into the plot; an example would be the Bourne Series.

·      Western – This has a western theme to the film, No Country for Old Men would fit into this sub genre.

·      Action – This shows fighting/action between characters in the film.

·      Spy – This incorporates some sort of spy narrative into the film, like James Bond.

·      Eco-thriller – An eco-thriller film would have some sort of natural disaster in the film, like San Andreas

·      Period – This is the era the film is set in, so Legend would fit into this since it portrays gangsters taking over London.

·      Romantic – This sub genre depicts two characters that share a mutual love interest within the film.

·      Mystery – A mystery thriller would create an atmosphere of confusion within the audience, therefore they will not know what will happen next.

Our group decided that our final product would fit under the spy and action sub genres. It fits under the spy sub genre since it features two characters as spies, who are going to seek out their target. This would create mystery within the audience because they cannot decide whether the two characters are against or with each other. It also fits under the action sub genre because the two characters both are seen with weapons, making it obvious that there is going to be some sort of fight linked with danger.

We wanted to create many enigmas within our product so the audience have many questions and are eager to find out what is next. We could do this by following thriller conventions, which can be shown by the narrative, camera work, mise-en-scene, sound and editing.

Many thrillers use lighting to create very sinister and dark atmospheres. Low-key lighting is very popular within thrillers since it can emphasise suspense and tension. Colour is also a key convention to thrillers. This is because humans associate their thoughts and emotions through colour, for example red can be associated with blood, linking with death.

The use of costumes is very important within thriller films.  This is because they should be life-like, as if the audience knows that character. The more life-like a characters costume is, the better that character is for that specific storyline and role. In typical thriller films, the antagonist would be seen wearing dark clothes, to capture the evilness and mystery in them. Whereas, the protagonist would be seen wearing dirty clothes with bloodstains on them, giving the audience a sense of how vulnerable and weak they are. This also connotes with the idea that they won’t be able to fight back, creating tension and suspense quite easily.

Setting is the location where the scene has taken place. Some examples of typical thriller settings would be haunted houses, mental institutions, urban cities, dark alleys and mystical woods. Not many vibrant colours would be used during a thriller film, mainly just shades of black and grey. This shows how plain some of the characters lives are, contrasting totally against the villains and antagonists as they create a dark, fearful yet exciting atmosphere.

Props are the moveable objects used by characters on the set of the film. These props can sometimes depict the narrative to the audience and show the identities of characters. Many props tend to be used throughout thriller films, such as phones or police vehicles, yet the most popular props tend to be linked with the theme of violence overall. This is portrayed by showing knifes, guns, weaponry and fake blood, giving off a sense of death and pain.

A real thriller film that really inspired us with our product was Mr. and Mrs. Smith. This is because we wanted to have two characters with roles as spies for the opening sequence, and Mr. and Mrs. Smith gave us the ideas we needed to out go the project. Brad Pitt can be seen wearing a sharp, black suit holding a gun as a prop, indicating status and power, whereas Angelina Jolie is seen wearing a long black dress with a gun in its holster, showing wealth. These characters are both very a like in this film; yet turn against each other when they find out their other half is a spy.

 The first shot here is taken from our production. It shows George holding a gun as a prop, putting it behind him. This can create tension within the audience because they might be confused as to why he has the weapon. The second shot is taken from Mr. and Mrs. Smith, showing Brad Pitt holding a pistol too. Both of these characters are wearing suits and have weapons, depicting the action sub genre.

Sound in thrillers is a very key aspect when it comes to building suspension and tension. It sometimes can consist mainly of quiet sounds, which gradually build suspense and mystery throughout the film, whereas loud and fast paced sounds can quickly break this and create cliffhangers amongst the audience.  Here are some examples of conventional sounds in thriller films:

·      Non-Diegetic – this includes soundtracks, music and SFX that is edited into the film.

·      Diegetic – this is the ‘real’ sound in the film, such as dogs barking, footsteps or howling wind.

·      Synchronous – this is the music you would expect to hear in a thriller film. For example, out of tune pianos and very high-pitched string instruments.

·      Asynchronous – this is when the music doesn’t go with the thriller film at all. An example would follow western music for a murder scene.