What is a Thriller?
A thriller is a genre of play, film
or novel with an exhilarating storyline. It takes the characters/audience on an
adventure and will generally involve death or an exploration into someone’s
death. A thriller, like many other films, will have a sub-genre. There are many
different sub-genres in the world of thrillers. They are the following:
My thriller is based on the
psychological but also the undertone of crime. I decided to use these because
they were the most effective for my storyline because original idea was for it
to be just a psychological thriller but then I thought of having another
sub-genre in the thriller so that I could add more layers and go more in depth
with the storyline. A psychological thriller consists of an in depth storyline
and having something/someone that scares them and makes the audience feel
uneasy when watching. It’s an effective sub-genre to use because it has
qualities that make the audience feel engrossed in the storyline and want to
watch more of the film. A crime thriller is something that you see a lot but
you never really see it mixed with another genre. A crime thriller has an in depth storyline
that makes it feel more exciting because it can have lots of different things
intertwined throughout making it more interesting and complex to watch. Having a psychological thriller made it
possible for me to make the storyline more complex and more exciting for the
audience because you can add different elements in the storyline that will make
the audience feel all different emotions. I asked people from the age of 18+
questions that were related to the sub-genre and what aspects of thrillers made
them more inclined to see them. I asked
them what things they wanted in a thriller and they wanted things like mystery,
suspense, tension and jump scares. I looked at the films that people watched in
general and they prefer thrillers that make you think about the characters and
the storyline but also have plot twists. Applying questions to the thriller makes the audience
think more about the storyline and I think that from the opening questions need
to be asked straight away and this meant that I would need to use this to make
it really effective. The questions they would be asking would be things like,
why is the girl there? What has Kieran got to do t-with the situation? Why is
he alone in a big house? What caused the Girl to be in the house? What is she?
The sub-genre of psychological and
crime thrillers are very in depth subjects on their own and I thought that I
would make for an interesting piece of film if I included both of the
sub-genres and intertwine them within each other to make it more of an
interesting storyline. I wanted to add in the psychological art of the thriller
throughout as that was a key factor of creating the tension between the
characters and the audience. From the crime genre it was more of the detective
side and Kieran trying to find out what happened to her and why she is still at
the house. I thought that this would be a good hybrid genre to use as it has a
lot of in depth plot twists and it will allow me to play about with the
storyline. I wanted to confuse the audience on who the villain, hero and victim
are. I wanted to do this so that I will deceive the audience into thinking that
they know each of the characters but then confuse them by adding in a plot
twist or opening up secrets that lead to the final answer which will answer the
questions of the characters and also answer the audience’s questions.
The camera shots that are used in
thrillers are uses to create a dramatic effect. The shots are designed to make
the audience see what the director wants them to see which means that it will
be easier when it comes up to doing the more dramatic moments because the
audience are unaware of what is going on within the world of the thriller. In
thrillers you need to use a variety of shots that will make the audience feel
more involved with the characters and the storyline. The most common shot
that’s used is a close up. A close up allows the audience to see the facial
expressions and their reactions. Another key shot that’s used a lot in
thrillers are long shots. This gives the audience a chance to see the back
ground imaging and also a characters positioning and framing in a shot. I used
a panning shot and tracking shots to make the audience feel like they are
moving with the actors and experiencing the events that are unfolding with the
characters. This meant that the audience would empathise with the characters
because they are in the middle of the tension too.
The conventions of a thriller
change depending on their sub-genre.
Shot types-
·
Close up- to emphasise someone’s features or an
object that plays a specific role in the shot. In my thriller I use this to
show my characters faces.
·
Long shot- shows a full figure of a person/ a
scenery-Used when Kieran is looking out of the door for the person who knocked
on it.
·
Extreme Close Up- put a lot of emphasis on
something/ someone’s facial features. Most commonly on eyes and hands to create
dramatic effect. Used when unlocking the door.
·
Extreme long shot- used to dramatize a shot.
Sets the scene but is mainly used in cities and overcrowded places to show the
sheer size of a certain environment.
·
Pan- camera sits I one place and spins.
Disorientates the audience and makes them feel uncomfortable.
·
Tracking- camera is moving with the action. This
is mainly used in chase sequences so that the audience can move with the
action/character. Used when Kieran is going down the stairs and the Girl is
following his movements.
Editing
The editing of all thriller films
needs to be very fast paced and use a lot of shots to create tension. Using
fast editing will help to make the film more dramatic and to make it effective,
you need to create higher dramatic moments.
An example of fast paced editing in is 28 Days Later where they are
doing the chase scene in the old house and they are cutting from one piece of
action to another. I have used this when Kieran is turning around and the shots
cut from him turning round to the Girl standing at the door. So you need to do
this so that those moments that will make the audience on edge throughout the
film. For example in the Woman In Black
had constant eerie moments and this was designed to make the audience feel
threatened by her presence and the editing is faster in areas for more dramatic
moments but then it slows down and this creates a much bigger dramatic effect
as it slowly starts to build up the tension and the audience start to
anticipate what is going to happen in the next shot and in some cases the
directors choose not to have anyone there so that they deliberately build up
the atmosphere and then let the audience relax for a while but they know that
that thought is always in the back of their mind. They have done this so that
the answer is planted there and it will constantly be there throughout the film
even if it’s not the peak of tension.
Mise-en-scene
Mise-en-scene again depends on what
your sub-genre is. My sub-genre is psychological so the audience would expect
to see:
·
Costume- dark clothing for the villainous
character, lighter tone clothing for the hero and completely different style,
shades and fit of clothing for the victim. However you could change aspects of
this to deceive the audience into thinking that they know the characters when
in fact they don’t. I have used dark costumes with the Girl as he needed to be
someone that could be hidden in the shadows and cold blend in with her
environments.
·
Set- you would expect to see a big, damp house
that has very dark undertones and has a lot of sharp edges. This creates darker
atmosphere and allows the director to work more with shadows and shapes because
you can conceal a character in them and make them look disorientated so that
the audience feel uncomfortable. I have not used this stereotype because I feel
that it would benefit from being different. I have used a smaller house however
it seems bigger because of the paint. It’s very light which gives the
appearance of a bigger house.
·
Props- You wouldn’t expect to see a lot of props
in psychological thrillers because they are playing tricks on the mind and it’s
something that you don’t need a lot of things like knives or guns for. However
this does depend on the sub-genre that you have chosen and also on the
storyline because it would not make sense if you were trying to produce a
psychological thriller but used all of the props, set and costume etc that
people would associate with an action or spy thriller. The only props that I
have used are an iPhone, iPad, knife, chopping board and keys. These are all
things that you would find in an everyday house and I wanted it to be like that
because it would feel more homely and more realistic.
·
Lighting is vital in a thriller because it can
be used to make shadows and shapes which can make the audience feel
uncomfortable because they are unsure of what is in the darkness and whether it
is a figure or just a shadow. This is what I wanted to create in my thriller,
not necessarily the use of shadows with deceiving people and making them
believe there is something there, but with things lurking in the shadows and
you can see this with the Girl sitting on the stairs. You can only just see her
and this was one of the reasons that I wanted her to wear all black; so that
she could blend into her surroundings and live in the shadows of the house.
Minimal lighting should be used so that the use of shadow is greater and more
intense. This also means that the director can position the actress within the
shadows in convenient places and times during the film. I have used minimal
lighting in my thriller so that the character of the Girl is hidden in the
shadows and so that you don’t see her face till the very end of the opening.
·
Actors are the most important thing about any
film, play or broadcast because they are the people who are bringing the life
to characters. They have a different effect on audiences because of the way
they look and act. They can have a general look of someone who could be quite
innocent or they could naturally look threatening. It does depend on their look
and this is why the casting is really important because if you get the casting
wrong then it can make the film go in a completely different direction. This
was why I had to choose my actors carefully as I wanted Kieran to look quite
manly to make him look like the hero and then the Girl to look villainous but
also innocent as this would have been explained throughout the course of the
film. I felt that Kieran was the right choice for the character because he had
an innocent look about him but he was also someone that could look like a hero
too. Jess was the right choice for the
Girl because she has a mysterious look about her that make you feel uneasy and
this is what I wanted to create whilst doing the shots with her in. Both of the actors also had to be quite slim
especially the Girl because she needed to look younger and audiences
stereotypically expect younger girls in history to be slim figured. Kieran
needed to be slightly muscular to make him look more over powering and manlier
so that he could look more like the dominant figure. Also Kieran needed to be relatively good
looking for the younger adults that come to see the film as the heroes are normally
looked at to be muscular and appealing to the eye and this was why I thought
that Kieran would be a good choice for my main man.
·
Sound is again a vital aspect to a thriller
because it is the sound that creates the mystery and allows the audience to
feel the suspense and tension in the film. The sound ties in all of the aspects
of a thriller because the sound works with the picture on screen and the sound
picks up at pinnacle moments to match the intensity of the film and the sounds
makes it more intense through little flickers of violins and percussion as well
as other string instruments. All thriller music in done in a minor key. This is
because it creates the deeper notes and creates the more threatening notes and
I found this whilst listening to soundtracks like “28 Days Later” and “Kill
Bill”. They both are very different types of music as one is on a piano and one
is a whistle. For “28 Days Later” they created the music on a piano and added the
effects later where as “Kill Bill” is done with just one sound scape.
Narrative
The narrative can
depend on the story line. You could set the beginning as a flash back or a
dream state and make something dramatic from that. That way the audience will
be asking questions from the very beginning and then throughout the film those
questions will be answered. Dual narratives will also be interesting because
you could see two different sides to the story and this also makes the audience
question what was going on to lead up to the events that the audience sees. The
narrative at the beginning of a thriller sets up the storyline for the rest of
the film. I needs to make the audience ask questions about the reasons why the
characters are there and what their motives are.The editing is important to
making it look dramatic and to build up the tension. You would create this by
making it very fast paced and cutting it to be very quick shots. For example
“28 Days Later” during the chase scenes in the house they use a lot of cut away
shots to make it look more dramatic and look more abstract as the people who are
infected run towards them and chase then around the house. It breaks the 180*
rule in a number of places as it makes it look more rustic like the concept of
the film. Again the use of sound makes the whole film fit together as it
creates the mood and the pace of the film. The music is very dramatic but
subtle at the same time. “28 Days Later”, “Woman in Black”, “V for Vendetta”
and “Kill Bill” were all films that inspired me to make my thriller. “28 Days
Later” inspired me because of the main character being trusted into a situation
and he’s not really sure why/ what is going on. Also I found the music really
interesting and I thought that it was really effective. “Woman in Black”
inspired me because of the setting and the storyline and how she wanted to be
reunited with her son. “V for Vendetta” was interesting for me because of the
flames and how “V” survived in a fire. And “Kill Bill” inspired the music
because I thought that the whistle was so simple but it really created the
atmosphere.
As I stated before the films that
influenced me to make my thriller were
V for Vendetta
Kill Bill
Woman in Black
28 Days Later
All of these films had elements
that make me inclined to use versions of these in my thriller. I found all of
these interesting to watch as they were very good thrillers and I made note of
the things that they had included for making them so good and mainly it was the
editing and the sounds. This made me think about my own thriller and what
elements I could incorporate into my own thriller.
V for Vendetta
The film “V for Vendetta” (based on
the novel by the same name) is about a futuristic Great Britain in a fascist
state. A freedom fighter “V” with the help of “Evey Hammond” uses terrorist
tactics to overpower the government and do the work that Guy Fawkes never did.
This sounded appealing to me and the scene that I took away from this was when
“V” was when he is walking out of a burning building before he called himself
“V”. This gave me the inspiration for
the burning paper for my titles as this was quite a dramatic moment in the
film. It was mainly the back ground that gave me the idea as I thought that it
looked like burning paper and I could use this to make my piece more dramatic
too. This film influenced me through the use of special effects. The scene in
particular that influenced me was the scene where V is walking out of the
burning building and parts of the building had been blown away. To me it looked
like burning paper.
Kill Bill
The film “Kill Bill” is about a
woman’s revenge after the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad killed her fiancée,
her friends, his relatives and her baby. The film begins as she wakes from a
coma and she is set out to “Kill Bill” and by doing this she needs to kill very
member of the DVAP to get to Bill. The reason that I watched this film was
mainly for the music as I found it effective and subtle. Then by watching the
rest of it I realised that it was more of a gory film rather than a
thriller. However I used the inspiration
for the music.
Woman in Black
The film “Woman in Black” (based on
the novel) is about a man named Arthur Kipps goes to the remote village of
Cryphin Gifford to look at the documents of Eel Marsh House after a woman named
Mrs. Drablow passed away. He goes to the
house only to find that it is haunted by a woman dressed in black. She seeks
revenge for her lost son who drowned in the marsh and she prays on the young children
of the village. I used this story as one of the main features of my thriller
because when I watched it, it terrified me so I decided that I would use that
fear and try and convey that through my thriller. I thought that if I used my
own experiences then I would make it seem more believable to the people
watching it. I mainly used the plot line from this to influence my thriller
because I thought that it was really clever and I thought that I should do my
own version of the story.
28 Days Later
A laboratory with infected chimps
gets raided by animal welfare activists and the infected chimps attack the
welfare activists and thus the infection spread to the outside world. 28 days
later we meet the protagonist, Jim, who wakes up from a coma, finds that the
whole world has been infected and there are only a few of them who have not
been infected by the RAGE virus. I found this really interesting because when
you watch it you get a feeling of isolation. However it’s an oppressive feeling
because even though they were in an urban area they are still being isolated
because the outside world is trying to get in their hide out. The shot were Jim
is walking on the Westminster bridge and it is completely disserted creates a
contrast as we would expect to see it extremely busy as it is one of the busiest
bridges in London. I also found the music very intriguing too as the heart of
the tune was a piano and this made it more interesting and it had a mellower
tune to it however it was still very eerie. In a way it is like being in an old
house and an old piano in a room and you suddenly hear it playing even though
no one else is in the house.
The Tile
The inspiration to my thriller came
from the context of the film. I wanted this to represent the girl burning in a
house fire and so I thought that this would be an obvious choice for the title.
After watching “V for Vendetta”, the thing that stuck in my head the most was
the part in the film where “V” comes out of a burning building and you can see
parts of the building had caved in. To me, it looked like holes in a burning
piece of paper so I decided to use that as well as linking it to the context of
my thriller.
This is not a conventional thriller
opening and I wanted it to look old and like it was written a very long time
ago I decided to make it look like it was written by someone who was good at
calligraphy or was of a higher class than others at that time. I felt that this
was a good thing to use as it was different because it is not a stereotypical
convention that you see in a thriller.
Setting/location
The location of my thriller was at
my own house. I felt that I should do it there as it was in a sub-urban area
and it would make it less conventional as you wouldn’t stereotypically expect
to see it in a rural area and I wanted
to go away from the normal conventions of a psychological thriller as this
would make it more original and more interesting. It is like the Hitchcock film
“Psycho”. Its in an ordinary place but bad things happen there so you are
twisting the conventions around to make the audience feel invited and welcome
but then something horrific happens. Using this also means that it would appeal
to my target audience of people from 18+ because it’s a normal looking house
that looks quite homely and cared for. Event thought the house is quite light,
it’s still good for making shadows and shapes to create effect. This also meant
that it would look less like a haunted house that people would normally
associate with.
Costume and Props
The images of the characters that
you can see in these pictures are to only two people in my opening. I wanted
them to have a difference in the look of their clothing. As you can see the
image on the left is of the Girl. She is dressed all in black. I wanted her to
wear black because it would make her very dominant and more striking when the
audience see her due to her black outline. This would make her look more
threatening and more of a villainous character as she gives off a threatening
visage. The image on the right is Kieran. I wanted him to be ion a contrasting
colour to the Girl so that people could identify him as being the hero/victim.
The white represents that he is quite a pure character and is innocent. I
wanted to do this so that later on in the film I could deceive the audience
into thinking that they know the characters and think they have got the story
figured out when in fact they don’t. Kieran’s character is the
victim/protagonist. I wanted him to look
this way because he is someone who appears to be confident and I wanted to use
that against him and make him look almost like a child which is something that
you wouldn’t normally think of when you see someone like Kieran. The Girl is
the antagonist. I wanted to play with the conventions so this is why I decided
that the antagonist should be a female because that way the audience will get
confused on who is supposed to be the victim and the villain.
Camerawork
The most typical camera shots that
I have used are close ups, mid shots, longs shots and point of view shots. I
have mainly used close ups because I feel that they help to create the tension
and show the more important moments in the thriller. For example the close up
on Kieran’s face as he looks to the door when it knocks shows his reaction and
this give the audience an insight into what the character is thinking at that
point in time.
The most important long shot that I
have used is this one where Kieran is walking down the corridor to answer the
door. It shows the progression of the character and I have positioned the
camera so that you can’t see the door clearly which means that the audience
cannot see if there really is someone at the door or if he is imagining
it.
The point of view shot is important
in this scene as well because it shows how the character feels and allows the
audience to see things through the characters eyes. Using this also allows you
to build up the tension and suspense whilst he is walking down the corridor and
this means that you can let the audience get emotionally prepared to get scared
but then you see that nothing happens.
Also you have a direct view of the door and his means that you can see
if anything is outside and you can just slightly see the outline of a figure.
Again this makes the audience feel threatened and make them less inclined to
look away as they want to see what’s outside.
Editing
The editing for the film is key to
making it look dramatic. I have used a lot of cut away shots so that I could
get a range of shots in whilst keeping it relevant to the storyline. I have
also used a lot of fades to white because I feel that it makes the audience
feel like when there is a flash of light, the Girl will appear.
The editing also needed to be fast paced to make it look dramatic and also to make it flow better. If you had slow editing it wouldn’t create the same level of tension as it would if you had parts slow and parts fast. If it’s too fast then the audience won’t have time to process what is going on.
Narrative
The film is set in modern day to
allow the audience to connect with the character and establish their
relationship with both of them. I would then proceed into doing flashbacks to
show what happened in the past to lead up to this point. I would intertwine the
storylines and almost do a dual narrative to show the events leading up to the
opening of the thriller. The opening sets up the research into the Girls death and
this is where the crime element comes in and Kieran and his girlfriend
investigate what happened to her and why she is still there. It is a conventional opening for a thriller
because it makes the audience start to ask questions and wonder about the
characters.
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