Thriller Sub-Genres

 Thriller Sub-Genres 

A thriller film is a broad genre that involves excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element is particularly exploited in this genre. Thrillers also have many subgenres that are created by bringing aspects of other genres into the film, here are some examples:

Action Thrillers

Give a thrillers defining elements a back seat and focus on the action and you get an action thriller.

Low Key Lighting- makes the audience feel more on the edge in the way that it sets the scene.

Fast Paced Editing- it can make the audience become more wary of some of the characters.

Enigma- this intrigues the audience and makes them want to watch on. 

Close Up On Characters Facial Expressions- gives the audience a better perspective on the characters and how the feel about there situation this helps them to emphasise towards that character.

Fast Paced Music- this exaggerates and dramatizes the scene and can establish that a big scene is about to happen.

Examples

The Dark Knight

In this movie the lighting is quite dark creating a good sense of evil and also can draw us in as it creates a secretive effect as well. There are quite allot of explosions and fight scenes which also add to the action. Some of the main themes are duty, justice and judgement, and defeat which all show that is an action thriller. 


Robo Cop

In this movie there are a lot of fight scenes which is one of the main indicators that it is an action thriller. The theme song also gives a clear lead to it being a action thriller as it has a heroic feel to it and it also builds which adds tension.



Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol 

This movie has quite a few good scenes that help to build tension. It also has good fight scenes and chase scenes, both cars/motorbikes and on foot which add to the action. The theme

song in this movie is in the opening title sequence where it follows a fuse to a bomb which explodes it slowly builds as it gets closer. The fuse go through small scenes that give us sneak peaks of what's to come and ultimately it draws us in as we want to see what they lead to.

Psychological Thrillers 

In a psychological thriller a mental conflict usually threatens the sanity of the protagonist. They must use mental prowess to overcome there opponent.

Themes:

Mind-revealing of inner conflict and the characters emotional state.

Identity-characters often doubt who they are so set out to discover themselves.

Perception-a characters perspective of the world is often different to others.

Death-characters often have a fear or fascination with death.

Techniques and Conventions:

-mirrors are used to show a characters reflection of there inner self.

-antagonist is usually in black to represent evil, protagonist is usually in white to represent good.

-dark lighting is used to create suspicion and tension.

-high tension music, silence or eerie sounds are used to 

make the audience tense.

-mid shots and close ups are used to emphasise a characters emotions.

-flashbacks are used to show a characters past so we can understand what led them to become who they are.

Examples

Shutter island

In this movie the main character is trying to solve a mystery about a mental lady that has escaped her room in a mental hospital whilst confronting his own mental fears. There are a lot of shadows for creating tension and also music that is used to scare the audience.

Eco-thriller

The protagonist must stop a threat to the environment that could have consequences for society.

Themes:

Man vs Nature

Disaster-destruction of something e.g. city

Techniques and Conventions

-Quick shots can show represent some ones quick thoughts in a dangerous situation.

Examples

San Andreas

                                         

In this movie a massive earthquake threatens the society in and around California. It is up to the main character to help to save and protect the people as well as himself from its effects. It has quite a fast pace and fast shot to emphasis how fast everything is happening. There is destruction to many buildings and structures.

Religious Thrillers

Use they use history and myths of religion. Usually an artefact is wanted.

Themes:

-Supernatural forces

-Exorcisms

-Nuns/Priests

-Religious props/buildings

Techniques and Conventions

Jump scares-used to thrill and entertain the audience by frightening them in a way that also intrigues them.

Examples

The DaVinci Code

Preliminary Task 1 (planning)

Priliminary Task 1 

The Interrogation 

Planning

Vernon and I have decided to make our short film about a reporter called Miss Donovan who has been taken to be interrogated by a man called Mr Pink.

Script

Vernon was in charge of writing the script. He had to rewrite it a few times as we decided to make it shorter to fit it into the time allotted. Here is the final copy.

Storyboard 

I was incharge of drawing up the storyboard although vernon also had a say in what we put in it. We have change it by taking some of the shots out as it was taking us to much time.

 

Shot List

I was also incharge of the shot list. In it I have put how long it will take to film each shot, which characters are in the shot, and what props are used in each shot.

Props

-Gun: the gun is a key convention in a thriller film. It is used in our short film only by the head of the  bad guys, Mr Pink, this gives him more control and power over Miss Donovan and the                  Bodyguard. 

-Bag: the bag is used in this film to cover Miss Donovans face. It disorientates her so that she does    not Know what way they are going or where she is when it is taken off. 

-Cups: the cups sit evenly spaced in the centre of the table thus showing Mr Pinks OCD side. It is    also used to show the force at which he hits the table as some of the water spills over the side, this is emphasised when Mr pink wipes up the spilt water.

-Chairs: we have to chairs one on either side of the table. We gave Mr Pink a big pillowed office    chair this represents him as being the big boss. We gave Miss Donovan a more simple chair to represent her treatment as the person being interrogated.

Costumes 

-Miss Donovan: she wears a wight t-shirt with a reporter style outfit. The white T-shirt represents her being on the good side as white is often assumed as being good. The reporter represents how she has useful information as she is a spy.

-Mr Pink: he wears black suit clothes and a black blazer with a pink hankercheif in the blazer pocket. he is wearing black to represent that he is from the bad side. The pink hanker cheif    represents who he is (Mr Pink). 

-Bodyguard: he wears plain black clothes but has a yellow hankercheif. The black represents that he is from the bad side and the yellow represents who he is.

Location

We chose to use the salvation room at church as it is dark when the lights are turned off and it also has a warehouse kind of look to it.It is also on sight so easy to get to and transport the equipment to. We will use the hallway outside it as it also has a warehouse styled look to it.

Opening Sequences

Opening Sequences

There are a few purposes of an opening sequences one of them being to list the most important members of the production and also the key creative rolls in the film. Another purpose is to do an establishing shot to set the scene by showing where it is based and what is going on, this also gives the audience a good idea of where they are in the film world. In a thriller it may also be used to set a certain atmosphere, it may be intense but it could also seem innocent.

A title sequence is kind of like an opening sequence except that the opening credits are seperated from the main action of the film, therefore it doesn't set the scene but it could set an atmosphere depending on the music or sounds that are played in the background.
There are also techniques that can be employed in opening sequences. Of course there is the setting of the scene and the atmosphere from the shots and the sound. But there is also doing abstract openings which iswhen the opening credits give away very little about where the setting is but could give clues about the genre or the tone of the film.

Thriller Opening Sequence 

An example of a modern thriller with a good opening sequence is the 2014 film Captain America The Winter Soldier 
                                         

This opening sequence is has an abstract opening as it doesn't really reveal the setting, except for a black and white silhouette of the city's do also the aeroplanes that are also shown as silhouettes. But it does set the atmosphere with quite a heroic sound track that gives us a sense that there will be some action in the film. They use a black and white colour scheme with pops of red which gives great impacting moments, it could also represent the evil side as it features on the emblem of the antagonist and also when the silhouette of Captain America is shown doing action shots and breaking through what looks like a pillar. It also gives hints of characters and what the do when they show the silhouettes of the different people.

Hitchcock Opening Sequence

An example of a Hitchcock film  with a good opening sequence is 1954 film Dial 'M' For Murders

                                                                                       

In this opening sequence it zooms up to a phone with a bright red M in one of the dialling numbers the red could represent blood as you are supposed to dial M for murder. The music at the beginning is quite loud and the main instrument is a rising drum so this could represent a building of tension. But it then changes into a contrasting flowing and quite light song this could give a sense of innocence for the victims of the murders. This opening sequence is also an abstract opening as it doesn't reveal any setting, but it does set the tone and it also shows a key element of the film which is the phone.

Teen Dramas

Teen Dramas                               

Relevance of Teen Dramas to Our Lives                                                                                                                                                               

I chose to base answer off of the Disney teen drama Liv and Maddie:Triangle a Rooney (10:18-15:08)            

https://youtu.be/w5JObZDn0us

   In these two scenes Liv stumbles into the music room at her school where her crush, Holden, is practicing a song. The problem is that he is also dating one of her good friends, Andy. They sing a song (True Love) and are about to kiss when there friends,Andy and Willow, walk in. They try to hide what is happening but Willow saw what was happening. They hide it from Andy but Willow is angry and takes Liv to her twin sister, Maddie, where they talk about it and Liv admits the feelings she has for Holden.
   About 40% of this video shows serious social issues relating to teenagers (true love vs fake love, hiding secrets from good friends). 20% shows everyday aspects of teenage life (going to school, talking to friends, watching TV). And 40% shows teenage relationships (love interest, romantic couples, supportive friendships, family).

   These scenes could be relevant to our lives as we could be hiding secrets from our friends as not to hurt them. We should also surround ourselves with friends and family that will support and help us through our struggles which can sometimes be a dif. Romantic love is also a big thing of this generation although it is not always portrayed in a good way this is a good way of showing how it should be.

   Alough a lot of this is a good representation of everyday life we most probably don't break into a duet with our love interest we would usually just talk to them. And most of us probably don't have a friend as crazy as willow.