The thriller genre is a genre in which is in books and films,
they normally revolve and around crime or espionage. There are many sub genres
for thrillers such as:
The subgenre that my group and I chose was mystery and crime;
we found out that mystery thrillers create a lot of questions and suspense. We
did a lot of research before we decide what subgenre we were going to do. We
did this by mainly by looking on the internet to see which thriller and their
subgenre got the best reviews and them we watch a few to gain the knowledge of
what we wanted to do and in the end we decided on mystery. We also did some Vox
Pops to find out what people aged between 15 and 40 liked. We asked them the
question “what is your favourite thriller and why?” from this piece of research
we found out that the target audience enjoy the film Pyscho because “it really
sets the benchmark for the thriller genre”, we took this into account before we
started filming. We also found out that people like to have a likeable
character in the film some on they can relate too. This genre we chose gave us
many options and it would be easy to follow the general thriller conventions.
There are so many different shots and positioning of shots
used in thriller films. Most of the time thrillers use close ups to grab the
audience’s attention, show significant props and to show a person’s facial
expression, this type of shot was used a lot in our production. We followed the
conventions, one of them was the speed of the shots, in the thriller genre uses
this to keep the audience’s attention. Settings of thrillers vary, but for the
subgenre of mystery or crime the locations are genuinely “out of the way” or
even some times unknown, for example the opening sequence of Seven is all close
ups and is in the dark, another film is Reservoir dogs, its set in a ware house
where people wouldn’t look. We wanted to follow this convention so that it
would make our work look more professional. We filmed near an old bridge and
woods to give a sense of mystery and suspense. When it comes to the actors we challenged
the conventions. We didn’t have to worry too much about the conventions of the
protagonist and antagonist because you don’t get to see them fully, only the
body very fair away of just their feet up close.
Our production was heavily prop based, and the realism of the
props were key to making the production look professional. We had a shot of the
antagonist loading the gun magazine with bullets; this suggested to the
audience that he was getting ready to kill someone. Another prop we used was
the newspaper clippings with the words “I have nightmares all the time”, this
implies that something traumatic has happened prior to the film or it is
foreshadowing. Another prop we used was hanging rope from a tree; it gave a very
eerie effect to the production, creating suspense. We made the titles on
Photoshop and imported them on to our editing software, we made the typography
look scratched and ruffed up around the edges, so it linked to the mystery and
crime subgenres.
The soundtrack used in our thriller product is called Candles
by Natalie Lungley, it is available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFrljyqU6i0&index=10&list=FLblZDoCSBGmemF1AG5EudcA
This track is mainly acoustic guitar with singing, which had
a slow tempo, this added to the suspension. Its lyrics also worked well with
the subgenre we had chosen. We had watched many thrillers during our research
and action/ horror thrillers hand more of an upbeat soundtrack for example
walking dead and training day. Whereas we challenged the conventions because we
wanted something slower to create more suspense, but we did like the strings
used in the walking dead opening, so we wanted to find something which combined
the two. In the end the soundtrack we used was prefect for our opening.
When discussing the ideas for the narrative for my groups
production there were many good and not so good ideas. We wanted the film to
draw people in and get hooked by the film. Finally we went for the narrative of
two people on the run for being framed for multiple murders and they are trying
to solve the mystery of the murders and who farmed them. We filmed significant
props so the opening wouldn’t make sense until you finished the film, like the
film Seven, this created mystery and makes you want to finish the film. Our
clip is only about 1 minute 20 seconds and we obviously didn’t want to give
away the film at all, we did this very well by only showing key props and not
actual key events from the film.
When we carried out our research we found out the thriller
had a lot of conventions and we need to use quite a few to create a
professional and effective opening title sequence. Like I said before it was
key that we didn’t give much away so early on. Just like seven my production
keeps the audience in the unknown, keeping the audience keen on watching the
film.
In many thriller openings, straight cuts are used. This is
common because it keeps the pace of the clips at a steady or it can be used to
make the clip fast paced to create a dramatic effect. We also used flashes of
black to spilt up the shots and create a bit of speed at times, just so that
the audience doesn’t get bored. We originally tried to edit the whole
production so that it was fast paced but it just didn’t work, so we challenged
conventions and made some of it fast and some of it slow. This works very well
when creating suspension and drama.
Sound and a soundtrack is very key to the thriller genre. We
removed all of the diegetic sound from our production and just added a
non-diegetic sound song. We did this because we liked the walking dead opening
and its opening only has music and no sound effects. We think it worked very
well. Because the string instruments are very good at creating drama and making
the audience felt on edge.
The two key thriller films that inspired and helped me and my
group were:
The walking dead
Seven
We followed many conventions used in these two thrillers.
Just like Seven our thriller uses mainly close ups to show significant props
but still make sure that the audience doesn’t know too much. The also like the
editing used in the two thrillers, how they are mainly straight cuts but are
cut at a faster pace. This creates tension because the audience feels like they
are a part of the film and aren’t always sure what is going on. The thriller
genre likes to use confusion.
We have quite a few different shot types in our production, but mainly it
is close ups and extreme close ups. The shot list I created show what shot type
is and what is happening in each shot, they range from one extreme long shot to
extreme close ups. We followed the typical thriller convention of not having
many extreme long shots, but we did have 95% of the production was close up.
Normally thriller films may have a male voice over, but we decided we didn’t
want one because it wouldn’t fit with the subgenre of mystery because the voice
over would explain things. The sound we used was mainly acoustic guitar typical
of crime thrillers.
The setting we used to film followed thriller conventions, as
it was at secluded location and out of the way. Compared to the two thrillers
we looked at, it was similar to the walking dead, for example set in the
country side or woods, but then again the walking dead is sometimes set in a
city. But compare it to the film Seven it is very different, it is set in doors
in an unknown location. The location we used added to the suspense of the film.
The costumes and props we used are very typical of the
thriller genre. In one of the shots an actor is wearing a red hoodie in the
shot of the knife, which symbolises danger or blood. The costumes aren’t seen
fully, you one catch glimpse like one of the actors feet and the close up of another
actors tie. The tie is also red which connotes danger and the shoes are black,
which suggest death. But the costumes themselves are very typical of everyday
life, so that the audience can relate to them.
The shot that is show on the right has a good usage of props,
even though our production is just mainly props. It shows two gun magazines and
a bullet casing, this implies that a murder has been committed and someone has
been killed. The ground also is good for this shot because it looks like it is
at a secluded location, so that the really murderer doesn’t drew attention to
him or herself.
This next shot shows the antagonist putting leather gloves
on, this suggests to the audience that this is the killer because he doesn’t
want his finger prints at the crime scene. But this shot also leaves the
audience in the unknown and they want to find out who it is. Alos the black of
the gloves and the coat connote death. This is key to use colour in opening so
that the conventions of the thriller genre are followed.
This shot is typical of the crime subgenre, it shows you how
is wanted. Typically in a crime thriller the antagonist is “wanted” but in this
film it challenges convention and shows the protagonist as wanted instead. This
is our first glimpse of a character and the audience begin to wonder who he is,
but they will find out later in the film. The positioning of this piece of
paper may imply that someone may have dropped it, like the protagonist saw it
and ran.
Nearly each shot has a name of an actor in the film; they are
made up of course, except the executive producer names. The names appear in one
of the four corners of the screen and the typography is very typical of the
crime subgenre. We decided to follow this convention because if we tried
something like, printing out the titles and filming them, we weren’t sure how
good that would look. But we did create our own typography on Photoshop were as
some thrillers these days used standard fonts to make the text more visible.
Our typography worked very well with our production.
This shot is very good in my opinion. We set it up so the
audience feels like they are in the shot. We had the camera focused on a twig
on a branch, at the bottom of a hill in the woods. And at the top we had the
antagonist dressed in full black to look eerie and had him stand at the top of
the hill. The angle of the shot and the height of the antagonist suggest that
he has more power than the protagonist and the audience. The shot also presents
the location as very isolated from the rest of the world, this suggest that
there isn’t anything to save the protagonist.
The three shots shown here used continuity very well. The
first two shots are of the protagonist’s feet, same shoes and trousers, no
errors there, also the second shot is straight after the first shot, so that no
confusion is create here. But when the production was presented the audience
believed that the third shot shown here was a continuity error because it was
another pair of feet or different clothing, but in actual fact this wasn’t the
protagonist, this time it was the antagonist who was walking. So if I film it
again I would maybe make it clearer that it was the antagonist by adding a
weapon or something significant. But all in all the continuity is 100% correct.
The title of our thriller film is a word that comes up in
many thriller films and it conventional of a crime or action thriller. The name
is giving the audience a clear idea what the film is going to be about. This is
similar to The walking dead, because it sums up what is going to happen during
the film, whereas Seven doesn’t give any indication what the film is about,
before you watch the film. When the audience what the opening sequence they
will be left in the dark with a lot of question, just like the Seven opening.
The sequence we have produced clear shows the crime subgenre and that they are
being “Hunted” for the crimes they didn’t commit as the title suggests. The
titles typography shows that the film is about desperate times, because it’s
all ruffed up like the characters on the will be in the film.
Finally, the title has been presented near the centre of the
screen, but a bit offset, so the fire is visible, this connotes the final part
of the film, “it all goes up in flames”. I wish I had put it more in the middle
to follow the typical thriller convention, like the walking dead to grab the
audience’s attention more. But Seven had its title at the top of the screen,
which is usually of thriller films. It also adds its own uniqueness to the
film.
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