Conventions are parts of films that you expect to see when watching them, these are important because they inform the audience of what they should come to expect and what to look out for. The main conventions of thriller films are low key lighting, chase scenes, hidden identity, point of view shots, close ups, a blonde female victim as well as diegetic and non-diegetic sound. Iconography is also used through props such as guns and knives. These conventions are all used to create suspense, tension and keep the audience on edge.
Low key lighting is used throughout this clip from 'What Lies Beneath', from beginning to end light is kept to a minimal which increases the suspense and tension as well as a fear of the unknown as the audience as they can't see exactly what is happening which adds an element of danger and build up to shock. It is conventional because the darkness hold mystery and spookiness and a fear of what cannot be seen which adds danger to the clip. There are several reaction shots in the clip that show what the characters are feeling, what situation they are in and how they are dealing with the situation. This creates a sense of urgency, chaos and uncertainty for the audience which keeps them on the edge of their seat throughout the clip and prepared to get a shock because they don't know what is going to happen next. This is conventional because it is effective at keeping the audience interested through suspense and terror. Non-diegetic eerie sounds are played once the woman appears, this adds emphasis through parallel sound to what is happening in the scene because of the eerie soundtrack, corresponding to the clip. The music adds tension and suspense, without it the clip would be boring and very uninteresting for the audience to watch as it wouldn't grip them at all. This is conventional to a thriller as the sound builds up the suspense as the repetitive noises make you feel and prepare for a shock. For my own thriller opening I will need to take into consideration all of the conventions associated with thriller films because I want to grip the audience and spark their interest as much as possible. I will be including non-diegetic sound because it is a key element in keeping the audience interested and creating suspense.
A narrative is any account of events that has been portrayed to a reader or audience. The purpose of a narrative is to engage the audience so that they have something to follow and don't get confused with the storyline. A narrative will consist of many elements which attract and keep the audience interested such as a main character who they will look out for and generally support and a villain who they will be against and fear their actions. My narrative idea: A young blonde female wakes up in a basement and sees the door open and she walks upstairs, while exploring the house that she has never seen before a series of different angles and camera movements are used to create suspense and fear. She hears more and more eerie, strange noises around the house, she tries to exit through the front door but it is locked. As she looks around for another way out she walks into a room to find a man wearing a hoodie and holding a knife sitting on the bed, without saying anything the man stands up and begins to walk towards her, she turns round to run away and in the chaos while suspenseful music is playing, she runs into a room and slams the door. The screen goes black and all sound stops. Advantages:
A conventional female victim
There is a hidden identity
Low key lighting can be incorporated
Iconography - knife
Disadvantages:
Does not closely associate itself with any theories
No audience-character relationship is built
Dan's Narrative idea:
My narrative will start off in an empty forest at night. A young female will be walking home from a night out with her friends, she will then feel as if she is being followed by someone. Tense music will then be played to create suspense. After attempting to reassure herself that no one is following her she hurries on home, at this moment she hears a creepy laugh come from the darkness, she then begins to hurry home even faster until she hears footsteps behind her. (The camera will go into handheld POV mode as she attempts to escape.)
Advantages:
Has a female victim.
Low key lighting can be portrayed.
The antagonist is a clown so hidden identity is used.
Disadvantages:
No ending.
May be a bit short.
Joe's narrative:
Young boy (12 years) Boy walking through posh estate at night, face is shadowed and a series of high angle shots of him making his way down the path with eerie music playing as he goes. The opening credits flash in and out of the screen, moving and flashing slightly to imitate the impression of mystery, suspense and fear, much like the opening credits in Seven which is seen bellow. Out of nowhere several people wearing masks appear and begin to chase him. He is forced to run into the forest where he falls over and hears laughter come from several directions. He screams loud and then the screen blacks out.
The thriller genre usually include main aspects of tension and suspense and try to stimulate their audience to create anxiety and shock. They are also known to keep their audience in suspense by giving a cliff hanger, unaware of the fate to come.
Thriller films have been around since the 1920's. A man named Alfred Hitchcock made a thriller film named "The Lodger", this being his third silent film. His next thriller was a film called "Blackmail" this being his and Britain's first sound film. 1920/30s - Alfred Hitchcock helped promote the thriller genre in the UK, he done this by introducing it with his new silent film 'The Lodger', based on the Jack the Ripper events in London.
In 1929 Hitchcock released his next thriller film called 'Blackmail', this would be Britain's first sound film.
A film about the serial killer Peter Kurten and his life was made in 1931 called 'German film' by Fritz Lang.
Another crime thriller called 'Murders In The Zoo' by Edward Sutherland was produced in 1933 where Lionel Atwill played a murderous and jealous Zoologist.
From 1935 most of Hitchcock's outputs were thrillers, as he enjoyed scaring his audience; he would would even spy on his audience as they watched to witness their reaction. 1940s - Hitchcock continued to create thrillers through the 40's, 2 being 'Foreign Correspondent' and 'Rebecca', 'Rebecca' being an oscar-winner. The films include outstanding cinematography, as a film mad in 1940, there wasn't all the special technology thgat is used to create suspense and fear now. The shots used in the film grab the audiences attention quickly and has them on the edge of their seats thinking about what is oing to happen next. This is why Hitchcock is forever known as the master of suspense and one of the greatest film directors of all time.
In 1941 'Suspicion' was released, a film based on a housewife who was in danger of being murdered by her husband.
In 1943 Hitchcock released his personal favourite of all of his films, 'Shadow of a doubt' based on the real story of the famous 1920's serial killer, 'The Merry Widow Murderer'.
George Cukor released his psychological thriller 'Gaslight' in 1944, the film that was about a man who attempted to make his wife insane to get her inheritance.
'The spiral staircase' was released in 1946.
1950s - In the 50's Hitchcock created and released more classic thriller films such as 'Strangers on a train' in 1951
'Niagra' by Henry Hathaway was released in 1953, this started the career of famous Marilyn Monroe as she played a housewife who plotted to murder her husband.
In 1954 'Dial M for Murder' was released.
'Rear window', a film based on a paranoid man was convinced his neighbour was a killer was also released in 1954.
'Kiss me deadly' by Robert Aldrichs was released in 1955.
Hannibal made $58,003,121 and is therefore number one on the box office thriller films. On its opening weekend, this may be because audience's prefer to watch more iconic characters on screen, this is shown in Hannibal as the character Hannibal Lector features in a TV series and is in a iconic 1959 Hannibal film also, which has been remade. This may have drawn viewers from the original to this one as the original was a massive success and therefore automatically has a high expectations. The cell is 10th on the box office list and made $17,515,050 on its first day, the reason why the public may not have enjoyed this film as much as Hannibal is because, The Cell may not appeal to the target audience as much as they may not enjoy action thrillers as much as scary psychological thrillers such as hannibal. Also The Cell doesn't have many well known actors in unlike Hannibal which has Anthony Hopkins in who is a well respected actor and therefore any fans of his will appreciate and go and see films he is in, but with The Cell, there aren't any well known actors which may not appeal to audiences as much.
In this blog I will be analysing the different editing styles used in my chosen clip from a thriller film. Editing is very important in thriller films because it can be done in a variety of different ways to quickly change the emotion and pace of a scene. They are also used to create excitement, suspense and a relationship between the audience and the characters.
The clip above is from Scream 3 called 'The Cutting Room', it uses many different editing styles to try to develop a relationship between the characters and the audience, by doing this, the audience feels more sympathy towards the character and feel more involved with what is actually happening in the scene.
The first editing style we see in this clip is the timing of shots, during the fight/chase scene the shots were speeding up to create excitement, the shots also change rapidly from short top quick to build tension. The timing of shots speed up during the fight scene and slow down when she is trying to hide. The timing of shots are sped up and slowed down to change the pace of the scene, to create excitement.
A jump cut is also used when the knife is focused on, it lets the audience know something bad is going to happen as the knife indicates danger and the audience can feel more involved in the scene as they can expect something to happen in the scene and still keeps the suspense.
When we see the girl's facial expression a reaction shot is used, this is done to show to the audience how the character is feeling and the situation they are in, by doing this, the audience can then sympathise and share the character's feelings by putting themselves in that situation. This helps build a relationship between character and audience.
This clip has shown me a few ways to use different editing styles very effectively in my own thriller opening. I can implement a number of different editing styles to enhance my own opening to a thriller film by using them to create suspense, tension and build character - audience relationships.
Mise-en-scene is a french word used to communicate to the audience by visual information infront of the camera, that being absolutely everything that the audience can see within a scene, ranging from the characters clothing to the objects strategically placed in the background. The five elements that make up mise-en-scene are; the arrangment of scenery, setting and iconography in a shot, costumes, hair and makeup, facial expressions and body language, the positioning of lighting, characters and objects within the scene as well as colours used. Mise-en-scene helps the audience define the genre more clearly by using common conventions of a thriller in the minor details of a scene and to represent the place where the film is enacted.
I have chosen to analyse a clip from 'Saw'; this scene displays all the element of mise-en-scene to an uncertain audience at the beginning of the film and helps them define the genre much more easily with all the common conventions that are incorporated into the clip. The mise-en-scene in the bathroom clip is delievered to an uncertain audience who are unsure of what to expect from the very beginning of the film, they have no idea of how the people got there, why they are there, who put them there, how long they have been there and exactly where they actually are other than in a concealed room. This adds enigma and keeps the audience interested to find out all of those things.
Settings & Iconography
The opening of this clip starts in an secluded industrial bathroom that is clearly run-down and unused. This immediately shows the audience that this is not a good place to be and the dirt and blood covered walls show it to be incredibly hostile, and that someone has clearly also been kept captive here before, not taking into account the corpse located in the centre of the room between the two characters. All of this makes it clear to the audience that they should be expecting to watch a thriller film, this is apparent due to all the different conventions that have been maticulously incorporated into the scene. The choice of such a hostile environment automatically puts the audience's mindset into expecting some sort of violence in the film and which sets the tone of the rest of the film straight from the opening. Placing the gun in the corpse's hand in the centre of the room is a prime example of iconography, it also adds to the fact that because of its presence the audience automatically some sort of violence relating to the gun at some point throughout the film. This adds tension and suspense because the audience know it will happen but aren't sure of when and how.
Costumes, Hair & Makeup
The character's style of clothing tells us immediately that the film is modern, set in the present day. The state of their clothes is exactly what you expect, tattered, ripped, messy and dirty. This shows the audience there has been some sort of struggle to get them into their current position of being chained to pipes in a secluded, unknown location. Through this the audience are straight away informed that the characters are both in some sort of danger. The character's hair & makeup also tells the audience that the characters are being held against their will in this room, they look dirty and unhygienic, their hair is all over the place.
Facial Expressions & Body Language
The characters look very timid and very vulnerable because they clearly have nowhere to escape, by their facial expressions you can see that they are scared and confused as to why they are where they are and why there is a dead body in the middle of the room.
Positioning of Characters
The characters are positioned on opposite sides of the room, this shows that they don't know each other and may be against each other, they may also be on opposite sides so the person behind their kidnap has them exactly where he wants them and they cannot work together as well as being able to get messages to one and not the other, shown in the film.
Colour & Lighting
The colours in the film are kept very basic and dull, this shows that the situation is bleak and the characters are in danger. Some of the opening sequence uses low key lighting to represent the characters as vulnerable to the audience, the low key lighting is also conventional to thriller films as it builds tension, suspense and a fear of the unknown.
By analysing this clip I will be able to implement some of the features used into my own thriller trailer, this clip from Saw uses its own original ideas but still keeps in line with the conventions which is something I would like to replicate in my own trailer.
In Media Studies I have been set the task of creating my own thriller movie trailer, to do so I will need to analyse a variety of clips to get ideas since I do not have any of my own from my lack of experience with film-making and editing. I have seen a few good, stereotypical thriller clips as part of the class which use very good conventional material to get our own ideas but I need to research more thriller movie scenes myself to gain a variety of possible ideas to incorporate into my very own trailer. To make my own thriller movie trailer I will be looking at the cinematography, all aspects of mise-en-scene, the main conventions of a thriller film, the effects of different editing styles to enhance my own trailer as well as incorporating and showing my knowledge of how sound is used in thriller films through the use of diegetic and non-diegetic sound.
I would like to incorporate many different techniques I have seen in different films into my own trailer to create an original yet conventional piece. I will first need to find a place to film which has an eerie and even abandoned feel to it, such as the film 'Strangers' which is set around a cosy log cabin home which allows the audience to build a relationship with the characters through empathy which is essential to thriller films to make the audience feel much more involved. But the home is also in the middle of nowhere so it adds a secluded, eerie undertone to the film where they are far away from help.
Another film that involves a secluded feel is 'Saw V' which features a group of characters trapped in a run-down old building which is filled with diabolical and ingenius traps to test them to their ability to sacrifice others and show how much they value their life. This is very conventional because throughout the film series there is a huge plot involving a hidden indentity and who is behind it all which is a very clean, effective yet simple way of creating suspense by using a technique which is conventional to thrillers.
I will most definitely be using low-key lighting to some extent in my trailer, it is used in the majority, if not all thriller films to evoke a sense of a fear of the unknown and what may lurk in the darkness and is an incredibly effective way of creating tension and suspense.
Camera angles are a huge thing to take into consideration because you can sub-consciously tell the audience something about a character by a simple positioning of the camera. For example a high angle looking down on someone will show that person to be in a vulnerable position and make them out to be a victim. Handheld camera movement is a very good one to use because the jerky, uneasy motion made by handheld camera movement creates suspense and a feeling of that something is about to happen as well as a sense of chaos and urgency. Shot speeds can also be used, for example in a chase scene the speed of shot changes can speed up to create suspense of what is going to happen to any characters involved.
