Narrative
Thriller films are normally shown from two character points of view. The first being that of the protagonist, which involves the audience more in events and creates empathy for the character. Or the narrative is occasionally told from the view of the villain, which can lead to empathy for the villain also at their twisted understanding or perhaps disturbing past that has led to the present, although it can also create a sense of guilt. Lastly thought the narrative can also be told from the point of view of an onlooker, detaching the audience from events so they perhaps are more observant.
Events in the narrative enable the film to progress, and allow the audience to second guess what will happen next. In many films this will be wrong so adds to suspense. The dialogue in thrillers never contains a complete explanation of events or plot, to give it pace, and maintain the mystery, which is essential in building up suspense. I think narrative in a thriller needs to be subtly mysterious but confident enough to tell the audience part of the thriller.
Characters
Mise-en-scene: Commonly characters appear smartly and well dressed with dark colours in spy based thrillers e.g.: James Bond. However dress codes differ depending on the context of the plot, for example in Running scared, the protagonist Joey Gazelle is not smartly dressed, but is casually dressed, in non expensive clothing, this makes Gazelle look unprofessional. Similar to dress codes for an action thriller like Die Hard for which Bruce Willis wears casual, masculine clothing, which helps empower his characters appearance. Gangster thrillers almost always have sharp, smart suits. Where as dress codes for Slasher thrillers especially for female characters is sexy, or revealing. For males they represent when wearing suits a sense of masculinity and dominance.
Character Parts: Often in thriller films, there is one character that plays the role of a helpless innocent female in need of rescue. On the other hand there is also a male who helps the female (hero). The female however becomes brave when her help is needed and often aids or saves the male hero/protagonist? There is therefore normally a male hero who battles the injustice and ultimately aims to defeat the residing evil of the situation to allow good to prosper. The residing evil in thriller films can be a vast majority of characters from a monster to a twisted boy next door. There is however some common characteristics which include solitariness, revenge, anger, or a skewed view on events, as well as distorted social skills and understanding.
Iconography
Setting: Can be urban, isolated suburban settings, cities or quiet country villages.
Mise-en-scene: Normally dim lighting hiding parts to a character, large threatening weapons for props e.g. large knives, guns etc (This is quite clearly for a stereotypical thriller because this will not always be the case). Camera shots are normally point of view shots, frames within frames, or close ups this is for the audience to understand the perspective of the perpetrator. Often there is also a lot of camera movement; the reason for a lot of camera movement is so that viewers do not fully understand what may be happening in a scene. Colours are also used to signify different emotions like red connotes blood or danger or passion, blue/black; cold, mystery or death.
Themes
Themes are commonly based around society’s current fears and worries. They may be isolation, entrapment, murder, pain or terrorism. You may also normally find that in thrillers, conspiracies are often told of or based on. This is due to a sense of familiarity to the audience this may lead to a subconscious form of security that leads to confusion if something irregular occurs within the story or sequence which in turn creates long term tension/suspense over the film.
The text above shows the typical conventions of a thriller. This can be from sound to camera shots. Themes found in sound are often fast tempo set pieces that do not linger. However this can change and lower toned pieces can be set with little crescendo’s to imitate a lingering effect for sinister atmosphere. Themes found in editing are often cut short that match with the music or as I have just explained can fade out like the lingering of music with slight crescendo’s; for example the start of shutter island uses this technique for an effect of eeriness. I have put this in not only to inform the reader but to also link how my media project used and developed the same conventions a professional thriller would have in today’s film industry. From this we can now move on and talk about how we went about using these conventions and why it was so important to incorporate them into our media production. This “wordle” gives a brief insight to what thriller may contain.
I think our product challenges the conventions of other famous media productions through sound and camera shots. Firstly; sound. One of the most crucial elements in film making/editing, personally, is sound. I think the right atmosphere created by sound can either make or break a movie to quote our American movie loving friends. Sound and music has been around for a long time to say the least, but as music has developed through the ages it has almost become a science to movie makers and editors around the world. What key to set it in; How many ensembles; what instruments should partake in the piece full stop. I think with sound I’ll start with what key can create what mood. This table explains the impressions key sets upon the audience:
Key | Impersonation the key may represent |
C Major | Completely pure. Its character is: innocence, simplicity |
C Minor | Declaration of love and at the same time the lament of unhappy love |
D♯ Minor | Feelings of the anxiety of the soul's deepest distress. |
Eb Major | The key of love, of devotion. |
E Major | Noisy shouts of joy, laughing pleasure. |
F Major | Complaisance & calm. |
F Minor | Deep depression, funereal lament. |
G Major | Everything rustic, idyllic and lyrical. |
G Minor | Discontent, uneasiness. |
The table may show more than needed for keys however they are there because they have featured in other thrillers. However there is a steep correlation between the keys G minor and F minor. These both include a sense of mystery, loneliness and disturbance, which is what I think are typical conventions of a thriller movie.
Camera shots used in our thriller
· Long Shot - This is the most difficult to categorise precisely, but is generally one which shows the image as approximately "life" size ie corresponding to the real distance between the audience and the screen in a cinema. We used this to show how masculine the protagonist was to his victims.
· Medium Shot - Contains a figure from the knees/waist up and is normally used for dialogue scenes, or to show some detail of action. This was a good shot to use for action because it got everyone in the shot and explained clearly what was happening.
· Close-Up - This shows very little background, and concentrates on either a face, or a specific detail of mise en scène. Everything else is just a blur in the background. We used this on the face of the protagonist to give a sense of unnerving or a slight hint of psychosis.
Camera angles
· High Angle - Not as extreme as a bird's eye view. The camera is elevated above the action using a crane to give a general overview. High angles make the object photographed seem smaller, and less significant. This was to show the victims were helpless and to stress how vulnerable they were.
· Eye Level - A fairly neutral shot; the camera is positioned as though it is a human actually observing a scene, so that e.g. actors' heads are on a level with the focus. We used this shot on most of the people because it is realistic and hard not to use, it also shows a lot of what is happening if clarity needed to be extenuated.
· Low Angle - These increase height and give a sense of speeded motion. Low angles help give a sense of confusion to a viewer, of powerlessness within the action of a scene. With used this at the very end of the sequence; a conclusive shot to show that he was the victor in a sense.
Camera Movement
· Pans - A movement which scans a scene horizontally. The camera is placed on a tripod, often to follow a moving object which is kept in the middle of the frame. We used this to show scenery or the setting of the taking of the victims and then panning towards the protagonists taking them.
Hand-held shots – we used this through the house we were filming in to give a sense of chaos and desperation to leave the place. This was very effective.
During this unit I’ve learnt how to generate effective shots through the situation of the camera and I have also learnt how to get steady shots through trial and error whilst shooting. Also during shooting I learnt that using the objects in the shot to frame the shot worked well, such as some of the trees surrounding the bunker/abandoned house. I also learnt how to set up a shot so that all could be seen and so that the lighting would not be a problems in the shot, I found getting the write light quite difficult making sure that the sunlight wasn't blocking anything in the shot and making sure that the inside shots has enough light so that everything could be seen. Using digital technologies helped us to achieve a professional standard of film, such as using a blog site to present our ideas for certain researched areas that we conducted such as thriller conventions. In addition, the use of digital technology helped us create a more polished and clear quality of footage due to the use of our HD camera; for filming.
