STATS on questionnaire

This was to show how our STATS were recieved and processed from our questionnaire

Questionnaire about thriller films/movies                                                Name:

1. What gender are you?                 Male                    Female 

2. What age group do you represent?        15-20           21-30           31-45+

3. Please list a few of your favourite thrillers?

4. What do you consider to make a good thriller? (please tick)

• Impressive non-diegetic sound
• Special effects
• Good camera work
• high-quality acting
• good quality lighting

5. How many times during a month would you watch a thriller movie?

6. Are you currently in further education at school?

No

Yes

7. Who would you say are typical actors/actresses to appear in thriller films?

8. Who would be someone you would likely to watch a thriller movie with?

Boyfriend/Girlfriend 

Family 

Friend’s 

Grandmother 

9. Where would you expect a thriller movie to be set?

Town

City

Forest

Countryside

Other ________________________

10. What other conventions do you think a thriller should contain? (Please state below)

11. Who do you consider to be the hottest actress within the thriller film industry?

12. What is your favourite type of thriller genre??

13. What is the average rating of film you would watch?

12 

12A 

15 

18 

R rated 

Thank you for taking the time out to read through and fill in this questionnaire. Here at JLS production we pride ourselves on your opinion to try and make our company the best we can be. We also believe in equality and world peace.

 Productions Ltd.

These were the questions asked at people selected at random. We did this because we wanted our statistics to have a naturally occuring correlation.

Conventions Of A Thriller

American Beauty - A must see!

This opening sequence does use some of the typical conventions of the Thriller Genre. For example, in the dialogue used at the beginning of the scene, the main character, who we assume is speaking, says "..In less than a year...I'll be dead..". This, from the very beginning leaves us on sort of a cliff-hanger as it does not give any specific reasoning as to why he will be dead in a year, enticing the audience of this film to watch on and find this information out. Another convention used is the way in which the mood of the audience is played with straight away, by using death as an immediate topic within the monologue, which is very typical of this genre.

The dialogue used in the opening sequence is spoken in a fairly one-dimensional voice, giving a dull mood to the film from the very beginning. This use of dullness is reflected in the character, played by Kevin Spacey, as he is shown, through the camera angles/shots, Mise-en-Scene and editing which in this case is the soundtrack. The camera seems to mainly focus around the main characters and their actions, rather than the setting around them, which hints at the psychological side of the thriller genre, however, we are automatically shown the key setting of this opening from the very start with an establishing shot of the city in which Lester, the main character, lives. The first shot we see of Lester is when he's in bed. There is a use of a high angled shot looking down on him. This can already connote that he has no power within his life.

A key area that needs to be highlighted and that I would like to discuss is the soundtrack that is played over the top of the whole opening sequence. It is a score created by Thomas Newman, which creates quite a specific persona; a simple, repetitive theme, picked up through the continuous xylophone notes. This piece has no under lining bass at all. This possibly connoting the daily lifestyle of Lester's character.