Thriller Questions

1.   What is the purpose of the opening to a film?

The purpose of an opening to a film is to introduce briefly what the film is going to be about although not giving too much away so that the audience can then predict what will happen throughout the film. It should build suspense, intrigue the audience and leave them wanting to know more and not being able to turn it over. Also it sets the location and introduces one or two of the main characters involved.

2.   What techniques can a director use to create suspense in a film?

Most directors will use many different techniques to create suspense, the most common being music... in most films an everyday scene can be seen as sinister and scary to fit in with the thriller genre. Things such as building tempo and music are used and screechy sounds. Also another popular technique used is rapid cuts; by only showing parts of the scene the audience have to piece it together themselves.

3.   How do you think a thriller is defined?

Web definition of a thriller: “Thriller is a broad genre of literature, film and television that includes numerous and often overlapping sub-genres. Thrillers are characterized by fast pacing, frequent action, and resourceful heroes who must thwart the plans of more powerful and better equipped villains”. I think that  thrillers are more or less anything, because of the huge number of sub genres it has they are pretty much defined as something which  has an out of the ordinary storyline.

4. What film can you think of that would fit into the thriller genre?The Knowing

5. The thriller film can be divided into sub genres - what different types of thriller films do you think exist?

Conspiracy Thriller, Crime, Science Fiction, Erotic, Legal, Medical or Phychological, Mystery and Supernatural.

 6. What are the characteristics or conventions of a thriller film? (Consider narrative, characters,
mise-en-scene, star)

Naratives of the main character could perhaps be a convention of a thriller, a typical trate is to have the main character narrate and overlook events which have already happened and the story is being retold.

 

7. What do you think pleasures the audience about thrillers?The audience are looking for a combination of things during a thriller for them to be able to have a good opinion about it. For example non diegetic music is usually added to create suspense and keep the audience hooked. Another thing which pleases the audience is if the story or plot is so farfetched and out of the ordinary then escapism takes place, the audience usually like to enjoy being in a frame of mind so far away from their everyday lives and problems that they begin to enjoy the film more.

8. What do you think are the differences between a horror and a thriller film? I think a thriller can be anything abnormal and twisted hence why there are so many sub categories within this genre and the films are all about creating suspense. However I think that horror films are definitely more “gory” and “horrid”.

9. Using the internet research the “top 50 thriller films”, Look up the top 20, which have you watched? If it is not many why do you think this is the case? Out of the top 50 thrillers I have watched only 4 or maybe 5 of them. I think being a teenage girl, thriller films don’t really interest me, I have seen only the very new ones for example inception. I think this is not many because I am not that interested in them.

10. Using the internet, find three poster for thriller films. Complete a brief semiotic analysis of the posters. What colours are used, what kind of imagery, taglines, certificate and narrative?

I have chosen to analyse the Jaws DVD cover. Here is a brief summary of this 1975 thriller. “When a gigantic great white shark begins to menace the small island community of Amity, a police chief, a marine scientist and grizzled fisherman set out to stop it.” The contrast in the light and dark colours can be seen to give off two different impressions. The top of the poster is the sky which uses a bright sunny colour, which gives the impression that everything is fine and happy. Also there is a swimmer across the top, if you were to cover up the second half of the poster the name would not have coincided with the poster at all. However the second half is gloomy and the shark suggests danger and maybe element of gore.

The Bourne Supremacy is a 2004 film staring Matt Damon: when Jason Bourne is framed for a botched CIA operation he is forced to take up his former life as a trained assassin to survive. The cover and gun straight away give the audience an all around good guess of what the film is going to be about.

Psycho is about a young woman who steals $40,000 from her employer's client, and subsequently encounters a young motel proprietor too long under the domination of his mother. This 1960s film was directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The name of this well known film really gives away how much of a thriller it is going to be, the audience can also see from the womans face on the poster that something out of the ordinary must be going on, because of the expression she is pulling.