Conventions of Thrillers

Crime and corruption-

The dark Knight is a prime example of crime and corruption in a film. Throughout the whole film Batman is fighting crime, attempting to take down the Crime leaders of gotham. He works in close contact with the local law enforcements of Gotham and is his own vigilante which are illegal. There are many examples in the film of crime in the Joker and other small time criminals and corruption with the Joker terrorising society therefore affecting society and in a few cases causing normal people to take irrational dangerous actions.

Mystery-

Pan's Labryinth is an extremely mysterious film and from votes of IMDB it got 14th place on the Mystery Genre list. It has many many examples of mystery with nearly the whole film being based around the idea of a small girls(Ofelia's) imagination taking her away from her normal war filled life. The paleman is a character from the film and is one of the many wonderful creatures although it is an evil, dark one created by Ofelia's immagination.

Enclosed Spaces-

Panic Room is a film which main feature is an enclosed space. The basic principle is that Meg Alkman and her daughter Sarah are trapped within the panic room in there own house, as ther house is being burgled. The majority of the film revolves around the enclosed space of the Panic Room and also gives an overwhelming sense of claustrophobia.

Vast Open Spaces- No Country of Old men is a good example of a
thriller that uses vast open spaces. In many parts of the film long shots across a desert land scape are used, in particular one scene when Llewelyn comes across a bloody exchange between to gangs when hunting. The effect open spaces gives in this film are to illustrate the easiness for crime to take place and how difficult an area it is for authorities to enforce.

Thriller Signifiers

Analysing Film-Thriller Signifiers

Plot and Narrative

Mystery and intrigue
Spiralling narrative
A twisting and turning narrative
Narrated by male protagonist

Tone and atmosphere

A sinister of threatening atmosphere
Sexual
Sleaze
Claustrophobia

Mise-en-scene

Bleak settings
Urban
Rain lashed streets
Shadows
Night
Slatted blinds
Slanting Light
Staircases
Enclosed spaces
Chiaroscuro lighting

Characters

Femme fatales
Hardboiled detectives
Flawed heroes
Male protagonist
Women as sex objects
Police

Themes

Corruption
Mystery
Deceit
Sexuality
Women’s sexuality as dangerous and destructive
Moral ambiguity

Cinematography

Tilted camera angles
Use of vanishing points
High angle and low angle shots

Thriller Cast

The cast starring in our thriller are: CHARACTER'S NAME / ACTORS:

Simon --Ben Jones

Reason: We experienced a problem with our casting, someone dropped out at the last minute so we asked Ben to play Simon. He had the suitable look for the role so therefore we were pleased with our choice. He has an innocent face which Simon needs, as he was initially a good, hard working boy (at school). The way he dresses is influenced by the gang, for instance, whilst shooting our film, he wore a coat which was similar to the coat in the prop list. He was wearing a hat- like the one in the picture- which helps to hide his face, therefore hiding his identity. This is appropriate to the story, as they are going to be committing a crime.

Jitmal -- Mark Wright Premachandra

Reason: Mark had the appearance and attitude to suit the character. At first we did not think he would be able to play the role, so we prepared for Jakob to play both roles, as the older guy wasnt going to show his face. Mark suited the role well as he smokes, has darker skin- which will help appeal the film to a wider audience. Mark wears more brighter colours (red) in the film, as we thought he was appropriately dressed in the scenes he was in. The group of young men are all quite unprofessional so this helps by Mark wearing usual and casual wear.







Older guy -- Jakob Montagu-Shaw

Reason: He's tall (which fits the character profile) and we generally thought he would be a good person for this role as he was willing to be in the film- acting and it was a good chance for him to mulit-task. The outfit which we thought of the man wearing was mostly to hide away any thing was most identfiable, for example, his face. We didn't give any information for the description for this character because it gave the character even more mystery- which we wanted to make clear. The questions created by this decision helps add to the sense of the film introduction being a thriller, as mystery is one of the main signifiers in thrillers. Even more, as the character is wearing dark clothes (hiding his identity), these adds to the mysterious.

Thriller location

The setting of our thriller needed to appropriate for the look of a middle-class, middle aged mans' house. The other locations around the house needed to help create mystery this was achieved by using dark secluded areas or busy local streets which created tension between the actors as they have to act more suspicious. The film was filmed in close proximentries as most of the shoting was done in one house.
The two shots above are taken from outside the Mysterious mans house and are used in the planning of Simon's break in to the house with his gang, this is appropriate as stereotypically gangs of teenagers hang around on street corners. Also it used to show the man getting closer to returning to his house.

This shot is of the front of the house, highlighting where the man's bedroom is on the top right with the lights on behind the curtain, this is significant becuase this is where the final scene in the opening takes place.

The door signifiers the man's arrival to the house and the shot from outside looking is straight away draws attention as the light from inside the house, is somewhat welcoming. The hallway also is important in the film as the man walks through it before he is suspicious to the break in to his house. There were a couple of mise-en-scene problems and one in particular we felt was not appropraite for the film and that was the fish mobile, which didnt fit the description of a dangerous Gangsta Man's house. There are also a number of family pictures which we decided we would leave in the shoting of the film becuase it helps to show the contrast between a man who can be a family man and a dangerous man who owns a gun.

Film Process

(Tues. 16th December)Our first attempt at shooting our film went accordingly, however when we had captured it on the editing software and began to watch it back, we noticed a few problems. These included: either the camera or computer had made the film blurry (more in other places) and the camera movements weren't smooth. The film seemed to be jumping making the flow of the film disrupted, which affected the overall piece. Even more, we discussed how "Simon's" outfit didn't look quite right but we rose above this by finding more suitable props for the character to wear. The next shooting of filming was more successful than the last, as we had another chance to re-think and improve our ideas (for shots and so on).

(Late December & Early January)
There was another more serious problem that arouse, a fatal error occured with the main pc we had our thriller filming on the hard drive malfunctioned cuasing us to lose a vast amount of filming. We attempted to retrieve the work we lost, but unfortunately our attempts were unsuccessful, consequently we had to start all of our work from the start, this included filming and editing. Although this put us behind, our teacher gave us an extension to complete our filming editing and the final evalution; this gave us the chance to improve our ideas and learn from our mistakes and hopefully using our experience create a better quality of film.

180 Degree Rule

1. Imagine that the scene you are filming is inside of a large circle. Now imagine that you have drawn a line through the center of the circle, dividing it in half. Always position your camera in the same half of the circle.


2. Shoot reaction shots while keeping the 180-degree rule in mind. Place actors on or near the imaginary line and then shoot reverse angle reaction shots while keeping your camera on the same side of the line. The camera may be positioned almost directly on top of the line--but do not cross the line.


3. Break the 180-degree rule to achieve a specific effect. Rules are made to be broken, but understand the screen dynamics of breaking the 180-degree rule before crossing the line. There are times when breaking the rule may be necessary to achieve your cinematic goal.


4. Recognize that tracking shots and dolly shots, where the camera is in motion during the entire shot, are exceptions to the 180 degree rule because the audience crosses the line (in effect) along with the camera as the shot is made and so they are able to adjust for the change in screen direction.

Continuity Task Storyboard

Shot 1: Shot just outside of the room, where Ben comes into shot. He opens the door and enters the room.

Shot 2: Shot from inside the room, pans around as Ben walks around towards and past the camera, to the desk where Dr. Achmed is sitting.

Shot 3: Over the shoulder shot where we see Ben beginning to explain his problems to Dr. Achmed.

Shot 4: Shot reverse shot- to Dr. Achmed- over the shoulder shot.

Shot 5: When Dr. Achmed doesn't take Ben seriously, the camera zooms every so slightly towards Ben's back and then stays still whilst watching Ben storm angrily out of room.

Prop List Costume