What Makes A Thriller?
.... A thriller is a genre of fiction that attempts to thrill the audience by placing the characters at risk.
There is no clear ingredients in what a thriller should be, thrillers are a problematic genre.
Thrillers can be categorized by fast paced action and editing, and heroes who must outwit the
villain,however not always!
Devices such as red herrings and cliff hangers are commonly used.
Thrillers usually take place in exotic places, such as foreign cities, deserts etc.
The hero is usually a "hard man" accustomed to danger, usually a normal person.
Thrillers often overlap mystery stories, however, thrillers usually work on a much grander scale. Big crimes, mass murders etc.
SUB GENRES -
Action Thriller - Race against time. Violence.
Conspiracy Thriller - Hero confronts a powerful group.
Crime Thriller - Hybrid of crime films and thrillers. Usually focuses on criminals rather than the police.
Disaster Thriller - Conflict against a natural disaster
.Drama Thriller - Slow paced, great deal of character development.
Eco Thriller - Protagonist must rectify environmental problems.
Erotic Thriller - Popular since the 1980's, such as "Fatal Attraction".
Horror Thriller - Conflict between the main character is up against a bigger/harder force.
Legal Thriller - Lawyers in danger, have to win the case to save their lives.
Medical Thriller - Heroes are doctors who solve an expanding medical problem.
Political Thriller - Hero must create stability for the government.
Psychological Thriller - Conflict is mental and emotional.
Spy Thriller - Government Agent, such as "Bourne Identity".
Techno Thriller - High tech equipment being used by either the hero or villain, sometimes both!
RULES
The Transformed City - Should expose "the poetry of modern life." Thrillers are the possibility for excitement in a boring place.
Heroic Romance - Every day person can be a hero - To become extra ordinary in extrordinary circumstances. The hero is in similar worlds to romance, however exchanges romantic settings for modern cities. The laws of nature are usually suspended.
The Exotic - Something exotic in the film. (Jewels, location, girls etc.) Usually involves middle east artifacts and filmed in unfamiliar or foreign locations.Mazes and Labyrinths - Audience works things out by clues given. Full of twists/dead ends which keeps the audience guessing. The audience takes pleasure in prolonging the "journey", which results in the story being complex.
Partial Vision -The audience is only given so much to see. Some things are hidden from view.Concealment & Protraction - Audience pulled in different directions based on clues given. Often to create confusion, and a delay of outcome. Important things are deliberately hidden from view.
Question & Answer -
The audience is in suspense, always questioning. Wrong answers are given, and after the opening sequence the audience are left with clear questions.
Section 2:Research into Examples of comparable media productions.
Today we studied the film seven
Narrative Structure- It's got a clear beginning because a person is doing certain things which gives us clues as to what the film might be about. The audience are only given so much information so that they don't know everything just yet.
Thriller codes and conventions-Partial Vision it used throughout the entire opening sequence. Concealment and protraction is used also as you only see the persons hands and not the rest of their body.This makes the audience question "hy the person is slicing his fingers, or"what are they looking for?"
canerawork- Close ups of pages being turned over and a person slicing his fingers with a blade to make the audience question. Concealment is used as everything is fast paced so that the audience does not fully know what is going on. The close ups highlight the persons personality as we see what he/she is doing and looking at.
Mise-en-scene - Most parts of the scene appears to be unclear as the shots that are used do not really give much away to the audience. It looks as though the person is in the office and the character has pricision, slow movement and is calm in comparison to the editing of the film and the music being played.
Sound- The sounds that are played are supernatural. There's a continuous heartbeat playing. Scratchy noises are used which are considered disturbing to the audience. The heartbeats become louder and simultaneously build suspense and tension. It sounds urgent as it changes pace which makes the audience feel uneasy. The person cuts out word 'GOD' from a newspaper and then the music highlights that word by having the lyric 'You've brought me closer to God'.
editing- There are lots of jump cuts used to make it fast paced so that the audience is unclear of what the person is looking at.A split-screen occurs focusing on a shot of the book, it appears that the top of the screen is a transparent red colour and shows a person developing pictures in a red mixture possibly? The bottom screen is just a normal capture of the book being examined.
Graphics- The text used is white and in a way, child-like. They are central, and the credits are in the corners of the screen with an outlined glow. They often jump around the screen whilst flashing so that the audience does not expect them and this builds suspense.
Today we made notes on the opening to the film "silence of the lambs" We noted down all of the conventions, camera angles etc etc.
narrative structure- We see that a woman is on a running somewhere. However we do not know where she is going or why.... She is sent to the boss' office leaving the audience thinking what she's done She sees something that might be of importance on the wall which leaves the audience thinking what it is
Codes and Conventions:Partial vision is used a lot as mentioned in narrative structure, we aren't shown what she see's on the wall until later on, and at the start we aren't shown why she is running.
Question and answer model : The audience have a lot of things hidden from them during the intro. Tansformed city is used when the woman is running through the forest, as it's a police assault course, yet it is made to look dangerous to us.THe woman is shown to be exotic as she is completely different to everyone else in the police depot, small, and wearing grey where-as everyone else is wearing either blue or red.
Camerawork: The woman runs into the shot when she is on the assault coure. An over shoulder shot is used when the man comes into shot, this shows that maybe we shouldnt be there, hinting to us that maybe he shouldn't either.
Mise-en-Scene: COntrast is used when the woman enters the elevator dressed in gray and small, while all the large men dressed in red enter.
Sound: There is a quiet non-diegetic music which is supposed to represent a heart beat increasing. There are diegetic sounds of leaves crunching and breathing, the breathing becomes very heavy, There is little dialogue.
Editing:.The fast paced editing matches the action while she is running.
Graphics: Peoples names are black with a thin white outline, bold and in the centre of the screen.
Today we made notes on the film " american psycho"
Narrative Structure: Linear narrative, we are intoduced to the killer, we are shown him at a bar, and then the day after when he wakes up, the main character takes us through his routine.
Thriller codes and conventions:
Question and answer model, "who is he?", "why did he threaten her?", "what happened to her?"etc
Transformed city: bar turns into a place of threat and danger.
the main character is exotic as a person, he is odd the way he is acting, in two normal places, the bar and home.
CAmera work: overhead shot shows the building is packed with people, maybe a fun place to be.Over the shoulder shot over the bar maid, makes us feel as if we are peering in to see whats going on as if we shouldn't be there.Tracking shot when we go through the mans apartment.Close-ups create intimacy with the characters. highligts their main aspects.
Mise en scene: There is contrast between the night at the bar where the man is wearing black and the morning where everything is white and he is acting normal.we are shown that the main character is obsessed with everything he doeshas being perfect.
Sound : diegetic sound is used , in the bar, it sets the scene of the area.the music in the house is unclear as to wether it is diegetic or not, it is classical music, a piano playing, this hints at his personality.
the main character is narrating over his own actions, howvere this is non-diegetic, he introduces us to himself and his lifestyle.Editing : shot reverse shot between man and the bar maid.there is SLow paced editing during the house scene which fits the music and what he is doing.
Graphics: central, white, small yet capital to show their importance.COntrasting font to show different personality on different actors.
Section 3: brainstorm of content and classification
Today the groups were decided, i was placed in a group of four, consisting of me, laura henshaw, ian austin, and amy llewellyn.
We brainstormed our ideas of what a good thriller should be.We came up with:Dark, tense, suspense building,
jumpy.freaky sounds.
twists ( red herrings)
weapons,
and mind games.
Section 4: Audience research:
Our questionnaire:
1)Age: <16 16-18 18<
2) Are you male or female?
3) What is your favourite Thriller and Why?
Silence of the lambs. Jaws. Se7en. __________
4) What is your least favourite thriller and why?
Silence of the lambs. Jaws. Se7en. ________________
5) What is your favourite style of Thriller?
Action Disaster Erotic Legal Medical Political Psychological Spy Supernatural
Techno-thriller.
6) What do you like most in a thriller?
good plot good characters good setting other: ______
7) Would you rather be scared or intrigued?
8) Would you associate a killer with a male or female?
9) What would you expect from a 'bad' character?
Evil Psycho Schizophrenic
10) Do you like to see alot of blood?
11) Would you expect more violence or more tension building?
12) Would you expect to be introduced to the killer at the beginning?
13) What type of music would you associate with a thriller?
Creepy Slow paced Fast paced 'bassy'
14) What colours would you associate with a thriller?
Black&White Red other: ______
15) What style of graphics would you associate with a Thriller?
'Aa Bb Zz' 'Aa Bb Zz' 'Aa Bb Zz' 'Aa Bb Zz'
16) Would you rather see the hero win or the villain?
17) Do you think the killer should be human?
18) Do you think the killer should use weapons?
19) Where would you expect a Thriller to be set?
Normal place Remote place woods city
20) What makes you scared?
Footsteps loud breathing the sound of wind silence
Pie charts to be uploaded later...
12.11.08 this is the day we typed the questionnaires up.we printed 40 off and handed them out to a random selection of people.
17.11.08. today we collected the results from our questionnaires, this way we could see what was most popular in thrillers.
19.11.08. Today we put our results onto the computer so we could add them to our blogs.we formatted them into pie charts to make the results better to read.
20.11.08 .Today we got started on a basic outline for our thriller so we had an idea of where we were goign with it, using the results to help us choose what to do.
24.11.08 we wrote down our ideas of the thriller and started to decide whtat we should do for our treatment.
Section 5 : treatment.
Production group: Laura Henshaw, Amy Llewellyn, Ian Austin, Joe Mckeown.
Film Classification:15. We made a 15, because nobody in the group is 18 so we cannot legally watch an 18. This isn’t a bad thing though; because making 15 means we can reach out to a larger audience.
Synopsis:As the Royal North Western Mental Institute mistakes papers, little to they know of the catastrophic events that Derek Hunt will cause to the family he left behind; making his child’s favourite game of Hide & Seek into a sinister tale of twists and turns. If you think you’ve seen it all before, think again!A Phsychological Thriller that will push you to the edge of your seat as you pray for the madness to end, and just as you think its over, and let your guard down, the tale will get worse!
Treatment:
Beginning:
There is a man in a girl’s bedroom, we first see a close up of his hand as he is routing through a closet slowly, as if looking for something, but at the same time tidying room, placing teddies in closet and picking up clothes, placing them in the wardrobe.Shown through the use of midshots and panning shots.We are not shown where this room is or who’s it is at this point.However there are books spread out throughout the room, all open on certain pages, highlighted certain images and phrases, there are also towels and cloths spread out in one area of the room, this is when the audience realise something is wrong as there are bloodstains on them. This is emphasised through a close up shot of the bloodstains on the cloths.The man then starts to read one of the books whilst sat on the bed and carries on highlighting areas, we see a close up of the book as he highlights it, but the content of the book is still kept hidden.We then show a close-up of the man’s left hand while he starts to stroke one of the teddies he’d placed on the bed, audience notice dried blood on the mans hand but are left wondering why and where it came from.
We then see a flashback, make clear through the editing of the same man in a kitchen, routing through the cupboards making a mess and throwing pots and pans on the floor. One draw is left unopened man slowly walks over to the draw, opens it, smiles and pulls out two knives, making sure to shut it again.The man then compares the two, and slices a piece of meat with both knives one after the other, then selects the sharpest one.
We then revert from flashback as we hear a sound of a front door unlocking. The shot jumps to the front door and we see it is a girl entering the house, we shoot back to seeing the man in what we assume to be her room.The man is now wielding the blade he chose earlier, slowly stroking it, we show a close up off his face to emphasis his facial expression, he is smiling wickedly.We see the girl walk through to the kitchen and notice everything strewn, and only the knife draw closed.The girl then proceeds to cautiously walk up the stairs towards her room. We see from the mans point of view, who is stood in silence staring at the door from the opposite end of the room from it, next to the bed.We can hear the girl getting closer to the door, and we see from her angle as she goes to open the door.It then changes to the man as she opens the door and we see from over his shoulder as the girl spots him, as she see’s him we see a close up of her face to exaggerate her shocked expression.
Middle:
As the man continues to stalk various girls, he becomes ever much more involved and attached. We will show this by using over the shoulder shots, with the girls in the front and him in the back, blurred at the edges to show they are a clear image to him, and that they are his main focus.The killings wont be seen, but the aftermath that we do show will be quite graphic, and we will use close ups, and shot reverse shots to show the horrified looks as to what has happened.The use of music will be important for the main part of this because it will add tension as it leads up to the killings. We would use a slow paced sound as he moved up to the girl, but speeding up as he went to kill her, and then silence after 1 bass note kills the track.
End Scene:
The Attending detective realises that the killer is also her biological father that she didn’t know existed.She realises through research into murder cases and various other clues that he belongs in a mental institute and the people he has been killing are related to him in some way. (He went insane and started killing his family)This leads her to realise she could be next on his list.She tries her best to find him before he finds her, but she is too late.He finds out who she is and where she lives and one night she finds herself in the same brutal situation as her sister, she gets killed.
Character outlines:
Derek Hunt is a 50 year old man, of middle height from Manchester. He has very little hair and is a quiet man who prefers to be alone.He is a very clever man and leaves very few pieces of evidence at a crime scene; the evidence he does leave behind is not helpful to solving the case.Derek has 4 daughters but none of them know he is their father.The children he has all have different mothers and do not know about each other.Most of the children have not seen their father since they were born or if at all. Derek recently came out of a mental institute due to being abused as a child and attacking his mother after years of torture.He blames anyone related to him for his downfall and stay in the institute. He has very violent outbursts and rarely remembers the details of what he has done.
First daughter:
Lisa Hunt.16 Year old from Manchester, and is one of 4 Daughters of the killer, but none of the girls know their Dad is a Killer. She hasn’t seen her father since she was a child.Currently at college in manchester studying psychology.
Section 7: Reece and location sheets.
Name of location: laura's living room
Health and safety: stairs, low roof, where stairs go up.
3/12/08
Name Of location: laura's landing ( upstairs)
Health and safety: stairs ; door ; hinges.
Date of visit: 3/12/08 
Laura's kitchen
3/12/08
[Photo] Laura's bedroom
Cables/objects on floor
3/12/08
Section 8 :Production material-
Storyboards will be uploaded soon. tech.
section 9 : production schedule.
Production Schedule
Film Title: Dadd'ys Little Girl.Director: Laura Henshaw, Amy Llewellyn, Ian Austin, Joe Mckeown
Producer: Laura Henshaw, Amy Llewellyn, Ian Austin, Joe MckeownClient:
Date Production Started:
Treatment Started:
Completed:
Storyboard Started:
Sent To Client:Shooting Started:
Completed:
Post-Production:
Completed:
Rough Cut Submitted:
Completed:
Final Show Tape Completed:
LocationEquipment Required: Camera, Microphones, Lighting Kit, Tapes.
Transport Requirements: 1x car for crew1x car for cast
Crewing Requirements
Camera People: Laura Henshaw, Amy Llewellyn, Ian Austin, Joe Mckeown
Sound: Laura Henshaw, Amy Llewellyn, Ian Austin, Joe Mckeown
Lighting: Laura Henshaw, Amy Llewellyn, Ian Austin, Joe Mckeown
Post Production Assistant: Laura Henshaw, Amy Llewellyn, Ian Austin, Joe Mckeown
Actors:Ray HallamLisa Hardman
Props:Teddies, Knifes, Clothes
Section 10 : Video log sheets.
Storyboards will be uploaded soon. tech.
section 9 : production schedule.
Production Schedule
Film Title: Dadd'ys Little Girl.Director: Laura Henshaw, Amy Llewellyn, Ian Austin, Joe Mckeown
Producer: Laura Henshaw, Amy Llewellyn, Ian Austin, Joe MckeownClient:
Date Production Started:
Treatment Started:
Completed:
Storyboard Started:
Sent To Client:Shooting Started:
Completed:
Post-Production:
Completed:
Rough Cut Submitted:
Completed:
Final Show Tape Completed:
LocationEquipment Required: Camera, Microphones, Lighting Kit, Tapes.
Transport Requirements: 1x car for crew1x car for cast
Crewing Requirements
Camera People: Laura Henshaw, Amy Llewellyn, Ian Austin, Joe Mckeown
Sound: Laura Henshaw, Amy Llewellyn, Ian Austin, Joe Mckeown
Lighting: Laura Henshaw, Amy Llewellyn, Ian Austin, Joe Mckeown
Post Production Assistant: Laura Henshaw, Amy Llewellyn, Ian Austin, Joe Mckeown
Actors:Ray HallamLisa Hardman
Props:Teddies, Knifes, Clothes
Section 10 : Video log sheets.
