A common ground in the intensity of emotions they create, particularly those of apprehension and exhilaration of excitement, breathlessness and all designs that generate that all important thrill. There are primary subgenres, for example psychological, mystery and crime thrillers. These sort of thrillers are the most noticed and some may say the most liked.
Most quality thrillers use suspense, tension and excitement as the main elements, therefore making the audience feel as if they are taking part in the actual film. Through thrillers audience see society being dark, corrupt and dangerous in some cases.
Thriller Methods
Crime use Ransoms, captivities, heists, revenge and kidnappings.
Mystery use investigators
Psychological use mind games, psychological themes, stalking confinement and death traps.
Techniques Used
- Use of Tracking
- Point Of View
- Extreme close ups & Close ups
- Reveals (track in/300 meters in)
- Dramatic Angles
- Tense Music
- Off screen sounds
- Low key Lighting
- Chiaroscuro - The effect of contrast light and shadow created
- Strong directional lighting
- Over exposed or colour manipulation
- Fast paced editing for chase scenes
- Jump cuts
- Parallel editing
- Obstructive editing
- Silence
- Exaggerated sounds
- Disorientation of time/space
Alfred Hitchcock
There are quite a few well known thriller directors but there is one man many believe tops all the other directors, and that is Alfred Hitchcock. This very important man in the film industry is well known for his thriller 'Psycho', the film was nominated and his directing skills were also nominated. This was a Mystery/Horror thriller, jam packed with so much suspense and excitement; this kept the audience watching to want more from the film.
Trailer of 'Psycho'
Films Watched
Whiles thinking of ideas that we may include in our own opening to a thriller film, we watched a couple of well known thrillers. One film we watched was 'Bourne Identity' directed by Doug Liman, this film is known to be a crime & mystery thriller as it involves heists, investigators and revenge. I believe this film has helped me with coming up with a few inputs of what we may include in the opening to the film.
Clip of' 'Bourne Identity'
Another film we watched was Mulholland Drive. This film was more of a psychological thriller, as there is a lot of 'twist and turns' making the thriller quite hard to understand. David Lynch the director made the thriller a lot more interesting by doing this, I believe it keeps the audience alert and wanting more. Mulholland Drive also helped me out a lot as quite a few ideas have been taking from the film.
Trailer of 'Mulholland Drive'
Codes & Conventions
This is a form and technique used in media to communicate ideas or to carry out a desired impression. There are types of codes:
- Technical Codes, which are the framework in a film. Involves things like camera techniques, lighting, exposure, framing and depth of field.
- Symbolic Codes, which shows what is beneath the surface of what we see, for example a characters action tells the audience how the character is feeling. This involves clothing, body language, colour and the setting.
