Conventional settings: Kirsty Griffiths.

Conventional Settings/locations Used in Thriller films
Thrillers take place mostly in ordinary suburbs and cities, although sometimes they may take place wholly or partly in exotic settings such as foreign cities, deserts, polar regions, or the high seas. These usually tough, resourceful, but essentially ordinary heroes are pitted against villains determined to destroy them, their country, or the stability of the free world. For example, 'James Bond' (Dir. Sam Mendes, 2015) is always filmed in foreign cities.

Conventional Characters: Kirsty Griffiths.

Conventional Character Used in Thriller Films

An example of a conventional character of the thriller genre is Ester from the film 'Orphan' (Dir. Jaume Collet-Serra, 2009). The film has a sub-genre of mystery which is yet again conventional to have in a thriller genre. Throughout the film the audience sees a seemingly angelic orphan named Esther. However, she exhibits an unforeseen devilish streak shortly after arriving at her new home. Once she's welcomed into a new family home, she begins to display some deeply unsettling behaviour and shows that she is pure evil.

Common characters used in thriller films:

• Convicts/criminals/prison inmates/escaped convicts
• Stalkers
• Assassins
• Innocent victims
• Characters with dark pasts
• Psychotic individuals
• Police/detectives
• Terrorists
• Fugitives
• People involved in twisted relationships
• Children
• Menaced women
• Vicars
• People who are trying to escape
   

 

Conventional Editing: Kirsty Griffiths

Conventional Editing Used in Thriller Films

Editing genres within the thriller genre are often focused around creating an uncomfortable or suspenseful atmosphere as quck cuts and changing camera angles are often used which creates disorientation for the audience and creates an on screen tension.   

• Quick shots and obtrusive editing are used frequently in thriller films to accentuate feelings of suspense and tension. Obtrusive editing in thriller films may evoke a sense of presence in unexpected ways or create disorientation.
• Slow motion editing is conventionally used in thriller films and is usually used to build suspense and to leave the audience eager to know what will happen next. 

         Hot Fuzz (Dir. Edgar Wright, 2007).

• Montage editing consists of a series of short shots edited to condense time, space, and information. This is a technique in which two or more layers of films are playing simultaneously along side one another. This technique is often used during a 'thrilling' part of a thriller. One example of montage editing is in the opening scene of 'Hot Fuzz'. 
  
  
  
   Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Dir. Christ Columbus, 2001). 
  
  
• Flashbacks are commonly used in psychological thrillers. Flashbacks give an insight into a characters past and shows an important message, or helps to explain why the characters are the way they are. One example of a flahsback edit is in the film 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone.
  
  
  
   

Conventional Titles

Titles of thrillers are often have a dark colour scheme, the writing also shows this. A dark colour scheme is used to make the audience aware it's a thriller but not reveal too much.

                                                                        

Conventional Camera Work and Editing

Conventional Camera Work
 Close up's: they are used to show reactions of the actors and actresses. Shows the most emotion from the characters. A close up also captures the details in an important scene.

 Tracking/panning shot: This is used to make it seem like the character is being followed or watched. It can also establish a scene so the audience has a full view. The shot builds suspense due to the audience not knowing what's coming next.


Tilted Angle: These shots are dramatic which adds tension as it could be the supernatural. It can also allow the camera to have the view that the victim has and what they can see.

Extreme long shot: It is often use to establish a scene in a thriller. It often puts something into perspective.

Low Angle: They can show how powerful or intimidating someone is over someone else. It could make the audience also feel intimidated.

Hand Held shot: Used to add a sense of reality. Can also make the audience feel involved or like they are there due the way the shot is seen.

Point of View: Allows the audience to become emotionally attached and have feelings like them especially if it shows something like being held at gunpoint.

Over shoulder shot: This shot builds tension and suspense. It is often used around mirrors and reflections so the audience is made aware at the same time as the character. The shot is used to show a figure following a character.

High Angle: Makes the figure look venerable, powerless and weak.

Editing:
Jump Cuts- Are usually used because a lot is happening at the same time and the edit fills the audience in also it allows them to make assumptions of what's happening.
Cross cuts- These edits are used to create suspense which is essential.

Conventional Settings

Typical settings include:
Abandoned Places
Isolated Buildings
City Centres
Cooperate Buildings
Everyday Family Homes
Woods/Forest
Graveyard 

These are good for creating suspense and a feeling of being watched. These settings also help the storyline be unpredictable.

Conventional Characters

Typical Characters of a thriller include:
Murder
Psychopath
Serial Killer
Stalkers
Convicts
Innocent Victims
People in Difficult Relationships
Missing and Unknown People
Menaced Women

These characters are often recognised by the audience making them connect it to the genre.
Characters often have dark and unknown pasts to put the audience on edge.

Coventional Props: Kirsty Griffiths.

Conventional Props Used in Thriller Films

A rope is conventionally used in thrillers to tie people up and stop them from escaping. A gun is a weapon which is conventionally used in thriller films to protect a somebody from harm or to harm somebody else. A mental chair is conventionally used in a thriller film when the police or detectives are questioning the victims or possible suspects. Fake blood is most commonly used in thriller films for when characters are attacked and hurt by another character. Candles are conventionally used in thriller films in churches to make the scene more mysterious and gloomy. Masks are often used in thriller films to hide the identity of a stalker, villain, a terrorist, or maybe something else. Knifes are conventionally used In thriller films as weapons for characters to protect themselves from the other bad character. Phones are used in thriller films when characters panic and need to contact other people. Dark clothing is conventionally used in thriller films to hide identity. Stalkers usually wear black when in thriller films to hide their face and to make them blend in with their surroundings.

Story Board

Character Profiles

Conventional Sounds/Music: Kirsty Griffiths.

Conventional Sounds/Music Used in Thriller Films

 

 

Sounds in thriller films are used to create understanding and meaning for the audience. This will then enable thr audience to create a response to the film.Thriller films include sounds and sountracks into their films in order to build the audiences understanding of what is happening in the film. The sounds are used to evoke the characters feelings and emotions in order to get a responce from the audience. It is also often used to symbolise both the protagonists and antagonists movements in the scene. By carefully using the sounds employed in the scene it creates the right mood and atmosphere and in the context of the thriller genre, helps to build suspence and tension. There are many different sound techniques that directors use within a scene, examples of these are: diagetic, non-diagetic, parallel sounds, on screen sound and off screen sound.

Digetic sound- sound which the characters can hear. Digetic sound can be anything that you would hear within the film world, whether it be a telephone ring, dilogue, dogs barking etc.
Digetic sound is ususally used to mae the scenes realistic and meaningful however the sounds can also have hidden connotations. For example, non stop rain can connote sadness and stress. The pitter patter of slow ran could connote a long wait or tension and suspense.


Prop list

Questionnaire Results

We found that around 60% of the people we asked were males.
Around 70% of those that answered the questionaires were 16.
The most popular occupation was a student at arounds 70%.
About 80% thought pur film was a thriller.
Comedy and Horror were the most popular genre of films.
Around 60% watch films online.
Most people thought our idea was good.
Over 50% thought our film would be set in a city.

titles of thriller films

Different thriller films all use desaturated colours for the titles of the film, it gives a darker feeling and it helps the audience guess the genre of the film without watching the film. Most of the posters for the films use very desaturated colours to create tension and anticipation and they sometimes represent the themes of the films, for example the film poster for SALT is dark to maybe suggest the main character is quite secretive. The film poster for The Last House on the Left, has no colour except for the word House which is written in red which represents death and horror so this could convey the horror that’s about to happen within the film. The typical film posters are to give hints and ideas about the messages within the film. Film posters are used to entice an audience and create hype about the film. The posters use significant elements from the films, for example the posters use well-known actors who have and established fan base and the poster will let them know that the Actor is bringing out a new film and this will encourage the fan to watch the film.

Camerawork typical of a thriller film.

birds eye/ high angle shot: these shots are used to look down on an object of figure to make it seem completely powerless or vulnerable.

close up: these shots are used to show characters reactions, this shot shows the most emotion from characters. And captures detail.

tilted angle: these add lots of dramatic tension to shots, it is sometimes used to as the victim on the floor and you are seeing what they are seeing.

over the shoulder shot: this helps build tension, it adds suspense and is especially used around mirrors.

 

locations and settings typical of a psychological thriller

Main locations psychological thrillers are filmed:

Mental Asylums, in the thriller called Silence of The Lambs it is set in the in a Baltimore state hospital for the criminally insane to interview an inmate Dr. Hannibal – the cannibal – Lecter. A brilliant and renowned psychiatrist turned serial killer.

Another place is cities, cities are very large and it is easy for criminals to escape because there is so much crime going on. In large American cities like New York or Chicago, it is very easy for some crimes to go unseen. For example a TV programme called Criminal minds is set all over the USA but is mostly based in large cities or small towns. It is much easier when they are in smaller communities to find the criminal. So placing a criminal in the large cities can help create more suspension when finding the killer. It is easy to get lost among all the people of the city.

Also another place this type of thriller is set is old buildings, for example an old mental institution or an old mansion. For example The Woman in Black is set in an old house. It creates a tense atmosphere that makes it feel like some is always watching you.    

conventional storylines for psychological thrillers

Based on readings, crime or police procedurals and many psychological thrillers tend to start with either a chapter one or prologue showing a scene of high action or a crime – often a murder of a victim through the victim’s or killer’s point of view.

The opening image is one of action, and often showing the threat found through the story. It can be atmospheric or provide a sense of foreboding, drawing the reader in to further reading.

Thriller and crime film expect to meet the antagonist or see a hint of crime or the threat right upfront.

The first scene needs to have a good hook, and the whole chapter needs to provide a sense of tension and threat. (Seat of pants reading).

this then leads into the normal everyday life of the hero before she is pulled into the action or suspense.

Suspense, tension, raising of stakes for the protagonist. Typically the pace of this tension is faster in a thriller against a mystery.

The protagonist must be proactive rather than reactive. He must make things happen, go into action, not sit around with events happening around him.

As with most good films, the hero needs to have grown and learnt and ultimately changed by the end of the novel. This character growth is what leads to the main character’s ability to get through his darkest hour, and win during the climatic ending.

Typical structural elements to the plot – an inciting incident or turning point that makes the main character move from their everyday and go on their journey to solve the issue, conflict, pace, complications, a darkest hour where everything seems lost, a climatic battle and denouement.

The ending should resolve all loose ends, but provide a satisfactory twist if possible. Good should prevail over bad. And the hero should have learnt something about himself or the human condition.

No Coincidences – although they happen in real life all the time – should be avoided in fiction, even though they can provide character conflict. Readers aren’t satisfied by coincidental events or conflict.

Conventional Story lines: Kirsty Griffiths.

Conventional storylines Used in Thriller Films 

 

Generally, thriller films show justice and injustice (good and evil) fighting against each other which portrays an overall sense of suspense. Most often, the antagonist (good character) is known and the protagonist (bad character) intervenes with their plans. A thriller film conventionally has growing sense of threat and danger, although thriller films usually begin with a sense of equilibrium and show the overall degeneration of events. Thriller Film is a genre that revolves around anticipation and suspense. The aim for Thrillers is to keep the audience alert and on the edge of their seats. The protagonist in thriller films are usually faced with a problem: an escape, a mission, or a mystery. No matter what sub-genre a Thriller film falls into, it will emphasize the danger that the protagonist faces. The tension with the main problem is built on throughout the film and leads to a highly stressful climax. A few examples of conventional thriller storylines include 'The Great Escape' and 'The Silence of the Lambs'.


The Great Escape (Dir. John Sturges, 1963).
 

Star-studded WWII classic about a mass escape attempt by plucky Allied POWs from a supposedly escape-proof German camp. The escape committee's plan is to liberate hundreds of inmates and cause havoc throughout occupied territory. But their problems include concealing three tunnels from the guards and disposing of tons of soil. Steve McQueen's daredevil motorcycle antics are a classic cinema moment.

 

 

The Silence of The Lambs (Dir Jonathan Demme, 1991).

 

A psychopath nicknamed Buffalo Bill is murdering women across the Midwest. Believing it takes one to know one, the FBI sends Agent Clarice Starling to interview a demented prisoner who may provide clues to the killer's actions. That prisoner is psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant, diabolical cannibal who agrees to help Starling only if she'll feed his morbid curiosity with details of her own complicated life. As their relationship develops, Starling is forced to confront not only her own hidden demons, but also an evil so powerful that she may not have the courage - or strength - to stop it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Conventional Camerawork: Kirsty Griffiths.

 Conventional Camerawork Used in Thriller Films

In the thriller genre, tracking shots or panning shots are conventionally used in the beginning of the film, particularly on a certain person, or group, that the audience should be interested in. An example of tracking and panning shots being used in the beginning of a thriller film would be ‘The Dark Knight’ (Dir. Christopher Nolan, 2008). Another example of tracking and panning shots being used in the opening scene of a thriller film would be ‘Spectre’ (Dir. Sam Mendes, 2015) as the camera tracks the character of James Bond. Another conventional technical element in the thriller genre is close up shots to show the facial expressions of the charcters and to make the audince pay attention to how they're feeling. One example of a close up shot in the thriller genre to show the facial expressions of a character is 'Psycho' (Dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1960) as the camera captures the emotions of the cahracter in close up shot and showed the characters facial expressions. Additionally, another camerawork convention used in the thriller genre is the handheld camera shot as it gives the audeince a sence of reality and makes them beleive it could really happen. An example of a handheld camera shot is 'The Blaire Witch Project' (Dir. Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sanchez, 1999) as the film is basically all in handheld camera shots.

Spectre (Dir. Sam Mendes, 2015). 

The camera tracks the character of James Bond

as he is running around Mexico city on whilst 

'the day of the dead' is being celebrated. The camera tracks the character of James Bond to connontate that he is moving swiftly to find a villian and stop him from doing something bad. This shot is also conventioanlly used when a person is being followed or watched.

The Dark Knight (Dir. Christoper Nolan, 2008).

In The Dark Knight, the main villian, the Joker,  and some other villians are being tracked whilst on their way to rob a major bank. The camera tracks the Joker as he is a significant character in the film as the villian and the camera wants the audience to pay attention to him. Another use for a tracking shot is to build suspence as you don't know what could be shown next.





Psycho (Dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1960). 

In 1960, an iconic close up shot to show a
characters facial expressions was used in Psycho.
The close up shot shows that the woman in the
shower is scared as she screams and shows her reaction of being scared. This shot is also used to show emotion to the audeince and capture important details.

The Blaire Witch Project (Dir. Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sanchez, 1999).

The Blaire Witch Project gives the audience a sence of reality as the camera is unsteady like if the audeince had filmed it themselves. The handheld shot is conventioanlly used to show the characters point of veiw or that the character in the film is being followed.

Conventional Titles: Kirsty Griffiths.

Conventional Titles

Most thriller films have the colour black for their backgrounds behind their titles with some non-diegetic music playing in the back ground to create the mood of a thriller film. Another convention about titles in thriller films is that the most important companies and actors are shown in the first credits. It’s also conventional for thriller films to have a particular event in the opening sequence before the title shots are shown which reveals what the film will be about. An example of a thriller film with a particular event which happens before the title shots are shown would be ‘Terminator 2’ (Dir, James Cameron, 1991). Another example of a thriller film with an event before the title shots
would be 'Casino Royale' (Dir. Daniel Kleinman, 2006).  
 

       Terminator 2 (Dir.James Cameron, 1991).                               Casino Royale (Dir. Daniel Kleinman,2006).