Three Thrillers Presentation

8/14/2019 Three Thrillers Presentation

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My Three

Thrillers...



Gothika

Typical conventions of a thriller.

Flashback' Flash forward

Red Herrings/McGuffins

Dramatic Irony

Foreshadowing

Pathetic Fallacy

Twist

Codes which can be used to portray conventions;

Camera-angle, movement and position

Editing

Sound

Mise-en-Scene

Special Effects

Narrative- (Script writing and decision)



Typical Conventions of the opening sequence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocvcEOME33U Opening to Gothika, first 10 minutes.

Pathetic Fallacy,

Sound- the audience can hear the thunder in the background as Dr. Miranda Grey, istrying to examine some records. This helps build up the tension, showing that somethingis about to happen. It begins to prepare the audience. This is shown when we hear a loudthunder/ lighting strike, as soon as we hear that the lights turn off and the screen goesblack. Thunder is usually associated with, dark, scary moments, and so is used very effectivelyat this point.

Dr. Grey sitting in her office, withthunder in the background.Which can be seen and heard.

Lighting- The is a very obvious code used, as the lighting strikes we can see in from insidethe room as it flashes, lighting up the room for a few seconds. Going from dark to light. Asseen in the screen shot above.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocvcEOME33U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocvcEOME33U



Camera- The movement of the camera also shows pathetic fallacy. The camera movementand background music, work together here. When there is a sudden change in the musicthe camera movement changes rapidly, to another angle of Dr Grey's face. Breaking the180 degree rule.Editing- is under here aswell, as the cuts are very fast.

Twist,

Dialogue- At the beginning of this clip we hear Dr Grey talking to a patient, assessing her mental condition. But later in the movie there is a twist, where the Doctor becomes a mentalpatient in her own work place.Camera- When Dr. Grey is talking to her patient the camera movement pans around thembothshowing confusion between the two, making also showing that Dr. Grey will later be in her position.

Dr. Grey>>>

<<< The Mental Patient



The twist, when Dr. Grey ends upin the mental institution (her ownwork place).This was because she killed her husband.



Memento

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5MLaaBv3sU Opening to Memento, first 10minutes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5MLaaBv3sU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5MLaaBv3sU



Detailed description of action

The film at first is quite confusing. But the audience learns that the whole movie is runbackwards. And begin to get the idea.

The first 10 minutes show a man called Lenny, who has a memory problem. Not onlydoes he say this but it can be seen, when he takes pictures of things he needs toremember.

However, this does notnecessarily mean that heremembers everything.Whilst he looks through thesepictures he says to himself,'what have i done?' Proving thathe doesn't always remember.

Lenny kills the other man, not known to the audience yet and swaps clothes.

This shows that Lenny had planned it out, and knows what he is doing. But thensomeone unexpected turns up, it is a policeman.Lenny then panics and asks the policeman for help. Acting innocent. This showshow confused he is.Lenny is obviously very violent, it looks like this maybe because he had lost hisfamily, as a result he is trying to get revenge?



Memento a film that follows a narrative backwards,it cleverly starts at the end and finishes andthe beginning. This is a unique technique used by the director as the film is made moreinteresting to watch. The opening for this film is similar to other thrillers as sometimes we haveno idea about whats going on. This creates confusion which leaves the audience wantingmore of an incite about whats happening. Thrillers often include devices such as red herringsto mislead the viewers,this convention is useful the the director is trying to hide information for the audience. Red herrings can often be created with hand held editing and sound which arethe codes. Another convention thrillers tend to use are flash forwards and flash backs as itgives the audience more information and the motive behind the action in the thriller. Twists areused to confuse audiences and leave them wanting more,it has a big impact on the audienceviewing of the film as they are shocked at the outcomes. Pathetic fallacy is common in thrillersand the codes mainly used to suggest the change in weather and mood is sound. Bad weather is often accompanied by wind,thunder or rain,this helps create the atmosphere needed for different thrillers. Dramatic irony is experienced when the audience knows more than thecharacters in the film,it creates more tension for the viewers as they are eager to see the

reactions if the storyline is revealed. Foreshadowing is commonly used in thrillers,it can bedenoted through the editing and lighting. Hinting at things to come prepares the audience atsets them up for the narrative.



Strangers

The film 'Strangers' discovers a series of true events that occurred in a deserted summer house.The thriller consists of mysterious killers that taught an engaged couple through a night of gameswhich eventually ends up in a murder.

The opening sequence in strangers starts with a facts on the screen accompanied by a voiceover. The information given to us by the voice over is key to the story line and sets the audienceup for the narrative. The voice over includes statistics on a black screen that informs us that the

story is inspired by true events,this already gets the audience on the edge of their seats as itcreates Suspense and a keen atmosphere to watch the film. The typography is very simple but isintroduced by a series of fade ins and fade outs. The setting is then introduced and we denote acamera very slowly panning across a number of middle class American homes. This gives a neffect of a car journey,we also hear wind and Foley sound which adds to the tense mood thevoice over created. We then here an emergency call from a women in hysterics whilst we see2boys discover the the scene of a crime and blood everywhere inside the house.The film then

continues on to show what happened the previous night. Questions that may arise from the first 2minutes of the film is...what happened the night before? who is the women on the phone? whathappened to the couple that the voice over was discussing? The facts at the beginning did not gointo detail about the events that happened which leaves the audience in anticipation andencourages them to watch the film further.



Thriller conventions within films can be denoted in various forms such as dramaticirony,flash forwards,flash blacks,red herrings,foreshadowing,pathetic fallacy and twists. Anexample of a thriller that has a great deal of dramatic irony is 'One hour photo',thecharacters in this film have no idea that they are being stalked. The audience know morethan the characters which creates more suspense for us as we wait to see their reactions

when the story is revealed. Flashbacks and forwards are used frequently in 'FinalDestination',the plot is based on premonitions which suit the codes used. For example theflash forwards go into slow motion whilst the colour is slightly drained. These differentdevices help an audience identify the thriller genre and its conventions.

Thriller conventions are not only used in the opening sequence but throughout the film asforeshadowing is used often. The music gets louder whenever the director wants us to feel

scared or threatened as we know there is something to come,this is a common conventionused in thrillers as the audiences can quickly identify when something is going to happenwhen there is a change in sound. The lighting in this film is dark as the narrative is set atnight time,which is common in thrillers. The lighting in the house is also dim which createsa mysterious mood for the audience. Editing in this film consists of long takes in thebeginning as the focus is mainly on the couples relationship. Later when the trouble startsthe editing becomes quicker in certain places and then lingers to keep the audience

waiting therefore building tension.

Conventions in thrillers are easily identifiable as they are used so often,the opening scenefor my thriller will contain various methods of ways to create suspense for the audience. Byresearching different thriller openings i can look out for what aspects of the conventionsand codes i liked and include them in mine.

Three Thrillers Presentation

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