Thriller Evaluation Additions

Where considering our thriller as a whole, we used general thriller conventions to suit our genre. These include narrative conventions such as entrapment, being watched/followed, as well as the common character roles of a male psycho and a female victim. Though, thriller conventions have also been challenged.

When looking at films that relate to our opening sequence, the horror film 'Cabin In The Woods' fits the crisis setting of our thriller, within the woods. This suggests that our thriller includes a sub genre of horror, having an isolated location. This is also seen, in the costume change of the young girl. Blood, is a typical element within the horror genre, and this is seen on the young girls white dress suggesting gore within the narrative. Conventions also fit that the predominant section of the film is very dark and gloomy, which reflects the mood of the film.This also adds and creates both tension and anxiety amongst the audience. The mise en scene of every horror film is almost the same, always including a significant amount of low key lighting, and a lot more towards the end of the film, where the tension is at its highest.This is shown firstly when the antagonist is introduced, replicating his dark personality and thoughts, followed by the crisis scene situated in the woods, which was captured as dusk was setting. 

Thriller conventions have also been challenged by the horror convention of possession. This is shown in our opening sequence though the antagonists possession of the protagonists mind. Not only this but, horrors include a 'normal' location such as a house although, this would be abandoned due to the phenomenon. This could challenge our thriller genre due to the young girl being the only figure present within the house fitting to that of horror conventions. 

Other sub genres challenge my thriller including that of psychological genre. This sub genre is seen throughout our opening scene as the main element, with the antagonist controlling the protagonist. The young girl is not controlled physically but instead mentally. The psychological element also applies when considering the depth of our storyline. Having the parents of the young girl diseased,  this effects her mentally within the mind. This could also interlink to the mind set and inner soul of the antagonist, being distressed and twisted, challenging thriller conventions by adding areas of the horror and psychological genres. 

Thriller Evaluation

Final production

This is our finished thriller film.

Music Ideas

When considering a thriller film, music and sound acts as a literacy device to create an atmosphere, suspending anxiety and tension upon the audience. So, when composing our thriller film we will add background music, replacing dialogue so that the audience will feel more anxiety. Therefore, I have been looking on youtube for suitable song tracks that are related to young children, that encounter a disturbing twist. For our first track I have found a creepy ice cream truck tune. This interlinks well into our thriller because an ice cream truck shows intertexuality with children, though at the same time the silence plays part in the background creating suspension. For our second track, we found a creepy music box soundtrack. This would be a suitable track to fit our thriller because each note gives an echoing sound. This creates mystery and a sense of lingering anxiety. The simplicity of this, replicates that of a children's nursery rhyme, creating intertextual references with our thriller synopsis, encompassing a young school girl. This track also suspends silence within the background representing the theme of loneliness.

storyboards

Skmbt c45112111410420 from jallard6cre

Skmbt c45112111410421 from jallard6cre

This is my group storyboard. Here, the original plot outline of our thriller is being portrayed. As you can see, related images are allocated with each broken down section. This allows us as a group to organise the scene of our filming through imagery. This will build a base for us to later build and construct upon as we explore deeper into our thriller.

Primary Research

For my audience research, I have used a secondary source to find out statistical figures. These figures have come from the British Filming Institute (BFI) website. Also, percentages on audience satisfaction have come from the Rotten Tomatoes website, rating a numerous amount of different thriller genre films.

Though for my thriller film to be successful I need to collect some primary based data. For this I have conducted and created a survey on an online website, 'Survey Monkey'. Here, I have composed ten questions about the thriller genre. I aim to ask both genres, all around the age of 16 so that my results are reliable.

Below is the link to my survey
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/8PNB8JS

Preliminary Task

This is my first experience of filming an opening scene. Here, this is my groups preliminary task and the first task completed as a group. We decided to do a re-make of the thriller film; 'The Thing'. For this we used a teddy bear to be 'The Thing'. This is because a bear is seen to be related to young children or babies, representing innocence. This means that when our crisis occurs a huge amount of anxiety will be suspended upon our audience. As a group we experimented with a variety of camera angles and also enjoyed filming within the process.

Filming schedule

As a group of three, collected due to our closeness in locations, we plan to film on two days. These two days will be the 30th and 31st of October.

We plan on the first day to meet as a group at my own house. This is because the other two members of my group are easily mobilised due to each riding a motorbike and myself not. On this day we are aiming to capture all of our indoor footage. Planning to meet at midday, this will allow myself to dress up into character before the rest of my group arrive meaning that time will be managed and used efficiently. For the indoor filming I will be costumed in a school uniform representing the young school girl, Annabelle. The footage, we hope to fully receive on this day will be the opening to our thriller. We will be filming both the antagonist and protagonist in separate scenes using light as a device to alter the atmosphere in the same location.

If this all goes to plan and we are able to collect all our filming, then the next day we will be shooting outside. This day was chosen due to the clear, dry weather forecast that was predicted in the early evening.

 For this scene only the protagonist will be filmed within an enclosed woods. This means that again I will have to characterise and this requires me to change costume. I will be wearing a white dress, covered in red paint, replicating stained blood. Also, the other members of my group will have to help me customise by writing disturbed words over my arms, representing the mental scarring of the young girl. Planning to meet at 4pm, this will give us the optimum light being neither too light or too dark. If all filming goes to plan, we should be able to finish before it gets too dark meaning that we will have all our clear, visible footage that we need.

Questionnaire response

When analysing my questionnaire responses, some questions were revealed to contain mixed responses where as a small majority favoured one particular audience answer. My audience were all of the same age range being either 15 or 16 years old.

For my first question I asked my audience to specify their gender so that I have an idea of preferences by either gender. This may allow me to create a pattern within my results.

When looking at  my results above in a graphical format, this shows that all my audience were in agreement that both male and female characters should be included within my thriller. I feel this result came about due to the majority of films including multi gendered characters.

Next, the question asked was; 'Which characters portray a thriller best?'. Here I am accounting for the actions of both the antagonist and protagonist. For this, I gained a variety of different answers, with a male psycho and female victim coming out top on pole. I think this result was gained due to most thrillers consisting of this concept and the fact of the male gender being generally much stronger than the female.

When asked; 'Should the assassin be...' the majority of my audience answered with, your normal everyday person. In opposition none of my audience answered with a past criminal. I think this was the result because this convention would build anxiety and suspense due to the mysterious characteristics of the antagonist.

My next question was; ' what sub genre to a thriller do you prefer?' For this question I gave my audience three options to choose from. Out of these, two battled close to appear on top. Though, the favourable of my pole was a psychological sub genre. Psychological thrillers are popular due to the suspended anxiety and tension that the genre creates upon the audience within the mind.

Looking at my next question displayed in a graph, it is clearly visible that the preferred location for my thriller to be taken out is within an unknown location. By this I mean a location unidentifiable by the audience. This means that mystery would be suspended upon the audience due to consolidation.

For my seventh question I choose to ask a multiple choice question. Here, I offered a choice of 6 possibilities to the question; 'What elements do you like within a thriller film?'. From this only half proved to be popular with my teenage audience. Top came mystery, jointly followed by suspense and death showing that horror could possibly be a popular sub genre.

My next question targeted my audience more specifically; 'What is your favourite thriller film?' For this, I gave a list of possibilities to avoid the question of having to define the thriller genre. From this, the thriller, Inception was most popular. Following this question I asked my audience to explain why. Answers such as, 'It plays with your mind' and because 'It creates tension and suspense' were given to back up this favourable film. This was closely followed by the 2010 Dark Knight.

Finally my last question was; 'Which use of sound do you think creates more suspense?' Here I aimed for the literacy device of sound to see what makes my audience more anxious. It was revealed that twisted children's nursery rhymes did the job best. I think this is because nursery rhymes are related to young children who are of pure innocence, so having them twisted shows disturbance.

Review of our first thriller shots

When collecting our first clips for our short thriller film opening, this was seen to be successful. Though, this did not all go to plan originally and we had to change some of our locations the film we collected was admirable for our thriller. The filming was specifically taken to capture tension and anxiety through the literacy device of lighting. Though, with all or filming the main problem we encountered was the natural light of day. We planned to go out at dusk around 4pm, through as time went on with our filming the day of light darkened so our end clip of filming will have to be re captured due to the bad filming quality.

Another problem is seen when coming to edit our footage. This is the diegetic sound within the background of our indoor scenes. The difficultly with this is, is producing a constant flow of music without it having jumped gaps between individual clips. The result of this means that as a group we will have to separately record the music and lay it under our original clips, detaching the existing audio.

Although, as a whole, we are pleased with our captured video shots due to the high quality they are presented through.

Filming locations

When filming, we used a variety of different locations so that different atmospheres were created along with emphasis upon the audience.
For the start of our thriller, we filmed within a house. This location set an everyday, normal scenario for the base of our thriller, suspending anxiety on the audience when our crisis and climax occurred. The mass of an inside filming was taken within a small study room. We decorated this location with objects such as pens, pencils and teddy bears representing a scene associated with a young girl. We also used this small room so that the thriller narratives of isolation and entrapment were present. An inside location was again needed due to the adjustment of light. This was used when filming the antagonist, using Helmet Nickel's theory of black hats and white hats, though through the use of lighting within the setting. This same room was used in two different scenes but with the adjustment of light and surrounding objects this created the base for two different atmospheres.

We also used the location of a woods. This was used for the climax of our thriller. The protagonist was filmed here and encompassed the theme of loneliness within the scene due to the surrounds almost creating an arc around the young girl. This creates emphasis and tension within the audience due to the disturbed location of which the young school girl stands alone. This location was used in the dusk of the day so that the darkness effected the sentiment of the scene towards the audience.

Editing mechanisms

When looking at editing, we want our use of editing to emphasise the content of the film and to create both fast and slow paced scenes. By doing this, a suspended affect of anxiety will be placed upon the audience due to edits hiding certain aspects of our thriller film and effecting the heartbeat of the observing audience. By doing this, mysterious, suspense and tension will be created. 

Firstly, we will be using a match cut. This will fade from the young girls frantically drawn image of the woods, to a shot of a real wood. This will show the hypnotic stage of which the girl is zoned into and the thriller narratives of being both watched and followed. Not only this, but this will show our ability in editing and will create a sense of mystery interlinking the girl to the assassin to woods. This will be a slow shot to build suspense, creating a crisis that will eventually lead up to the climax of our thriller film.

Next, we will use both slow and fast fades, depending upon the scene. In scenes where there is little or no action we will use slow fades. This will create suspense and mystery leaving the audience on tender hooks wondering what will happen next due to the lingering silence. Imposingly in fast paced scenes we will use very quick fades. This will create a sense of urgency within the scene and emphasises the emergency of which it carries. Therefore, these are more likely to be in scenes of crisis or climax. 

Finally, jump cuts will be used in scenes where importance is lacking or in scenes where long and close up shots are used. Using fades or other transitions is unnecessary within these scenes because they are used to focus upon one thing or place and are usually of fast past, intentionally used to create tension by setting the scene or atmosphere for the plot. For example in a conversation, with dialect being important, if a camera was taking an over the shoulder shot of plural characters, this would need to be snappy to show the different perspectives of which the characters are portraying. 

Props, costume and equipment

For our group thriller creation, only a few props will be needed.
The most important prop needed will be a china doll. This will be used to influence certain positions of the young girl, she therefore mimicking them. This will create tension due to the creepiness of which these exact replications occur. This will also intrinsically link the two characters together showing the controlling side of our thriller. This will also include typical thriller narratives of someone being watched and followed.

A television will also create part of our thriller. Here the television will act as a hypnotic device, fuzzing black and white, menacing with the girl and therefore making her zone out of her everyday life. This will link both characters together due to the trance of which the antagonist will later put the young girl into.

Red paint will also act as a key prop. This will make our thriller mysterious due to the lack of knowledge of which the audience will in tale. The girl will be scened within the woods in a dirty white dress and covered in blood. This will give the impression of struggle as if the girl has been battling her way though the woods. Not only this but having a hand print stained on the dress this shows control from the assassin not only mentally but physically also. A white dress is also required. We choose this costume because white is symbolic to purity and therefore represents innocence. Not only this but white plays the perfect contrast to what is meant to be blood, making it seemingly noticeable to the audience. Another reason why the protagonist is costumed in white is because this follows Helmet Nickel's theory of white hats, black hats making this girl a presumed femme fatal.

Finally, the prop of eyeliner will be used, acting as that of a body paint. This is because the scribbled thoughts of the girl will be physically embedded into the girls skin, showing her thoughts rather than imagining them mentally. These will be disturbed thoughts for a young girl including the words death, kill and help. This will give the theme of possession and also the controlling aspect of our thriller. This will act as a device to show both physical and mental scaring.

Next, when looking at costumes, only one will be used. This is due to having only two casted characters, one being the antagonist of which only his hands are shown to create anxiety within the audience. Though, the casted girl being the protagonist will have a specific costume. this will be a white dress giving Helmet Nickel's theory of white hates, black hats. The white dress of the young girl with represent innocence and purity. A dress is also common with young girls and with this being white will also show a great contrast with the blood of which it will be stained.

Finally, when considering the equipment that we be needed. We will use:

• A camera - This will act as our filming device, capturing the footage of which we will later edit and put together to make our final thriller film. 
• A tripod - This will be used to help maintain a steady shot when doing a range of different shots and angles, especially when zooming and doing arc shots.
• A computer - This will be needed to edit the footage. By using the application of imovie this will allow us to add affects and sound to our thriller film.
• A DSLR camera - This will be used to capture still images of our filming locations, including that of a darkened room and the woods. This will act as part of our thriller planning. 

Thriller film character backgrounds

Within my thriller film, two characters are casted. This includes a young girl, being the victim and in some cases also presumed an assassin. An old man is also involved, being the key antagonist with the film.
The young girl - Annabelle.
Annabelle is a young school girl, who lives an ordinary life. Currently, attending the St Johns Christian school, she has been there for 3 years. Her past is though, not so merry. At the very young age of only 2, her parents died in a car crash. Though still to this day, the occurrence of this event is still a mystery being continuously investigated today. Due to this tragic event, Annabelle lives with her aunt and uncle. They struggle on a day to day basis trying to make sure Annabelle doesn't get mentally scared by her troublesome past. At school, Annabelle spends her time alone. She often spends her time drawing out her haunted thoughts, trying to relive her pain. When she arrives home from school, Annabelle rushes straight up to her room to play with her toys. Her carers don't see her all that much, only at dinner time.

The old man - Jeremy

Jeremy is a 58 year old man, living alone in a small one bedroom flat. He is a lonely man, having no family or friends ever visiting him. Jeremy doesn't even have contact with anyone. When Jeremy was a young boy at the age of only seven, he went missing consecutively for three days. He was found covered in blood, alone and dressed only in a white sheet. Before his disappearance, he was a popular young, friendly boy with lots of friends, enjoying sport. Since then, he has had emotional scarring with an irrational fear of being sociable to strangers. Jeremy spends most of his time in the flat, leaving only twice a day. Once in the morning when he leaves to walk past St. Johns Christian School on route to the local shop to pick up his daily newspaper and again on route to the playing field where he goes to walk his old dog, Buster. These coincidentally are times in which Annabelle goes to and from school. These are the only times people see him out other than when Jeremy visits the local supermarket to food shop. Currently retired, having been in the industry for 20 years, Jeremy used to be a taxidermist. He loved his work, having his finest creations on display around his house and is still influenced by his work today.

Thriller film synopsis

Our film is named; 'The absence'. We decided on this name due to the synopsis of our thriller film, having a young girl absent within the mind.
A young girl, rushing in from a long day at school. Running into her study, ready and eager to play with her toys. Though for a young girl boredom soon takes its place so she decides to switch on her television. Sitting on the floor, her television suddenly starts fuzzing repeatedly black and white. Picking up the remote, she tries switching channels trying to fix the problem. The channel flicks, twisted nursery rhymes start playing, enchanting her into a fixation. Zoned out, the girl frantically starts drawing, scribbling a picture of the woods writing her thoughts deep into her drawing. Suddenly, she finds herself within her drawing, in the woods alone, in a dirty white dress.
Hands of a man, in a dark lamp lit room are seen. Chanting obsessively, he continously repositions a broken faced china doll. These mimic the actions of the girl.
Back in the woods, the girl wonders off deep into the woods covered in her thoughts and stained with blood. What is about to happen?

G321 Audience research

Genre:

When looking in to the audience opinion on the thriller genre, the popularity of thrillers in the British marketplace are established. A statistical yearbook from the British Film Industry can prove this by taking typical conventions for each genre, gauging relative audience popularity. When summing up my findings, statics reveal that the thriller genre ranked 7th in box office returns in 2011, falling within the top half of all genres. The total box office return in this year, pulled in the sum of £55.3 million. With film releases in the United Kingdom in 2011, the thriller genre has had 28 releases being released at an average number of 150 point sites. This puts the thriller genre 9th in this certain area, being within the second half of all 16 genre releases.

Audience: 

In the year 2011, the total size of the film audience in the United Kingdom was estimated to be a humongous 5.1 billion. From this categories are split to account television as 77% of the total audience, followed by DVD and like media as 14.2%, downloading and streaming via all sources at 5.5% and the lowest, cinema at only 4%.

Considering the age distribution, of cinema goers throughout the years 1997 to 2011,  the proportion of people over the age of 45 going to the cinema increased gradually at the expense of the younger generations. Though recently, since 2009, the statics for the cinema goers age ranged between 15 - 24 has decreased although figures for all other age categories have increased when going to the cinema.

When looking at different age groups and their preference in film, the genre of which fluxuates. Animations are of a particular appeal to a 7 - 14 audience, especially the films; 'Horrid Henry' and 'The Smurfs' ranking in 42% of the genres total audience. Comedies, such as 'The Inbetweeners Movie' appealed to the 15 - 24 age group, pulling in a massive 67%. Films with an above average audience of 25 - 34 age group preferred the film 'Captain America: The First Avenger' than any other. Parents and carers in the 35 - 44 audience meant shares within the animation genre increased when 25% of the audience viewed the film; 'Tangled'. Penultimately, the age group ranging from 45 - 54 were attracted by the film; 'Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows'. Finally, the eldest audience, 55 and over appealed strongly to; 'Jane Eyre'.

There is also a difference in the films viewed when looking at opposing social groups. These groups are devised by wealth, having the AB social group being wealthier than that of the DE audience. The segment targeting of the AB audience in 2011 had a 50% total audience viewing the film; 'One Day'. This opposes the choice of the DE audience seeing the comedy, 'Johnny English Reborn'.
Gender again is represented in the same fashion. The thriller film, 'The Black Swan' had a higher percentage of female viewers (61%) to male viewers (39%). This therefore indicates that female viewers prefer thrillers with a psychological sub genre. Not only this but, i suggest females like this film due to the continuous theme of ballet, something less appealing to the male gender. In contrast the film, '127 Hours' had a high percentage of male viewers (68%) opposed to the measly 32% of female audiences. This suggests that males prefer a thriller with perhaps a more gory side, tilting more towards the horror genre. The film 'Tinker, Sailor, Solider, Spy' appeals evenly to both genres. A reason for this may included the mystery based convention which it conveys, opposing to a specific gender based convention or theme unlike the above categorise into.

When looking at an opposing website, Rotten Tomatoes, this shows the appeal of different thrillers to film critics.
North by Northwest 100%
Psycho 97%
Pulp Fiction 95%
No Country for Old Men 95%
The Dark Knight 94%
Looper 93%
Inception 86%
Leon 79%
The Grey 79%
Shutter Island 69%

From my list above I have chosen the film, Inception to show contrasting views which have been given from film critics about approaches on the thriller film.




Stuart Klawans: The Nation - 'What is the point of having an imagination, I ask you, if the only thing that can be imagined is mayhem, perpetrated without regard for even the appearance of human life?'

Jason Best: Movie Talk - 'A brain-twister to be sure. But the fact that the plot demands attention only adds to the exhilaration. This is a story about dreams that requires the audience to stay awake.'

Analysing 2 thriller film titles

Here, I am going to analyse two thriller film titles. From this, connotations about the film will be revealed, simply by deconstructing the main title.

Firstly I am annotating upon the Thriller title; 'Looper'. From research, a dictionary definition of the word 'looper' means; a person or thing that loops or makes loops. This immediately makes connections with the plot summary, surrounding a mob that wants to 'close the loop' on a singleton character. This suggests an outnumbered victim against his assassins, indicating the typical thriller theme of entrapment.

A 'Looper' is also a person associated with computer science. This suggests the scientific knowledge of the characters and therefore the potential risks in overreaching unforeseen circumstances.

When looking at the graphology of the title, more connotations are witnessed. The font style is very futuristic, having a beaming glow behind the font represents a solar object moving in the distance. This therefore, makes connections with space and scientific academia.
The use of capitalism also shows presence and mass, maybe representing the standings of planets within the solar system. This also connects to the spacing of the title, showing the distance of which objects in space stand apart.

Finally, the typography reveals a basic sans-serif font. This reduces the formality of the film but shows the modernness of the film, having recently been released. In French the word 'sans' means without representing the loneliness of the victim within the film. Not only this but, the typeface is referred to being grotesque referring to a slightly gothic genre within the film 'Looper'.

Secondly, I am analysing the thriller title; 'Shutter Island'. A technical definition of the word 'shutter' means to be closed for security or privacy. Privacy would link to the mysterious hideaway within the film and the theme of disappearance. Not only this but the word 'island' plays to this connotation too. 'Island' is a piece of land surrounded by water. This therefore suggests the typical thriller theme of isolation. Also when unraveling the meaning of the title as a whole, this links into the synopsis of the film having an island containing the mentally insane, entrapped due to security measures.

Next, looking at the graphology of the title, the red colour catches the eye. The colour red is symbolic to danger representing the key thriller narrative of death, specifically in this case murder. Also, the font style and capitalism is strong showing presence and indicating how the island stands alone.

Finally, the typography witnesses a sans-serif font. This shows that the film is informal but has the appealing aspect of replicating a modern nature to younger audience. Also, having this font being described as grotesque, suggests the type of conventions within the thriller genre and therefore ideals to this film, 'Shutter Island'.

Short thriller ideas

when contemplating a couple of thriller ideas for my own movie, I came up with the two ideas of;

1). Set amongst a small, everyday family. A stranger or monster is thought to be lurking within the house, though under cover having never been seen. Mysterious things are happening around the house, terror spreads through the family in fright. Though, unknown to the older family members, the child is the demon, locked inside.
2). A girl, that people believe to be mentally unstable tells stories of being taken into the woods by a stranger and beaten. This event happens but unknown to the police, they don't believe the girl but instead suggest that she is mad. One night, she comes home from work to find her older sister missing even though the house looks untouched. She tells the story of her sister having the same fate as she once did but having no one to believe her, she goes on a mission to find her sister herself, ending up in same position as she once was before. Faced with her assassin.

G321- Thriller scenes

Thriller: Insidious

Director: James Wan
Production company: Blumhouse Productions
Release date: 29th April 2011 (UK)
Location: United States
Worldwide Box office returns: $97, 009,150
The age rating of this film is a 15. This means that the target audience of appeal for this film would be anyone ranging from late teens onwards into adulthood. This film was rated a range of user comments and ratings on the IMDB website including;

• Scariest Movie I've Seen In Years!!!
  
• Borrows a lot from other films, yet stands out on its own..enjoyable Horror movie.
  
• Better than "Paranormal Activity" and "Saw" combined.
  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXWorkzV884

For my analysis, I have chosen the film 'Insidious'. This film falls into the thriller genre due to the anxiety suspended upon the audience. For this analysis I have chosen one particular scene from the film and am going to answer the specific question; 'How are women represented in the scene?'

Firstly when discussing this question, it should be stated that this scene mainly encompasses two characters, one being the antagonist and the other the protagonist. This means that the scene is focused on only one element. At the very start, the women in the scene is projected as emotionally unstable. This is due to her presumably waking up, startled, from a nightmare about her own flesh and blood son.

This, straight away follows thriller narratives by showing a pre determined death. In reaction, this is shown by shock, being portrayed by incredibly heavy, deep breathing. From this we can assume that this women is the protagonist due to herself being in a vulnerable position in which to be easily targeted. This is so due to the bad state of mind in which the women is represented. The next noticeable feature is the low revealing, unbuttoned top. This automatically makes the women exposed and liable to be hurt in body due to the open temptation. This temptation is greatly seen by the opposite sex making the women a stereotypical representation of a victim. With the female being the victim this fits in the femme fatality theory, being constructed from audience assumption. This is a typical convention seen through the film semiology, which falls into the thriller genre.

Another feature is the theme of loneliness. With the women being alone and unaccompanied this means that an open attack is possible due to the lack of security she holds. This usually is provided my a male character, though in this case the female has more power over the male character by making him sleep downstairs on the sofa possibly due to a recent argument. This means that the women is left to defend herself providing a sense of isolation.

The mise en scene doesn't help this character either. The mise en scene is very claustrophobic meaning there is little escape, therefore representing entrapment for the character. Not only this but having open spaces such as windows, allows easy access for the antagonist and follows the typical thriller narratives of deception, along with the victim being watched and followed. With fright being witnessed a quiet call for help it sent out. With nobody being able to hear this represents the female as a weak source. Not only does it show this physically but through the strength of the mind, also.

When contemplating the costume, this plays against the innocence of the character. With the women wearing black this would represent her as the antagonist assuming that black is a bad representation. This therefore denies the Helmet Nickel theory of white hats/ black hats, having the antagonist in a black costume and the protagonist in white, suggesting purity and innocence.
Finally, at the end of the scene the antagonist approaches the women. The letting out of a humongous scream and cry for help therefore shows the women as fragile and dependant, being in position of terror.

To conclude, this scene fits into the thriller genre due to presenting typical thriller narratives, themes and iconography. Overall the women figure is presented with the femme fatality theory, being the vulnerable victim common to the thriller genre.

Thriller: The Grey

Director: Joe Carnahan
Production company: Open Roads Film
Release date: 27th February 2012 (UK)
Location: Canada
Worldwide Box office returns: $77,278,331
The national age rating of this film is a 15. This means that the target audience is that of the elder yeared adolescent. This film though, still appeals to that of an adult audience. Specifically, the audience of thriller film fanatics is targeted, using literacy devices to create anxiety within the audience. When considering user ratings and reviews from the official IMDb website, you get a very mixed response, ranging from excellent to the extremely poor. For example;

• Totally unrealistic
  
• Survival-Action at its Best
  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLLcH0x1kwg

Here, I am going to be answering the question; 'How is sound used to create suspense and other effects in the scene?'. For this, I have chosen the thriller fitting film, 'The Grey' and the plane crash scene included within.

To start, the backing sound is of working engines, specifically of an aeroplane. This immediately sets the scene of being in a moving aircraft. Along with this, eeriness is created due to the quietness, being able to hear every small encompassed detail like that of the drawing curtain carried out by a member of cabin crew. Next, a change in pitch of the running engines occurs. The pitch becomes higher and therefore creates emphasis with the audience due to the unsettling and uneasy sound. Not only this but the mise en scene suggests a building crisis as the television becomes disfigured representing a twist in the storyline.

As the camera begins to pan out a disturbing sound is heard within the background. The sound of this appears to be a movement along the planes outer surface, something unusual and abnormal which should not be happening. This therefore indicates an occurring big event. Tension is also created by what we assume to be the protagonist. From this character, you can hear the heavy breathing of which he carries out indicating fright upon the horizon. Suddenly, a bright scene comes into play encompassing total silence.

This therefore suggests a state of peace with the symbolism of the colour white representing heaven. Not only this, but here you can apply the theory of Helmet Nickel, having the protagonist dressed in white. This peace is then immediately interrupted with a loud twisted noise, placing the protagonist back into the dreaded reality of what is happening amongst the plane. Following, distressed emotions are established, hearing sounds of panic and terror within the voices of other protagonists.

Next, a scratching sound is witnessed. This sound appears to be sharp indicating danger against the factor of entrapment within the plane. This connotes the typical thriller genre due to entrapment and the travelling, voyeurism being specific narratives.

The noise within the background slowly quietens down thought to be revealing the audience of gathered tension, although this suddenly creates the base to the crisis. Within the crisis of the scene a wide array of mixed sounds are concentrated. Here you hear the screams of protagonists, the smashing and destruction of the glass windows, along with explosive noises. This is symbolised by the red screens, representing danger.

With the man falling from the plane the sound represents the speed of movement of which he is falling, that of a very fast paste. Finally after the crash, sound represents the protagonist as weak due to the heavy breathing rate of the character. Also, wind is sounded within the scene creating a sense of lingering tension, this being a key sounding device within a typical thriller genre.

Thriller: Inception

Director: Christopher Nolan
Production company: Warner Bros. Pictures in association with Legendary Pictures
Release date: 16th July 2010 (UK)
Location: United States, United Kingdom, Canada and France
Worldwide Box office returns: $825, 532,764
The age rating for this film appears to be a 12A. This means that the younger teenager audience are targeted along with parents due to parental advisory supported by this age group. This immediately indicates to the audience that the typical thriller genre conventions, especially the themes and narratives are not as brutal as that of an older certified film. When looking upon the IMDb user ratings and reviews you see the wide spread of highly applauded views. These included some of the following;

• Insanely Brilliant ! Nolan has outdone himself !!
  
• In a Decade, "Inception" May Be A Religion
  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HM5YBXkE9s

I am going to be analysing the thriller film; 'Inception' and aspects of the dream collapsing scene. For this, I am partying it with the question; 'How has the director used claustrophobic spaces to create a scene of menace?'

Firstly, the director has situated the scene within a small room. Being surrounded by walls and having antagonists block doorways, this  immediately represents the typical thriller theme of entrapment. Not only this but including confined spaces, fits into typical iconography of the genre. The coloured screen in the background of the room is orange. This has been cleverly used by the director to symbolise danger. The room has also been given a dark hue, this creates a sense of disturbance, due to the increased chance of unknown menace creating a sense of tension with the audience.

When considering these themes, the protagonists are easily identifiable due to the surroundings of which they become central to. This therefore, backs the idea of claustrophobic spaces creating a feeling of anxiety. Also, having tight spaces allows a lot of action to happen within the scene, making characters easy and open targets when considering the thriller theme of death.

 A chilling atmosphere is therefore suspended upon the audience due to the knowledge of future fate. Within  the crisis scene, much catastrophic takes place. The collapse of the staircase allows excess menace to be established due to the key focus being taken upon the event happening rather than characters actions in the mist of the scene. This plays to the antagonists advantage due to the disguise of which is placed upon the characters actions. Not only this, but with the occurrence of mass destruction this acts an obstacle, creating a fight for menace to take place. Though, the director allows this to happen so that the broken objects hide the characters, indicating a sense of unknown to both the protagonist and the antagonist so that tension and surprise is suspended onto the audience.

Finally, a tight confined space is witnessed when a man is seen enclosed within a bath. This gives the audience a sense of drowning due to the encompassing nature of the water. In this, the water acts as bars, trapping the character within. Again, this is a typical icon within the genre, establishing this film as a thriller.

Thriller: The Dark Knight Rises

Director: Christopher Nolan
Production Company:
Release Date: 20 July 2012 (UK)
Location: United Kingdom, United States and India
Worldwide Box Office returns: $1,013,114,000
The national age rating for this The Dark Night Rises is a 12A. This aims the film specifically at the younger aged adolescents due to the 'A' indicating anyone under the age of 12 will have to have parental attendance. Though, with this certificate the film could also be targeted at adults, having to take their children to the cinema. When looking on the IMDb website, the average rating from viewers is 8.8/10. This means that the film has had a positive outcome with generally, widely spread good reviews, expect the occasional few;

• Stunning Conclusion to an Epic Trilogy

• Beautiful. Immense. Spectacular. Perfect.

• Lazy, incoherent, and unsatisfying on nearly every level.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAVzJPA30_0

Finally, I will be technically analysing the thriller film; The Dark Knight Rises, in sequence to previous Batman films. For this depiction, I will use the Joker Party Scene. When considering a question, I am going to try combining all the above questions that I have already answered as a whole with only this singular clip, these being; 'How are women represented', 'How is sound used to create suspense' and 'How are claustrophobic spaces used to create menace'.

Firstly, when breaking down the scene, sound is the first literacy device that you notice. At the very beginning of the scene, the sound is deep and powerful, dropping low beats. This is used to represent the high presence of the walking man, presuming that he is an important figure, also lent to this assumption by the way he is smartly dressed in a suit indicating stanched hierarchy.

As the joker reveals himself from inside the elevator, and gun shots are fired, a dead silence hits the scene. This immediately interlinks guns with silence due to the key feature of death.
With this silence, this shows the joker to have the most authority at the time due to silencing the rest of the characters within the scene that were once before more active in their dialogue. The silence within the scene allows the joker to have the only dialogue at this point, showing him to be the leader, having the signified key role.
Later on, within the scene, a backing sound starts to build. This construction of sound is slow and therefore builds tension upon the audience. The reason for this is due to the anticipated crisis that the audience believe to be occurring.
The sound carries on building until the highest tone is presented. Suddenly, as the literacy device alters so does the content and atmosphere of the scene. In this case, as the heavy beat comes to play, Batman makes his entry. After this, the sound alters in pitch and tempo witnessing high levels of action between the main antagonist and the hero. With this fast tempo, the fight scene suspends high intensity upon the audience.

Finally, as far as sound is concerned, silence is again witnessed so that the jokers dialogue is the key feature at the end of the scene. As the joker says "Let her go is a very poor choice of words" a heavy bass is placed replicating the depth of which the protagonist is about to fall and the impact of which it will place upon her body.

The sound within this scene is mainly diegetic because it is natural although, at the sound at the start of the scene it is non-diegetic because a soundtrack has been placed over the filming, so the suited man is represented to have presence.

Next I will be answering 'How claustrophobic spaces are used to create menace'. Going back to the start of the scene, the antagonist is able to take control of his protagonists by being confined within a small space allowing him to surround his victims. This allows the typical thriller narrative of entrapment to be present. Although the room is seen to be quite spacious, no doors or windows are clearly seen. This indicates the anonymous feature of no possible escape.

Next, the antagonist is seen circling the main protagonist. This again, entraps the women by being physically surrounded, giving no space for freedom producing feelings of anxiety. Also, when considering this, the camera is moving around the characters, completing a full circle representing again no means of escape.

Finally, a weapon is within hold of the antagonist. This immediately symbolises danger to the audience due to the sharpness of the object. This indicates to the audience that the hostage is likely to be the femme fatal of the scene.


My last question to answer is, 'How are women represented within the scene'. When considering this scene as a whole, the women sex are all represented in the same means. By this, firstly you can depict the costume of the female characters. With all, a formal event shows each character to be wearing a revealing costume, showing bare skin whether this to be arms, legs or cleavage. This means that the women sex are the optimal protagonists of the scene because they are more open to attack due to themselves having less protection and security covering their body. This therefore makes them vulnerable especially to the male sex.

Finally when considering the female characters, an opened face presumes them to be the 'good' characters. This contrasts against the character of the joker who has his face covered in disturbing make-up. This allows the character to hide his true identity, making the other characters anxious, representing him as the 'bad' character. Though, the character of batman could fit into the Verfremdungseffekt theory, describing him as good, though he carries out bad deeds to some of the other characters. This film therefore fits into the thriller genre by having the typical thriller characters of a psycho, assassin, detective, victims and criminals.

This film is also seen to have intertexual references with films such as, Superman and Spiderman, due to these films both encompassing a psycho and hero fighting over a single female protagonist. Not only this, but both are alike due to each being within typical thriller genre, playing with the typical thriller narratives of being both watched and followed.