audience

What audiences would be drawn to the thriller genre?

The types of  audiences that would be drawn to the thriller genres would be people in the age group 15-35, mainly males. It would appeal to the people in the C2, D and E social profiling class, and mainstreamers

Suitable Audience

As we are going to create an opening sequence to an action or espionage thriller, we have decided that an audience from the age of 18 to 35 would be our target audience. However, it would still be suitable for 12 year olds because of the content going to be included. This is because there shall be no moderate violence shown in detailed with no disturbing sequences shown frequently. The opening sequence to the film will obey all the 12 to 12A BBFC classification guidelines. Within this relatively high age range for an action film, we will have to be aware of some factors in order to attract them such as, we will need to create many enigmas and will have a straight forward narrative in the opening sequence for this type of film.

Sub Genre

Sub Genre

A sub-genre is a variation of an already established genre. Sub-genre’s are used by audiences and institutions to further distinguish between different genre’s of film, A sub-genre will share a few major codes, conventions and iconography of the genre’s it is made from but will also have some that will made it unique.

                 A few examples of sub-genre would be Military, Kidnap, Erotic and Paranormal films all steaming from the Genre Thriller, one such film would be the famous ’Pirana’ which is a sub-genre  of the Thriller genre.

                 A sub-genre is often confused with a hybrid, and this is a very common mistake as many films that are subgenres will also be hybrids and vies-versa, a hybrid takes some aspects from many different film genres while a sub-genre only take some aspects from one genre and no more.

                Sub-genres are made to appeal to individuals within the larger audience, a person who enjoys action-thrillers for example will be more likely to see a action-thriller film then just a thriller film, although many thriller fans will also go to see the film, thus the audience expands and the film producers make more money.

28 Days Later

Analysis Of 28 Days Later Opening scene

The scene opens with the protagonist of the film being shown in a extreme long shot entering a church. The shot is taken at a high angle which makes the protagonist seem small, and vulnerable which causes tension among the audience because it gives the impression that he may not be perticullarly able to defend himself. The setting itself is a church that is shown in low key lighting. This makes a perfectly ordinary setting, one that a lot of people would go for safety at times of need seem alien and intimidating, emphahsising the backwardness of this new London the protagonist has woken up in. As he then climbs the stairs the camera gradually does a tilt shot upwards to reveal the words written on the wall "the end is very fucking nigh" it is written in a deep red colour and the shock of seeing such profanity in a church shocks the audience and implies even that it may be written in blood. So far everything shown in the scene is out of the norm and doesn't seem to make any sense which creates a enigma that keeps the viewer watching. What has happened and where has everybody gone?

During the scene there is very little ambiant noise and no score playing in the background. The complete absence of sound for such a long period of time makes people feel nervous and anxious, however a ominous score begins playing with sounds like a church bell ringing to amplify the horror the protagonist is looking out on, as he looks out we get a long shot of hundreds of dead bodies piled high in a church. As he looks out over the scene is dismay we get a medium shot of our protagonist to show the expression of confusion and shock on his face. The director uses this to instill the same emotions with his audience as they generally use their heroes as a guideline for how they should feel and think about things that happen in movies. As he then says the single word "hello" two people among the bodies spring up and turn to stare, the way they are behaving in such a setting is inexplicable to the point where it is unnerving to see these people staring in the midst of such carnage.

The protagonist then proceeds to walk away towards the sound of banging inside the church. The protagonist is shown in a low angled shot gradually approaching the door, the shot lasts a long time which builds up the anticipation felt by the viewer as they wait for something to happen. The banging however remains asynchronous and gradually gets more and more frantic. The desperation of the banging is very unnerving becuase of the dramatic irrony of the situation. The audince knows by now that whatever it is making the noise can only bring harm to our protagonist but he rather foolishly keeps on going towards the source of the noise. When we eventually find the source of the noise it turns out to be a priest, however this is identified by the costume he is wearing. The reason this character was used by the director is to shock the audience, of all people the most peacefull are generally the men in the priesthood who are trusted and respected but to see one acting so violently implies that the horror of the situation is minor compared to places elsewhere in London.

From London To Brighton Opening Sequence

In the introduction of the film ‘From London to Brighton’ it starts off with the media company it is with. If it is a good and well known company then it would make the audience feel like the film will be better, for this film it is with ‘Vertigo Films‘. It also gives a tableau showing the time and location of ‘London 3:07am’ probably to tell the audience that it is early in the morning. During this time there is silence, until a clip starts with a woman and a child running through a door.

From the start of the clip, and all the way through the introduction, the producers do not give much information out, instead many enigmas are produced for example; who is the person named Derrick and how did she get a black eye. Having an enigma at the start of the film is really good as it makes the audience want to watch more so that they can find out the answers that they want.

There are a lot of close ups, just showing parts of the face mainly, from this we can see many features of the characters.

At the end of the sequence, it has the film title, and then fades to black.

Opening Sequence analysis: From Russia with Love (1963)

The purpose of an opening title sequence for a film is usually to establish the mood and visual character of it. As a part of my research, I analysed the opening sequence of James Bond, From Russia with Love (1963). The sequence begins with the studio titles; in this case MGM, then we see some graphic titles where we are simply shown James Bond through a barrel, presumably a gun.

Over the titles we hear a non-diegetic score playing, we can denote from the score that it is at a fast tempo and has a swung rhythm, from all of this we can instantly connote that the film will be about espionage and action. We then began to see the opening sequence which was completely uninterrupted by titles.

During the opening sequence, the audience only hear the ambient sounds of a garden at the beginning, until we are introduced to another character that is following James Bond, when a quiet but tense score starts to fade in. therefore, the audience experiences dramatic irony as we know something that James does not. Also we are immediately confronted with enigmas, for example, ‘why are they following each other?’ We then find out that James realises the presence of another person when we hear a gun shot. The audience then are experienced with a shock as they see James Bond has been murdered.

However, we realise this was a red-herring as another man removes a mask from the killed figure, and notice that it was another person, this connotes that this opening sequence was the training for an assassin. The audience could also note that for the main bulk of the sequence there is no dialogue, meaning that the opening sequence can be portrayed simply by actions.

Next we see the full titles of the film, so we are shown the name of the film, who it is starring and the main production team, for example, the director and editor. We could also note that no minor roles have been put into these opening titles; this is because there is many people needed to create a film and would take far too long at the beginning to list all of them, instead this happens at the end. Over these full titles we hear another score that has a 60’s style, which simply helps the audience to set the genre of the film. Overall, I believe the main purpose of an opening sequence is to introduce to the audience the narrative, genre and themes of the film. We can also see that a common technique is to create many enigmas for the audience, in order to increase the attention and make them want to know what will happen next.

HISTORY

Thriller movies are movies which play on peoples fears and creates suspense and tension. A movie that would ‘keep you at the end of your seats’ for the whole movie

Thriller movies have been around for a long time, earliest known thriller being Harold Lloyd’s comic ‘safety last(1923)’ directed by Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor. There have been many genre-hybrids of thrillers, such as  alien(1970) which was a sci-fi-thriller and many more such as mystery-thrillers and crime-thrillers.

Alfred Hitchcock has been seen as the master of thriller films, he has made many thriller films starting with the silent film, The Lodger(1926). In his films he manipulates what the audience feels, and turns them into fear.

Through out the years, the thriller genre has changed to keep up with the changes in social attitudes and stay within the regulations. The role of the femme fatale has changed, they used to be killed off during the movies, but now they are not seen as being weak and easier manipulated now that woman are now seen as more equal.

5 of the top thriller movies are:

5.L. A. Confidential (1997)

4. The Shining(1980)

3. Psycho (1960)

2. Silence of the Lambs (1991)

1. Memento~(2000)

Analysis Of Saw, Jaws and Psycho

The thriller movie genre focuses most of its time on screen building suspense and tension among its audiences. This is done quite often through not only the cinematography etc. but also providing by the viewer with an enigma or “red herring” in order to keep said viewers engrossed in film due to the desire to find out the unknown.

A prime example of a movie that adheres to this is the movie “psycho” when the young, defenceless woman is attacked in the shower. We are shown the woman with high angles (to show that she is feeble and weak) and the attacker with low angles (to make him/her seem big and intimidating). We are also left unable to see the face of the attacker which once again creates and enigma for the audience, who is the assailant? Will he strike again? The idea of an elusive killer that could be posing as a normal person is terrifying to an audience as it throws into question the intentions of the people that they think they know. Of course this is all part of the charm of the thriller genre and one of the reasons people go to see it is to be shocked.

Perhaps one of the other most important things to make a thriller movie successful are the scores that are played in the background during the movie itself, probably the most famous example of a film with the ability to build tension among almost any audience is the score from the movie jaws. The steadily increasing tempo of the music is pleonastic as it mimics the increasing heartbeat of the victims in the movie and the music builds to a crescendo gradually. This is amazingly good at building the anxiety among the audience as they are waiting for the shark attack to take place and the longer they are left to wait the greater their apprehension will become.

One of the most powerful tools to any producer in instilling feelings in his audience such as fear is the characters in his film. What they look like and their expression and demeanour can say a lot in a film. For example in the movie SAW a lot of just the first movie was more like a thriller then a horror movie. In the shot bellow you can clearly see the look of anguish and hopeless desperation on the actors face. This creates a sense of dread within the viewer as they acknowledge the reality of their protagonist’s position and realise the necessity for drastic action, which in this particular film can only mean self mutilation.

It is however important, particullarly in films such as saw, to realise the differences between thriller movies and horror movies. In the first saw film much of the movie is similar more to a thriller rather then a horror becuase a lot of the violence is implid rather then displayed on screen. The movie was focused more on building tension and anxiaty among it's audiences rather then trying to repulse them and horrify them with blood and gore. Although the two genres are similar to each other in some respects it's is important to clearly define which the film is.

Conventions

Common thrillers provide thrills and keep the audience at the edge of their seats as the plot builds towards a climax. The tension usually arises when the character is placed in a menacing situation, mystery, or an escape from which escaping seems impossible, it is these main enigmas that create suspense in this genre. The conventions of the thriller genre are mainly to do with sound and editing, quick cuts and different camera angle changes are commonly used in this genre. Also lighting, especially the use of shadow, mirrors and stairs can lead to an increase of tension and suspense within a narrative. Normally, there is a lot of dim lighting used to show only parts of a character, there can be large lethal weapons for props and camera shots are mainly close ups, this is to restrict the information that is shown to the audience.

However in some thriller films, the audience is shown more than the characters may know, e.g. in Psycho, we see a shadowy figure behind the character. 

This is commonly used to make the audience feel sympathy for the character. Colours have also been used to signify different emotions, e.g. red may connote danger. Mostly thriller films have a non-diegetic score playing in the background creating a sound bridge to create a certain atmosphere.

Thriller films are normally shown from two points of view. First being of the protagonist; this involves the audience in events and can create empathy for the character. 

Occasionally the story is told from the view of the villain, which can lead to empathy for the villain also at their twisted understanding or perhaps disturbing past that has led to the present. Lastly though the story can be told from the point of view of an onlooker, this detaches the audience from events so they can be more observant. Things that seem to be quite common are shown at low angles and the high angles at certain points; the high angle is used mainly to show those in a powerful position.

Phone Booth is a particular example of a thriller that does play by conventions, as it avoids any darkness and shadow. However, the one way to link it to standard conventions is to say that you hear and see the story from the killer’s point of view; you are told a story with the use of flashback and fast editing.

Events in the storyline enable the film to progress, and allow the audience to second guess what will happen next. In many films they will be wrong so adds to suspense. The dialogue in thrillers is either minimal or never contains a complete explanation of events or a plot, to give it pace, and maintain the enigmas within the narrative, which is essential in building up suspense. Often in thriller films, there is one character that plays the role of a helpless innocent in need of rescue. Themes are commonly based around current fears and worries. They may be isolation, entrapment, murder or pain. There is therefore normally a male protagonist who battles the injustice and ultimately aims to defeat the residing evil of the situation. This can be a vast majority of characters from a monster to a twisted boy next door, there is however some common characteristics which include solitariness, revenge and anger. The setting in common thriller films can be in urban places, in cities or in sometimes in quiet country villages.