Thriller Conventions

Take notes under the following headings during your group seminars next week. Upload your notes to your homework and classwork blog.

CAMERA SHOTS/ANGLES/MOVEMENT

Quick editing creates interest in the scene. Crosscutting used to show what different people are doing at the same time. Flashbacks are used to gain an insight to the character. Tracking and pan shots used to keep interest on a particular individual. Can create excitement. POV shots through the eyes of the killer, gives a sense of suspense, anything can happen. Establishing shots, gives the audience an idea of the setting of the film, can establish the tone of the entire film. Close up, used to show expressions of the character. Birds eye view, shows how small characters are giving an idea of weakness.

SOUND

Used to heighten a mood, provide information about the location of a scene, advance the plot and tell us about the characters. Ambient, background noises. Score, music composed for the film. Selective is used to put emphasise on certain actions. Synchronous, sound matching actions. Pleonastic, a sound is heightened in a scene, emphasises impact, getting louder and louder. Silence, is unnatural

THEMES & MOTIFS

Thriller uses tension. Motif is a decorative image or design. Common themes are terrorism, conspiracy, murder. Religious themes. Political conspiracy is used to show true corruption. Religious themes attract audiences, it relates to their life.   Motif is a recurring theme through things like symbolism. Mystery that must be solved.

SYMBOLIC CODES (including enigma and binary opposites)

Objects and ideas that have a deeper meaning linked to thriller. Range of underlying themes and ideas linked to thriller films. Symbols: keys, looking glasses, mazes.           Death: the colour red, guns, knives. Binary opposites, light = good, dark = bad. Chasing scenes, busy streets, fast cars, running shoe shots, time passing, sound of clock, checking watch.  Symbolic codes are what make thrillers, the stereotypes, shots to remember.

IDEOLOGY

Runs alongside main themes that the directors try to convey. Underlying messages. SOTL, The humanity of hannibal, tries to connect with his humanity without truly connecting. TDK, rebellious ideology. Gone Girl, switching the audiences view of who to like, shows how the media represents how we view people. Gender representation. Memento, moral ambiguity of Leonard, portrayed at first as an innocent person, grey morality.

LIGHTING

Used to set different moods. Red light conveys danger, inconsistent light conveys mystery. Bright light is order and normality. Used to guide audiences attention to a specific area. Light can be used to show foreshadowing.

CHARACTERS

REPRESENTATION

The good guy, heroic, intelligent, faced with death, solve a problem/mystery. Starts off ordinary. Initially protagonist is presented as weaker, faced with problems and issues, usually caused by the antagonist. Can be completely different by the end. Can deal with their own issues.

Antagonist, assassin, criminal, sociopath struggles with a personality disorder. Psychotic, terrorists, presented as someone of high status, involved in a twisted relationship. Mindless violence, not always a personal issue.

Victims, average person, nothing distinguishable, young women, vulnerable, held hostage, can be close to the protagonist, can cause outrage in the protagonist.

The Shining, jack first presented as a protagonist, good intentions. Violent and aggressive, cross cutting between the frightened wife.

Gone girl, Amy, changes from innocent to the antagonist, clever, skilled, evil, secretive.

The Dark Knight, Bruce Wayne, heroic, courageous, breaks laws to do whats right, still has weaknesses, gets advice from father figure.

Inception, faced many troubles in his life.

SETTING & MISE-EN-SCENE

Setting includes location, time and where everything takes place and sets the mood for the story. Used to establish the genre and themes of the film. Platform for the themes and conventions. Divergent is set in a futuristic dystopian universe.

Mise-en-scene, elements of the background, express places/themes to the narrative. The Dark Knight Rises, theme of darkness which is incorporated in the lighting, plot and mise en scene.

MOOD & TONE

Mood: emotional tone of the film, how the audience feels. In thriller suspense, ominous, dreading.

Tone: the atmosphere of the film that implied by the director usually through thriller codes

Low-key lighting of many scnes, camera angles and editing techniques like parallel editing and jump cuts, gives the audience a suspenseful and ominous feeling. Often intensified by the diegetic and non-diegetic as well as other sound elements playing throughout the films in this genre.

Films in this genre, use tone to convey hidden meaning, ‘unknown’ as an underlying theme which directors convey is the sum of all fears for humans. lighting and sound is a primary technique to convey the tone, as well as the mise-en-scene of eerie and unwelcoming places.

Se7en: low-key lighting, tracking shots, cross-cutting, contrapuntal sound, montage

Shutter Island: low-key lighting, mid-shots, tracings shots, close-up

The Shining essay

A head and shoulders shot allows us to see Jack staring at the in the bathroom, about to attack his wife, but then we see his focus, and he turns around as he hears the sound of the approaching snow mobile. The lighting in the house is high key, and the colour schemes are mainly yellows and reds, warm tones. This represents a safe and comforting place, which is used ironically because the hotel is the most dangerous place Danny and his mother could be at that moment. We then see the contrast as we are shown a wide shot of the snow mobile, and the lighting is low key, and there are lots of blue and black tones, which harshly clashes, making the current snow storm look dangerous and unpleasant, this is also used ironically because it is the safest place to be.

Cross cutting is used throughout the scene to show the multiple perspectives of Jack Torrance, Danny, Wendy, and Dick Hallorann each one happening at the same time in parallel, this creates suspense by showing how close they are in relation and gives information that the characters don’t know but the audience do, for example, the audience doesn’t want Hallorann to enter because he will get attacked so the audience is waiting for that to happen. Continuity editing is used when Danny opens the closet in the kitchen and climbs in. Match on action is then used when Danny closes the closet door. When Jack hits Hallorann with the axe match on action is used as well as a point of view shot from Jack’s perspective to show the horrors of what he is doing. There is juxtaposition of Danny screaming mixed with Hallorann getting attacked.

In the opening scene we have a sinister score which grows louder and the sound effect of a beating heart which then transitions to silence as if stopped. The opening like this gives the movie a sinister tone as it imply that something will occur, this builds suspense as it preludes to what will happen in the film. In the following scene we have ambient sound which is chilling wind, this sound is selective as it emphasizes the isolation of where the characters are and help build the setting of the film. As the scene move on the ambients sound of the wind is carried over but not selective this time as it is more of a background noise (Diegetic) which reinforces the sense of isolation. The main focus of this scene is the boy running away, the selective noise here is his foot steps as he moves. In the next scene we have the buildup of suspense as the man moves into the house with only the ambient sound of the wind, as the man begins to walk through the house the score seems to grow louder and louder building up to the climax action where the man is killed. In the killing scene only sound is the score which synchronous so it plays of the actions of the characters. As the sense continues after the man’s death the score becomes heightened as the film moves onto the the next scene to build suspense for. In the last scene the score is carried over to the woman running up the stairs, the score being selective give a sense of desperation as the woman seemingly tries to run, as the clip continues the score tones down into a more suspenseful type building up to the next climax.

THRILLER EXAMPLES: SOUND (Nathan)

SOUND Diegetic  – sound that can be heard by the characters within a scene/ sound part of the imaginary world.

Non-diegetic

Sound – sound that the characters cannot hear and is not part of the imaginary world of the story. This includes a musical soundtrack or a voiceover (however this excludes a narration by a character within the story – referred to as an internal monologue and is diegetic).

Score – The musical component of a programme’s soundtrack, usually composed specifically for the scene.

Sound Effects – sounds that are added to a film during the post-production stage.

Contrapuntal Sound – Contrapuntal sound occurs when the music and visual elements play against each other, and are in contrast.

Pleonastic Sound – Sound that is heightened in a scene. i.e – a tap leaking gets louder and louder.

Dialogue – what the actor/actress or narrator is saying.

Ambient- Background sounds which are present in the scene e.g. animals, people, weather etc

Selective- Sound which is used to place emphasis on certain things in a scene

Sound Bridge – At the beginning of a new scene the sound is carried over from the end of the old scene

Synchronous – When a sound matches an action or event on screen and can be used to emphasize it

Asynchronous – When a sound or music does not come from the diegetic reality of the movie

Silence – Used to create suspense or get some sort of reaction from the audience

THRILLER EXAMPLES: CAMERA SHOTS AND CAMERA ANGLES (Zali)

Aerial Shot/Birds Eye View– A camera shot taken from an overhead position

Close Up – A head and shoulders shot often used to show expressions/emotions of a character. Also can be a shot of an object, filmed from close to the object or zoomed in to it, that reveals detail.

 

Extreme Close Up – A shot where a part of a face or body of a character fills the whole frame/dominates the frame. Also can be a shot of an object where only a small part of it dominates the frame.

Establishing Shot – A shot that establishes a scene, often giving the viewer information about where the scene is set. Can be a close up shot (of a sign etc) but is often a wide/long shot and usually appears at the beginning of a scene.

Medium Shot – the framing of a subject from waist up. 

Two Shot – A shot of two characters, possible engaging in conversation. Usually to signify/establish some sort of relationship

Point-Of-View Shot (POV) – Shows a view from the subject’s perspective. This shot is usually edited so that the viewer is aware who’s point of view it is.

Over the Shoulder Shot – looking from behind a character’s shoulder, at a subject. The character facing the subject usually occupies 1/3 of the frame but it depends on what meaning the director wants to create (for example, if the subject is an inferior character, the character facing them may take up more of the frame to emphaise this) 

Overhead Shot – a type of camera shot in which the camera is positioned above the character, action or object being filmed

Reaction Shot – a shot that shows the reaction of a character either to another character or an event within the sequence.

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CAMERA ANGLES

Camera Angle – the position of the camera in relation to the subject of a shot. The camera might be at a high angle, a low angle or at eye level with what is being filmed.

High Angle – A camera angle that looks down upon a subject or object. Often used to make the subject or object appear small or vulnerable.

Low Angle – A camera angle that looks up at a subject or object. Often used to make the subject/object appear powerful/dominant. 

Canted framing (or oblique)/Dutch Tilt – camera angle that makes what is shot appear to be skewed or tilted.

Editing – the stage in the film-making process in which sound and images are organised into an overall narrative.

Sherlock opening scene analysis

Opening credits, Mise en scene of cobblestone. Score playing in the background for the entirety of the scene. Diagetic sound of horses, tilt to view street, and pleonastic sound of horses as carriage comes into shot. Wide shot of carriage, establishing shot. Tracking shot following the carriage. Two shot of Watson and someone in the back of the carriage, match on action and close up of loading a gun. Close up of feet when Sherlock is running, match on action to wide shot of sherlock running. Handheld shot of carriage. Tracking shot and dutch tilt of Sherlock running. Point of view of the carriage. When Sherlock turns there is a tilt to show the buildings in the distance.  Wide shot of sherlock. Close up on sherlock landing. Animal parapsychology of horse getting scared. Match on action of Sherlock breaking down the door.

THRILLER EXAMPLES: EDITING

Editing – the stage in the film-making process in which sound and images are organised into an overall narrative.

Continuity Editing – the most common type of editing, which aims to create a sense of reality and time moving forward. Also nick named invisible editing referring to how the technique does not draw attention to the editing process.

Jump Cut – An abrupt, disorientating transitional device in the middle of a continuos shot in which the action is noticeably advanced in time and/or cut between two similar shots, usually done to create discontinuity for artistic effect.

Credits – the information at the beginning and end of a film, which gives details of cast and crew etc.

Cross Cutting – the editing technique of alternating, interweaving, or interspersing one narrative action (scene, sequence or event) with another – usually in different locations or places, thus combining the two: this editing technique usually suggests Parallel action (that takes place simultaneously). Often used to dramatically build tension and/or suspense in chase scenes or to compare two different scenes. Also known as intercutting or parallel editing

Cutaways – A brief shot that momentarily interrupts continuous action by briefly inserting another related action. Object, or person (sometimes not part of the principle scene or main action), followed by a cutback to the original shot.

Freeze Frame – the effect of seemingly stopping a film in order to focus in on one event or element.

Eye-line Match – a type of edit which cuts from one character to what that character has been looking at.

Flashback – a scene or moment in a film in which the audience is shown an event that happened earlier in the film’s narrative.

Graphic Match – an edit effect in which two different objects of the same shape are dissolved from one into the other.

Juxtaposition – the placement of two (often opposed) images on either side of an edit to create an effect.

Linear Narrative – a style of storytelling in which events happen chronologically.

Montage Editing – the juxtaposition of seemingly unconnected images in order to create meaning.

Parallel Editing – a type of editing in which events in two locations are cut together, in order to imply a connection between the two sets of events.

Visual Effects – visual effects are usually used to alter previously-filmed elements by adding, removing or enhancing objects within the scene.

Match on Action – A shot that emphasises continuity of space and time by matching the action of the preceding shot with the continuation of the action. (For example a shot of a door opening after a shot of a close up of a character’s hand turning a door handle)

Shot Reverse Shot – A film technique where one character is shown looking at another character, and then the other character is shown looking back. Usually during a conversation scene.

180 Degree Rule – The camera stays on one side of the axis of action throughout a scene, not breaking an invisible line. When shooting a scene, the camera must not cross over the line.

Thriller examples: Camera Movement

CAMERA MOVEMENT

Pan – Where the camera pivots horizontally, either from right to left or left to right to reveal a set or setting. This can be used to give the viewer a panoramic view. Sometimes used to establish a scene.

Track – a shot whjere the camera follows a subject/object. The tracking shot can include smooth movements forward, backward, along the side of the subject, or on a curve but cannot include complex movement around a subject. ‘Track’ refers to rails in which a wheeled platform (which has the camera on it) sits on in order to carry out smooth movement.

Crane – A crane shot is sometimes used to signify the end of a scene/ programme /film. The effect is achieved by the camera being put onto a crane that can move upward.
Steadicam – A steadicam is a stabilising mount for a camera which mechanically isolates the operator’s movement from the camera, allowing a very smooth shot even when the operator is moving quickly over an uneven surface. Informally, the word may also be used to refer to the combination of the mount and camera.

Tilt – where a camera scans a set or setting vertically (otherwise similar to a pan).
Zoom – Using a zoom lens to appear to be moving closer to (zoom in) or further away from (zoom out) a subject/object when in fact the camera may not move (so, strictly not camera movement). Can be used for dramatic effect. Tilt shots often heighten an audience’s level of suspense as they are unaware what the shot will uncover.

Other media projects

Media project: Ollie, Lewis, Gabby, Will

Camera shots: Close up on Nathan. Two shot of Ollie and Will.
Angles: Close up on Nathan. Two shot of Ollie and Will.
Editing: Different film scenes connected together well
Sound: Contrapuntal sound

Holly, Charlie, Ed:

Camera shots: Panning,
Angles:
Editing:
Sound: Contrapuntal

What is media today? Octave, Charles

Camera shots: Establishing shot, panning shot, look down
Editing: old movies compared to current movies

Media intro: Soane, Ed Hall

Camera shots: extreme close up, mid shot, high angle, reaction shot
Editing: quickly cut together, didn’t hang
Sound: cheesy music, worked well with the idea, cheerful

Then and Now

AS Media Studies Homework & Classwork