Summary of the key points in the article.

Why "Thrillers" Thrive: Originally published in Picturegoer, January 18, 1936.

The key points to a thriller is to create the thrill the audience want, whilst consciously having the security of knowing they are quite safe sitting in their chairs watching the scene. Thrillers create a kind of life we don't experience ourselves, or the same life but with a difference, a difference which embarks on emotional disturbances which we call "thrills". Although it may not be practicable to experience sufficient thrills at firsthand, it is in our nature to want those "shake ups" whilst watching a tense scene. Within filming thrillers, directors and editors have abled us to experience firsthand thrills artificially. When thinking of creating a thriller you have to consider making the audience project themselves into the character's consciousness. However in order the produce a good thriller which is most effective on our target audience, we have to make the audience feel like they are participating rather than spectators for them to experience the firsthand thrill.
Thrillers let the audience use their imagination, they don't always make it obvious and as graphic as a horror would, thrillers create the intensity but don't horrify the audience and make them uncomfortable. Thrillers often leave the answer to the audience, for example close ups of the character's face to absorb their emotions, in a murdering scene, you may see something bad going to happen but before you see them fall to their death, it's a blackout. This causes the audience to make their own personal questions to what has happened in their mind which helps build the intensity. However, the audience's subconscious is aware that they are safe, sitting in a comfortable armchair, watching a screen.
If the audience's security is undermined, the thrill created is not the kind to please the public. This can occur in many horrors as the graphical scenes show too much detail towards the horrific scene which makes the audience unease, it doesn't appeal to all audience's, a thriller is more subtle.
A thriller may still leave you subconsciously assured on your safety, yet they create that surprise to influence the audience's imagination to play tricks on their mind, this can be done by continuity editing, making you feel part of the scene, the tone in the music can make you build up in your mind this thrilling tail. A thriller can influence the audience to gain sympathy for the protagonist who then gets involved with danger, this helps with making the "thrill" towards the scene as the audience has bonded with the charatcer whilst watching the film.
"The audience thrives on thrills, the cinema thrives on the audience, the director thrives on the cinema, and everybody is happy". Scenes which set the blood pounding through the veins are highly beneficial as audiences like the idea of feeling tense and shocked for that split second within a scene.
In comparison to a horror film, horrors create an entirely different matter, meaning they create an "extreme aversion". To create a distorted view of a tense scene which makes the audience come to an emotional jolt. The scenes are more vicious and dangerous. This is permissible in a horror film. Aspects of horrors only attract certain group of audience as it creates an unnatural excitement for certain people.
Over all a thriller must be wholehearted, the more exciting the better. A thriller creates this suspense as a thriller is leading to various answers, the uncertainty builds the thrill and tension for the audience.

"Let 'Em Play God": originally published in Hollywood Reporter 100, no.47, October 11, 1948.

Within the article it explains the purpose of the mystery to the thriller is to get the audience on the edge of their seats in order to create the suspense. In a thriller it is important to leave the audience unsure of what's happening so they feel like they are part of the scene as the characters don't let on they know what's happening either, the suspense is created by the various possible answers, but no one is sure including the audience. Another way to create suspense for the audience, is for them to know what is going on, yet the characters don't. This make the characters inferior to the audience making the audience "feel like God" as they know what fate the actors face, this creates suspense.
For years thrillers have been refered to as dark mysteries, and chillers as they are brilliant for making "thrills" for the audience by creating a puzzle they have to solve throughout the film.

Why "Thrillers" Thrive

We all go to the cinema to experience life that we wouldn’t ourselves, things that would scare us half to death! Thrillers provide ‘thrills’ for us by displaying events that in our extremely sheltered and protected society would vary rarely, in everyday life, be unlikely to happen. These thrills are created to allow us to break the mold from our normal, boring lives, and experience something really intense and thought provoking to challenge our aspect on life. The best place to experience this is the cinema, which in a good film uses mind-blowing technology to allow us as an audience to participate in the film personally. In the cinema they like to launch the viewer into the ‘danger zone’ using camerawork allowing them to experience a really intense event at first hand. Another technique common with cinema is for them to create a danger for a character the audience have won sympathy for. Seeing these techniques used on stage is a lot less effective seeing as the viewer can only experience these events from a spectators view, and receive thrills vicariously.

Horror films are completely different to Thrillers however as they portray brutal, horrific events and create unnatural excitement which most viewers find uneasy. Horror, originally meaning ‘extreme aversion’ was made to provide emotional jolt, exploit sadism, perversion, bestiality and deformity. Most logical viewers see the dividing line between thrillers and horrors, and are generally healthy-minded. Viewers want a film that will create great excitement, set their pulses racing (but without causing them extreme trauma!) and leave them wanting more. This is why the Thriller will continue to live on and thrive, and the Horror film will fade out.

What we learnt from Amar

Today from Amar we learnt how to prepare for a film shoot through several steps. His presentation taught us how to prepare for shooting our film, and how to be organised and prepared in order to make it as successful as possible. Amar talked us through several points such as Script Writing, Storyboarding and setting the scene, Location Recce's, Shot List, Test Shots, Final Shooting, Editing and more. in order to be really prepared and organised to create a really successful film when we go to shoot.

We found the point about location recces really useful as we felt that by doing this it will enable us to get a feel for our possible locations through photographs and also being there in person, helping us to decide which location(s) to use.
We have decided to set the location in a cellar, this location is practical and reliable as it is one of the group members who has a cellar in her house. We will think of safety precautions to make sure it is safe, we also have adult supervision who will be on hand to help with any problems we may need help with.

Feedback of final idea

During our presentation of our final idea we were asked questions about the filming of our idea and the concerns the class had about our idea.
The questions asked included:

• Do you have a cellar to film the thriller in and is it safe? ANSWER: Yes, one of our group members has a cellar and it is safe and stable to film inside it.
• Is the protagonist going to be the same person in the cellar as well as in the kitchen? ANSWER: The protagonist will be the same person, it'll become clear to the viewer when it flashes back to the cellar after the kitchen scene as the protagonist will be revealed more in the second scene of the cellar. 
• The idea seems confusing because you're flashing backwards and forwards how are you going to make it all fit? ANSWER: In order to fit it all in so the thriller opening flows smoothly we are going to do smooth cuts and fades to change the scene, the lighting will be different as the scene in the kitchen will be in daylight with the protagonist in the kitchen, this shows the scenes are at different times as the protagonist has moved location. The dripping of the tap in the cellar scene will help create the psychological thriller theme as the diegetic sound of the tap will continue to the tap in the kitchen dripping as well, this creates a good effect to make the viewer uneasy and tense, the flash back of the different scenes will run smoothly which makes the viewer think of different questions to ask themselves which is what a psychological thriller should do.
• Will the kitchen and the cellar be filmed in the same location? ANSWER: Yes to save time and traveling, however it'll not be made obvious in the thriller opening.

Final idea for thriller

Shots are shown, close up's, extreme close up's, canted angles of the rope, the ground, the wall with blood on. To show a distorted view of the cellar and what appears to be in there. There will be a diegetic sound of a tap dripping constantly all through out the scene which seems quite significant in this point.

 

The scene will then cut to a kitchen location, where we see a the protagonist eating breakfast and talking to a family member/friend. There would also be diegetic music of a radio here to set the scene and create a sense of normality for the viewer. There will also be a closeup shot of a dripping tap in the kitchen linking back to the sound in the previous scene. The shots in this scene will be typical mid-shots, close-ups, and also over the shoulder shots (if conversation), and also the charaters wearing normal, everyday clothes which together both create a sense of normality.

We then cut back to the cellar setting in which we are made more aware of the protagonist and their situation and by this shown a mid shot of the protagonist locked up against the wall with torn clothing, dirt and blood all over them, she will be shown with a high shot to make her seen vulnerable. The ripped and dirty clothes show that she has been tortured. The sound in this section will be a similar diegetic sound from inside the room, and footsteps of another human being.

Brainstorm Of Ideas For Opening Sequence

Idea number one:

The protagonist will be a teenager who is attending college but is an undercover agent and is trying to track down someone else at their college. We do not find out who the protagonist really is until right at the end of the film so it will not be shown in the opening.

It would start by the protagonist waking up in the morning ready for her first day of college, she seems extremely worried and tries to act as casual as possible when entering college for the first time. She then attends lesson and see's the girl in which she is trying to find out about. She makes friends with her and asks some unusual questions.

Idea number two:

The protagonist is shown at the train station with a mysterious briefcase, they leave the case at a spot in the station waiting for someone to arrive on a different train and pick it up. When the suitcase is unattended a young child discovers it and picks it up wondering what it is, and then takes it with them leaving the station. The person collecting the briefcase arrives on their train to collect it and when discovering that it is missing is very anxious and worried to where the briefcase has gone and if it has got into the wrong hands. Also, the audience is worried for the young child and what will happen surrounding the briefcase.


Idea number three:


The protagonist will be a teenager living a normal, fun life that any normal teenager would. One night she goes to a gig with her friend to see one of their favorite bands and is having a really enjoyable night before the crowd starts getting out of control, and her and her friend get separated and she is knocked out with everybody else around her oblivious. She then wakes up to what is years in the past, and not only has a new identity but a new body of an elderly woman. Will she ever get out of the body and return to herself or will she be trapped forever?

Idea number four:

The protagonist of this story will be a highly qualified surgeon, but during very important surgery he forgets all that he has learnt which leads to his patients not being fully recovered, and tragedies with the patients occurring because of this.

Idea number five:

A new baby is born into a family which is amazing news as not long ago a relative, the baby's grandmother, had passed away. When months go by the family realise something odd about their new born baby girl, she is identical to her grandmother. She looks the same, and everything she learns to do is the same as her grandmother. The whole family start to get a little freaked out by it and don't know what to do. They take her to the doctors in the end to find out a very strange thing has occurred which had never happened, even the doctors are stunned.

Idea number six:

Shots are shown (which are not made apparent) of the protagonist in an old dirty cellar, locked up against the wall with torn clothing, dirt and blood all over them.  The protagonist is then taken out of the trance and a shot is shown of her at the table eating breakfast in everyday life, and having a conversation with a friend/family member. The shot then cuts back to the cellar, and the scene is made more apparent due to the shots of which portray the protagonist more fully to the audience. You then hear footsteps going down the stairs of the cellar, and a shadow is shown of the criminal on the wall the protagonist is tied up against. There will be no sepecific past/present time separation between the two scenes in order to create this sense of disorientation, and confusion for the audience as they would wonder which is past/present and what is going on.

Crime Thrillers

Below are the typical conventions of Crime Thrillers:

• Main character is a criminal - you see the majority of the story from their viewpoint.
• Murder is normal.
• Feuds occur.
• Main criminal is insecure and uncomfortable vs. Ordinary criminal who hides a deeper extraordinary life.
• Music is not as mysterious as as classical cinema as more tension is created. It also tends to last longer.
• The criminal usually had a dopey, inadequate sidekick.
• Mise-en-scene - this contains a darker colour palette.
• Flaws are apparent in the plan.
• Characters are characterised by a crime or series of crime.

Opening Sequence Analysis of Number Seventeen

Number Seventeen was written and direct by Alfred Hitchcock and released in 1932. The film is a classical thriller which involves a detective who tracks a group of criminals to a deserted house above a rail depot which they are using to escape to the continent.

In the opening sequence for number seventeen, it introduces the title credits along with non-diegetic music which helps to set the scene by creating tension and giving a mysterious feel towards the film.

After the credits are shown, the scene fades into a dark street which zooms into a tree, as the leaves blow off the tree the camera uses a tracking shot to follow the leaves along with a hat down the street, accompanied by the intense non-diegetic soundtrack, this draws the audiences attention to the hat and what and who the hat is going to lead to, this helps with the genre of a thriller as this genre plays with your imagination, the audience does't know what's going to happen.
The hat leads to an old gloomy house where the owner of the hat picks it up, this introduces the first character, suggesting that this is the main character within the sequence.

After this the tracking shot used for the main character continues showing him entering the building, and along with the mid-shot used creates a realistic sense. The lighting inside the building is very dull, and dim, and this creates a creepy and mysterious atmosphere and also creates tension for the viewer and leaves them wondering what will happen next. The music is very low toned, it makes the audience very tense as they are suggested towards something mysterious happening. The music speeds up when the man enters the house which suggests an extremely tense moment. It then fades out once he has been in the house for a while. The sound is non- diagetic so the man cannot hear the music. The music sounds as though a violin is being played and maybe even a piano. The house is very bare and empty which is another way in which makes the audience feel as though something mysterious is about to happen. There is shown a point of view low shot on the stairs which makes us as the audience think that there is something up there, the point of view makes us feel as though we are looking through the characters eyes at what they see or what they are worried about.

When the man enters the house we immediately think it looks odd/ suspicious as it is a stereotype of a 'haunted house' the reason for this is that the house is covered in leaves and it looks as though it has been overgrown, this suggests that no one has lived in this house for a while which is odd when the character finds the door to be wide open, the bareness of the house creates the mystery

MARKING CRITERIA

LEVEL 3  - 36-47 marks

There is evidence of proficiency in the creative use of many of the following technical skills:

• holding a shot steady, where appropriate;
• framing a shot, including and excluding elements as appropriate;
• using a variety if shot distances as appropriate;
• shooting material appropriate to the task set;
• selecting mise-en-scene including colour, figure, lighting, objects, and setting;
• editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer;
• using varied shot transitions and other effects selectively and appropriately for the task set;
• using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set;
• using titles appropriately.

LEVEL 4 - 48-60 marks

There is evidence of excellence in the creative use of most of the following technical skills:

• holding a shot steady, where appropriate;
• framing a shot, including and excluding elements as appropriate;
• using a variety of shot distances as appropriate;
• shooting material appropriate to the task set;
• selecting mise-en-scene including colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting;
• editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer;
• using varied shot transitions and other effects selectively and appropriately for the task set;
• using sounds with images and editing appropriately for the task set;
• using titles appropriately.

Action Thrillers

Key conventions in action thrillers:

Sound track is very key in action thrillers, the music is usually very deep and it progressively gets faster when a tense moment is about to occur. This makes the viewer eager to watch the rest of the film. This is usually used when the characters have a specific amount of time to race to do a specific task. Crime thrillers have more use of drums in thier soundtracks compared to psychological thriller that use for strings insruments.

Only brief amount of identity - most main characters in action thrillers, their idenity is only shown breifly and leave the most important traits of their personality/ identity to the end. This is done as most characters have a secret or something out of the ordinary about them and would ruin the story if it was discovered at the beginning of the film. Not knowing alot about a character draws the audience's attention towards the plot of the sequence and that specific character.


The film Leon shoes the hit man in his everyday life. He is perceived as a normal man and lives in a flat building.  It also shows the hit man showing emotion to a young girl who has a bruise on her face. This could scare the viewers as he is such a normal character away from his job.

At the beginning theirs a point of view shot of someone going into a building. It seems as he is floating, this could me a Mcguffin, as the hit man is a killer that cannot be heard or seen.

Psychological Thrillers

A psychological thriller- 'characters are no longer reliant on physical strength to overcome their brutish enemies (which is often the case in typical action-thrillers), but rather are reliant on their mental resources, whether it be by battling wits with a formidable opponent or by battling for equilibrium in the character's own mind. The suspense created by psychological thrillers often comes from two or more characters preying upon one another's minds, either by playing deceptive games with the other or by merely trying to demolish the other's mental state'.

Psychological thrillers have the main conventions which can be included in various thrillers, these include:

Central theme of identity- example of how this theme is explored including mistaken identities, amnesia, stolen identities, dual identities.This usually happens to the protagonist in the movie as the storyline is always based around the main character.

Memory is another key theme - The torture of an individual of bad or traumatic memories. The trauma of a lost memory. This could be caused from an accident happened to the character or they could have been born with the condition.

Reality of perception - A person's perceptions of what is and what isn't real is also explored. Events are shown from the viewpoint of multiple characters.


Mind -  The human consciousness; the location for personality, thought, reason, memory, intelligence and emotion. The mind is often used as a location for narrative conflict.

Purpose - The reason for which something exists; an aim or a goal humans move towards to understand their reason for existence.

Stream of consciousness - A literary technique which seeks to describe an individual's point of view by giving the written view of the character's thought processes. In psychological thrillers, the narrative tries to show the character's psyche through word usage, descriptions, or visuals.

PRELIMINARY TASK

LESSON 1: Tuesday 4th January - In this lesson we completed our filming successfully.
LESSON 2: Thursday 6th January - In this lesson we completed the editing of our filming and completed our preliminary task.


In our preliminary task we needed to include specific shots, these were as follows:

• Establishing Shot
• Close-up Shot
• Match on Action
• Reaction Shot
• Long Shot
• Filming a conversation

Below is our preliminary task in which all of these shots were included.