Initial Thriller Ideas

Idea 1:

Our first idea was to have an old man telling a story as an voiceover and then having the story being about a young man, but the young man would be the old man many years ago.

Why we didn't choose it: We thought this idea would be too complex to convey to the audience in such a short time as the storyline would be complex and chaotic because with a voiceover and the old man the narrative could not be linear due to the main part of the film being a flashback. We also didn't have much a clear idea of what to do either on this idea so we decided it would be best to work together and come up with something much simpler.

Idea 2:

Our second idea was to have a little girl wanting revenge on her step-mother for causing a break-up between her and the girl's Dad. The young girl, with the help of the now depressed alcoholic Father, would set out to kill the woman.

Why we didn't choose it: We didn't choose this idea because we didn't think the aspects of the film were of the thriller genre. A creepy child trying to kill somebody is a horror convention because in reality it would take a lot for a little girl to kill a fully grown woman. Also the use of the relationships and love triangle, as such, would be way too complex to convey in only 2 minutes.

Idea 3:

Our third idea was have a teenage girl working in a café and shot of her shoes, of which being very recognisable. Then cut to a man watching her from his car outside. We would have a flash of a wall covered in photos of the girl with times written on the photos. This would make it seem like he is stalking her. She would walk home and he would follow her. As she walks into her house, the gate is left open and the man follows her in to her home. A black screen is shown and a loud scream is heard as the title flashes up. Then it cuts to the man driving a pick-up truck and the girl lying in the back of the truck in a bin bag with her bare foot hanging off the end of the truck, twitching. Her shoe would then be found near her house by a friend, perhaps could be shown in the café also.

Why we did choose it: We chose this idea because it was a relatively simple idea and has limited characters. We decided on locations as well as the storyline which made it easier because it was clearer in our minds as to what we were doing. Although we did need to tweak it slightly to get the idea viable to only 2 minutes, we think the main idea is going to work.

Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) - Analysis

How does Tarantino use Thriller conventions?

    The first signifier we hear is a diegetic sound bridge of a woman breathing heavily followed by a black and white establishing shot of the woman. This is used so then the audience can associate with the character and also connect with this character as she is the first character we see. The black and white is used to tribute the 'Noir' Thriller's of the 1940's and also is used as a flashback as black and white isn't the normal use of colour in a film anymore and black and white, sepia or blurred film usually means that the scene is a flashback or thought not in a linear narrative. Also with the use of flashback we can see that it must have some sort of chaotic narrative. The use of black and white could also be used to add to the tension of the scene and also make the 'blood' on the woman's face look more realistic because sometimes blood can look fake as the colour isn't always realistic, but the use of black and white ensures that it is only shown as tonal; thus it cannot be seen to be fake.

    The woman is shown in a high angle shot, which is also a close up shot. There is an overlap of more diegetic sound, this time of footsteps, it then cuts to a man walking across wooden floorboards with a tracking shot, following him as he walks, only showing his feet. This is used to show the audience an enigma as we don't know who he is and are not shown his face. It is also used to be very threatening, as his footsteps are very harsh and large we associate it with pain from the hard sounds of his foot hitting the wooden floor. It is also threatening in the fact that Tarantino has chosen to show a direct contrast between the bride's face and the man's shoe which could be used to show a power difference in that the man is above the woman as we look down onto the woman from a high angle shot, but we can only see the man's feet - which is a very low shot. The lighting on the feet is very strong, causing harsh shadows, this is called noir lighting - showing a differentiation between light and dark and is used to show the man in a 'bad light' perhaps because the woman looks scared of him and he is lurking in the shadows.

    It then cuts to the woman again, this time she looks even more scared than before. This shows a connection and a relationship between the two characters. The high angle close up of the woman is still used to show a relationship and also male dominance. The fact that we are now seeing the woman from the man's perspective shows that the woman is under him and also it could be said that she is under him metaphorically as well as physically. The first dialogue in the opening scene is the man saying "Do you find me sadistic?" as the camera still stays on the woman so then the audience establishes a relationship with the bride first. He begins to talk to her as he wipes her face with a handkerchief with the name 'Bill' embroidered onto it, this shows that he is obviously a vain man because we can now establish that he is 'Bill' as it relates to the title, 'Kill Bill' - which shows he will die later in the film, perhaps. As he presses the handkerchief to the bride's face we can see her cringe in pain away from him - this shows that he is the cause of her injuries and that's why she would find him sadistic. Even as he is talking the camera never moves from the woman. This is used to have the audience still directly associating with the woman rather than showing the man - also it keeps the enigma as we don't know what he looks like or anything about him, but from this point we might have figured out that he is called 'Bill'. This high angle close up shot may be used to show the woman from the man's perspective, showing also male dominance and also perhaps a Femme Fatale in that the bride is covered in blood and is being domestically abused, although we don't know if she is deviant or just being abused by him. 

    He then continues to talk as he wipes the blood off her face. This is used to show that is definitely the cause of her injuries and to show a relationship between them as his speech is quite informal. The bride whimpers away from his hand and looks extremely uncomfortable as his is wiping her face and also very nervous. She starts crying more prominently as he talks more - used to show a negative relationship between these two characters. As he talks he calls her 'Kiddo', which is a derogatory term towards her as she is obviously not a child and it is used to show the male dominance in the scene and the fact that he is in control and can patronise her. The bride's expression suddenly changes from upset and miserable to shocked and extremely worried. This is used to keep the audience on the edge of their seat even at the start of the film and also could be used to slightly prepare the audience for a dramatic moment. Then the diegetic sound of a gun being loaded is heard and the woman's face changes to even more worried and she starts to shake profusely. This is used as very short foreshadowing as we can tell, as the audience, that something is going to happen very soon even though we cannot see the whole scene. The bride then says in anger "Bill, it's your bab-", but doesn't get to finish the sentence as he shoots her in the head with the loaded gun. The significance of the bride talking is that it is her first dialogue of the scene and she dies immediately after - meaning it keeps the audience questioning why she was killed and leaves them to watch the rest of the film before they can answer any questions they have about the first scene. Another significance of this is for the audience to wonder why Bill would want to kill the bride in the first place and leaves the audience to wait for answers and question the first scene in the meantime. 

Aspects of the Thriller Genre

A Noir Thriller: 
This is a cinematic technique used around the 1940s to 1950s period. It uses low-key black-and-white images to give harsh/dark shadows and evoke mystery, adding to the mise-en-scene of the whole film, generally. It is also to create silhouettes and therefore the ease of hiding a person's face in the darkness or giving light to a specific area to put focus onto a certain point and retain the audience's focus on that subject. 


Femme Fatale:
A femme fatale is a mysterious and/or seductive woman whom is subdued by domesticity or marriage, punished or exiled or killed off. This was mainly used in the same classic period as the Noir Thriller (1940s-1950s), but is still used today in films such as 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)'. At the time it was a very crucial shift in the film industry and the social context of the conformities of woman at the time. Historically, women are the mothers and carers, but in these films we are shown that women can be much more, thus breaking the social barrier for women. 


Flawed/ambiguous anti-hero:
This type of hero is an anti-hero because they are reluctant to help people in the first place, but ultimately end up being the hero even if they don't mean to be. 'Gene Hunt' in the 2006-2007 series of 'Life on Mars' was an anti-hero as he was a policeman, but didn't really want to help people. Also these type of heroes are very ambiguous, meaning you can't quite work them out or work out their reasoning and also have flaws themselves - which shows that even people with flaws, such as a drink problem, can also be a hero even if it is reluctantly. This also breaks the traditional values and characterisation of a 'hero'.


Attractive/sympathetic villain:
This is the type of villain that the audience fall in love with even though they know that they shouldn't because they are obviously a villain. This technique would be used to perhaps keep the audience on the edge of their seat because they love and hate the villain. This oxymoron of love hate means the director can evoke deep emotional reactions from the audience if the villain is attractive. Also if the villain is sympathetic the audience becomes sympathetic with the villain themselves which confuses the audience even more because you should side with the good, not the evil, but in some cases you're not sure who is who until the end of the film. 


Generic Characters:
Convicts, criminals, stalkers, assassins, down-on-their-luck losers, innocent victims, prison inmates, menaced women, characters with dark pasts, psychotic individuals, terrorists, cops, hit men, fugitives, twisted relationships, world-weary men and women, femme fatales, psycho-fiends, drug addicts. 


Generic Themes:
Greed, envy, jealousy, terrorism, political conspiracy, pursuit or romantic triangles leading to murder. 


Generic Locations:
Dimly lit often wet narrow streets, alleyways, lifts, staircases, basements, large featureless exteriors, shower cubical, toilets, phone booths, bank safes, interior of cars, car parks, top of a skyscraper, shores, muddy rivers, scrap yards, derelict factories/warehouses, tunnels. 

Possible Thriller Case Studies

Animal Kindgom (2010) - I would like to use this as a case study as it is a brilliant film and encapsulates the genre of a 'Crime Thriller' perfectly and although it has a mainly linear narrative it has a complex storyline and is gripping for the audience. 


The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009) - Although I haven't seen this film as of yet, I plan to very soon as I have heard/seen great reviews of this film and think it would help me in understanding and being able to use Thriller conventions, such as the Femme Fatale in this film. 


The Birds (1963) - I would like to use this film because it's not a modern day film and I think to get a good, wide knowledge of the genre you have to explore all generations and periods in which the films were set and made in. 


The Third Man (1949) - I would like to maybe use this film due to the fact that it is a noir thriller and is the original type of thriller, thus I think that I could not use the genre to its maximum potential without analysing how it was first used in the original noir thrillers. 


Jackie Brown (1997) - This could be a good film to use because it is a film that challenges social conformities in that the main character is a middle-aged black woman and not a young white person, which shows a change in attitudes at that time and also perhaps reflects the Zeitgeist of the time also. 

Heavenly Creatures (1994) - I really like the idea of using this film because the narrative structure and storyline is very similar to some of the ideas we have been having and I think we could quite easily use the conventions of the Thriller used in this film in our own Thriller.

Thriller Films I Have Seen

Film/TV	Director	Release	Generic Conventions
Ashes to Ashes	Matthew Graham	2008-2009	Location: Car park, warehouse, police station Femme fatale Flawed hero
Casino Royale	Martin Campbell	2006	Location: Cars, enclosed spaces, Casino, glamorous locations - which are ironic to the genre.  The enigma/unknown
Animal Kingdom	David Michôd	2010	Location: Cars, Police Station, Prison, Supermarket, general enclosed spaces.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy	Tomas Alfredson	2011	Location: Staircases, narrow street, Dim/noir lighting

Film Techniques

Match on action

Match on action is the technique where each shot cuts to the next in chronological order to show a time frame and an impression of continuity - even if the shots were not taken in the order of final edit. It is when one shotcuts to another view still matching the action and pace of the first shot.
 

Shot-Reverse-Shot

The technique of shot-reverse-shot is where a character is shown to be looking at another character, as we see the other character from another charater's perspective. Then the first character is shown from the other character's perspective - therefore as the viewer we assume that they are looking at each other since they are both facing opposite directions.

This technique is shown clearly in this opening scene in Pulp Fiction where the characters are sitting in a restuarant and talking to eachother. We see the camera cut from one person to another - making the audience assume that the characters are talking to eachother. We used this technique in our Preliminary Task to show the conversation between our characters.

180 degree rule

The 180 degree rule is a basic guideline for film making, which states that two characters (or other elements) in the same scene should always have a left/right relationship. If the camera passes over the imaginary axis connecting the two subjects, it can confuse the viewers.

A football match is a key example of the 180 degree rule; where the goals are at each end. This is used so then people can see where each team are playing towards, meaning you can say 'left' or 'right' side and not get confused. However, if the 180 degree rule was broken and they started to film from the other side of the pitch, the audience could get confused.

Final Cut: Preliminary Task

 

This is the final cut of our G321 Preliminary Task. This task shows use of camera skills and film skills, such as the 180 degree rule and shot-reverse-shot. The first shot used is a very low angle shot, which is used to connote mystery because the person in the shot isn't shown, therefore it is an enimga. This is followed by another low angle panning shot - zooming out to a long shot. This establishes the location and also shows more of the person in the shot so we can associate with them as the audience. We then used an over-the-shoulder shot to show movement down the corridor - this is used to gain further association with the character in shot. The next shot was a bird's eye shot as she walked into the room where the dramatic moment happened. This use of high angle, bird's eye viewpoint is used to give perspective, but it also could be said that it was used as foreshadowing to a dramatic point to her being looked down upon and dominated. As she walks into the room a panning shot is used to follow her across the room, but not focus on the other character in the room. The conversation of both of the characters is used inside the 180 degree rule, which means that all shots need to be taken along the same line of 180 degrees, if not the audience could get disorientated and confused. The shot process used in the conversation is called 'shot-reverse-shot' - which is used to show each character then cut to the other character.