Thriller:
The Thriller is quite a popular genre of film, but it gets overshadowed by horrors. Thrillers have various sub-genres.
The heroes or main characters in Thrillers are usually "detectives" and become drawn to character which allows them to becomes more easily accessible to danger. The characters are usually police officers, or secret agents etc. However, sometimes the main character is just a normal person who is somehow involved in some sort of investigation. The main character in Thriller movies are usually males, like Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman in the popular Thriller Se7en. Yet, nowadays women have beeb given leading roles in Thrillers - like Uma Thurman in Kill Bill.
Thrillers are made to thrill - not to scare. But a lot of people get mixed up between horrors and thrillers. Yet the music in thrillers can be the most distinctive way to categorise a thriller from a horror. Thriller non diagetic music is usually more eerie and disturbing than horrors (which are usually more stereotypically scary - screams, cries, etc). Also, sometimes the storyline overlapps or is shown backwards (like Guy Richie films) to conform to the usual conventions that thrillers have more dilemmas/puzzles and suspense scene's.
Thrillers usually consist of the good guy having to defeat the bad guy or the good guy. Assasinations and Terrorism inspire most Thrillers, simply because of the "detective" stereotyped themes. Also, the villain in the Thriller is usually very smart, as in they have a highly interlectual brain, and whatever deaths they cause, they believe it is for a genuine reason - again like in Se7en. Or they could be supernatural nature like in Dracula.
Here's some expected codes and conventions to be in thrillers:
Sound and editing : Involves several different camera angles and quick snaps and changes between shots. Music tends to be full of tension and has a racey sound to go with the action etc.
Lighting - Shadow, mirrors and stairs are mostly used.
Narrative - Normally shown from different characters points of view. Not just one persons view. Normally it is made out so the audience has empathy for one of the characters.
Setting - According to what the story line is based on. Not a particular setting-base.
Mise-en-scene - Dim/dark lighting, (illegal) weapons for props. Camera shots are normally close ups or normal shots. Quite a lot of camera movement.
Friday 18 December 2009
MAIN IDEA!!!!
MAIN IDEA...
There is a girl called Lauren, she is one of those girls who is every boys desire and every girls envy. She is brutally murdered by someone - yet no one knows who could have done this.
This is the main story line of the movie.
The opening scene of the movie shows a teenage girl in an Interview Room, getting questioned about the sudden murder of her rival Lauren. The opening dialogue of the movie consists of a man's voice (the police officer) asking, "So, what was Miss Ralph like then?" The girl answers by cruelly stating that Lauren was "a bitch" and "anyone could have done it".
A subliminal two second still shot of Lauren's bruised legs lying in a pool of blood is flashed onto the screen. Its genuinely quite vivid, but knowing that this will be rated a 15 - i understand the boundaries. We see her fish-net ripped tights and high healed shoes (one still on her foot, and the other beside her.
This continues to happen, these short and disturbing shots of Lauren's beaten body within the interview shots - from her legs right up to her face. The second person shown being interviewed is Karl - Lauren's childhood admirer, he is in tears, he looks sick with pain. Now instead of showing Lauren's body, we see a shot of a Camera, and someones hands holding it (in black leaver gloves (stereotype)). Maybe there could be a flash, as if a photo is actually being taken, then we skip back to the interview room.
Lauren's ex boyfriend is the third teenager we see being interviewed - he just states that even though she "wasn't...nice, she didn't deserve this." His scene is followed by Lauren's mangled and mistreated torso, her tight top is ripped, revealing her bra and her stomach. Lauren's best friend is the fourth person being interviewed, she has a photograph of the two of them in her hand (this can be seen as ambiguous and ironic, as Lauren was killed in the Dark Room, where photo's are developed). She could say, "She only ever trusted me... and I've let her down, look at her, she was who everyone wanted to be."
We then see Lauren's face, bruised and slashed - her hair matted in her blood on her floor, her beautiful eyes closed - forever closed.
The boy who was crying at the start is now shown again, but only his eyes, they are full of tears - his shockingly blue eyes are harsh looking, yet the tears soften them. Next, we see the infamous interrogator - it is Officer Joel, he is standing up (proving authority) - says, "Whoever has done this was obviously seeking revenge, boy or girl, we don't know yet - but we do know something - they wanted her, they wanted her dead!"
There is then a shot of the dark room, with developing photo's of Lauren, it is evident that Lauren doesn't know that these photo's are being taken, photo's like Lauren, eating in the canteen, hugging her friends, working in class, going shopping, etc. Her ex boyfriend is then seen again, "how could they do this? They're sick man, they must have been crazy." There is finally a shot of her full tortured body lying on the Dark Room floor.
Karl's mouth is seen, his lips are chapped and trembling, "I was in love with her." He then repeats, "how could someone do this?" his obvious affection proves his innocence. The final scene is the Dark Room door, and someone exiting it, this person is blurred, and in all black, we're unable to see if they are male or female, they're wearing a hood (again another stereotype). Once they are fully out of the scene the blank Dark Room door will be cross faded, and there will appear a police (crime) sign on it. Non diagetic sirens can be heard.
...........................................................................................................................................................................
Suddenly, visible editing comes apparent when the screen fades into black, and then when it appears again, there is a close up of a television and there is a live broadcast about the murder - Officer Joel is being interviewed (whilst this is happening, it becomes evident that a tevevision is being watched as it subtley zooms out from an ECU of the television screen to a MCU) showing that the t.v is being watched in what looks like the Common Room of the college. Whispers are all that can be heard. One by one, we see the students shocked faces, some genuinely upset, most secretly thinking, she deserved something, but not this - not death.
Then there is an annoucement on the speakers - ALL STUDENTS MUST GO TO THE THEATRE ROOM IMMEDIATELY. Students are pannicking, not knowing what to expect. We see the puzzled and shifty faces of the pupils in question.
Then, we're in the theatre room, there is a shot of all the students faces, there is whispering, muffled rumours, malicious smirks and gasps of horror and shock to hear about the way the story had changed since last break time.
There is a girl called Lauren, she is one of those girls who is every boys desire and every girls envy. She is brutally murdered by someone - yet no one knows who could have done this.
This is the main story line of the movie.
The opening scene of the movie shows a teenage girl in an Interview Room, getting questioned about the sudden murder of her rival Lauren. The opening dialogue of the movie consists of a man's voice (the police officer) asking, "So, what was Miss Ralph like then?" The girl answers by cruelly stating that Lauren was "a bitch" and "anyone could have done it".
A subliminal two second still shot of Lauren's bruised legs lying in a pool of blood is flashed onto the screen. Its genuinely quite vivid, but knowing that this will be rated a 15 - i understand the boundaries. We see her fish-net ripped tights and high healed shoes (one still on her foot, and the other beside her.
This continues to happen, these short and disturbing shots of Lauren's beaten body within the interview shots - from her legs right up to her face. The second person shown being interviewed is Karl - Lauren's childhood admirer, he is in tears, he looks sick with pain. Now instead of showing Lauren's body, we see a shot of a Camera, and someones hands holding it (in black leaver gloves (stereotype)). Maybe there could be a flash, as if a photo is actually being taken, then we skip back to the interview room.
Lauren's ex boyfriend is the third teenager we see being interviewed - he just states that even though she "wasn't...nice, she didn't deserve this." His scene is followed by Lauren's mangled and mistreated torso, her tight top is ripped, revealing her bra and her stomach. Lauren's best friend is the fourth person being interviewed, she has a photograph of the two of them in her hand (this can be seen as ambiguous and ironic, as Lauren was killed in the Dark Room, where photo's are developed). She could say, "She only ever trusted me... and I've let her down, look at her, she was who everyone wanted to be."
We then see Lauren's face, bruised and slashed - her hair matted in her blood on her floor, her beautiful eyes closed - forever closed.
The boy who was crying at the start is now shown again, but only his eyes, they are full of tears - his shockingly blue eyes are harsh looking, yet the tears soften them. Next, we see the infamous interrogator - it is Officer Joel, he is standing up (proving authority) - says, "Whoever has done this was obviously seeking revenge, boy or girl, we don't know yet - but we do know something - they wanted her, they wanted her dead!"
There is then a shot of the dark room, with developing photo's of Lauren, it is evident that Lauren doesn't know that these photo's are being taken, photo's like Lauren, eating in the canteen, hugging her friends, working in class, going shopping, etc. Her ex boyfriend is then seen again, "how could they do this? They're sick man, they must have been crazy." There is finally a shot of her full tortured body lying on the Dark Room floor.
Karl's mouth is seen, his lips are chapped and trembling, "I was in love with her." He then repeats, "how could someone do this?" his obvious affection proves his innocence. The final scene is the Dark Room door, and someone exiting it, this person is blurred, and in all black, we're unable to see if they are male or female, they're wearing a hood (again another stereotype). Once they are fully out of the scene the blank Dark Room door will be cross faded, and there will appear a police (crime) sign on it. Non diagetic sirens can be heard.
...........................................................................................................................................................................
Suddenly, visible editing comes apparent when the screen fades into black, and then when it appears again, there is a close up of a television and there is a live broadcast about the murder - Officer Joel is being interviewed (whilst this is happening, it becomes evident that a tevevision is being watched as it subtley zooms out from an ECU of the television screen to a MCU) showing that the t.v is being watched in what looks like the Common Room of the college. Whispers are all that can be heard. One by one, we see the students shocked faces, some genuinely upset, most secretly thinking, she deserved something, but not this - not death.
Then there is an annoucement on the speakers - ALL STUDENTS MUST GO TO THE THEATRE ROOM IMMEDIATELY. Students are pannicking, not knowing what to expect. We see the puzzled and shifty faces of the pupils in question.
Then, we're in the theatre room, there is a shot of all the students faces, there is whispering, muffled rumours, malicious smirks and gasps of horror and shock to hear about the way the story had changed since last break time.
Thursday 17 December 2009
The Pitch:
In class a few days ago we had to deliver our pitches to explain what our story ideas were as well as our main story (and anything other relevant information we've found out so far). And it was pretty nerve-wrecking at the start, but when we got into it, it became easier and hopefully we pulled it off.
We commented on our ideas and revealed the plots and characters to the rest of our class and then i read out some statistics that i found on various websites.
We were open to any positive criticism given to us, and answered some questions that were asked by the class.
Overall, i think it went pretty well.
We commented on our ideas and revealed the plots and characters to the rest of our class and then i read out some statistics that i found on various websites.
We were open to any positive criticism given to us, and answered some questions that were asked by the class.
Overall, i think it went pretty well.
More Research (IMDb)...
We managed to track down a chart with data on how many thrillers were released in the year 2008 and heres what has come up:
I found on the - IMDb website that these are the top 10 box offices movies in the UK for 2009, it shows you how many screens the movies are being shown in, as well as the average amount of money made by on a weekend:
1.
A Christmas Carol (2009)
Screens - 434
Average amount on a weekend - £3,558
Cumulativebox office - £16,030,083
2.
Where the Wild Things Are (2009)
Screens - 491
Average amount on a weekend - £1,800
Cumulativebox office - £883,990
3.
Planet 51 (2009)
Screens - 421
Average amount made on a weekend - £1,816
Cumulativebox office - £2,537,718
4.
Paranormal Activity (2007)
Screens - 399
Average amount made on a weekend - £1,901
Cumulativebox office - £8,703,396
5.
The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009)
Screens - 458
Average amount made on a weekend - £1,638
Cumulativebox office - £25,004,680
6.
Nativity! (2009)
Screens - 405
Average amount made on a weekend - £1,648
Cumulativebox office - £2,676,614
7.
Law Abiding Citizen (2009)
Screens - 461
Average amount made on a weekend - £1,312
Cumulativebox office - £4,731,175
8.
2012 (2009/I)
Screens - 361
Average amount made on a weekend - £1,307
Cumulativebox office - £18,674,864
9.
The Box (2009/I)
Screens - 288
Average amount made on a weekend - £867
Cumulativebox office - £1,011,735
10.
A Serious Man (2009)
Screens - 100
Average amount made on a weekend - £1,307
Cumulativebox office - £1,335,999
As you can see, there is a gap in the market for Thrillers being made - only 50% of those movies listed above are Thriller's (this is including Paranormal Activity, which is assumed to be a horror).
ALSO...
There are some statistics released showing the popularity in genres in 2007:
And unfortunately, only 5.4% of releases made out of all genres were Thrillers, with a gross box office of £67.6 million, however, Thrillers surprisingly beat Horror's which are known to be more popular. Horror's only had 4.7% of releases.
The top Thriller title was The Bourne Ultimatum in 2007.
Yet in 2008:
Another set of statistics show that the percentage of Thrillers released decreased 0.1%. Which isn't a lot, but dramatically affected the percentage of gross box office to £21.2 million as opposed to the £67.6 million as shown above in 2007. 2008's top performing title was - No Country For Old Men.
Here are 10 most popular thrillers of all time:
Basic Instinct (1992)
The Big Sleep (1946)
Casino Royale (2006)
Fargo (1995)
Get Carter (1971)
Jackie Brown (1997)
LA Confidential (1997)
Le Samourai (1967)
Memento (2000)
The Usual Suspects (1995)
Here's some expected codes and conventions to be in thrillers:
Sound and editing : Involves several different camera angles and quick snaps and changes between shots. Music tends to be full of tension and has a racy sound to go with the action etc.
Lighting - Shadow, mirrors and stairs are mostly used.
Narrative - Normally shown from different characters points of view. Not just one persons view. Normally it is made out so the audience has empathy for one of the characters.
Setting - According to what the story line is based on. Not a particular setting-base.
Mise-en-scene - Dim/dark lighting, (illegal) weapons for props. Camera shots are normally close ups or normal shots. Quite a lot of camera movement.
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