Thriller Directors

Alfred Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980)

Hitchcock was an iconic and highly influential director and producer. He introduced many techniques into the suspense and thriller genres. His most reknowned thriller was Physco (1960). Here is the film's pivotal scene, and one of the most famous scenes in cinema history; the murder of Janet Leigh's character in the shower.



The following information was taken from the blurb of this film clip::
" It was shot from December 17 to December 23, 1959 and between 71 and 78 angles (the exact number is unknown). The scene "runs 3 minutes and includes 50 cuts." Most of the shots are extreme close-ups except for medium shots in the shower directly before and directly after the murder. The combination of the close shots with the short duration between cuts makes the sequence feel longer, more subjective, more uncontrolled, and more violent than the images themselves were they presented alone or in a wider angle.In order to capture the straight-on shot of the shower head, the camera had to be equipped with a long lens. The inner holes on the spout were blocked and the camera placed farther back, so that the water appears to be hitting the lens but actually went around and past it.The soundtrack of screeching violins, violas, and cellos was an original all-strings piece by composer Bernard Herrmann entitled "The Murder." Hitchcock originally wanted the sequence (and all motel scenes) to play without music, but Herrmann begged him to try it with the cue he had composed. Afterwards, Hitchcock agreed that it vastly intensified the scene and he nearly doubled Herrmann's salary. The blood in the scene is in fact chocolate syrup, which shows up better and has more realistic density than stage blood on black-and-white film. The sound of the knife entering flesh was created by plunging a knife into a casaba melon."

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=RN47mpzxgYA

Quentin Tarantino

Quentin Tarantino is an award-winning American film director, screenwriter and actor. He rose to fame in the early 1990s for his unique directing method that relied heavily on dialogue.

A recent film directed by Quentin Tarantino is Kill Bill, starring Uma Therman

This is the opening scene from Kill Bill volume 1.

I personally love this opening, the tension created is amazing.  Then the sudden shooting at the end makes the audience jump and gives them a thrill.

Filming Locations

I have decided to research common thriller locations which are seen regularly in thriller movies over the years. However locations such as a yacht out at see would be almost impossible to use for our thriller film so I have decided to gather a few locations which are accessible for my group.

The Forest

The forest is a very flexible location for filming a thriller; it allows the use of very long shots, and room for chasing scenes. Also the shades of light vary depending on the trees above, so this would give my group a catalogue of different areas to work from. The uses of animalistic antagonists are common for a location such as the forest, thus being the animal’s habitat. And a common shot would be the eye view from behind a bush, observing the prey.

The City
In many thrillers the use of a city can introduce a dark, cold atmosphere to the film. It primarily works with the sub genres of Crime, Action and spy Thrillers, working with the police. The use of The City will allow my group to use buildings, ally ways and even car parks to allow our film to look and feel as professional as a real blockbuster movie.

Posted by Jordan Shaw

What is your target audience?

I have decided to research the way in which a target audience is found this is so that my group can relate the vision of our thriller, to the ways in which a target audience is identified. The information found in this blog was taken from canadianfilmmaker.com

Every film has a target audience, but it is our job as a group to know specifically who they are. Without a target audience our thriller will not communicate effectively. You can start by guessing, however this guess must be informed. Expert distributor Tony Cianciotta once said that when he is about to buy a film he’ll ask himself: “who would stand in a lineup outside, at night, in January to see this film?” you can then picture the lineup, and that will show you your target audience.

In addition the people in the line are within a particular age range and watch or read similar media, consequently advertisement will be observed from a similar range of magazines, television channels etc. You can also picture previous movies that people have seen, and the areas of those movies which worked, which didn’t work and why. You can then educate yourself on your target audience and film with purpose.
Typically, age ranges break down as follows


Kids 5-11
Teen 11- 14
Teen 13-16
17-21
18-24 and 18-34
25-54
54+

These age ranges are important to film makers as a movie which will entertain a 5 year old will not appeal to a 14 year old. The more precisely you have defined your audience, the better chance you have of creating a movie which they want to see. For most genres including thriller, the 18-24 and 18-34 age range makes up the largest movie selling, target audience. In which it is the core of big audiences and stiff competition.

Posted by Jordan Shaw

Thriller Protagonists

I have decided to research further into the main characters or protagonists in Thriller films. This role is usually taken on by a male, showing that men are the best for handling situations which they are usually faced with in Thriler films. It is rare for us to see a woman take on this role. Personally, I feel that there should be more Thrillers which feature a female as the protagonist to show how the story would develop differently and how the outcome would differ.
Female actresses who have taken roles in Thriller films are:

Jodie Foster-Flightplan


Katherine Heigl-Zyzzyx Road



Halle Berry- Perfect Stranger



I found it hard to find even these. So i have therefore come to the conclusion that it is most common for males to play the protagonist in thriller films.

Protagonist-The main character in a play around whom most of the action is based.(http://www.dramatic.com.au/glossary/glossaryp_z.htm)
Antagonist-Any force in the story in conflict with the protagonist. It may be a person, the physical or social environment, a destructive element in the protagonist’s own nature.(http://faculty.weber.edu/dkrantz/en2500/Shortstoryvocab.htm)

One Hour Photo

Comments on the film as a whole:


We watched the opening of One Hour Photo in class. I was so excited and intrigued by it, I got it out of blockbuster and watched it that weekend. A thriller that keeps you feeling tense and on the edge of your seat through the whole thing. You really care about the family and the little boy. I think the involvement of a child makes it that much more worrying and you have such a strong will for the child to be safe, you cant stop watching. The lead character is disturbing and yet part of me still worried and cared for him as he seemed vulnerable. He was also so terrifying as he was clearly not mentally in his right mind, he was like a ticking bomb, so calm and contained and disciplined you spend the whole film waiting for him to crack. Throughout the film he is constantly wearing the same colour as his back drop, very beige. In the opening there is a white room he blends with and just an empty red chair. There are flashes of red through the rest of the film that always catch the audiences eye. It is a very intense film, as there is not alot happening for most of it, you are just left waiting for this unstable middle-aged man to breakdown.



Comments on the trailer:


In the trailer it opens with a young boy's voice speaking with compassion and care about someone lonely. There is sounds like wind blowing etc. there is an establishing shot on the house. It almost feels like someone is there watching from outside.
Tensions build as sounds simmer along building up and getting louder, nothing of any notability seems to be happening, just looks like a lonely man. You feel sympathy and yet something is unsettling about him. Shots change in and out like photos. There is then a black screen and the word "he knows your name" came up it white, its chilling. There is a continuous sound of the tapping of a drum symbol, the same rhythm repeated again and again. Then you see the family and hear the sound of a picture being taken, then see the man looking at the picture. You see him at the house of the establishing shot where you are aware the family lives. Then there is a shot of him with a camera. The shot is then close up of the camera looking into the lense, through it you then see the credits. Music builds getting louder, shots of him in a red room breaking down, shots that look right into his eyes. In contrast to the little boys voice at the beginning you hear his voice " snap shot was originally a hunting term". Flashes of quick changing photos or snap shots of the family, ands with a jault. The music sound loud aggressive like something is hunting its prey.
In my open in this trailer it is choice of music and quickly changing fast paced camera movement, each image having practically its own frame, more like a flick book than film, made it so nerve wracking and effective.

Editing the Preliminary Exercise

We first filmed the preliminary task in the T.V. studio, and when it came to editing it, we found out that the switches on the microphone had been changed and so no sound was recorded. This meant that we would have to re-record the whole task, again.

In a way I think that making this mistake at the beginning of the course has benefitted our group for two reasons:

• We now know to check, everytime we use a camera, that the sound is turned on and is recorded.

• I think it's better that this has happened to us now, at a point when we are still learning how to use the cameras and can easily re-film it, as opposed to when we are filming an important task which we can't film again.

I think that we have all learnt form our mistake and can improve on our filming by checking it everytime.

After filming a second time, we edited our preliminary task. We began this by looking through the video files, which we had uploaded the previous lesson, and finding where we want the first clip to start. We then pressed 'Set in' on the keyboard and it cuts the clip into that specific point. We then continue to watch it and when it gets to the point where we wanted to change angle, we paused it and pressed 'Set out' on the keyboard.

Once we had chosen how we want the clip, we dragged the clip and put it onto the time line. We repeated this on every shot that we wanted incuding a shot reverse shot and an establishing shot.

When we had applied this technique to the whole short film, we had to put credits on the end as well.

At first I didn't know how to do this, until Jack showed me. Under the preview screen, there is a small 'A' meaning you can input text onto the video file. When I clicked on it, a list of options came down. We pressed 'Rolling Credits' and then onto 'Controls' where we wrote in our names. When we previewed it, the credits had been set to be in the centre and to roll form top to bottom, so this is what happened.

We then dragged the credits onto the end of the time line and this was the end of the editing process.

Spy Thrillers

I have done some research on a sub-genre in thrillers called spy thrillers. when researching this, a film cropped up several times. The film is called Dr. No and was the first of the famous 'James Bond' films, which are still being made today. In the film James Bond is a secret agent for the British Government and has to save the world in an action packed adventure.

A rough outline of the target audience of the James Bond films, and other thrillers, is 16-30 and appeals to both sex's.

'They appeal because they are action-packed, have fantastic special effects and gadgetry, secrecy, danger and have a variety of exotic locations.'

wayland publishers (1991). Adventure Films. london: wayland publishers limited. p18-19.

This is saying that people will want to see a spy thriller because it will have a lot of adreneline and can make your heart race.

A general story line for a spy thriller is the hero has to try and kill and unseen enemy before they kill him.

Alex Evans

The Thrill of it all

We were given a hand out at the start of our research on thrillers called "the thrill of it all" which was a starter in our continuous research on thrillers. After reading the sheet I highlighted some key points which I thought I would add to our blog:

1. The first important point was a quote from Alfred Hitchcock. He once said "There's no terror in a bang, only in the anticipation of it".

This relates directly to our thriller openings, there is nothing scary about just blood and screaming. What we really need to do is to work out a way of indicating what is going to happen so you leave the audience on the edge of they're seat waiting for it to happen like a "ticking bomb".

2. Another point is that in every thriller film there is only certain amount of time you can sustain being stressed for so in every thriller film there is always some light relief, a comic one liner or something to lighten the mood.

I'm not sure if this is particularly relevant as we are only doing a short opening which will be hopefully full of tension and this is talking about a whole movie. Yet its good to know that thrillers so have brief moments of comic relief that gives the audience a brief chance to relax.

3. Characters you like and want the best for are put in difficult, uncomfortable and potentially life threatening situations. For example in The eye, it is set on a plane, no one as at there most relaxed when the are on a flight and most people do feel slightly anxious "does anyone like sitting next to a stranger on the plane?" points out Wes Craven.

So placing the hero or heroine (person you are rooting for to survive) in an uncomfortable place where it is common to feel anxiety. Some ideas could be; a lift, empty street, empty house, alternatively a crowed place filled with people but no one recognizable.

4. Thrillers is closely related to the horror genre although thrillers are more to create tension and horrors are just purely to gross out. Although horrors do make you jumpy and keep you on the edge of your seat. As that is what we are trying to achieve, so we could put in a few horror camera techniques e.g. shooting from behind, bring the camera from far to close really quick, making the camera which makes you jump.

5. Why would someone want to work in the thriller genre? "because beyond an emotional response, I want to get a physical one. Tension while watching and then utter exhaustion afterwards. It is as simple as that." This was a statement by Park-Chan-wook (highly acclaimed Korean director).

This is our objective, to make people nervous, tense, on the edge of their seat and be affected physically by what they see on screen.

This sheet was provided in class it was photocopied from a statement written by Alan Jones.

The Classic Thriller Protagonist

I found this information in a book called "Writing a Thriller film (The Terror from within)".

In this book the classic thriller protagonist (leading character) is described: 

"A relatively innocent character who normally avoids commitment and dissociates from conflict is abruptly caught in a snare of a menacing conspiracy."

This will help us when deciding on the main character of our thriller. As the main character should probably be someone we want to survive as it makes them more appealing to us. It should also make us want to know what happens more. 

Different Types Of Thrillers

I have looked into different types of thrillers, and i have found examples from each sub-genre.

1. Murder Passions-

Based around triangle of husband, wife, lover. The central scene is the murder of either one or two of the triangle members. (research from

The Suspense Thriller

By Charles Derry)

-"Dance With A Stranger" by Mike Newell (1984)

-"The Postman Always Rings Twice" by Bob Rafelson (1946)

2. Political-

"A political thriller is a thriller that is set against the backdrop of political power struggle. They usually involve various plots, rarely legal, designed to give political power to someone, while his opponents try to stop him from getting it. They can involve national or international political scenarios"-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_thriller

-"Special Section" (1975)

-"Under Siege" (1985)

3. Thriller of Acquired Identity

is Organised around the psychotic effects of a trauma on a protagonist's current involvement in love affair and a crime. The protagonist is always a victim - generally of some past trauma and often of real villains.

-"Spellbound"(1945)

-"Body double" (1984)

Alfred Hitchcock.

Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcok, otherwise known as 'The architect of Anxiety'; was born on the 13th of August 1899 and died on the 29th of April 1980. He was famous for blockbusters such as Psycho (1960) and Lifeboat (1944) in which he obtained 'Best Director' for both movies.
Alfred favoured the use of suspense over the use of surprise, he preferred to show things to the audience which the characters in the film do not know, and then artfully build tension around what will happen when the characters finally learn the truth, instead of assaulting the audience with frightening things. Hitchcock often used this aphorism to support his opinion- "There's two people having breakfast, and there's a bomb under the table. If it explodes, that's a surprise. But if it doesn't..."

Information taken from the book: The Complete Films of Alfred Hitchcock by Robert.A. Harris.

http://www.vnn.vn/dataimages/original/images453839_Alfred_Hitchcock.jpg

Ridley Scott

Ridley Scott is infamous for his stylish visuals and an obsession for detail. He was born on the 30th of November 1937. He is an Academy Award nominated and Golden Globe, Emmy Award and BAFTA Award winning director and producer. Famous for blockbusters such as 'Gladiator' (2000) 'American Gangster' (2007) and 'Alein' (1979).

Ridley Scott favours the use of slow pacing, until the action sequences which are enhanced with the use of quick, rapid edited shots. Ridley also enjoyes using the technique of sound or music to build tension, seen in 'Alien' with hissing steam and beeping computers.

Posted by Jordan Shaw

www.hecklerspray.com/.../20078151.php

The Preliminary Task

We have been assigned a task in which we must film and edit a short scene between two people. Character 1 must walk into a room, sit down on a chair and exchange a few lines of dialogue. It must include an establishing shot, over shoulder shots and the continuity must be fluent. The main objective of this assignment is to demonstrate the technique of the 180 degree rule.

Continuity and the 180 Degree Rule

On our first Media Lesson, we learnt about the use of the 180 degree and continuity. To the left, is an image of the 180 degree rule. Basically, it states that you cannot cut across the line of dialogue during a scene, or it will confuse the audience and continuity will be broken.

http://www.tv-handbook.com/Editing%20and%20Program%20Continuity.html

Continuity is making sure that each time the scene is cut, the slightest details remain the same e.g. if a character is drinking from a cup then the drink will be at the same level when the shot is changed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP8pHDxVOLk

In this video there is a lot of bad continuity. at the beginning she is walking to the left side of the boy, but then when it cuts to a mid shot she switches to the right. It then cuts again and her hand changes from the right side of her head to the left. Next there is no car in the road and when it cuts there is suddenly a black car which then changes to a white car.

Alex and Jordan

Welcome

Hey guys, We are Passion Productions and this is our Blog of research, planning and producing a thriller, in every stage of our development in media. We are going to find out box office figures, research classic thriller films, look at camera angles and character types, think about appropriate music and settings and eventually create the opening to our own thriller film.

We hope you enjoy our blog!!
Alex, Lizzy, Jordan and Amy