Thriller is a broad genre of literature, film, television, and gaming that includes numerous and often overlapping sub-genres. Thrillers are characterized by fast pacing, frequent action, and resourceful heroes who must thwart the plans of more-powerful and better-equipped villains. Writer Vladimir Nabokov, in his lectures at Cornell University, said that "In an Anglo-Saxon thriller, the villain is generally punished, and the strong silent man generally wins the weak babbling girl, but there is no governmental law in Western countries to ban a story that does not comply with a fond tradition, so that we always hope that the wicked but romantic fellow will escape scot-free and the good but dull chap will be finally snubbed by the moody heroine.
Thriller Genre Critics
Martin Ruben
Martin Ruben written a book where he took what each critic thought were the main cliches of an average thriller film and he combined them together.
ChestertonGK
Chesterton defended the thriller genre by claiming that it was a modern genre. He also believed that a typical thriller is set in an urban landscape, and it is where an everyday person is in a mundane life and something exciting is brought into this world.
Northrop Fryer
Northrop Fryer continues GK Chestertons work by also claiming how the hero is often an ordinary person, he also says how thrillers can be quite similar to romance fictions as the hero of romance is in a world where the ordinary laws of nature slightly alter. which leaves an empathetic effect on the audience
John Cawelti
John Cawelti combines Chestersons and Fryers theoriesbut he believed that there is a transformation from the city to an enchanted forest and mystery. This is achieved by introducing the exotic into the every day world, E.g. E.T, jumanji
Matthews
Matthews work relates to mazes and labrynths in fiction and he believed that to design a thriller narrative, you need to add twists and turns so that the audience doesnt solve the problem too easily but it is designed so that the audeince could deduce it.
Benitzer
Benitzer tought that matthews was describing something called 'partial vision' he also believed that what the doesnt know should be part of the thriller genre.
Larz ole Sourberg
Soulberg wrote that thrillers will contain a method of something called 'concealment' which adds to the effect. He believed that something should be delibrately hidden from the audience or delaying the outcome of something to keep the audience on the edge of their seats.
Noel Carroll
Noel carroll felt that their should be a 'battle againt the odds' for the characters, he thought that if he gave the audience a question, such as, 'will the hero survive?' this helps add mystery suspense and action to the film as this may not be morally right for the hero to survive.
Tuesday 3 November 2009
Section 2
State of play.
Establishing shot shows us the narrative structure of this film which is a political thriller. In this film a man is running. Who is he running from? The colour blue to the genre of this film makes it cold, ruthless, sirens.
SE7EN-The 1995 film seven from David Fincher is set in a rough unnamed busy city. The weather is never changing and its often raining to give the city a dreary dull feeling. The gritty urban setting holds four main characters. Detective summerset and detective mills are the protagonists. These two males are rather opposite in many ways, the representation of black and white and the fact that summerset is a lonely old man who is experienced within his work. Where as in comparison mills is married, white, young and has little experience with high cases such as the one they are set. Brad Pitt and Morgan freeman are Hollywood stars so its nice to see well known actors working so close together. The villain within seven is a Mr john doe, he kills people in the pattern of the seven deadly sins- hence the name. his name is ironic as it is what they call unknown body’s founded upon. Doe is very religious and feel he is doing gods work. Mills had a wife named Tracey, for the hot headed detective she holds everything together whilst he is dealing with this vulgar head scratching case. As we can tell mills loves her a lot there for she is an easy weakness and target to get to mills as we see later on in the film when doe kills her for the jealousy sin. Seven is a Lina narrative, it flows in chronological order once again it is ironic about how long it lasts as summerset is supposed to retire in seven days and that’s how long the killings last for.The title of the films flashes from what you realise is john doe, he is cutting the tips of his fingers off so that he is unknown and will not leave fingerprints. It cuts between research on the murders straight back to doe preparing for them. Each book he creates could refer to a new book, a new chapter. a lot of images to do with god is shown such as crosses and bibles to show the religious authenticity of the film. Graphics within the title are used well, ghostly images are destroyed to add an uneasy effect. As john writes in his books his hand writing is scruffy and joined up almost child like, the hand writing puts you off trying to read it, its like writing you can only read when its your own. But that might be the point. He could never get caught them.
RED EYE-Our first research into opening scene started with Red Eye, I noticed that it had typical codes and conventions of classic thrillers. It was places in an urban landscape which was rainy and very busy, not much is given away so this helps the audience become more intrigued. The camerawork within Red Eye is very fast, there are a lot of close ups on the wallet with the letters ‘JR’ on, this show that the wallet holds great importance. Also a lot of close ups keep is in the dark within this opening scene so we know that there is a lot more mystery to be reviled. also a few handheld shots in the opening. The narrative structure of this thriller is linear, it follows her journey. We know nothing serious is going on yet because nothing important had happened to her yet. There are lots of fast cuts from different scenes this shows that whatever plan has been made about the wallet has been planned very precise and correctly done.
STRANGERS ON A TRAIN-Strangers on a train was produced in 1951 Alfred Hitchcock directs Farley Granger as Guy Haines, an amateur tennis player who is on his way to see his estranged wife, Miriam (Kasey Rogers) to ask for a divorce so he can marry his new love, Anne (Ruth Roman). On the journey a stranger, Bruno Anthony (Robert Walker) strikes up a conversation with him. Bruno knows all about Guy's and Anne's romance and how difficult Miriam is being, because he's read about in the society magazines. He also knows that Guy's life would be much easier if Miriam was out of the picture full stop. He knows it would be easier because he has a similar problem with his domineering father, and this leads to his suggestion to Guy: if Bruno killed Miriam, then Guy could kill Bruno's father, and they would each have perfect alibis. After all, why would either kill a perfect stranger? Guy laughs this off, but doesn't realise just how seriously Bruno is taking this idea until it's too late. The filming is very authentic and the camera work is slight uneasy but this makes it loved by many, as it was such a break through for its time. They are dressed rather smart In suits almost like the detectives in seven. There is no non-diegetic music within this scene its just them having a conversation which takes a turn. There are no graphics, sound visible editing. The film overall is very basic.
Establishing shot shows us the narrative structure of this film which is a political thriller. In this film a man is running. Who is he running from? The colour blue to the genre of this film makes it cold, ruthless, sirens.
SE7EN-The 1995 film seven from David Fincher is set in a rough unnamed busy city. The weather is never changing and its often raining to give the city a dreary dull feeling. The gritty urban setting holds four main characters. Detective summerset and detective mills are the protagonists. These two males are rather opposite in many ways, the representation of black and white and the fact that summerset is a lonely old man who is experienced within his work. Where as in comparison mills is married, white, young and has little experience with high cases such as the one they are set. Brad Pitt and Morgan freeman are Hollywood stars so its nice to see well known actors working so close together. The villain within seven is a Mr john doe, he kills people in the pattern of the seven deadly sins- hence the name. his name is ironic as it is what they call unknown body’s founded upon. Doe is very religious and feel he is doing gods work. Mills had a wife named Tracey, for the hot headed detective she holds everything together whilst he is dealing with this vulgar head scratching case. As we can tell mills loves her a lot there for she is an easy weakness and target to get to mills as we see later on in the film when doe kills her for the jealousy sin. Seven is a Lina narrative, it flows in chronological order once again it is ironic about how long it lasts as summerset is supposed to retire in seven days and that’s how long the killings last for.The title of the films flashes from what you realise is john doe, he is cutting the tips of his fingers off so that he is unknown and will not leave fingerprints. It cuts between research on the murders straight back to doe preparing for them. Each book he creates could refer to a new book, a new chapter. a lot of images to do with god is shown such as crosses and bibles to show the religious authenticity of the film. Graphics within the title are used well, ghostly images are destroyed to add an uneasy effect. As john writes in his books his hand writing is scruffy and joined up almost child like, the hand writing puts you off trying to read it, its like writing you can only read when its your own. But that might be the point. He could never get caught them.
RED EYE-Our first research into opening scene started with Red Eye, I noticed that it had typical codes and conventions of classic thrillers. It was places in an urban landscape which was rainy and very busy, not much is given away so this helps the audience become more intrigued. The camerawork within Red Eye is very fast, there are a lot of close ups on the wallet with the letters ‘JR’ on, this show that the wallet holds great importance. Also a lot of close ups keep is in the dark within this opening scene so we know that there is a lot more mystery to be reviled. also a few handheld shots in the opening. The narrative structure of this thriller is linear, it follows her journey. We know nothing serious is going on yet because nothing important had happened to her yet. There are lots of fast cuts from different scenes this shows that whatever plan has been made about the wallet has been planned very precise and correctly done.
STRANGERS ON A TRAIN-Strangers on a train was produced in 1951 Alfred Hitchcock directs Farley Granger as Guy Haines, an amateur tennis player who is on his way to see his estranged wife, Miriam (Kasey Rogers) to ask for a divorce so he can marry his new love, Anne (Ruth Roman). On the journey a stranger, Bruno Anthony (Robert Walker) strikes up a conversation with him. Bruno knows all about Guy's and Anne's romance and how difficult Miriam is being, because he's read about in the society magazines. He also knows that Guy's life would be much easier if Miriam was out of the picture full stop. He knows it would be easier because he has a similar problem with his domineering father, and this leads to his suggestion to Guy: if Bruno killed Miriam, then Guy could kill Bruno's father, and they would each have perfect alibis. After all, why would either kill a perfect stranger? Guy laughs this off, but doesn't realise just how seriously Bruno is taking this idea until it's too late. The filming is very authentic and the camera work is slight uneasy but this makes it loved by many, as it was such a break through for its time. They are dressed rather smart In suits almost like the detectives in seven. There is no non-diegetic music within this scene its just them having a conversation which takes a turn. There are no graphics, sound visible editing. The film overall is very basic.
Section 3
Our final idea was a bride killer who kills his ex girlfriend who is about to marry someone else. She is his first victim. He sneaks into her house and stabs her to death.TITLE: Till Death Do Us Part – Certificate 15The reason why we have chosen a 15 Certificate is because our film is not as violent that only over 18's would be allowed to watch it. There are not included many brutal scenes apart from stabbing Adele at the end. We mainly focused on presenting thriller ideas such as suspense atmosphere when Henry is sneaking into Adele's house. We tried to make the audience think and become interested in the main character who is Henry, as well as his motives - why does he kill brides?
Section 5
Treatment
'Till death do us part' will be a film about a man who hates love and happiness and feels better when he kills bride to be's in his area.
Concept
A troubled young man called Henry kills his ex-girlfriend who is getting married and then he gets a taste for killing bride to be's.
Synopsis
The film in which we are making is based around the story of Henry Jenkins. Henry was a normal guy with an everyday office job until he was stood up at the altar at his wedding. Filled with venomous rage, he finds that his bride to be (Adele) is to get married, so he goes to the wedding and kills adele whilst she is getting ready. The groom (Tom Rhodes) swears vengance on Henry. Henry goes onto a killing spree, killing wives around his area. He eventually decides to settle down, and get married himself, whilst henry is getting ready for his wedding night, mike steps into the room and murders him as the credits roll.
Opening scene
The film will begin with the wedding invite of Adele's wedding, then henry getting ready for her wedding then Adele getting ready and putting her necklace on. Henry then rips up the invite up as he is jelous. After this Henry picks up a rope and the shots change between Henry walking to Adele's house and Adele getting ready. Then he kills her.
Target Audience
'Till death do us part' will be aimed as a 15 rating as there will be gore and violence in this film, but not too a ridiculous extent. There will also be quite a large amount of bad language in the film which will not be suitable for chrildren under 15. We want this film to be a 15 as we want it to appeal to a late teen audience or mid 20's.
'Till death do us part' will be a film about a man who hates love and happiness and feels better when he kills bride to be's in his area.
Concept
A troubled young man called Henry kills his ex-girlfriend who is getting married and then he gets a taste for killing bride to be's.
Synopsis
The film in which we are making is based around the story of Henry Jenkins. Henry was a normal guy with an everyday office job until he was stood up at the altar at his wedding. Filled with venomous rage, he finds that his bride to be (Adele) is to get married, so he goes to the wedding and kills adele whilst she is getting ready. The groom (Tom Rhodes) swears vengance on Henry. Henry goes onto a killing spree, killing wives around his area. He eventually decides to settle down, and get married himself, whilst henry is getting ready for his wedding night, mike steps into the room and murders him as the credits roll.
Opening scene
The film will begin with the wedding invite of Adele's wedding, then henry getting ready for her wedding then Adele getting ready and putting her necklace on. Henry then rips up the invite up as he is jelous. After this Henry picks up a rope and the shots change between Henry walking to Adele's house and Adele getting ready. Then he kills her.
Target Audience
'Till death do us part' will be aimed as a 15 rating as there will be gore and violence in this film, but not too a ridiculous extent. There will also be quite a large amount of bad language in the film which will not be suitable for chrildren under 15. We want this film to be a 15 as we want it to appeal to a late teen audience or mid 20's.
Section 6
EXT. STREET. EVENING - The camera shows a generic house, the area around the house doesn’t show wealth however does not signify poverty either. Creepy music starts, slowly bilding.
INT. LIVING ROOM. EVENING - Pan shot moving from left to right showing an invitation to Adele Price & Tom Fury’s wedding.Camera snaps to an extreme close up of a man fixing his tie, deliberately the camera cuts off at the neck, not showing the face. Music continues building.
EXT. STREET. EVENING - Show of a different house than the one above, area show’s more wealth.Music slows, gets a little softer.
INT. BATHROOM. EVENING - Shot of a girl putting on a necklace, framing the exact same as the 3rd shot.Music becomes almost loving.
INT. LIVING ROOM. EVENING - Over the shoulder view of somebody holding a picture with the necklace girl, guy takes it out of the frame.Camera cuts to a close up of hands ripping up the picture. Music takes on a slightly sinister tone whilst keeping the undercurrent of loving from the previous shot. Gets more sinister as the picture gets ripped.
INT. BATHROOM. EVENING - Close up, side on the girl in the picture, wearing the necklace, putting lipstick on in front of a mirror. Again the current of love and innocence becomes dominant in the music.
INT. LIVING ROOM. EVENING - Mid shot of legs, hands pick up rope.Bird’s eye, dutch angled close up of the rope on a table.
INT. BATHROOM. EVENING - Pan shot, going from left to right, showing a mid shot of Adele.
EXT. FIELD. EVENING - Camera stays static looking at the field, in the foreground is a path, a person walks past quickly. Camera lingers on the field for a two seconds longer.
EXT. HOUSE. EVENING - Extreme close up on a door handle showing somebody wear a glove opening it.
INT. BATHROOM. EVENING - Over-the-shoulder shot of killer holding rope up, camera’s focused on this rather than the girl in the mirror, who is blurred in the background.
Character Outlines
Henry Jenkins:
Henry, 21, the bride killer, is a very troubled young man who kills brides-to-be. He grew up in a council estate with an abusive father and a depressed mother who kills herself when Henry is only 7. The father, John Jenkins, takes his wife’s death out on the son. Needless to say, the boy grows up with some issues, he starts dating a girl named Adele Price when they are both 18. Adele is the town whore who dumps Henry after he tries to change her for the better. He snaps and swears revenge. 3 years go by and Henry is working in a boring office job at Dunder Mifflin when he hears that Adele is getting married. Henry kills Adele on her wedding day and sub sequentially gets a taste for killing brides. He goes on a killing spree…
Adele Price:
Adele, 21, the first victim, is a tramp. She grew up being a lonely child and getting all the attention. She starts dating Henry Jenkins when she is 18 however they soon split as Adele can’t keep in one relationship too long. She meets an unfortuante end where she dies by the knife of Henry Jenkins.
Nick Fury:
Nick, 24 is an ex-SAS trained killer. He comes back from service doing top secret
assassinations for S.H.I.E.L.D. and decides to marry the love of his life, Adele. After Adele is murdered he must go rampage blowing as much stuff up as he can to catch his wife’s murderer. He has lost everything and nothing will stop him…
INT. LIVING ROOM. EVENING - Pan shot moving from left to right showing an invitation to Adele Price & Tom Fury’s wedding.Camera snaps to an extreme close up of a man fixing his tie, deliberately the camera cuts off at the neck, not showing the face. Music continues building.
EXT. STREET. EVENING - Show of a different house than the one above, area show’s more wealth.Music slows, gets a little softer.
INT. BATHROOM. EVENING - Shot of a girl putting on a necklace, framing the exact same as the 3rd shot.Music becomes almost loving.
INT. LIVING ROOM. EVENING - Over the shoulder view of somebody holding a picture with the necklace girl, guy takes it out of the frame.Camera cuts to a close up of hands ripping up the picture. Music takes on a slightly sinister tone whilst keeping the undercurrent of loving from the previous shot. Gets more sinister as the picture gets ripped.
INT. BATHROOM. EVENING - Close up, side on the girl in the picture, wearing the necklace, putting lipstick on in front of a mirror. Again the current of love and innocence becomes dominant in the music.
INT. LIVING ROOM. EVENING - Mid shot of legs, hands pick up rope.Bird’s eye, dutch angled close up of the rope on a table.
INT. BATHROOM. EVENING - Pan shot, going from left to right, showing a mid shot of Adele.
EXT. FIELD. EVENING - Camera stays static looking at the field, in the foreground is a path, a person walks past quickly. Camera lingers on the field for a two seconds longer.
EXT. HOUSE. EVENING - Extreme close up on a door handle showing somebody wear a glove opening it.
INT. BATHROOM. EVENING - Over-the-shoulder shot of killer holding rope up, camera’s focused on this rather than the girl in the mirror, who is blurred in the background.
Character Outlines
Henry Jenkins:
Henry, 21, the bride killer, is a very troubled young man who kills brides-to-be. He grew up in a council estate with an abusive father and a depressed mother who kills herself when Henry is only 7. The father, John Jenkins, takes his wife’s death out on the son. Needless to say, the boy grows up with some issues, he starts dating a girl named Adele Price when they are both 18. Adele is the town whore who dumps Henry after he tries to change her for the better. He snaps and swears revenge. 3 years go by and Henry is working in a boring office job at Dunder Mifflin when he hears that Adele is getting married. Henry kills Adele on her wedding day and sub sequentially gets a taste for killing brides. He goes on a killing spree…
Adele Price:
Adele, 21, the first victim, is a tramp. She grew up being a lonely child and getting all the attention. She starts dating Henry Jenkins when she is 18 however they soon split as Adele can’t keep in one relationship too long. She meets an unfortuante end where she dies by the knife of Henry Jenkins.
Nick Fury:
Nick, 24 is an ex-SAS trained killer. He comes back from service doing top secret
assassinations for S.H.I.E.L.D. and decides to marry the love of his life, Adele. After Adele is murdered he must go rampage blowing as much stuff up as he can to catch his wife’s murderer. He has lost everything and nothing will stop him…
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