Iconic Thriller Directors

There are many directors who've made a name for themselves mainly through their direction of films in the thriller genre. I've picked out a few who really stand out for me, in terms of both personalities and pieces of work.

Alfred Hitchcock

Stanley Kubrick

Steven Spielberg

Typical Synopsis of a Thriller Film

There is a generic synopsis that runs through the theme of most typical thriller films. I think there are three types of synopsis that applies to thriller films. Typically, the first: there are police detectives involved on some sort of hunt to get to the bottom of something. The second: a dystopian world where things aren't what they seem. And third: someone's done something 'naughty' and basically for the whole film, metaphorically run for their life. There are sub genres in thriller so there are various synopsises that can be applied to and thought of.

The History of Thrillers...

The genre of thriller has been in the film business for roughly 70 years. Various directors have gained their acclaim for success through the thriller genre. Here is a picture from the website timerime which shows the progression of thriller films...

Here are summaries of just a few of them...

Rebecca was made in 1940 and was amongst the first lot of films in the thriller genre. It was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and stars Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine. Rebecca was the first film to be shown at the 1st Berlin International Film Festival and set the bar for thriller films: it won two Academy Awards (which included Best Picture) and both the lead actors aswell as Judith Anderson were nominated for Oscar awards. Based on the novel by Daphne du Maurier, the story centres on a young woman who has recently married a man and moved into his mansion, only to find herself being haunted by his ex wife.The picture is filmed in all black and white which is what Hitchcock wanted to give the film a darker edge and atmosphere. Rebecca was Alfred Hitchcock's first film to be made in Hollywood.


 

Psycho was made in 1960 and was again directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It starred Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, John Gavin and Vera Miles. Psycho was nominated for four Academy Awards even though it got mixed reviews. It is generally considered to be one of the best films Hitchcock made. The story focusses on a young woman who steals money so her and her lover can get married, but it comes with serious consequences. Psycho was the last picture Hitchcock filmed in black and white - he thought if it was in colour, it would be too gory to watch. He used various camera shots and lenses to help give the audience a deeper sense of realism.

The Shining was made in 1980 and was directed by Stanley Kubrick. It stars Jack Nicholson as the main protagonist and is based on a man who takes a job at a hotel only to find it does strange things to him and therefore to his family. The Shining is based on the novel by Stephen King. Stanley Kubrick forced the cast and crew to re-take scenes over and over again for a lot of crucial scenes and distinct shots. The Shining has been  named as one of the top ten most scariest films ever.

Pulp Fiction was made in 1994 and was directed by Quentin Tarantino. It stars John Travolta, Samuel L.Jackson and Uma Thurman-all of them were nominated for Academy Awards for the film. Pulp Fiction is based on a intersected and knitted group of LA 'mobsters'. Tarantino has a very unique style and a love for crime and violence being used in his films. Pulp Fiction was named the 94th Greatest Movie of All Time by the American Film Institute.

Inception was made in 2010 and was directed by Christopher Nolan. It stars numerous actors and actresses including Leonardo DiCaprio. It is based on a world based on technology of humans and how they deal with it when strange things start to happen. Inception was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won five of them. Nolan uses many large scale shots and created one of the most interesting thriller films of the twenty first century.

Catch Me If You Can - 9 Frame Analysis, Opening Titles.

Catch Me If You Can is a comedy-drama made in 2002, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks as the leads and directed by Steven Spielberg.

Frame 1

From the first frame of the opening titles of Catch Me If You Can, the audience sees a very graphic and almost- comic book like frame. The writing is generally squared but also curves to fit in to the rest of the piece.

Frame 2

Small figures are incorporated into the piece, the black showing vibrantly against the block colourful background.

Frame 3

The main title is also incorporated well into the piece, the word 'me' being highlighted in white, shining out against the other words and the back ground.

Frame 4

The colour changes through the frames to suit the mood of the image being portrayed.

Frame 5

As the frames change, the colours do too, maybe to suggest a series of themes. In this frame, the colours are bed and white but filter through with red to give an edgy sort of allure to the frame.

Frame 6

Again, the colours change and so do the titles in terms of the font and shapes created. This frame gives a complete different image to the frame before.

Frame 7

Various styles are included in the opening title, such as this image - straight lines and shadows, again, offering a different visual thought to the audience.

Frame 8

The titles are clever in terms of images, as they create interesting shapes that suit the idea and themes of the film.

Frame 9 

Throughout the entire opening scenes of Catch Me If You Can, all the images are graphic and obviously made by using technology which although suggests things to the film, doesn't give anything away about the film such as characters or settings.



Camera Shots 101!

I've learnt that there are various different camera shots that are used within film, such as:

Establishing Shot

The Establishing Shot is a very wide shot across the scene that gives the audience a sense of knowing where they are, whether it be a big lanscape of a row of shops etc. It is generally used at the start of the film or scene to offer the audience knowledge of what might come about in the scene.

Long Shot

The Long Shot shows both the character (often the main character) and the environment the person is in. The Long Shot also shows the relationship between the two. This also gives the audience extra information about what the film will include and show.

Mid Shot

The Mid Shot allows the audience to get to know the character and become familiar with their looks, mannerisms and also their body language.

Two Shot 

The Two Shot shows the relationship between two characters and how they act and feel with each other.

Close-Up Shot

The Close-Up Shot puts all the audience's attention and focus onto the character that is being presented to them.

Extreme Close-Up Shot

The Extreme Close-Up Shot usually focusses on the character's eyes as they express the most amount of emotion when dealing with a character and his/or her position. This shot also gives extra attention to the character and how they are reacting to whatever the audience cannot immediately see.

Over The Shoulder Shot

The Over The Shoulder Shot gives the audience a look into more of what the character is seeing and focusses attention on the character opposite as they most likely talk.

Point Of View Shot

The Point Of View Shot gives the audience a direct insight to what the character is witnessing. It is a very strong and interesting shot to use.

Other Shots

There are other shots that are frequently used such as the high angle shot; which hovers above the scene, low angle shot; which stays below, looking up at the scene/characters. Another shot used is the Dutch/canted angle which is off balance to create a sense of disorientation in the audience's mind.

Shots are based on steadiness and control as well as creating ( in thrillers case) suspense and a sense of mystery. All of the shots I have mentioned above are frequently and widely used in the process and making of filming.

- I borrowed all pictures from http://www.mediacollege.com/

I found this video on youtube a little while ago, and it's helped me to understand not only how to create various shots, but also the purpose of them and how they effect the audience.

Enemy of the State - Opening Titles Analysis

- The font of the writing is computer-like, squared and cryptic. It's coloured white (a typical colour used in titles of a thriller film).

- The music playing over the footage is classical and tinged with eerieness.

- The establishing shot is over a city and interestingly, the image in the first shot is also the same shot in the last frame before the film starts.

- The sequence is really fast paced and shows various images ans pieces of footage including: CCTV like footage, accidents and also various commitments of crime. As the footage shows numerous times, high state buildings such as the Pentagon, the audience gets the jist that there may well be political themes in the film.

- Various shots are used - from the CCTV sort of shots, to long city sweeps and ariel shots - all adding to the mtserious suggestions of the film.

9 Frame Analysis - Se7en Opening Sequence

Frame 1

In the first frame of the opening credits, the audience sees an open book and shows the first sign of writing. The font is scrawny - small, sharp letters, generally what you'd expect from a thriller film in the titles.

Frame 2

Throughout the sequence, close-up quick images are played, giving the audience just enough time to register what object they're seeing before it changes into something else, related to the previous scene.

Frame 3

When the main title of the film comes up, it changes rapidly - in pretty much less than a split second - into a much larger verison of the word, and then back to a small font again and it sort of jitters too, creating a sense of no direction and mystery even within the first minute or so of the film.

Frame 4

As the close-ups progress, we - as the audience - get to see more and more of what the film's about. There are many effects used: jitter, grain etc but in the scene above, we see a jittery overlap of the same image being played.

Frame 5

There is little amount of colour used throughout the title sequence. Black, white, grey and cream are the main palette of the piece, but occaisionally, we see red shine through, which can depict and/or suggest blood, giving the audience an insight into the sort of story and film they are about to watch.

Frame 6

Occaisionally, you get to see words and writing, such as in the scene that flashes above. Certain words jump out at you such as in this scene: 'Marry' 'children' 'female', which all try to give a glimspe of insight into the film.

Frame 7

There are only a few actual images and pictures shown in the opening sequence, but the few that are shown depict very distinct images such as the one above - showing a human head with a pen line drawn over and across the eyes, symbolizing whatever the image is supposed to.

Frame 8

In this frame, another distinct image is shown. This impies the idea of death and operations and physical harm, to give the audience another nugget of info on what the film will entail, provided they keep on watching.

Frame 9

Another idea surrounding the film is religion. In this frame, the word God is being cut out of a paper. And interestingly enough, over the footage the voice of the song sings "You've got me closer to God", the only line in the entirety of the song, symbolizing perhaps its importance in the rest of the film.  

Se7en - My Personal Analysis

I finally got round to watching the thriller film Se7en last night which was directed by David Fincher in 1995 (yeah, the film's as old as me!), and I thought it was brilliant: both in concept and style. It had the typical idea of a thriller underneath but the use of the seven sins that's incorporated into the story is really interesting and gives the film a fresh spin on turns of events such as homocide which is depicted too, in nearly every thriller film.

Each shot gave a slight meaning to how the panning out of the film occured and after studying the trailer near enough ten times, I was entirely sure what to expect or make of the film. I noticed subtle subliminal actions that the characters carried out which due to the angle of the camera was suggested to the audience - such as when Morgan Freeman's character puts the five books down (each one circles around or includes the idea of the five sins left of the seven to be used in the murders), the camera is at mid shot, but I saw how he stretched out his fingers and thumb, signalling as he held the last book- before putting it down -the number of sins left. Now whether the character does this on purpose or whether it is completely subliminal and no-one thought anything of it, I'm not sure. But I picked up on it as I watched it, all because of the shot chosen to capture the movement.

I was quite fascinated by Se7en. I really like the film; it's intense, exciting, mysterious, funny at times and just a tad scary for me at parts too. It's got what an essential thriller film needs and I think it was well made, edited and all put together, the opening titles giving just enough suspense and information to entice the audience to watch the rest of the film.

Thriller Iconography

After studying the idea of thriller films and looking at typical features and the iconography you'd find in a film of that genre, I've made this mood board to show what I've found...

Like Minds - Looking at an Example of Thriller

19/09/2011

Like Minds
Written & Directed by Gregory J. Read.
Starring Eddie Redmayne as Alex Forbes, Tom Sturridge as Nigel Colbie and Toni Collette as Sally Rowe.

The opening titles of a thriller film are very important as they set up the atmosphere for the audience and ease them into the story and feeling of the film. In the opening of pshycological thriller film Like Minds, the audience watches a very close-up shot of a piece of glinting metal as the actors names and major production teams' names appear in a thin white scrawl. Eerie classical  music is being played over the scene to help create the atmosphere - tense, mysterious. The shot gently moves away to reveal the metal being train tracks, and before you know it, a train ploughs ahead at full speed and we see one of the main protagonists leaning out of the train door, screaming in what seems to be some form of excitement.

Like Minds comes under the genre of pshycological thriller. It centres around seventeen year old Alex Forbes who is being held at a police station and being questionned over the death of his "friend" Nigel Colbie. Most people - including the forensic pshycologist Sally Rowe who is questionning him- believe he has commited the crime of killing Nigel. In the first real scene of the film that isn't a flashback, the audience sees an out of focus mid shot of Alex in the interview room. As the shot comes into focus, the boy's features are vacant, the eerie music is still playing and his voice appears over the footage "I can't remember when I first noticed the change. It's not that I didn't see it coming, I just didn't want to believe it. I guess that's not much of an excuse, but it's the truth". The ambiguous first few sentences give nothing away in terms of the storylines and plots. It creates a real sense of mystery and forces the audience to want to keep watching.

The character of Alex is a strong, sharp tongued teenager who is thrown into a situation which he is initially blamed for. Nigel is a dark generally quiet, mysterious young man, also seventeen years old. He pulls Alex into an uncomfortable and strange story of fraternity and the Knights Templar. The relationship between the two boys is very strained as they share a room together in a prestigous boarding school for boys which Alex's father is headmaster of. Another main character in the film is the forensic pshycologist Sally Rowe who investigates Alex's point of view of what occured.

I think Like Minds is suitable for anyone from late teens onwards. It's a really interesting, mysterious film that is imaginative and edgy and above all, a truly good thriller.

What I've learnt...

Over the last week I've gotten a fair amount of knowledge on how to critically anyalyse a thriller trailer, opening titles and also what a thriller film needs to have to make it come under that specific genre. I've learnt that suspense and mystery - and also that the story - is all set up in the main and opening credits of a film, from colours used to fonts, from shots to edited cuts. I now know what I can expect from a thriller film, just by sitting down and watching the opening credits and I think it will really help me come to terms with what I need to know about thrillers as a subject of media.

A Look at Se7en - Critical Analysis

After watching the opening titles and credits of the 1995 thriller film Se7en, I made a video describing how I think the various shots used in the piece add to the dramatisation and help to create suspense and mystery which leads the audience into the film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEZK7mJoPLY <--- Opening titles of Se7en

What do YOU expect from a thriller film?

Here, our group created vox pops to show what we expected from thriller films and what films of that genre we like.

Thriller: Inside the Genre - mind map.

Here I have created a mind map that looks at the functions of a thriller film and what makes a thriller film a thriller...