Research; Thrillers.

The thriller genre has been explored by numerous directors, taking on different ideas and different concepts to make them constant and successful crowd pullers in the film realm. 

It usually contains 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrillers#Film

Thrillers are usually characterised by fast paced editing in action scenes, speedy camera action, adrelalin pumping 'life or death' situations, and characters following the heroes and villians theme; in which heroes almost always defeat the villians.


In our Thriller opening we want to to convey the typical thriller scenario; a fast paced killing, panic, an escape, a chase, and an attack. Ending the opening like this we thought would leave the audience intrigued as to what will happen to the focal character in the scene next.


We looked at the original version of the texas chainsaw massacre,a thriller/horror movie directed by Tobe hooper in 1974.

This is the chase scene we looked at:





The scene uses a lot of mid and long shots when the chase begins. The woman runs to safety into a house. When she locks the door there is a use of a mid shot to capture her reaction and panic. The mise en scene (french for everything in the shot) in the clip adds to the thriller genre of the film; the clothing is dark and dirty, the lighting is dark and there is use of weapons such as guns and a chainsaw. The woman then escapes by jumping through a window where an extreme low angle is used. More mid shots are then used in the chase on the roof, until she falls to the ground where there is a use of an extreme low angle. As she gets up and runs for the second time, the camera tracks her, giving the audience a sense of perspective from the victims point of view as she runs franticly.
The whole scene has been edited to make each shot very fast paced and speedy, enhancing the panic and adrenalin in the scene.
This scene portrays a typical chase scene following thriller conventions which we intend to use in our final opening scene.

In class, we were also given a list of typical thriller conventions.



A crime at the core of the narrative (often murder, but not necessarily).

A complex narrative structure, with false paths,
clues and resolutions,

A narrative pattern of establishing enigmas which the viewer expects to be resolved.

A protagonist who is systematically dis-empowered and drawn into a complex web of intrigue by the antagonist.

Extraordinary events happening in ordinary situations.

Themes of identity.

Themes of mirroring.

Themes of voyeurism.

Protagonist with a ‘flaw’ which is exploited by the antagonist.

Titles often reflect an aspect of the pro/antagonist’s psychological state.

There is often a scene near the end of the film in which the protagonist is in peril.

Mise en scene which echoes/ mirrors the protagonist’s plight.

In our opening sequence we included four of these conventions; the crime being the first killing, the establishing enigmas being the kill and chase, the extraordinary in ordinary situation,and the last scene with our protagonist in peril.