Thriller is a broad genre of literature, film and television, having numerous sub genres. Thrillers are characterised and defined by the moods they elicit, giving viewers heightened feelings of suspense, excitement, surprise, anticipation and anxiety.
Examples of the sub genres of Thriller include
- Action - Bourne Indentity
- Horror - Saw
- Crime - No Country For Old Men
- Supernatural - The Sixth Sense
- Political - The Manturain Candidate
Thrillers generally keep the audience on the "edge of their seats" as the plot builds towards a climax. Literary devices such as red herrings, plot twists, and cliffhangers are used extensively. A thriller is usually a villain-driven plot, whereby the main villain presents challenges that the protagonist/s have to over come
Camerawork
- throughout most of the opening the camera just cuts through various bits of scenery using a mixture of mid and long shots
- eventually the camera pans round this sudden movement draws the audiences attention to what is being shown which is a man being led to a police car
- mid shot of villian being forced into car cut to close up of canister being placed on seat
- mid shot as policeman gets into vehicle
- tilt up shot as car moves past into distance
Sound
- non diagetic voiceover throughout - conversational
- no dialogue from those on screen
- no soundtrack
Lighting
- all natural light showing a sunrise
Editing
- all just for continuity
Mis En Scene
- uniform of policeman and car sets the film clearly in America
- canister adds a intriguing note to the story
-Panning establishing shot shows surrounding environment
of flat which then zooms onto licence plate of car showing the nature of the
antagonists
-Shot style changes to a handheld following shot
as the group of men enter the building running this creates a sense of tension
and intrigue as their rapid movement is at odds with the rest of the street
-As the men enter the flat the camera pans around
to the door way of the bathroom where it lingers as the door is opened and a
moment of comedy is had as the door opens to an seemingly bewildered old man
-A low down pan is used at one point to further
the tight packed nature of the small flat
-As the man is seated a close up shot reverse
shot is used which builds intimacy and fear of the FBI agents
-While the man is clearing up the camera pans
down in an almost pov like closeup that shows his attention is focused on a
small piece of paper which increases intrigue in the viewer
Lighting
-Outside the apartment their is little use of
lighting as it simply shows and everyday scene
-Once inside the apartment their is very little
light which creates large areas of shadow that increase the threatening nature of
the FBI agents
Sound
-All digetic sounds no soundtrack is used
-Some sounds such as the tire squeels in the
opening are amplified to draw audience attention but mostly sound is secondary
to the actions of the characters on screen
Editing
-Pretty much standard nothing special chronological
Mise en Scene
-The suits of the FBI agents are contrasted with
the stark white shirt of the man which furthers the sense of conflict between
the two
-The setting is clearly period as the surrounding
set and the cars indicate this
-The dialogue on screen mentions espionage which
intrigues the audience and makes them want to
watch on
-The first shot used is a two shot of the two
central characters in the scene sitting at a diner booth
-This then cuts to a close up shot reverse shot
when the waiter asks if either of them want more coffee
-The camera returns to its initial position but
focuses more on the male character
-The shots that follow all focus on the male
character these are a mixture of over the shoulders from the perspective of the
female character or close ups of the male. These are occasionally switched out
for the same two shot that was seen at the beginning of the scene but because
of the way the characters are sitting we see far more of the male than the
female and as he is usually the one talking our focus is on him
-A notable change comes about one the line “garson
coffee” the camera switches a sustained use of a shot reverse shot technique of
the two characters in full conversation
-The extreme close up of the two kissing is very uncomfortable
the audience
-Finally the way in which the actors turn out to
face the viewer involves the viewer in the action as it is as if the actors on
screen are threatening the audience
-Overall the camerawork helps to isolate the
action of stage from the rest of the diner making us focus on the two
characters in hand and also implying that they live outside of regular society
as no other characters (other than the waiters) are shown
Sound
-No soundtrack is present except for the faint
sounds of a jukebox and the sound of the diner this means that the sole focus
of the audience is on the two characters on screen and makes the eventual sudden
shift to violence more suprising.
Lighting
-Nothing special .natural throughout showing that
it is daytime
Editing
-Same as the lighting just cuts between various
shots of the same pairing
Mise En Scene
-Costume – fairly cheap looking and dishevelled
indicates that they don’t care about their appearance and they don’t have too
much money
-Action on screen – both American and setting is
typically American so the setting is apparent immediately. the fact that the
characters are talking about illegal activities so normally intrigues the viewer and indicates these people aren’t
normal
Overall I thought our group worked well together throughout the project and the end product was pretty good. The biggest problem we had was part way through someone lost the memory card with the footage on it . In addition to this one of our shots was wonky which could have been fixed by taking care with the camera equipment. In general I think I could improve in terms of my initial planning because during this I didn't work as well as I could have with the rest of the group and this restricted the creative process. In addition to this I didn't get much experience using editing software and so during the preliminary task I think it would be good for me to get some more experience using this software.
This sequence as a whole can be broken down into two sets of
scenes, these being those taking place outside of the house and those taking
place within it.
Before the camera even starts rolling there is an important
sound note, there is no sound effect to accompany the company logos. This
immediately creates a sense of tension and makes the build of the soundtrack
that little bit more effective. The sequence opens with a drawn out wide
establishing shot which introduces the viewer to the surrounding environment
and the isolation of the house being assaulted (which can be clearly identified
because every character on screen is moving towards it and a sniper is aimed at
it). It also introduces the viewer to the SWAT team assaulting the house as
they clearly stand out from their surrounding as they are dressed all in black
and they are moving slowly and stealthily. Finally the score begins at this
moment which gradually builds increasing the tension in the scene. The camera
then cuts to the interior of the house and shadows move across the window
adding to the tension of the scene. In terms of sound the TV can be heard and
although it is faint it is clearly not English indicating the ethnicity of the
enemy before we even see them. The camera cuts again this time to a close up of
Emily Blunt’s character inside the SWAT vehicle. Then a shot reverse shot is
used between Blunt’s character and another character indicating some kind of
friendship between the two. Finally this shot sequence transitions to a panning
shot that gradually zooms out showing the scale of the operation and reinforces
the professionalism of the unit
Then the camera cuts to a tracking shot as the vehicle accelerates
towards the wall of the house. At the same time the orchestral drums and bass
that have been building throughout the scene raise in volume in time with the
acceleration of the camera. The camera
then jump cuts to an interior shot of the house, there is no sound other than
the noise of the approaching vehicle which then smashes through the wall of the
house. Instead of a soundtrack
restarting all of the characters in the van begin shouting creating a sense of
confusion. Two flashes of light go as the swat team leave the vehicle
furthering this effect of disorientation and surprise that the viewer feels.
The editing increases in speed as the camera cuts to several moments of action
as the residents of the house are forced to surrender the camera mainly focuses
on the faces of Blunts character and does not show the enemy characters faces
at all. Once the initial assault is over the editing slows down and the camera
tracks Blunt’s character through the house showing various scenes of her
clearing rooms while at the same time the noise from the SWAT team decreases .
Finally the camera reaches the final room and Blunt’s character barges in.
The angle switches to an over the shoulder from the
perspective of Blunt’s character and we see the man standing in the corner of
the room with a shotgun before Blunt’s character reacts. Also this angle shows
both the initial shot fired by the man and the return fire by Blunt’s
character. After the crescendo of noise that the shots create there is a moment
of silence which allows the viewer to digest what has just happen and shows
that Blunt’s character is clearly a professional and is not fazed by this
situation as is clearly shown by her facial expression. One thing of note in
the scene is that the blood from the dead body on the floor is the first bit of
major colour that is present in the sequence at any point this contrast draws
the audience’s attention to it increasing the shock factor of the event.
Another point on the use of the colour red would be that the curtain over the
window in this scene creates a red tint to the colour in the room that adds and
sinister note to the location
After this moment of action occurs two members of the team
walk into to the room and exchange a brief moment of dialogue in which they express
their confusion. The camera then cuts to one of the new arrivals and captures
his reaction to something in the walls the audiences attention is further drawn
to his reaction by the line of dialogue “wow”. The camera then slowly zooms in
on his face as the soundtrack that has been absent from the rest of the scene
restarts. The shot changes to a close up zoom on the hole the shotgun blast
created in the wall and a small amount of plastic can be seen in the corner of
the hole. The three character then run forward and attempt to remove the wall.
This is shown firstly from an over the shoulder perspective and then from the
side both times the camera does not show what is inside the cavity of the wall.
The camera then switches to a POV shot of what ever is inside the wall and the
characters on stage all gag indicating a horrible smell filling the scene then
the camera flips perspective and cuts to POV shot of the bodies hidden inside
the wall. At the same time the
soundtrack swells into life furthering the unsettling nature of the
scene being shown
The camera then cuts
to an over the shoulder shot of Blunt’s character back outside while the
soundtrack still plays showing her vomit into the ground which shows the
disgusting nature of the scene as she was not fazed by the blood earlier but is
appalled by this. The camera then cuts back to the bodies zooming in slightly
to give even more grizzly detail before finally cutting back to a two shot of
Blunt’s character and the character from the truck discussing how they weren’t
their hostages which adds an element of intrigue and makes the viewer want to
keep watching as they want to find out the reason for the presence of the
bodies
Opening shot has very low depth of field causing the
audience to focus solely on Tom Cruise’s character. Only sound is sound of
crowd and amplified footsteps. Same procedure for next shot focusing on other
character then cut by to Tom Cruise
Sudden change of shot as two characters collide background
sound is decreased. Match on action as bags drop to the floor, sound of bags
dropping is amplified to further draw audience attention. Over the shoulder
shot with low depth of field focusing on other characters face no emotion
is shown. Motivated editing is used as the collision between the two characters is surprising because we are not given any indication of their proximity to one another
Soundtrack begins to build tension as shot switches to over the shoulder shot of
tom cruises character with again low depth of field
Snap cut to interior of taxi office. Colour palette changes
but sound track continues indicating some kind of connection between the two
scenes. Switch in editing pace from long drawn out shots to rapid frame
changes. Lingering shot on taxi driver are in contrast to editing during scene indication that we should pay special attention to person in frame
As taxi driver enters car multiple match on action shots are
shown as he goes through his routine close ups used throughout to covey
meticulous nature of character.
Soundtrack drops out as driver closes door leaving simple
base beat which indicates isolation of the character from the rest off the
scene which was previously very noisy and clutterd
Additional match on action shots that linger on his putting
the image of the island straight indicates importance to character
