Audience for thriller films

 Audience for thrillers

The general target audience for Thrillers are generally the male audience. Thrillers are intellectually demanding especially when it comes to psychological thrillers. In addition, the audience for thrillers are suppose to be for the older generation as thrillers are to do with working out the situation - intellectual thought. For example, rather than horror films, where they are a lot of violent and murder for the sake of it, while thrillers are based on working out what is going on in?, who is doing it? and why it is happening?

memento are more intellectual demanding and is aimed at 25 years and over

Cross genre thrillers

 Cross genre thrillers/ sub genre thrillers such as horror thrillers, action thrillers and romantic thrillers are geared to the majority of the audience especially for the teenage audience. Cross genre thrillers mix in different themes from different genre. Such as Romantic thriller 'he loves me, he loves me NOT gear to more of a female audience because of the romantic side, but can be for male because of the tense and suspense as goes against any usually form of Romance.Another Film is: In the line of fire, which is a political thriller and engage into the older generation, 25 years and over. The target audience would be for adults who are intersect in the politics.

Here are the list of sub genres:

Conspiracy thrillers - where the hero or the heroine confronts a group of enemies because they are only aware of it.  This sub genre will attract 25 years and over

Crime thriller -  are based on the criminals due to the successfulness or failure of crimes they have conducted. It is a suspenseful account. The magority of this target audience is the male adults because there is pure action. In addition it can be considered as intellectually demanding because it is in the mind of the criminal.

Erotic thrillers - where the film is surrounded by the sexual relationship and erotica. For example single white female. The main audience this will attract is more likely the male adult audiences.

Psychological thrillers - is where the main character struggles and battles to deal with their emotions and mental state. Characters tend to murder by accident and try deal with conflicts and danger that they are dragged into. Suspense from these thrillers com from the other characters that they are preying on or they are being preyed by others. The main audience will attract over 25 year olds as it is intellectually demanding  For example Panic room




Spy thrillers - where the hero i9s a government spy that  needs to take on other rival government spies through violence.  This is suspenseful and the audience is generally for the male audience but some women may be interested depending on the sex of the character. For example Salt or Mission impossible

Supernatural thrillers - where the films brings in mediums or otherworldy elements that can not be explained. The plot are very twisted and confusing which creates suspense.  This will attract all geners young old male female because it is different from everyday situations. For example White lies beneath
 
Techno thriller - where the polt is surronded by the manipulation of technology.

 

initial idea number 1

something similar to this but going up into a peak triangle

My first idea is about this man who sales vegetables on a market stall or a green grocery store. however this man has issues as suffers a bad case of OCD he catchphrase is 'everything has its place' as he believes having a neat systematic life is the way to go. so one day in the evening say 5pm. A woman is on her phone talking to her Boyfriend letting her know that she is preparing a special dinner. She goes to green grocer and is picking up a vegetables and she comes to a pile of potatoes which is stacked orderly. The woman scans the potatoes looking at them carefully trying to choose the correct one. she complains that it is dirty and asked the man has he got any fresh ones. At this point he feels made and anguish and mutters his catchprase. The woman askes 'what?' but he says nothing and takes her round the back where there is "fresh potatoes". She is looking in the bag in the meanwhile he is behind her and attacks her from the behind with a brick and shouting that 'everything has its place'.

 At the beginning we can use a tracking shot of the woman from the behind walking and at the front, to the greengrocery talking on her phone but we segment take her body to show her vulnerability. Which we then cross cut to the man standing in the middle, but, we use many angles on his face to capture his obsessive crazy, disorderly behavior. Then he starts staking the the vegetables where the credits start to begin while cross cuttin back to the woman in danger.

The opening structure is a narrative opening sequence.

Thrillers film sequence opening

Thursday 12th January in class we watched several thriller openings. we acknowledge the use of title sequence because it is used to entice the audience into watching their thriller.
There is:

1. Discrete openings - Discrete editing tend to be a separate to the film because of they way the structure of the editing.

Here is the film:                                         Se7en 

In Se7en it uses discrete opening as we only establish the person doing strange peculiar things as he is cutting the word 'God', covering certain words with black ink and cutting of their finger prints. However we do not see their face or the meaning of it so the audience don't know what the film is going to be about as the opening doesn't relate to the film. this is why it is discrete

    2. Narrative opening - narrative openings tend to create the opening credits relating to the story or        genre of the film.

here is the film:                                       The Shining 

here we see the car getting followed creating a sense that we, the audience, are following them. In addition the camera shot is an extreme long shot it suggest that the people in the car  are being prey on, making the people vulnerable in the film. This makes it a narrative opening because we establish that the people in the car are vulnerable and going to be the main characters in the thriller. 


In addition in the shinning, the opening credits are on top of the scene.


3. Credits on top of a scene or on a blank black scene can be effective once the music is embedded with the thriller, the pace of the credits and the font. all of this can create a tense atmosphere for the audience.

 4. Heavily Stylised Editing opening - Stylised Editing openings tend to take a lot of time in the editing process as it is very complex because they have to use various type of footage and cut which section to go in next. 

Title Sequences;

In class today, we watched title sequences from both, thriller trailers and passed AS students trailers aswel. 

- iN CLASS.

We watched a range of different trailers of film openings, and we came across 4 main ways a thriller trailer is introduced or shows the audience a little taster of what the film is about (sets the mood and atmosphere):

- Discrete: seperate film.

- Narrative: Introducing the story in the opening.

- credits over screen: when there is the credits running over the screen over the background of the trailer.

-  Heavily stylised editing: shows different shots and editing motions for more effect.

DiSCRETE OPENiNGS

i thought that the discrete trailer is very effective and it engages the audience into the short story which is related to the film itself. ( the trailer we watched was SE7EN)

i also thought that the editing and the mes-en-scene was good and effective because it was all fast editing. The use of camera shots was very good aswel due to the fact that it was all close ups and it showed every movement clearly.

NARATiVE OPENiNG:

Personally i think narative openings are very boring and long but it can be effective in many ways, because you get both the credits and the starting of the film. but i think it will be more effective if te editing was better, however i think this it because we watched an olden film that was made in the 1980's (the shining) 

CREDiTS OVER SCREEN: 

 i think this is only effecive only at the end of the film not the start because credits over screens dominate the background starting of the trailer/ film .

DIFFERENT TYPES OF FILM OPENINGS

In todays lesson, we learned about different types of film opening.
The first type of opening we learned about was Discrete opening, where the opening is not directly related to the film, like another little story introducing the main one. Discrete openings make extensive use of shot types, in particular close ups as seen in the opening of Seven. There are also special effects used and the pace of editing is generally fast. The sound in the discrete film openings we saw have lots of suspenseful non diagetic music which is related to the theme of the film.

Another type of opening we learned about was narrative openings , which is basically part of the main story of the film. In narrative openings, the setting and characters are introduced. For example in The Shining, the film starts off with the camera always following a subject like in a narrative, the reader follows the viewpoint of a character.

Another type of opening is when there is credits over a blank screen before it introduces the film.

And finally there are stylised openings, which have lots of sophisticated effects and editing, producing these can be very time consuming. 

Research:

In today's lesson we had to learn about the different types of structure of a film openings:


- Discrete

A discrete title sequence is a title sequence that is separate from the film. For example it doesn't immediately introduce the main characters in the opening.

This is the movie 'Seven' and it uses this type of opening.

- Narrative
is an opening sequence that tells a story, the first part of the story.

This is the movie 'Panic room' and it uses this title sequence.

- Credits over screen
This is when the opening sequence shows its credits over a blank screen.

This is the movie 'Donne Darko' and it uses this title sequence.

- Heavily stylised editing


This is when the title sequence is a very complicated edit.

This is from the movie 'The taking of Pelham, 123' and it uses this kind of opening sequence.

INITIAL THRILLER OPENING IDEA

I have thought of an idea for the thriller opening. The film starts off with a guy with a mask on preparing his weapons and the camera cuts off to another guy who is sleeping. The camera follows the masked man and it cuts back and forth from him and the guy sleeping, eventually the masked man arrives to where the guy is sleeping, he pulls out his knife and is about to stab the sleeping person in the throat but stops as no-one is in the bed, the masked guy realises someone is holding a knife to the back of his neck and the camera shows the guy who was sleeping is holding the knife.

Genre and Sub-Genre

Genre is a category used in artistic material such as in films or in music etc. For example in films there are many types of genres such as Western, Action, Thriller and so on. Genres also offer the audience choice and for the distributors, its good for marketing as it can generate loads of revenue from many different audiences and genres can also provide a structure for merchandise such as toys, games, soundtracks etc.  Genres can be identified by content for example in Western films, they will always have a cowboy, and it can also be identified through various technical areas such as mise en scene.

Sub-Genre means a category within a main category for example the thriller genre has many sub genres such as action-thriller, psychological thriller etc. These sub genres help narrow down the target audience, there are more sub genres targeted at males than females, although romance thrillers such as He loves me, He loves me not and supernatural thrillers such as The Orphanage attracts more females than males.

The sub genre which inspires me the most is Suspense-Thriller because in most of them films, there is a really tense moment which always keeps you interested like in films such as Phone Booth where the whole film is tense. This can influence our film as we want our opening to have the same atmosphere as most suspense-thriller films. 

Genre and Sub genre

Genre basically means type.

The use of Genre allows us to establish what the film is going to be about and place a judgment or prediction before watching the film. In addition, to see whether it is the type of film that attracts you to watching it.

psychological thriller

Sub genres means that there are one or more genres embed into the film. E.g Romantic comedy, comedy action Psychological thriller, which can attract more than one audience: different genders, ages and ethnicity.

Romantic comedy 

Romantic thriller

 

Action thriller

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Genre and Subgenre!

Genre - the different types of literature. There are many different types of this within films for example:

- Romance

- Horror

- Thriller

- Comedy

- Sci-fi

There are also subgenres within a genre. For example:

- Horror thriller

- Action Thriller

in class we complete a worksheet of the different films and wrote what genre and subgenre it was, what the target audience was and what were the key signifiers which made us decide which genre it was.

FILMS:

'The others' - We decided to be a Horror/thriller or a horror thriller and we decided this because of the main image which portrayed a scared woman and the gloomy background and the scary looking text.

'In time' - We decided was a Romantic action film as it presents a couple on the front of the poster but it also shows one of the characters holding a gun which suggests the film to be action.


'in the line of Fire' - we decided this film was a political thriller. This is because of the American flag in the background and the main character is made to look like the president.

This is the poster for the film 'the others'

This is the poster for the film 'in time' 

This is the poster for the film 'in the line of fire'

Distribution company

Production Company

Production Company

Main Character

Main Character

Title

Director of Photography

We watched two TITLE SEQUENCES 'Sleeping with the enemy' and 'The taking of Pelham' we took screen shots of distribution logos, the production companies, the cast names, titles, music composers, casting directors, costume designers, film editors, and production designers.

We established that the 'TITLE' of the film are usually found in the middle of the screen, however not often though as differnt producers what to create differnt effects for the audience, and it always in the centre to show it was important and so the audience would not forget it.

The fonts were mostly  clear, bold, not complicated, and capitalised so its easy to read for majority of the audiences, its also a contrasting colour from the background so you can see the writing without difficulty. 

Title Sequence Analysis

                                                       Here is the timeline we had to do.

Here are some of the work sheets we had to do, we analysed certain aspects of an opening such as when the title appears and the order of the credits, we also looked at the fonts used and we made a timeline of order of conventions in an opening.

Dé Jà Vu christmas holiday analysis

Dé Jà Vu  

The film I have chosen to blog about is Dé Jà Vu. It is an action thriller about a detective that tries to recover evidence of an explosion on a New Orleans ferry. Agent Doug Carlin is a quick thinker, when it comes to problem solving. His partner died in the ferry explosion Larry Minuti. At first other detectives don’t know how to respond to him because they are surprised how quick he is able to put up his assumption. Doug Carlin has joined a team where they use surveillance videos to establish evidence. The surveillance camera  called 'snow white' connects with 7 satellites to produce footage that happened 4 days ago. A woman named Claire who was with suspect because he came to buy her car, however she died 2 hours ago after the explosion, well that is in the present time. They use Claire’s 4 days life experience to figure out the murderer. In spite of this the surveillance cameras was made by accident because it can fold space and manipulate the past. To try and catch the murderer before he commits the crime in the past so the team including Agent Doug Carlin who sends a letter to himself in the past so he can get the killer 4 days before the explosion but his partner picks up the letter from his desk wanting to reap all the glory for catching the criminal but sadly the plan backfires and he dies. By manipulating the past they change the course of how he died. When they have a chance to follow the car in the past, they have to use a “ring goggle” that allows them to see where the car is going in the past, but he needs to remember that he is driving in the present time, where it is busy. They finally trace his whereabouts and capture him. The reason why the bomber blew up the ferry because the US government turned him away from joining the army or the navy because the bomber has psychological problems that they can’t deal with but also because he is a Patron Saint.. After capturing the killer in the present, Detective Doug Carlin himself decides to go back in the past to when the day of the explosion, to try and save Claire. It is a race against time to save Claire and passengers on the ferry. He manages to save the people and Claire but by doing this he killed himself, however he comes back the same way he enters the film by investigating the crime scene but this time the Patron Saint has died, Claire is alive and the passengers are safe. No explosions had taken place and the ending of the film ends in the past. The film is hard to explain but is easy to get into. The film has used the trick of film noir. It is full of action and high anxiety.

In the opening credits there was a slow motion flash bulb blur to say that from the beginning the murder investigation has already happened because the pictures for the evidence has been taken. The use of editing from perspective has been used because of the different camera shots and movements, as if it is from the characters eyes.  The character seems anxious because they are looking at different aspects of the scene. This use of this allows us to comprehend what the film is about. The editing is fast paced because different camera angles have been used. The sound is from a piano but each key is being played separately and harsh creating a mourning atmosphere. There is a wavy “whoo” in the background to create a ghostly atmosphere. The music then turns intense music because the use of violins and drums, which is imitating a heartbeat, is playing in the background, foreshadowing that life is danger. In addition to make a tense atmosphere.

The shot that inspires me the most is when the little girl drops her doll in the water. The shot is a low angle as we watch the girl trying to catch her doll. The action of the doll has been slowed down to capture the importance of the event that is going to take place. This is because the doll has human like features and is the symbol of innocents. The doll then has a close up of it solely sinking into the the water, implying that innocent people on the boat are going to die. To highlight the significance they use a shot reverse shot of the young girl looking sad and the doll in the water. A cross cut has been used to show the contrast of the people celebrating on the boat and exploration of the bomb in the boat. This all happens at the first five minutes of the film of anticipation and high intense energy, creating instant arousal.

Another scene that I like was when the people are injured put they have chosen to use non digetic sound than muted the digetic sound creating a tense, dramatic atmosphere. In the film we then establish the doll again next to line up of dead bodies in black bag. The doll foreshadowed the events.     

Thriller Film analysis

First blog post of 2012 :) , anyway the scene i decided to analyse for my holiday homework is the opening of Gladiator, which has many moments of suspense and thrilling moments. The film starts off with a battle scene, this indicates to the audience that the film is based around wars etc..This is emphasised with the mise-en-scene, the setting of the scene seems to be set in a derelict, isolated place which would be the perfect scene for a battle. The trees in the background have no colour or leaves making them look almost lifeless, this connotes despair and misery.

The colour and lighting of the scene also emphasises on the cold mood as the background is all dull however a dim light is shown on Maximus which indicates to the audience he is one of the main characters to look out for.

Non Diagetic sound is also used extensively in this scene, its a sharp yet dreary tune which is effective in drawing the audiences attention as the non digateic sound emphasises on the tension in the scene.
Diagetic sounds, such as the army preparing their weapons build up the atmosphere in the scene and it connotes all the tension which is accumulating due to the wait before the actual battle.

Tracking shots are used by following the army and showing the atmosphere. This also builds up tension for the audience because when they see the size of the army, they know that something is going to go down. A mid shot of Maximus face shows black marks underneath his eyes, which makes the audience think he is in power due to the stress of the responsibility he has taken on. There is also a medium long-shot of Maximus muscular arm and it zooms onto his hand where he is seen stroking some wheat. This emphasises his gentle nature and indicates to the audience that he is the protagonist.

The Editing of this scene has been used to prevent the film from dragging on and the audience from being bored. For example there is a part where Maximus looks at a robin then there is a straight cut to the robin flying away.
In conclusion the opening of the film engages the audience and tells them about the film and the sounds and costumes used  build up quite allot of tension, which intrigues the audience prompting them to carry on watching the film. The use of camera and mise-en scene is important in this scene because it is key in establishing the mood and the main character.