Audience Research

I created a survey on the website 'SurveyMonkey' to allow my target audience of people aged 12 and above. This will allow me to gain a basic outlook on what the audience want to see in a thriller film.

A link to my survey is listed below:

Click here to take survey

Momento

Memento
In class we watched and analysed a clip of the film Memento. The film uses various methods to convey the thriller genre.
Conventions of a Thriller
It has a mysterious beggining and the 1st person the audience sees is dead which creates shock
Camera Angles
Close up of the killers face.
Close up of the bullet that is going back into the gun.
Shot/Reverse Shot when the two men are exchanging dialogue.
Editing
Starts with long edits.
Opening sequence is shown backwards.
A black and white scene showing a flashback.
Sound
Tense and spooky music.
Voice over of when the main character is thinking.
Mise-En-Scene
Main character wearing a smart suit and smart shoes suggests some sort of importance.
Supporting character is wearing casual clothes suggests he is not an important person.
The room where the second character is killed has dark lighting to give a dirty, dark atmosphere.
There are guns and blood.
Broken windows showing that it is a run down place. Old and unused.

Brick

Brick
In class we watched and analysed a clip of the film Brick. The film uses various methods to display the thriller genre.
Conventions of a Thriller
The film starts with a shot of a boy looking at a dead body on the floor. This suggests the film is in the thriller genre.
Camera
Close up shot of the boys face at the start.
Shot-reverse shot between the boy and the dead girl on the ground.
Editing
It starts with a shot of the boy looking at something and then there is a shot of the dead body.
The two scenes are linked together with the hand.
The girl is alive in the next scene which suggests that it is a flashback as she was dead in the first scene.
The shot edits are of a medium length as they are not fast but are also not too slow.
Sound
Non-diegetic sound of the music in the background.
There is no dialogue in the opening scene.
Mise-En-Scene
The first scene seems to be near some sort of valley.
There is water running down the path which is going on and around the dead girl.

Zodiac

Zodiac
In class we watched and analysed a clip of the film Zodiac. The film uses various methods to potrat the thriller genre.
Conventions of a Thriller
Starts with tension building up the suspense, waiting for something to happen.
Then shock occurs when they are both brutally shot.
Camera
Shot-reverse shot of the boy and girl engaging in dialogue between one another.
Long shot at the start of the clip.
Editing
The shot/scene edits are quite long in duration, excluding small portions of the clip when the edits increase in speed briefly.
Sound
There is radio music playing throughout the clip.
There is dialogue between the boy and girl when entering and in the car.
Mise-En-Scene
There are guns and blood in the scene which tie in with the Mise en scene.
There is dark lighting throughout the scene which adds to the tension and the suspense leading to the final shock.

Unknown

Synopsis

A man awakens from a coma, only to discover that someone has taken his identity and that no one, not even his wife believes him. with the help of a young blonde woman, he sets out to prove who he is.

Director was Jaume collet-serra, the writers were Oliver butcher and Stephen Cornwell/ and the main stars of the movie were Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger and January Jones.

The film had a budget of $30,000,000 and within the first weekend of release it has generated $21,000,000 and 5 months later it had made $130.786,397.

Key scenes of tension
Film has essential characteristic of a good thriller - moments of high tension

EG. The hospital scene reaching for scissors leading to murder.
Soundtrack effective – disorientating sounds
Use of close up.
Fast editing leading up to the escape.

The McGuffin

Prince Shalla – world food!

This provides the basis of the story but the viewer is only interested in Liam Neeson’s character.

Preliminary Task

Lighting Task

No country for old men

This trailer is very effective because it summaries the whole movie in just a few minutes. The target audience for this film is people who are interested in thillers and have disposable income which they can use to watch the film.

Synopsis

No country for old men is an American crime thriller film. It is adapted from  Cormac McCarthy's novel. The film tells the story of an ordinary man who mistakenly stumbles across a great fortune and from thst moment on his life changes for the worst.

From then on a cat and mouse drama ensues which sees 3 men crisscross each other's paths in the deserts landscape of 1980's west texas. The film examines the themes of fate and circumstance whilst complying to the genre's antagonist driven plot.

Opening sequence

The setting of the opening sequence introduces the thriller and builds up tension in the film. The usage of diegetic and non diegetic sounds help to build up tension and create suspense. The costumes used give the film a western american theme. They immediately introduce the antagonist.