Below is a question in which i discuss the codes and conventions that are included into a thriller.
With reference to Hitchcock’s ‘psycho’ and at least 2 other thrillers that you have studied, as well as your wider research, discuss the thriller and its forms and conventions.
A thriller is originally a
play, a film or a novel that consists of dramatic plot which tends to include a
villain or a hero of some sort, aiming to excite the viewers also creating
suspense/ tension. Also a thriller aims to have the audience at the edge of
their seats, keeping up the tension throughout. It will want to connect with
the audience, for example them receiving some kind of emotions to that
character, then taking a turn for the worst. Thrillers tend to use suspense
this will keep the audience on their toes, the film will want to give the
viewer a feel of uncertainty which may end up how they never thought it would,
this would be an unexpected turn of events which will increase the tension.
Ways that tension/ suspense can be built up through a thriller can be by the
music, or the camera angles. Music can completely change the emotion to that
scene. In a thriller the music that is
used will tend to be non-diegetic music, meaning that the music would have been
added into it to create some kind of dramatic feeling. Also as it adds tension
to the film this will make the viewer’s feel like something bad is going to
happen which could end in a cliff hanger, making them feeling confused or even
exited to find out if the story will unfold later on.
There are many different
types of thrillers, for example there can be an action thriller, horror
thriller, crime thriller and many more. Some examples of thrillers would be
Hitchcock’s ‘psycho’ (1960), Bruce A Evans ‘Mr Brooks’ (2007), or Pierre Morel ‘Taken’ (2008). All three
of these thrillers aim to create tension in the viewer in different ways, these
may be area they are filmed in, the actors that are used, or the music/ sounds
that may be played. Thrillers aim to create confusion in the viewers, it will
not give an exact story line of what is going to happen, the watchers will have
to dig deep to understand what is going on saying this, the plot to a thriller
is not ‘spoon fed’ this will create a higher feel of tension. Throughout this
essay I will explore the features that are used in thrillers to create the
suspense/tension they do, to analyse the different aspects of the film, also
the parts of the film that makes that film individual or obscure.
One convention that is used in these thriller movies is
the characters. In each film there will tend to be, that 1 person that saves
the rest and that other person that wishes to cause harm upon others. It will
tend to be, the protagonist which is usually a male character, as the male
characters are shown to be stronger which saves the innocent lives of others.
It causes emotion upon the viewer’s seeing a strong man save the lives of
others mainly a sweet innocent girl in need.
This is shown in the film Taken. Where the Dad (Liam Neeson) aims to
save his sweet/ loving daughter (Maggie Grace) from the attackers that took
her, when she was on holiday. The
antagonist in the film is not given away easily; it tends to shock the viewer’s
when finding out who it is. Sometimes the films give little hints on who the
bad guy could be, but other times they want the audience to dig deep to think
about who it could be. In the film ‘Psycho’ it does not give any hints about
who the bad guy is instead they choose to present him as a kind and happy
person, that seemed like the person that wouldn’t even think about killing a
fly. Then coming to the shock that he is in fact the bad guy, creates suspense
in the viewers as they would never have expected it and makes them think about
other things in the film which may also not be what they expected. Also in the
film ‘psycho’ the main character (Janet Leigh) steals money from her work place
which may hint they she is a bad character, when actually she does it to be
with the man she loves and doesn’t wish to cause harm upon anyone. The actors in
the films will act in a certain way which may be showing who they are and how
they act or leave the audience in complete darkness and act in a way they never
would have thought possible. Depending on the genre of the thriller will depend
on the clothing of the characters. For example in a horror thrillers characters
will tend to wear dark pieces of clothing, which will create a dull mood.
Whereas if they want to change the mood of the scene more vibrant colors will
be added to the scene. Also Depending on who the character in charge/ (has more
power than everyone else is) they will wear different types of clothing
compared to weak character. The character in charge will were more demanding/
empowering clothes to show that he/she is stronger than everyone else, whereas
the innocent clothing will tend to wear plain clothing which may also be
revealing to show that they are an easy target as they are not powerful.
Camera angles and mise-en-scene are very important in all
films. They way that the camera is angled, what objects/ furniture is used in
the scene and the different lightening that is used. As some thrillers will
want to create a dark feeling including a lot of suspense/ tension there will
be a lot of low-key lighting used. This is lighting that uses very little light
which creates a large contrast between the dark and light parts of the shot.
This will create a feeling of suspense, as they don’t want to give the whole
image that bright affect, only the parts that contain the most dramatic
feeling. In the Film ‘Mr Brooks’ there
are many different shots that are filmed in darkness. One of the shots that
were filmed in very dark lightening was the scene where the killing of Dane
Cook takes place
.
In the Film ‘Psycho’ a woman is in love with a man that is with another woman. She steals a large amount of money from her work place in order for them two to run away together while on her way she stops off at a hotel. This hotel is abandoned; this should be the first sign in the film that something isn’t right. We then go on to meet a lovely young man that you wouldn’t think for second that he would hurt anyone which shows her around this hotel. In then unfolds at the end of the film that he is the one that killed her, in a way that you wouldn’t have expected it. As in this film the bad guy isn’t shown straight away, it is shown in a way that the audience wouldn’t expect it. This leaves the viewer’s in shock.
The film ‘Mr Brooks’ is about a man that has a killing
fetish, he does not want to kill but as it gives him a high thrill he chooses
to do it. At the start of the film you would not expect is as he is a family man
that has a big house, nice cars pretty much what everyone wants. In then turns
out to be that he is the reason for many deaths. The first killing scene is the
first sign that something isn’t right about him. We then go on to see many other
deaths that he takes part in. As you never know when these murders are going to
take place it creates a large amount of tension. One of the main parts of
suspense that is built up in the film is his daughter, as we find out that she
has what her dad has, but this is different she doesn’t think about who she is
hurting as long as it is good for her. Near the end of the film we are shown a
dream where she kills her dad, but what if this turns out to be the real thing?
Meaning that the end of the film is left as a cliff hanger.
The mise-on-scene will give us a clear meaning of the
story light; this includes the costumes that are used, the lighting and the
location that it is filmed in. The film
psycho is filmed mainly on the grounds of this hotel area, which is an
abandoned area. When we first meet Norman ( who is the manager of the hotel )
he is all well and jolly. After him and Marion have had their chat and she has
settled in he leaves her, but he doesn’t stop watching her. He peeps through a
hole that is in the hotel wall this is a sign that he may not be what we
thought he was going to be. There is a
lot of low key lightening that is used on Normans face; this may show that he
has a split personality. This is shown at the end of the film that he does, but
as the audience will not know this until they have watched the whole thing, it
gives them clues throughout. This is one
of the main conventions of a thriller as it does not want to tell you who is
who, they want you to figure it out.
In my opinion I think that thrillers are very effective
films. They want you to think deep about what is happening and not ‘spoon feed’
it to you. They also want to exite there viewer’s, they achieve this by the
complex story line, the different styles of actors and the scene that it is
being filmed in. As many thrillers are mixed with other genres, this can also
exite the veiwers as It isn’t just 1 thing, but 2 that are mixed in together.
Each of the thrillers that were mentioned, are all very different but all have
the same objectives, these are to exite the audience, keep the tension high
throughout and to keep the audience on the edge of there seats. All of which
meet these objectives.