Thriller Questionnaire

Click here to take survey

Location Location Location

Location Location Location by

Psychological Thriller

Anaylsis of people's thriller openings

This is my video of me looking at the openings to thrillers AS students had made in the past. I looked at a fair few openings and thought the best way to prsent my analysis was to show an awful example of a thriller opening and then show a good example of a thriller opening.

Psychographic Profiling

Demographics

BBFC Research

The British Board of Film Classification by

Analysis of Scream

We were instructed to look at another thriller opening (one that wasn't "Cape Fear") and see what they did and think about taking some of their ideas on board. We thought "Scream" would be a good idea and above is the video that tells you what is effective about this opening.

Mood Board

 

Mood Board Analysis

Above is a mood board compiled with posters and images of different styles of thrillers, from this mood board we hope to gain inspiration for our own poster and possibly our thriller.

Black Swan Poster: This is a psychological thriller, centred around a ballet dancer, so this poster has a different look to the others, this may be because of the nature of the film, but it still follows the conventions of thriller genre, by having a stark white background, with just the leads face, perhaps creating a sense of isolation for the protagonist. However the font of the title is, slightly more cursive than what the audience would expect from a thriller poster, this may because it is a psychological thriller, and is trying to create a sense of unease, by having a softer look to it, to contrast with the starkness of the background, and strange look of the protagonist.

Pyscho Screenshot: This image is typical of a thriller, with the low key lighting, creating mystery. By hiding the face of the antagonist furthers the idea of mystery and suspense; the knife then represents the violence and murder in thrillers, as by using a knife, it shows the antagonist has no intention of killing their victims “softly”.

Reservoir Dog’s Screenshot: This image represents the gangster style thriller, with the group wearing sharp suits as a uniform, showing them to all be the same, aside from the man wearing the tracksuit, showing the theme of money and greed, associated with thrillers. The sunglasses in this case would represent the mystery as you are unable to see their eyes, and therefore their actions and reactions would be unknown to the audience and other characters within the film.

Red Eye Poster: This poster is more conventional to the thriller genre as it has the dark background and bold title; the dark background represents mystery and the bold title the colour red hints to the violence. The hands in the middle of the poster, give the idea of control, an antagonist would have over the protagonist and the setting of an aeroplane shows the audience that the protagonist has little chance of escape, as does the caption “fear takes flight”. The ideas of control and entrapment are both typical of a thriller.

Inception Poster: This too is a psychological thriller, as was the Black Swan, but shows this aspect in a different way, by having the buildings in the background curve up and around, to show the audience it is the same world but different in a strange way, to create unease. By showing the buildings it is obvious the film will be located in a city, conventional for a thriller, as thrillers are usually associated with urban areas, which are conveyed to be the centre of technology, and power. All themes within a thriller. Again, the title is in bold, red writing, associated with the idea of bloodshed and violence.

Green Zone Poster: This is a war thriller, so the green of the title and graininess of the image, tie in with the connotations of war, the thriller aspect comes in with the isolated protagonist displaying a worried facial expression, and the blur of the background, so the audience are unable to clearly see where the character is placed, creating the mystery aspect. The bold text then shows the violence.

A History of Violence Poster: This is a crime thriller, and the poster, delivers exactly that. It has the dark background, the isolated protagonist, and the bold text; however it is the shape of the text from a distance which shows the crime aspect of this thriller, as it looks like a crucifix, perhaps symbolising forgiveness or salvation, things people ask for if they have committed a crime. Also by having the protagonist’s face half in the light and half in the dark, shows that he could be good or bad, therefore creating a sense of doubt, as the audience may not feel they know what that character is to do next. This creates the mystery, suspense and uncertainty in associated with thrillers.

Analysis of Title Sequences

Title sequences are in important in all films but a lot of thrillers make great use of them. They can use title sequences to connote and foreshadow the themes of the film. I decided to create a video to show you what "Seven" did for their title sequence. In my honest opinion, this is perhaps the best opening to any film I have ever seen. Watch the video and see why.

Analysis of Cape Fear

 

 

We were instructed to look at "Cape Fear's" opening and see what they had done.

 

Below is the first part of our analysis where we discuss the titles, images in the background, the colours etc.

 

 

Below is the second part of our analysis where we discuss the actual opening of  the film, where we are introduced to the antagonist...