Codes and Conventions

Thriller mood board

My Thriller Mood Board

I created a mood board to find an initial idea of what you would find in a thriller movie. I made sure that I did not use any picture which should violence such as blood and gore as that can easily mistaken from a horror movie. I also didn't use pictures such as drugs and alcohol as we are not to use these things in our coursework and so I used pictures that I would use in my coursework as it will then link with my theme of thriller. i annotated next to the pictures i chose to make it clear what they represented, for example choosing the knife, shows there will be violence but because we see no blood or cutting of the skin, it is up to the audience's imaginations to decide what happens next.

Outline of the opening of my thriller film

Even though I have created this film opening roughly, using different colours to make it clear what will be in the scene and using another colour to show what camera shots I want to use. I think that this will be easy to follow then, and if when filming I change my mind and think it would work in a different way, I can easily go back to my first draft and change it because I have made it clear.

Rough outline of my storyline

My Storyboard

When drawing a rough sketch of our storyboard we set it out as the though that was the picture that the audeince would see. Though it was rough, we used the space on the right side of the picture to explain the movement in the pictures. We also used arrows to show if the picture was moving like a pan or a tilt. We used four pieces of paper because we wanted to write in detail, so when it came to starting to film we would be able to look back and understand fully what our first idea was.

Typical target audience for Thriller's

Typical target audience’s for thriller films

Depending on the sub-genre of the thriller gives the typical target audinece. For example ‘chick flick’ thrillers would target young teenage girls as they would be able to re-late to the characters emotions and language.
Whereas a political thriller would target men and women that are interested in politics and law, this is shown because many people of the younger generation cannot re-late to this as they do not have as much knowledge.
But in my opinion a target audience for a generic thriller film would be the young adult demographic from 16-25.

When I furthered my research to finding the typical target audience I found that what I discovered was similiar to this. I gave out a questionnaire with many questions about what people enjoy about the thriller films, I also added how old they were. I found that the majority of people that enjoyed and filled out my questionnaire were from the ages 16-20.
I am in this age range and will use this to my advantage as I will be able to add my own views and ideas into my film, I will also be able to ask friends around my age for their opinions when I'm not sure what way to set a certain part out.

Questionnaire

My questionnaire and my results annotated


I designed a questionnaire to find a target audience and what they enjoy most about the thriller genre and how I could use this information in my coursework. Under my results I have evalutated what I have discovered.

Analysing my results

When deciding who to give my questionnaires to, as to get a different view of both genders as they both have different opinions I chose to pick 10 males and 10 females. After analysing the results, I found that both sexes had varied answers and that not one sex had a set opinion on a certain question.

By creating this questionnaire I was able to choose my target audience as I wanted to see who prefers to watch thriller movies in an age group. I discovered that more 16-20 year olds watch thriller movies and now my coursework is aimed at them. The reason in why I think that this age group prefer to watch thriller movie could be that this is the age which take risks and also like to discover new things.

From my research I found that the most popular sub-genres were psychological and drama, which I have taken into account and will try to focus on them, but I will also look at other popular sub-genres such as spy and crime. I think it is a good idea to have a varied sub-genre as then more people will be interested in the story-line.

I also found that most people that I got to complete my questionnaire prefer compelling characters and also that the music in the movie creates the atmosphere which I will put a lot of attention on though I will also look at other styles which were popular such as hero vs. villain and the sounds of the movie, as I like to vary my styles to suit all ages.

 Finally I decided that I can choose the way I want my thriller movie to unravel as there was not a set decision in which the answers from fast to slow. I think I will choose fast as it is only a short piece and therefore the audience will want to know more but I would not give all away as so the audience will be left on the edge of their seats.

Film Treatment

My Film treatment

I created this film treatment to get the background detail of the film opening I would be creating in my coursework. I had to cut it down and summarise it as though it were a blurb on the back of a book, but in this case you would find it on the back of a DVD case or even on an advertising poster.

It has also helped me because it has given me the background story of the film and so I know what parts I want to show in my coursework and other bits which are less important and do not give a lot of detail to the actual film.

I can always refer back to my film treatment when creating my coursework incase I want to use a different scene in the film which I think the audience would find more effective, and I can say that this is what I used for my first draft but from looking at my film treatment i decided to use something else.

Thriller genre research

Thriller movies
Thriller can be used as genre of a literature piece, a film and television drama. The main elements used for a thriller genre are suspense, tension and excitement. Thriller movies can be shown in different sub-genres, for example Psychological Horror, Action, Sci-Fi, Religious Crime, Drama, Political, and Spy.

Thrillers are mostly categorized by an atmosphere of menace, violence, crime and murder, though they often feature a happy ending. Most thriller movies they use techniques such as plot twists, red herrings and cliffhangers. The thriller genre is there to keep the audience ‘on edge’ and uncertain of the outcome, which all of the above techniques contribute to.

Characters in thrillers usually include criminals, assassins, and innocent victims (often on the run) which usually take place under the circumstances of terrorism, political conspiracy, pursuit, or romantic triangles leading to murder.

An example of a well-known director of thriller movies was Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock had a recognizable directorial style which Viewers were able to identify with the camera which moves in a way meant to mimic a person's gaze.

Hitchcock directed more than fifty feature films in a career spanning six decades where he was awarded Best Director for ‘Rebecca’, ‘Lifeboat’, ’Spellbound’, Rear Window’, ‘Psycho’ and an Outstanding Motion Picture for ‘Suspicion’. Hitchcock was also made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II only 4 months before he died.

Films of different genres and films from thriller genre

Research

– Films of different genres and films from thriller genre

Different genre’s in a thriller movie
and some films within that genre:

·       Psychological
                              - Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock
                          - Rebecca by Alfred Hitchcock
                          - Wait Until Dark by Terence Young

·       Crime           
                              - Laura by Rouben Mamoulian, Otto Preminger
                          - The French Connection by William Friedkin
                          - The Silence of the Lambs by Jonathan Demme

·       Political         
                              - North by Northwest by Alfred Hitchcock
                          - The Manchurian Candidate by John Frankenheimer

·       Spy
                               - The Spy Story by Cawelti, John G

·       Action
                               - Deliverance by John Boorman

·       Sci-fi
                               - Metropolis by Fritz Lang

·       Drama
                               - ALIVE by Frank Marshall

·       Horror
                              - SAW by Darren Lynn Bousman
                          - 300 by Zack Snyder

·       Religious
                              - The Da Vinci Code by Ron Howard