Thriller Genre

Thriller Genre

For many thriller films the target audience is both genders aged 15-25 this is because thrillers include more violence and psychological issues which can be disturbing for young viewers. However even though they involve graphic scenes they are globally enjoyed and this is due to both males and females enjoying the intense factor of watching them, thrillers get our hearts pumping and get us asking questions throughout wondering what will happen next. 

The thriller genre creates tension, anticipation and suspense throughout the full film, they do this so the audiences mood is uncertain and they are always eager to what will approach them next. Thrillers can also give people an adrenaline rush as they are normally fast paced but also can relate to real life situations.

A thriller usually has a consistent battle between the protagonist character and the antagonist when there is disruption in the equilibrium.(the protagonist character is the hero and the antagonist character is the anti hero/villain.) The aim of the protagonist is to restore justice while the antagonist seeks to destroy it.

The hero/protagonist is stereotyped to being a brave male who has a mission to restore the equilibrium while the villain/antagonist often has a secret identity which is uncovered during the film and often has a past event that will trigger there revenge.

Thrillers rely on sound and editing to create a lot of their tension, black and white pictures are used as they bring a dark atmosphere to the movie. Also music is essential as it builds up climax's and tension.
There are alot of close ups and extreme close ups of the hero and heroin as they are used to show emotions while the shots of the villain will be short shots aimed to hide their identity. Editing will include lots of jump cuts and cross cutting as they are used to build suspense.

The Silence of the Lambs Opening Analysis

We are firstly introduced to the setting using long shots, the mise-en-scene that we are shown starts of in a forest area with a mild cloud of fog in the atmosphere which suggests that it is set in winter. In the background there is non-digetic orchestral music, including strings which creates a mellow panic sound and this helps to go with the scene of the mysterious woodland area. From this opening it uses alot of enigma and action codes.

We are immediately shown a women running though the forest who is sweating and panting for breath, the audience can assume that the women is running away from something or someone in panic. However our decisions are changed once a climbing net is revealed and the woman proceeds to climb it then does a forward roll on the way down. From this it is revealed that she is running on an assault course and the audience goes from believing she is being chased and being vulnerable to thinking she's quite tough and athletic. 

The next scene is a man shouting 'Starling' The audience is now aware of her name and is then aware of her role. Her jumper has 'FBI' written on it which suggests to the audience that she is in training to become a police officer. The man tells her "Crawford wants to see you in his office" and without hesitation she runs back to where she firstly ran. We can suggest from her level of stamina and the look of admire from the gentleman that she is a good police officer. The look of incredulously implies that she is special.

The next scene shows a panning shot going downwards of a medium shot showing a 4 piece sign that reads, "HURT, AGONY, PAIN, LOVE IT" This implies that this is the motto that they must lead by and resembles the effort that she was putting into her training.

Crime Genre

Crime Genre

The crime genre has a wide range of who it targets, both genders enjoy watching however crime is focused towards the male gender. Males are interested as they are stereotypically involved in crimes realistically nevertheless females take a curiosity in crime films because of the lead role. Female actresses attract both genders but focus on attracting the males as they find them attractive therefore stereotypically the males would watch them for the visual effects.

Crime films typically have a certificate at the age of 18, this is because of the content used during the films. High violence scenes and some graphic content involved will help the decision making of the age rating because their target audience will be targeted at those who find crime dramas interesting which are typically at the age of 30.

Crime films have become successful and are mixing with genres like thriller to engage a wider audience. The audience have noticed the repeated conventions and because crime are becoming increasingly popular the producers are sticking to the same basic storyline, the allows the audience to guess what is going to happen and during the films they will foreshadow ideas to engage the audience making them feel that they are part of the film and being involved. 

In 1972 The Godfather was released, on IMDB it has a rating of 9.2 and is extremely popular in the Crime drama genre. This appealed to a variety of audiences however is was rated as an 18 due to its content but viewers found it incredible. The film made a Gross of $134,821,952.

Many of the crime films have focused on the American culture, its gangster feel in its genre is enhanced by the high crime rate in America. The need for explicit violence by the public are met by crime films by using plots commonly seen in violent areas of America. Crime films are meant to reflect society for example where law and crime go against each other and law are meant to restore the moral order.

Goodfellas Opening Analysis

 'Goodfellas' was released in 1990 and is based on a ture story in New york 1970's. directed by Martin Scorsese who is an Italian American director. IMDb have given it a 8.7 rating and the narrative follows the main character Henry from his late teens. It shows him building up to his career as a professional criminal associated with the mafia and in the opening scene a monologue is read which says "As far back as I can remember, I've always wanted to be a gangster."

The opening scene shows a graphic example of the casual violence that surrounds Henry from a young age. The laid back violence infers that gang violence was seen as a norm which may affect audiences as it isn't known as a universal way of dealing with issues. 

In this first shots of the scene the opening credits are shown in white writing. The wording that appears on the screen quickly slide across the screen from the right to the left in a large white font. The sound goes with the word transitions of diegetic traffic noise.This gives the audience an idea of the setting.

In the first moving image shot, we are shown a tracking shot of a car driving down an empty road in the darkness. This shows a foreboding atmosphere which helps emphasis the gangster image. The shot plans slowly, coming alongside the car which gives the audience the impression that we are following it and the people inside are a key part of the narrative.

When the shot changes to a medium shot and we see the three men inside the car. There is focus on the driver showing a close up, this indicates that he could be the main character. We also see in this shot that two out of three men are sleeping giving the impression that it is late in the night and they are up to no good.

The next shot in the scene is when the men get out of the car to investigate the noise in the boot. The use of long shot allows the viewer to see the environment, a forest, which indicates that they have gone to a place where they can't be seen from the public. The next shot is of a low angle which shows the characters in side profile, the audience gets the view that they are looking up at them, suggesting that the characters have authority and are in control . This makes them more believable as gangsters.

There is a slow zoom to the boot of the car; the camera then shows a close up and we hear that this is the source of the noise. This cuts quickly to a medium shot of two men holding weapons, which are obviously getting ready for conflict. The camera pans round to focus in on the un-armed man to reveal an open boot with a man covered in bloody white sheet. The red connotes danger and is emphasised on the white sheet to show innocence. The camera moves slowly again to show the men looking confused, which creates anticipation for the audience through the build up of tension.

 The scene ends with a still image of one of the men, from this we can assume that he is the main character. He slams the boot shut and we here non-diegetic music of Tony Bennett's Rags to Riches, this is appropriate as the song was realised in the 50's, which was often thought of as the peak of the American Mafia.

The last shot is the title in red writing on a black ground. The colour connotes to the audience that this is associated with death and power as black normally has a negative appeal. When black is combined with red it gives an aggressive feel and is used as the background colour as it contrasts well and the font is able to stand out. Red is used for the title 'GOODFELLAS' because red is the colour of blood and is associated with danger, power and determination. Red is also a stimulant colour which makes us make quick decisions about the film.

Research Schedule

 

Date	Task	Reason	Due
14/10/14	Research the target audience of crime genre and why it is successful	I will learn how it is popular and why it attracts its audience.	19/10/14
14/10/14	Research thriller target audiences and how it is popular.	Learn why thriller is successful and to target an audience	19/10/14
14/10/14	Research into the horror genre and why audiences enjoy watching.	Understand what a target audience want to watch and why it is successful.	19/10/14
21/10/14	Research the current products on the market, look at film sales and there box office figures.	To recognise the figures that support why my target enjoys these films.	26/10/14
28/10/14 HALF TERM	Research what institutions are popular and the films they have created.	I will understand what institution is popular and why people enjoy watching their films.	02/11/14
04/11/14	Create a questionnaire.	To get a target audience.	09/11/14
11/11/14	Ask public questionnaire		28/11/14
-/11/14	Put results into graph then analyse results.	I can analysis my results and find out my target audiences needs and wants.	23/11/14
28/11/14	Create focus group based on results	Get a clear idea on what genre to do and go into detail and start focusing on creating film.	30/11/14

Pre-Lim Task - Megan Newbury

For our first task we had to create a short movie/clip that lasted for 30 seconds – 1 minute, we had to video a person walking through a door and have a short conversation.

In our selected groups of 4 or 5 our pre-production task was to create a storyboard. In our groups we brainstormed ideas to come up with our video then decided on roles. Our storyboard briefly explained our scene, each posit would include our props, characters, lighting, camera positioning and shots, dialogue and anything else in that scene. We also included the types of music we wanted and the tension that we aimed to create. Our storyboard gave a brief inside to what our final piece would look like, it helped us create our video as we could understand what we wanted to include and as a group we would know what our next scene was about.

Altogether I think my group worked efficiently and strong. We decided well on our ideas and used everyone’s contributions and that helped us quickly come up with our final idea. By creating an individual storyboard before working in groups it helped us as we were able to combine each ideas into one.

During out filming we went through difficulties, one of these difficulties were our limited filming time, because of this our group struggled to get all our filming finished and to include everything that we wanted to.  However we managed to use the film that we got and created tension by adding non-diegetic sounds and effects. In our filming we used a range of shots for example we used an extreme close up to show the emotion of our character, this had the effect that could help show the audience his feelings at this time. It also helped the audience engage more as they feel the intensity of the characters emotions. In our filming we also used tracking and kept to the 180 degree rule.