Thriller sub-genres

Information gained from imdb)

Within the thriller genre, there are many types of sub-genres, such as action or horror thriller, as there are a wide range of different type of thrillers that you can watch.
For example:
Action thriller - This is where the work often features a race against the clock, contains lots of violence with lots of graphical features, and an obvious antagonist. These films usually contain large amounts of guns, explosions, and large elaborate set pieces for the action to take place.
Crime thriller - This particular genre is a combined type of both crime films and thrillers that offers a suspenseful account of a successful or failed crime . These films often focus on the criminal(s) rather than a policeman. Crime thrillers usually emphasize action over psychological aspects, and mostly focus on just the action and the crime.
Drama thriller - In which the story generally consists of the elements of a thriller and drama film. These films are usually slower paced and not as fastly edited and involves a great deal of character development along with plot twists.
Psychological thriller - In which (until the often violent resolution) the conflict between the main characters is mental and emotional, rather than physical. Such as "The Ring."
Spy thriller (also a subgenre of spy fiction) - In which the hero is generally a government agent who must take violent action against agents of a rival government or (in recent years) terrorists. This type of film again, is usually more fast paced.
Supernatural thriller - In which the conflict is between main characters, usually one of which has supernatural powers.

Analysing Film Posters

The whole idea of using film posters to promote the film, is that it has to automatically grab the audience's attention when they're for example, just walking down the street. Film posters are designed to become eye catching, as film posters are displayed around various places such as on a side of a bus, on walls, or on a bus stop. Therefore they have to look interesting to be able to draw attention to them.

Sin City (2005)
The first thing you notice about this poster is the blood red colour of the typography, which connotates danger, passion, love, sex and lies. This is indicating to the audience about what the film is about already, and the bright red automatically grabs your attention, and is the first thing that draws you to the poster. The typography is also very bold and thick, which makes the title of the film stand out to the audience, so the name of the film sticks in their head.
The symbol of the guns on the film poster connotes danger, and again suggests to the audience that the storyline and genre of the film is action and thriller. The use of guns also makes the film seem like it will have a tense storyline, which will appear to, for example teenager boys and young men walking down the street. The way that the rest of the poster is in gray scale compared to the bright red typography again makes the title stand out, and everything else seem more gloomy and dark in comparison, suggesting that the storyline will be quite mysterious.
The low angle camera shot portrays an image that the characters in the film are strong and powerful, compared to long shot of the one man walking down the street which is lit up by blinding light toward the bottom left of the poster. This suggests that the characters portrayed standing up strong and powerful in the poster are all together fighting against the one guy walking down the street. However, the blinding light surrounding him is very catching and draws the readers attention. One of the men holding a pistol gun in the poster is directing in an angle which portrays it as if it's pointing almost outside of the poster, creating a very clever 3D effect.
There are three male stereotypes on the poster, and it suggests that the film has one strong male lead by the way that one of the male protagonists is standing before all the characters looking stronger and more important, as its clear the camera s focusing more on him. One of the female characters on the poster is however in some ways stereotypical of a "slutty" female fatall, as she is wearing quite revealing clothes as her stomach is on show, yet she is also portrayed as being very strong by the way she is posing in a manner which portrays her as looking fearless. The other woman is shot furthest away from the camera, suggesting she is less important manner, yet from what you can see of her she is wearing very black, Gothic clothes, which goes against the girly, female stereotypes in thriller films. The way every character is wearing black connotes danger, mystery and a storyline of darkness to the audience. The mise-en-scene of the rain is quite effective to the audience as it stands out and technically looks very eye catching, and the dark background suggests to the audience that the film is shot in darkness for quite a majority of time.

I Am Legend (2007)

Straight away the mise-en-scene catches the audience's eye, as it's obviously the setting of almost a broken city. Therefore this suggests to the audience that the storyline involves devastation and action. The broken city scape behind the male protagonist looks very lonely, yet the brown, white and overall pale colours connote almost calm yet also creates tension in the atmosphere. The yellow typography for the title matches the colour scale of the mise-en-scene which makes the typography shine out above the ground, yet the lettering is very thin and stylish, suggesting to the audience that this isn't going to be a full on action film with loud gun shots and bombs. The word "LEGEND" stands out particularly to the audience, which will then stick in there minds and catch there eyes straight away.

The phrase stated upon the poster "The last man on earth is not alone," entitles the audience to gather what the storyline is about, which is obviously that the male protagonist displayed on the poster at some pint becomes the last man on earth and that the entire human race is killed. Again, the typography is simply laid out in the poster and blends in delicately with the mise-en-scene - quite a contrast compared to the Sin City poster. The name of the actor "Will Smith," is blatant set out at the top of the poster in quite big lettering so it stands out to the audience and Catches there eye as Will Smith is a well known, popular actor. Therefore, this film would appeal more to the audience as they know Will Smith is obviously the main actor, as he is the only human portrayed on the page.

The medium camera-shot of the male protagonist portrays the character is being quite lonely, as he obviously the only human around the world. The type of clothes he is wearing and the macho way the character is walking makes him look quite strong, and not afraid of anyone else. In the poster, you can also see that the male protagonist is accompanied by a dog, suggesting that he is the male characters side kick throughout the entirety of the film.
Overall, the whole mise-en-scene is portrays an image of a deserted picture, suggesting to the audience that film will contain quiet scenery's, yet contain plenty of tension, even though you can tell by the writing that the film wont star many characters.

Vertigo 1958

The film Vertigo was directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1958. The one thing which I noticed straight away in this film was the fantastic mise-en-scene which was used, as it was all stylish and authentic. For example, there is a lot of the colour red used within the mise-en-scene which creates danger, love and passion. The colour red is used in many scenes, such as for the colour of the walls, the red lipstick worn on the female fatale and the also the red clothes that the female fatale wears. However, the scene with the roof top chase is a great thriller opening, as it automatically engages the audience, and brings them into the action themselves, which therefore makes the audience want to continue watching the film. The chase scene also means that film isn't giving anything away at the beginning, which is therefore keeping the audience guessing. The film also has the scenery of a house, which is quite light. This is a normal everyday setting, meaning the film isn't being to fancy, and wants to give away a feeling of the characters living an ordinary everyday life.

The female protagonist wears old fashioned clothes which obviously suit the time that this film was made. At one point within the film she wars a green backless dress which creates sexuality. As it is backless it is made to make the women stand out above the crowd, and green is the colour of envy, suggesting she's showing of to the men and making other women jealous of her looks and hold upon the men. There are plenty of effective sounds used in the film. For instance the music is quite sinister and non-diagetic. The music builds up, and is quite jumpy and contains a creepy feel about it. However, it keeps changing tone from loud to quiet to build up the audience for something to happen, then bring them down, which keeps the audience engaged. Certain thriller signifies used is the detective, and this is quite typical of a thriller. Special effects used are spirals around the characters eyes at the beginning, which gives the effect of dizziness to the audience and engage them.

The type of camera shots used varies, for example there are extreme close-ups used of the women's mouth and eyes. A birds eye view shot is used on a stair case (another known thriller signifier), which is effective yet simple to achieve. This emphasizes on the picture, and gives the audience a different view of the scenery. There are also plenty of quick angle shots including long, mid and close-up shots. The audience is also left with the question "Do you think Madeline is still alive?" This creates tension and engages the audience themselves to solve the mystery.

Millers Crossing (1990)

Millers Crossing was directed and written by the Coen brothers, and is of a Crime/Thriller genre. It is very cleverly directed and is full of thriller signifies and intense scenes.

The style of the film is quite "gangster" as the actors play the role of American Gangsters, which almost reminds you of the Mafia in Godfather. The beginning scenes have a fantastic Mise-en-scene and are full of thriller signifies such as slattered blinds and a electric fan. The colours of the Mise-en-scene are also quite dark and dingy, which almost portray a feeling of a thriller. There are also many gruesome scenes which obviously are typical of a thriller, yet at the same time scenes are quite stylish, with quite calming music in the background. This is typical of a Coen brothers film as well, as there always made with class and well thought about story lines.

The guys in the film are also quite tough which you always find with a thriller film, however the female lead in this film isn't actually portrayed as being vulnerable, yet quite strong as she stands up for herself against the main guy lead. This is quite surprising as you normally find the female leads relying on the guy to rescue them. Although every single time you see her, she's always filmed within quite a personal place for a women. For example, at one point there's a scene where the she's filmed being invaded in the girls toilets by the main guy, and another one where she's filmed while she's in her dressing gown and underwear. Although, at the same time in these scenes she's always strong and stands up for herself. This isn't very typical of thrillers, and is therefore quite unusual.

There are plenty of varied shots used throughout this film. For instance, they used shallow focus, where one of the male protagonist is in focus, where-as the background is out of focus. This is quite effective, and therefore adds to the films style and authenticity. There are also plenty of zoomed in close-ups, longs shots and medium shots. However, in this film there are also a range of simple shots, for example there's a simple shot of one of the male protagonist hat falling upon the ground. Although the shot looks fairly easy to film, in reality this was probably quite hard to achieve, and it looks very effective and adds the films "class." Overall, Millers Crossing is a stylish film and every character you notice is dressed in glamorous clothes, and during the film there's the symbol of the expensive looking cars and the powerful men smoking. In every shot, the mise-en-scene is stylish and typical of the era that the film is meant to be shot in. For example, the colours of the room are rich such as dark browns and deep reds which are connoting danger, love and passion, and during scenes in which violence is happening, the men always seem to keep calm.

No Country for Old Men (2007)

No Country for Old Men is directed and produced by the Coen brothers, and I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed watching it, and was one of the most intense thrillers I have watched in a while!

For starters, the actual narrative is very simple as it's quite straight forward as it's simply a goose chase mainly between the sheriff of his town who is carrying around $2000,000 and drugs in a suitcase, and a guy who follows him in his tracks as he's after the money. However, of course the guy who is chasing him is pure evil as he intends to kill anyone in his path.

The simplicity of the story is what makes this film so watchable and intense, as it's filled with wonderful shot types and thriller signifies. For starters, the Mise-en-scene for most of the film is of a desert, where you get to witness some fantastic scenery. There's a powerful shot of the Sheriff looking through his binoculars at some tree's, which is a great example of "The Rule of Thirds," and the shot type also shows shadows from the tree's which is a great thriller signifier.

Of course, certain parts are very gruesome as you witness a lot of wounded men, but the pace of the film is quite slow and not rushed. The actual Shrift himself resembles quite a secretive man, especially to his wife, and is typical of a strong, male stereotype. What really keeps you on the edge of your seat however, is the scenes when the Sheriff is hiding in a Motel with his money, and the guy chasing him finds where he is with a tag he carries around which bleeps every time he nears the money. These scenes are so intense due to the fact the camera doesn't allow you to see where the two guys are, therefore your kept on the edge of your seat waiting for something to happen.

The music also creates atmosphere because it's dead quiet before something is about to happen, which creates intensity throughout the scenes.

Film Noir - The Blue Dahlia (1946)

I chose to watch "The Blue Dahlia," by Raymond Chandler because its actually a thriller film itself, therefore it relates to the work we have been doing in class. Raymond Chandler himself is very famous for creating thriller stories.
I overall found the film very interesting, and the plot basically revolves around the death of a woman named Helen. Before Helen's death she admits that alcoholism caused the death of hers and a guy named George's son.
Within the opening credits, the mise-en-scene is black, with simple white typography for the credits. This has an almost classic effect, and obviously relates to the Noir black and white colouring.
The shot used is a simple mid-shot of the writing. Within the opening scenes there's a great close-up shot of a sign saying "Hollywood," which is a reference to the Hollywood movie scene, and signifies richness and fame. We soon gather throughout the story that most of the characters are actually rich themselves, and we can tell this from the there dress code, which is mostly very formal and glamorous wear. Also, there are classic symbols such as both genders drinking and smoking which shows of how much money they have. There's also a scene which involves a dinner party, which again indicates the type of rich life style they have. Therefore, this gives the film a very classic effect. The men and women are also very stereotypical of there genders, as the men are always seen drinking, smoking and very masculine. The women are also perceived as sex symbols, and yet almost innocent at the same time. For instance, there always shown dressed in expensive dresses and speaking in a propper manor, yet there never shown as being in charge. It's a very true picture of how life was among the rich in the 1940's.
There are also plenty of thriller signifiers used, such as there are plenty of scenes shot in the rain, which is a well known thriller signifier, as it gives of a sense of mystery. The music played throughout is also quite jazzy, and probably was the type of music people liked to listen to in the 1940's. Also, there's one scene which involves a window being blown open by the wind at night time, which connotes mystery and intensity. The types of shots used mainly involve plenty of mid-shots, especially really effective ones of people being shot while driving cars, as you can see the background moving behind them. This also allows you to see there facial expressions clearly and whats happening within the scene. There's also a nice over the head shots of the city behind them, which gives the film style and poise.
Overall, a very well made film by Raymond Chandler, which keeps you engaged with the film throughout.

Narrative Structure of Chinatown

The overall narrative structure of Chinatown is filled with plenty of thriller signifiers, and consists of a beginning, middle, a twist, climax and the end.
For starters, in the beginning of the film, we’re introduced to the main character Gittes who is hired to spy on Hollis Mulwray, the chief engineer of the city’s water department. This is a typical introductory into a thriller film, as we already know the basis of the plot. The mise-en-scene at the beginning of this film is filled with thriller signifiers. We’re introduced to dark intense rooms, which are filled with symbols such as slatted blinds which create shadows, which as we know can be quite deceiving. The darks shadows are also mixed with bright lights which contrast of each other. Also, the character of Gittes is a typical male protagonist, who is quite a flawed hero. He smokes, drinks and is quite sexists towards women. The main female lead at the beginning is Evelyn Mulwray, (Mr Mulwrays wife) who is a character associated with sexuality and danger.
However, as the film progresses, we later discover in one of the films spiralling and twisting narratives that an actress was actually hired to play the part of Evelyn, but as this point we as the audience don’t know why. This is quite an interesting twist in the story, as the plot begins to reveal itself. A sinister of threatening atmosphere occurs when Gittes “runs into” a thug whose security of the water department and ends up getting his nose slashed, and at this point we’re in the middle of the film. Gittes becomes quite an intense character, as you see him lurking behind shadows and spying on people. Another one of the twists is also that Gittes and Evelyn sleep together, which is quite a typical thing to happen in a thriller film. This is because quite often the main lead guy and women often start an in-appropriate relationship, which adds to the intensity of the film. To add the atmosphere, plenty of diagetic sound is played which switched between growing louder and quieter. We also witness uses of vanishing points, for instance uses of zooming shots are used to give the effect of a corridor gradually becoming distant. There’s also feeling of claustrophobia in the film, as Evelyn feels both physically, yet psychologically enclosed with all the lies and pressure.
The climax of the story is when we discover that Katherine is both Evelyn’s daughter and sister, and Mr Mulwray is discovered with salt water in his lungs, even though his body was found in a freshwater reservoir. This shows that the film Chinatown is filled with plenty of twisting narratives. We also as the audience discover all the secrets of the story. Gittes also chooses to help Evelyn and Katherine escape to Mexico, after he finds out that she had an “un-natural” relationship with her father.
The end of the story is very dramatic, as Gittes arranges a hiding place in Chinatown to meet Evelyn and Catherine, although by the time he arrives there, he is greeted by the police who are about to arrest him. “Cross” approaches Katherine trying to claim custody of her, and a typical thriller signifier happens when Evelyn shoots her father in the arm, although as she drives of with Katherine, she is unfortunately shot dead by the police. This contains themes of destruction and corruption, and is a very dramatic way to end a thriller.

Layer Cake

The opening shots and mise-en-scene of Layer Cake starts of with an explosion from the back of the car, which straight away captures the audience's attention. Plenty of zooming and medium shots are used, and the mise-en-scene at the beginning switches regularly, mostly between scenes of a prison and the city. The scenes all contain a very clinical feel about them, as we learn the narrative mostly revolves around drug use. This has quite an effect on the opening of the film, as for starters the explosion immediately makes the film exciting, therefore the audience are dragged into the action themselves. The quick camera angle shots give the film an exciting fast paced effect, which is perfect for a thriller.
The opening credits are in white, which again connote quite a simple, yet colourless, clinical feel. The credits are presented at the bottom corners of the screen, and the title "Layer Cake," appears on a door as it slams. The mise-en-scene while the credits are rolling is of the countryside, and watching an expensive car being driven around the windy roads. The typography is overall small and quite subtle, so you hardly see them turn up. The music in the background is quite up-tempo and pop.
The overall mise-en-scene is a short Montonarge of History, as it goes through right from the beginning while the drug dealers are in prison, to the 60's and present day. Therefore the shots are very fast paced, and moves from scene to scene. It's almost covering a dozen story lines at once.
As the film continues on, there are plenty more thriller signifiers included in the film. For example, in one certain mise-en-scene there's a fan included in the background, with the colours dimmed down. The effect of this is that it almost gives the feel of being in a detectives office. You can also hear the heart of Danielle Craig pounding, showing how scared he is, which increases the intensity. There's also scenes such as black mailing over the phone and plenty of chase scenes. This all adds into the fact that this film is very fast paced editing. The music is also effective, as when something bad is happening, the music tends to grow louder, giving the audience an indication that something is about to happen. Then the music calms down when the situation has reserved itself.
There's also plenty of effective shots involved. This includes vanishing points, shots taken at ground level, tracking shots, over the head shots and extreme close ups. The effect of this is that it makes the film more interesting to watch, as its always moving around and something going on.
However, despite Layer Cake being a good film, the one thing that annoys me is the ending. This is because I don't like the fact that Danielle Craig dies, when the audience are lead to believe he's got away with everything. Although this does serve his character right, as towards the end he becomes very full of himself, therefore he was almost asking to be shot. It's also clever that we're never told his name throughout the film, which is probably a way to increase the intensity and mystery.

The Opening of Sin City

The opening shots and mise-en-scene of Sin City, first if all include the black and white city scape mise-en-scene. Everything is in black and white except the women's dress and lipstick, which is in fact bright red, which connotes love, danger and passion. The type of shots that are used include over the head shots, mid-shots and a effective pan/zoom out shot, which shows the city land scape. The music in the background is a jazz theme, and there are sounds of sirens.
The opening credits are a good use of bold typography, which stands out against the general black and grey mise-en-scene. The colour of all the credits are bright red, which also connotes blood and again, danger. There are also images of drawings being shown on screen while the credits are being rolled in, which most of all in black and white.
The overall general mise-en-scene is of the city, and the rain is very stylized with use of graphics, in fact the whole of that scene is quite edited, and of been most likely shot by green screen. There are bright white city lights, which stand out against the dark colours. The women stands out against the mise-en-scene, and her figure and sexuality is very emphasized by the way they make her red dress stand out.
There are also plenty of special effects used, such as her green eyes which suddenly stand out for a split second. There also fairly slow placed shots, and the music is non-diagetic. There's even use of Monochromatic lightning.

Comparison of the 1953 and 2005 Versions of "War of the Worlds."

I've watched both version of "War of the Worlds," and as there both thrillers, I decided to compare them. Both films have similarities and differences between them. One of the first things I noticed was that in the older version of “War of the Worlds,” the mise-en-scene is a lot darker, especially at the beginning of the film when the first alien lands on earth. This connotes a feeling of coldness and isolation among the characters. However, this is a completely different concept with Spielberg’s version of the film, as he chooses a New York City mise-en-scene, which is filled with a much faster pace of life. It also has the ability to introduce all sorts of drama, as the city itself is a very busy place.
The way the alien is revealed in both films, are very different in terms of angle shots and atmosphere. For example, in Spielberg’s version of “War of the Worlds” there’s a huge build up with lightening storms, before any actual sightings of the alien. This is in contrast to the 1953 version of the film, when almost straight away you see a long shot of the alien crash into the rural setting. When the alien first appears in the 2005 version of the film, Spielberg has hundreds of people gathering around the open hole in the ground, while using a nice overshot of everyone’s heads. Suspense is created, by rapidly tracking the splitting road. As soon as the craft actually rises, immediately panic is among everyone, with Spielberg using plenty of over-shoulder and POV-shots, as a way of throwing the audience into the action themselves. There are zooming close-ups of Rays face, stating the shock that he is feeling and how vulnerable he must be, and uses helicopter shots to show how the big and “transformer like” the craft is in comparison with New York City. The tripods make sinister foghorn sounds to rally its comrades. This connotes that the foghorn is a way of communicating with each other, which is actually what animals also do, especially as a call for help.
However Pal uses a completely different approach, as the actual mise-en-scene is very dark and dreary, with only a few people actually present when the craft reveals itself. Before this happens, there are no signs of people panicking; in fact, they are looking at the possible commercial value of it. The build up is more slow and comical. When the alien does emerge, Pal uses a close-shot of the blinking eye, as it rises up almost like a sinister plant. The camera positions itself behind the crafts neck, using a high-angle-over-shoulder-shot, making the victims seem small and helpless. There are long shots of red smoke and the first sign of destruction as there’s a blast of heat-ray, much to the victim’s surprise. There aren’t any non-diegetic sounds; instead Pal wants the audience to focus purely on the sounds which the craft makes itself, which emphasises the use of sci-fi iconography. When the alien craft is also the first shown, it makes an electronic beeping sound, which connotes a sort of radar examining the area for hostiles.
Spielberg continues to create suspense very cleverly, as he uses the reflections from car windows to almost trick the audience, and Rapid cutting is used to create fear and panic among the victims. There are spectacular long shots of the alien all the way throughout the film, making the craft seem massive and over powering. However the pace of Pal’s version of the film is much slower and panic is only really emerged after the vaporisation of human beings.
Pal’s version of the film is also very Stereotypical, as the all the way throughout the film, the woman is portrayed as a typical 50’s subservient woman i.e. “fetching the tea” and looking after the men. She is also shown which was again typical of the 50’s as a screaming, vulnerable heroine. However, this aspect has been cut completely from the 2005 version of “War of the World’s,” as any female audience watching the film would be insulted by such stereotyping. This proves how attitudes to how women are viewed since the older version of the film.
Film companies today are under great pressure to make huge profits, so it is essential for the ultimate success of the film to cast big names. (Star Theory) Tom Cruise, although portrayed as a husband with a failed marriage his wholesome American appearance still shows him to be a stereotypical caring and ultimately heroic father. In the 1953 version, Gene Barry was not a father but more of a sex symbol to encourage the female audience. Interestingly, the main difference between the two films is that the heroine in the later version is not an adult, but a little girl. (Dakota Fanning)
50 years on in Spielberg’s film there is no longer a threat from communism. (Pal suggests the red eye of the 1953 alien connotes the under lying fear of most Americans of the USSR). However is Spielberg’s alien invasion suggestive of America’s and the worlds new under lying fear of Muslim extremism?

The Grudge

I recently just watched a horror film called "The Grudge" as I was trying to compare a horror film with a thriller film. I have to say, my overall feelings about the grudge is that it was a chilling film, but with a poor narrative. The reason why I felt it was a chilling film, is for the number of thriller signifiers involved and the use of graphics creating suspense.

For instance, the first thing that I noticed about "The Grudge" is the actual DVD cover. (As shown right) It instantly caught my attention, as the overall colour black connotes danger, mystery and psychological horror. It's a very darkening colour. The title is the only thing in red, which again connotes danger, and it sticks out against the overall Mise-en-scene of the demented looking girl. The way the girls one eye is looking directly into the camera shot, means she is wearing a direct-mode-of-address, which captures the readers attention, and draws them into looking at the films. Her long black hair covers most of her face, leaving her actual appearance up to the readers imagination.

The actual plot of the film isn't very clever, as it mainly just involves a series of gruesome incidents occurring in one house, and Sarah Michelle Gellar as the main actress playing an American nurse in Japan. However, what makes this a scary watch is for starters the music. You can instantly tell when something is about to happen, as the music quickens and grows louder, and even though this is quite a cliche thing to do in horrors, it still works. The graphics of the actual girls face is chilling, and the main scene which sticks in my head is the one where Sarah Michelle Gellar stands alone in a hospital. The lights keep flickering on and of which is a known thriller signifier, and you keep hearing noises but see no faces, which again, leaves it up to the audiences imagination of whats about to happen. The whole ward is deserted, and of course its night time which makes it even scarier. Also, the whole Mise-en-scene of the actual house where nearly the whole movie is based around, is quite cleverly done. It has plenty of levels and windy staircases which are also known thriller signifiers. Most of the scenes are shot in dark, and the people in the house at the time are lead to this one place in the loft by a series of mysterious noises such as babies crying and creaks. You also have quick mid shots of the shadow of the girl who spreads around this deadly "curse." There are several other chilling scenes, and you witness other people dying in mysterious ways, which can lead a shiver to the spine!

Overall, I do recommend people to watch this movie as it is a good film to watch, but I have seen better horror films.