Erjeta - What is a thriller?

Erjeta Preniqi

WHAT IS A THRILLER?

“Thriller” is a term which many types of films/novels can be categorised in. Crime thriller, action thriller, erotic thriller and super natural thriller

are just some examples. These films all have features which give them the label of a thriller. A typical thriller film is one that leaves the audience in

suspense, anticipating what will happen next, they usually do this by using techniques like extreme close ups, quick jump cuts. Thrillers are usually

set in places that exaggerate the audience fears for example in ‘The Orphanage’, where they live in the middle of nowhere, or in ‘The Panic Room’, where the panic room amplifies the audience fears because they

are able to identify the dangers associated with the room. Usually we follow the protagonists single minded pursuit of a goal and the obstacles

that the antagonist puts in their way. For example in ‘The Orphanage’ Simon’s mother is trying to find him, and her imagination, which puts her

through all the obstacles, prevents her from doing so. We, as the audience, empathise with the protagonist and want them to reach their goal.

Therefore, anything that goes wrong for the protagonist also effects us.

CODES AND CONVENTIONS

In the shot we can also see a gate of some sort, this is covering half of the house which implies that there is something more to the house than what sees eye. This tells us that there is something

we are going to find out, this is a typical feature of a thriller.

THE ORPHANAGE

This is an low angle establishing shot of the house. The low angle shot makes the audience seem vulnerable and the house seem powerful, thrillers do this to make the audience worry. The sound in this shot is diagetic

sound. It is very quiet and all that can be heard is the gate creaking. The creak of the gate makes the

audience feel uneasy, this is usually used in thrillers to make the

audience get in a certain mood so what happens next can have full

effect.

THE ORPHANAGE

The darkness of the shot foreshadows that something bad will be happening in the near future of the film and the lack of clothing to protect them from the rain connotes that there will be nothing to shelter them when it happens, this

makes the audience also feel unprotected.

This long shot shows the protagonist Laura and a loved one of hers leaving their house in a rush while it is raining. This shows that what

they are doing is important or else they would not be outside.

This is a low angle shot showing us the moon and some clouds. the audience

feel as though they are looking up, as if they were

asking for help or looking for guide.

THE ORPHANAGE

Pathetic fallacy is used in this shot to foreshadow the dark and gloominess of the future. This is a typical feature in thriller

films because the mise-en-scene often reflects the protagonist’s mood at given

times.

The non-diagetic music that is played in the background of this shot is low tempo music.

This makes the audience worry because it foreshadows

the bad events that are to occur.

THE ORPHANAGE

The out of focus shot on the door makes us focus on Simon and

what he is doing. The doors however, restrain us from seeing if there

is anything else happening in the room.

In this scene there is a shot reverse shot back and forth between Simon and Laura. These cuts are used to build up tension.

Simon is unaware of Laura watching him this creates dramatic irony.

The close up of Laura’s face gives off her expressions and emotions, this helps the audience empathise with the protagonist.

We are revealed to what Simon was drawing later on in the scene. This is a

usual thing to do; children drawing their imaginary friends. However, Laura makes the situation into

something huge, she shouts at Simon for

drawing this and makes him explain everything. This emphasises how thrillers take ordinary settings and turn them

into extraordinary situations.

THE ORPHANAGE

The camera zooms in on Thomas, this exaggerates how important he is in

the film.

THE ORPHANAGE

The fact that Laura is running tells us that time is little time for her to find

Simon, this ties in with the non-diagetic sound of the music. Thrillers

often use music to either show the mood of the characters or to build up

tension.

There are many door ways in the

corridor that she is running down, this

shows that there are many places that

Simon could be and she is unlikely to

find him.

The little light that is given off from the two doors shows

that there is some hope for the protagonist.

Although, the fact that there is only

two doors out of all of them gives off the

impression that there is not much of

it.

Laura repeatedly screaming Simon’s name and the word “darling” shows she

is in distress and how important it is for her to find him

soon.

The shot reverse shot shows what

both the characters are seeing. This

helps the audience feel as though they are going through the situation with

the characters because we can see

what is going on through both of their

perspectives.

THE ORPHANAGE

The mise-en-scene jumps from a dark surrounding (the

corridor) to a light one (the bathroom).

The darkness connotes how

dangerous Thomas is and that Laura is the innocent one in this scene. Thrillers do this to emphasise

the roles of the characters.

The diagetic sound of the whistle used by Thomas is a shock to the audience and to Laura because we expect her to see

Simon when she turns around, Laura knows it

is Thomas but still tries to make herself believe it is Simon, hoping for her own

safety.

The diagetic sound of Laura knocking on the wall and playing the game gives limited dialogue

to show how desperate she is.

THE ORPHANAGE

The silence of the scene builds

up tension because it makes

the audience focus more on the sound and when we hear

the door open it shocks us.The camera pans

across the room, hand held from

Laura’s perspective. This

emphasises Laura’s fear in the situation and also later show

us how close the children get to her.

The dark and silhouetted

setting gives hidden identity.

FATAL ATTRACTION

The close up of the eye in the mirror hides identity, this makes us think about which one of the characters is in the mirror rather than revealing it all at once. The use of the close up hides what else is in the room which leaves the

audience in suspense.

The use of mise-en-scene with the make up emphasises how hurt Beth is, this could be another reason the close up was

used.

The over the shoulder point of view shot is a direct contrast from the shot on slide 11 because it reveals what is in the

room. It shows the audience just how close Beth is to danger.

FATAL ATTRACTION

The long shot of Alex shows her body language as being shy and innocent, this is hugely contrasted by the knife in her hand which gives off the impression that she is

going to cause some sort of danger.

FATAL ATTRACTION

The white colour of the clothes connotes pureness and innocence , this is juxtaposed with the red of the blood which suggests danger and violence. However the red also connotes passion, this could

show that the passion that Alex had for Beth’s husband was dangerous.

FATAL ATTRACTION

The close up of the kettle shows

just how important the

item is.

FATAL ATTRACTION

The diagetic sound of the kettle boiling muffles out

Beth’s screams which makes the audience feel

the danger for Beth because nobody can hear her and therefore nobody

can help her. It causes dramatic irony as the

audience know she is in trouble but her husband

doesn’t. Dramatic irony is used regularly in thrillers as it makes the audience feel useless because they

know what is going on however, they are unable to

provide any help for the character.The jump cuts to and from the women fighting and the

kettle show us that there was a link between the two, the reasoning for the kettle was purely to cover up Beth’s

screams. The fact that Dan could have waited five minutes to put the kettle on shows that the fight could have been

prevented because he would have heard the screams.

The close up of the knife under water makes us think that the violence is over.

The element of surprise is used after this shot by Director Adrian Lyne to shock the audience when Beth comes out of the bath and tries to kill Dan as it was not something that they were

expecting.

FATAL ATTRACTION

This shot is accompanied by Dan’s panting. He is panting

because he just struggled with Alex and now has potentially killed her. This relieves the

audience because the person who is seen to be as the

antagonist has died and there is no way she can hurt the

antagonist anymore.

Analysing different thriller films has helped me understand what techniques I need to use in my film. Features I would

like to take on are things such as non-diagetic music to build up tension within the audience. An establishing shot will also be used in the opening of my film to set the scene

and show the viewers where my film is set this idea was taken from the opening of ‘The Orphanage’. Another

camera shot I would like to use is close-ups in characters faces and/or objects because I liked the use of them in

‘Fatal Attraction’ as they either hid or revealed things in a way that created suspense. Jump cuts will also be

considered because they have been used effectively in most of the thrillers that I have watched and I believe that if I could use them well then it would make a huge impact in

my thriller.

CONCLUSION