Thriller Genre: Codes and Conventions

Institutional Research AS Media

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What production company are you going to use?

The production company I am going to use for my opening to a thriller is Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. is an American producer of film, television, and music entertainment.

Why are they suitable?

I believe that Warner Bros. Company are suitable as a production company for my film as they have produced and been the production team behind many other films which have the same key themes that I am basing my opening to a thriller on. Over the years the company has grew and became more successful since it was first founded in 1918 as Warner Bros Studios, April 24^th 1923 as Warner Bros pictures becoming the production company for a number of the world’s most famous films, for example The Dark Knight and the Harry Potter trilogy.

What other films have they successfully produced?

·       Batman Trilogy – (Begins, Dark Knight, Dark Knight Rises)

·       Matrix Trilogy – (Matrix, Reloaded, Revolutions)

·       Harry Potter Boxset – (7 films)

·       Inception

·       Hangover Part 1 and 2

·       J. Edgar

·       Superman Returns

·       Man of Steel

·       Blade Runner

Why is that significant for your film?

These films are significant for the production of mine as it allows me the see the type of films the company that I have chosen to work with produces and the types of genres included. I have already previously talked about the fact that I believe that they are suitable for this role as they have directed a number of films which have similar if not the same themes and genres that my film is based on. These themes are the psychological and mystery genre. Films which Warner Bros have produced which relate to the genres are films like Inception starring Leonardo Di Capprio and The Matrix Trilogy.

What distribution company are you going to use?

I am going to use Warner Bros Entertainment Inc. My reason for this is they are

a fully integrated, broad-based entertainment company and a global leader in the creation, production, distribution, licensing and marketing of all forms of entertainment and their related businesses.  They will decide and make important decisions regarding important events to do with the release date of the film to the public i.e in the cinema and home entertainment. 

Is it part of a vertically integrated organisation?

 Yes it is because they are fully in control of all aspects of the film e.g production, release, financing, distribution etc.

Why is that significant?

 It is significant to be part of an integrated company because it allows one to be streamlined in terms cost effectiveness and to be in control of all aspects of the film’s production processes and bring organisational structure internally and thus not rely on outside parties.

If you are choosing an independent company, why have you decided to do this?

 We have not chosen to use an independent company because we it want it to be part of a conglomerate and utilise other Warner Bros names under the same ‘umbrella’ name.  The public will recognise the name Warner Bros in many uses e.g music whereas if we had used a non-independent company there would be no name to draw the public in to begin with.

What other films have they distributed?

 Some of the films distributed by Warner Bros are :

.            Inception

.            Book of Eli

.            Sherlock Holmes – Game of Shadows

.            Chernobyl Diaries

How does that tie in well with your film?

These films, distributed by Warner Bros, tie in well with my opening to a thriller film as they are based on similar genres to that of my opening which are psychological and mystery.

Zombieland - Official Trailer [HD]

5.                  ZOMBIELAND

Mise en Scene

The characters are zombies and the victims of the zombies, there are no main characters in this introductory clip.  This suggests that the clip is a brief overview of what the film is about, and defining that view through the actions taken. This is emphasized when each of the uninfected victims are killed by zombies; there is nobody left apart from the narrator. There is a wide variety of costumes used in the introduction because of the amount of characters, ranging from suits and service clothing, for example, police uniforms to costumes and every day clothing, this is because this film is based on the zombie apocalypse so clothing is encouraged to be of little importance.

A lot of make up is used for the creation of the faces and bodies of the zombies, for example, the blood and cuts on the zombie's faces and body, this is also used for their costumes. There are many different settings in this clip to suggest different scenarios all happening at once, for example, all the victims died because they did not follow the rules, this means that the characters in these scenes do not fit in properly which could be seen as the main source of entertainment to the audience in the clip because the theme of the film is partly dark humor.

There is a sequence of events throughout the intro where the narrator explains his "list of rules" for surviving the zombie apocalypse, and as he goes through some of them he shows a live demonstration of what would happen if you did not have this certain rule. This suggests that the narrator is getting a message across that if you do not go by rules in the zombie apocalypse, you will most likely get killed. There is a regular occurring message throughout the clip which the narrator constantly reminds the audience of his rules.

The make-up on the zombies is used to create an atmosphere of fear and carelessness as the blood and wounds on their faces and around their bodies creates a picture of pain and suffering and is furthermore used to create a sense of no other emotion apart from rage. Make-up used for the victims of the zombies is less apparent.  For example, one minute into the clip the fat person running across the football pitch shows signs of sweating and this brings out the agonized and terrified expression on his face as the zombie chases him. This is again emphasized when ten seconds later the zombie has caught him and is eating him, the make-up used is much more apparent as his face is completely pale, and splattered with blood, this resembles a dead expression on the victim's face. Signs of sweat are very apparent.

Throughout this clip there are many different types of props ranging from guns to burning cars, many of these props are used to create an atmosphere of destruction and death. This is an example of the creation of an atmosphere of destruction and death through the use of props. Most of these props are everyday objects, apart from the guns, that have been neglected because there is nobody to use them. The mass panic of the zombie apocalypse in this clip takes in a lot of action and leaves the audience with many questions to what is going on, such as: How did the zombie apocalypse happen?  Why is America no more?  Who is the narrator?  What is this "list of rules"?  Why are there random scenes of people we do not know getting killed?  Who are all these people being chased by zombies?  Is there anyone left alive?  How can anyone survive this?

A man is chased down by a zombie wearing a blood stained suit, whereas usually a suit suggests importance and sophistication because this zombie is covered in blood and parts of the suit are torn it signifies fear and scruffiness instead. The characters playing zombies are presented like this to promote the idea of what once was has now changed dramatically, and the director has shown this partly through the use of costumes and the way they are set out because zombies are generally known to not be aware of their surroundings but only of the person or people they are chasing, therefore quality of their clothing depends on whether they have suffered injury or not. The victim's costume is significantly different in the way that it is not stained by blood or ripped and torn, which connotes that the zombies have not caught them yet, and that they are not infected.  For example, one minute and ten seconds into the clip at the scene of panic in the city area, the woman who shot the zombie on the roadside has a very business-like costume consisting of a smart jacket, a formal skirt and smart shoes, this exemplifies that she has not yet been bitten by a zombie.

Editing

There is a large range of editing in this clip to show and create more action, for example, at one point there are two cars crashing and throughout this scene there are constant cuts and ellipses to show the passing of time and different perspectives and points of view of the car crash, this suggests that the crashes are the key subject to focus on in this scene.

Throughout the clip there is a wide range of different camera movements varying from scene to scene depending on the amount of action contained within, for example, the clip starts with a close up of the American flag, but is held upside down, this then goes on to a handheld shot and the man is panning the camera around a desolate city this suggests that there is no America anymore, as the narrator says, and the landscape emphasizes his point. A zombie then chases and captures the man and a close up of the zombie's face occurs as it eats the person, this suggests the narrator’s emphasis even further through demonstrating how America is no more.

The editing in this clip is used entirely for emphasizing action and for this reason uses quick and short cuts, although at some points in the clip, and more commonly near the end of the intro, fade outs and ins are used whilst the camera is shot in slow motion.

There is a scene of a football pitch at night, but this scene contains high key lighting because of the overhead lights on the pitch, this signifies that lots of people are watching what is taking place in the scene as the narrator explains what is going on. The scenes which exhibit natural lighting involve a dull atmosphere to match the mood of fear and desperation to flee from the zombie threat, for example, there is a lot of smoke which affects the intensity of light and the urban environment ensues a lot of grey which hinders the atmosphere and makes the mood feel very dull.

The titles are used in this clip to produce an action related mood ready for the film to begin.  It does this through using character interaction with the title and credits that are otherwise not supposed to be there.

Camera Angles and Movement

The clip continues to zoom out to show the earth and the destruction going on around it which signifies that the world is becoming more and more engulfed in the zombie apocalypse, furthermore the camera then zooms in to a mid-shot of a fat person being chased on a football pitch by a zombie, this then zooms out again to an extreme long shot as the narrator explains one of his "list of rules", Cardio. This suggests a knowing feeling that something bad is about to happen, and as the camera changes again to a mid-shot of this person and into shallow focus to concentrate on the person's facial expression in the foreground, during that time the camera changes to slow motion to emphasize the terrified expression on the running man's face as the zombie catches up. This kind of scenario then continues as the narrator explains a couple more of his rules, whilst the camera uses short, movements, for example, mid to close-up shots.

The scenes that take place inside entail low-key lighting, for example, there is a scene that takes place in a bathroom, in this instance it has low-key lighting, which suggests danger and an idea that there might be something lurking in the shadows.  Similarly, we see a scene of two fire fighters, one running away from a burning zombie whilst the other, unaware, tries to put out a burning building.  In this instance the background of the building is moderately dark and shadowy despite the flames, this suggests a warning to the fire fighters to stay away.  Most of the clip takes place outside so the only lighting that influences most of the scenes is natural lighting, except for the couple of scenes which take place inside.

Slow motion is also used on a lot of the scenes to emphasize the action and violence about to occur after the slow motion has stopped. For Example, titling and some props and objects link in to the subject of what the narrator is talking about, which is his "list of rules".  For example, a woman gets killed in a car crash, and the rule the narrator explains is "Rule #4 - Seatbelts".  Slow motion is also used to enhance the humor of the situation.  For example, in a scene on the football field a "fatty" is being chased by a zombie, the slow motion was used to catch a humorous expression on his face.

Sound

Both diegetic and non-diegetic sound is used in the clip to create the atmosphere or to suddenly change the mood.  For example, when the woman crashes and hits the ground, you hear a bell tolling and this signifies that the person who crashed the car has died.

An example of non-diegetic sound is during the last part of the clip when the song "For Whom the Bell Tolls" by Metallica is played. Because of Metallica's fast, loud and heavy beats this creates an atmosphere of knowing of the upcoming action and violence, the song is also relevant to the genre because the song is about death and war. Non-diegetic music is also played throughout the clip before the Metallica song to create an interesting atmosphere that is pleasant to the audience and grabs their attention. Narration from the main character is also used to describe the happenings of the World.  This almost portrays him as the King of the World in peril because of his knowledge of what is happening everywhere.

Diegetic sound is used most of the way through the clip until the Metallica song is played. Examples of diegetic sound are the growls and screams made by zombies as they chase after people, or the screeching of cars as the crash into each other.

First Blood (Trailer 1982)

4. RAMBO – FIRST BLOOD

Mise en Scene

The location could be a prison or a camp this is also shown with the guards with guns and uniform. The film starts with the director drawing the viewer’s attention to an explosion indicating that something has happened or going to happen later on in the film.  There is a close up on a guard with a gun this could show power and authority. The main character is introduced to us by one of the guards shouting his name this again could be showing authority. Rambo’s clothes are dark for him to hide from others, they’re apart of his identity and he has all the iconic traits of an action hero to connect to his identity, from his muscles to his stance and stunts throughout this sequence.

Setting and Props are used as we can see a man in the centre of the picture that he is in front of two men. This suggests that the character in middle is an important person and is main the main reason of where the picture is aimed at. The background of the characters are seen that they are in a forest and this shows that the films genre is an action based genre with a knife holding on the left hand side in the picture.

Costume hair and make up are used because it shows that both the character on the left and on the right are wearing some sort of army uniform and the actor in the middle is seen with no clothes worn which suggests what kind of role they have in the movie.

Facial expression and body language of character in the middle shows that he is a hostage and is tied up so he cannot escape. This also shows that the character in the centre is shown being torched by the two men on his right and left. The other characters looking at the centre character seems that they just had some sort fight, battle and the centre actor is caught.

The colour being green in the background gives an impression of it is a natural environment because in the picture it is clearly seen that the scene is took place in a forest. High key lighting is used in this scene. This can be seen because it looks that it is in the evening or something and light is used because on the centre actor’s body light is flashed on his body.

Editing

The director has chosen a long shot to show the main character talking to what looks like an important person, we can tell that he is important by the fact that he is on the other side of the fence and in a suit. Where Rambo gets chased by the police, shows a lot of quick edits between shots, creating a fast paced sequence, gripping the audience, like me to keep watching Rambo is the main focus of this film because there is a lot of long shots focusing on his figure and movement, he is also in the centre of the frame, which gives him an heroic look because he is the main focus of that shot. There are also a lot of extreme shots of the environment, which are mostly forests and tree’s, which suggests he’s escaping for freedom.

Camera Angles and Movement

There is an establishing shot showing the main character and the man in a suit talking over the barbed-wire fence this also indicates power and authority. When the man is talking to Rambo the conversation is an over the shoulder shot with the main character not making eye contact with him showing arrogance and maybe disrespect of what the man has to say.

Sound

The sound in this scene shows a lot of small diegetic talking. This could indicate that Rambo is a bit of a rebel and doesn't want to be there. After the explosion there is diegetic sound of machinery and voices this shows that there is a lot going on. The erie soundtracks are used to create a tense atmosphere that the audience responds to by feeling suspense and by including some ambient sounds we wanted to achieve the same thing. This tension and suspense was then increased at moments for example before the character begins digging the ambient sound is cut and the non diegetic soundtrack increases in pitch, this is done to attract the audience to this moment particularly so they focus on this part of the narrative as it will hold significance during the film.

The music is harsher and dissonant in keeping with the overall tone of the film and uses electronics but is primarily orchestral.  The title track "It's a Long Road" keeps to the theme of the film suggesting the struggle to re-integrate into a society that no longer understands the soldier after the horrors of war.

Jaws Official Textual Analysis

3. JAWS

Mise en Scene

Chief Brody, Hooper and Quint are seen in Quint's boathouse, there are many shark fishing tools or supplies.  When the three of them leave the dock the shot is from inside of the boathouse looking out through the teeth of a shark that Quint has caught. The title creates dramatic tension as it establishes the viewer to become curious about what ‘Jaws’ could refer to.

Lighting and colour are used effectively in preparing the audience for the climactic scenes. This is evident at the start of the clip where the atmosphere on the beach is pleasant and sunny. Natural lighting is used to make the clip realistic to watch and feel involved in. As the clip progresses, the natural lighting seems to dim prior to the shark’s appearance to create a growing sense of danger and insecurity. The lighting is faded to illustrate the murk and vulnerability of swimming in the presence of extreme danger, the approaching shark.

The beauty of the film is how all of its structural and visual motifs and components interact with each other to form two worlds in the consciousness of the viewer.  Firstly, the innocent portrayal of Amity Island and, secondly, the bleak nightmare that lurks beneath the surface of its waters in the form of a 25-foot, three-ton shark.  The physical presence of the shark is only felt, at this point, in the first person through witnessing the shark’s hunt for it’s first victim. The viewer, in many ways, becomes the shark that they so desperately want to see.

In the very first scene of the clip, Spielberg uses a black background. This is used to target the fear within humans of being unable to see your attacker, and further to hint at the weakness of the viewer in that situation, alone in the dark and vulnerable.

Editing

When the Chief leaves his house in the beginning, you see him going out the door, getting in his car and driving away, then it cuts to a few shots of him driving and it cuts to him walking on the beach.

Editing shortened the scene and made it so you do not have to watch the whole drive from his house to the beach.  There are a combination of deliberately placed elements, like the use of different colour palettes, background and foreground stagings, visual thematic details, and also "accidental" effects, making it feel gritty and natural.

There are “one-shots” of characters to suggest reactions here and there, deliberately and sparingly placed to compliment the more important shots, featuring many characters, conversations, and events.  The compositional details of the clip build together to form a sense of the Amity Island community, Quint's creaking Orca, or the calmness of the ocean surface, sometimes, no dialogue is necessary at all.  There is a balance between quiet moments and intense moments, creating fluid movements and actions that complement each other forming a beautiful visual narrative.

Camera Angles and Movement

Camera movements are achieved by using several techniques. The use of lots of long shots help convey both isolation for the victims and make the shark seem to have incredible hunting abilities. This technique builds up anxiety by waiting for the dramatic part. Such as dolly shots, panning, tilting the camera, moving the camera side to side or up and down, zoom shots, aerial shots, hand held shots, and using a crane for over-head shots.  For example, when the shark is swimming under the boat, there is an aerial shot and your looking down from above the boat. This shot was chosen to show how big the shark is compared to the boat.

Spielberg uses a swimming motion with the camera; this gives the audience the impression of searching. The camera manages to move fast but with a certain amount of grace, this is an example of “intertextuality” and this kind of camera movement is known as "sweeping". The film is more interested in building the essence of its locations through long, wide shots, than the level of activity in them.

Sound

In Jaws there is a distinct sound that you hear when the shark in close. This sound has a deep tone which makes the viewer feel anxious and on edge. This sound lets the viewer know that the shark is close and there is danger. The music is introduced slowly and quietly but it carries a dangerous undertone to it. The build up of the slow tempo that eventually crashes into a louder pitch creating suspense and tension. As the music speeds up it mimics a heart beat pumping faster and faster, as if running or in fear of something.

The music that is played as the shark draws nearer the surface provides an increasingly tense atmosphere among the audience. The many differential contrasts in sound that are used also trigger the knowledge of something fatal and disastrous to happen.

The natural sounds of the locations, holiday goers playing on the beach, actual organic sounds like those of the sound of bubbles and swift water movement, are used at the same time to suggest the ordinary and also add tension, with the use of sea noises particularly to remind the viewer of the fact they are in danger.

Django Unchained Textual Analysis

2. DJANGO UNCHANGED

Mise en Scene

It sets the scene of the Old West with big skies, dusty trails, a gunfight on Main St, an anti-hero in a black hat, blended with the lush greenery of the Deep South, white plantation mansions, enslaved men and women.  In terms of narrative, the plot is linear and shown from only one point of view.

Django Unchained is an ironic mix of humour and violence that steadies you between the horrific and the comical, so that your senses are neither overwhelmed by the film’s violence nor lulled into denial of the seriousness of the subject matter, by its humor.  The costuming and the set design and on-location shooting are a wonderful salute to spaghetti westerns.

The movie revolves around a black slave, Django, who gets bought and freed by a German bounty hunter in order to assist him in identifying some wanted men. Django becomes a bounty hunter himself with the support of the “civilized” and open- minded Dr. Schultz, while at the same time he makes plans to rescue his wife, who is a slave too working in Candyland, Candie’s plantation.

Django’s evolution throughout the film is a core theme of the plot. At the beginning he is a slave wearing just a rag, which he takes off, in a rather symbolic way, as soon as Dr. Schultz buys him. Scared he enters a saloon and tastes his first beer not able to realise what freedom means. After Dr. Schultz’s encouragement his first decision as a free man is to choose his own clothes. He dresses up like a character from a comedy, something he will change only after his first killings as an assistant bounty hunter.

In a great many ways the movie is a clear homage to the to the Sam Peckinpah style of western, with all the over-the-top blood and revisionism that comes with it. Tarantino nods to Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles as much as he does serious westerns by the likes of Sergio Leone (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) and Sergio Corbucci (Django).

Editing

Panoramic long shots combined with extreme close ups on the characters’ faces, memorable prose, the beautiful landscapes, playing with candlelight, and silhouettes. The shots of Django and Dr. Shultz trekking through big sky country in the winter are stunningly beautiful.

Camera Angles and Movement

Tarantino use a widescreen aspect ratio to shoot the film in the style of Italian Spaghetti Western directors, like Argento, to display the vastness of the American West and the theme of being able to make anything of yourself from small beginnings.  He uses many zoom shot sequences and many important night sequences, which often unfold in rural area settings of the South.  While the use of the zoom may have been aesthetic, it was also used as a practical element, a way of providing a number of setups from one camera angle. This became part of the visual feel for us on Django Unchained.

Sound

Tarantino is a master of diegetic music, the anachronistic soundtrack uses samples from James Brown, 2Pac, Rick Ross, Ennio Morricone and John Legend, songs that the characters can hear because they exist in the world of the film. Many of the songs have a dusty, vintage feel, utilizing the jangling guitars and rousing orchestral swells.  Both past and future intermingle no matter the century in which the story's is set in, with the music doing well to set an overall tense mood throughout the movie.  The film is propelled forward through Morricone’s score.  With whistle and slow-motion tumbleweed swagger, and featuring a few famous pieces of western classical music such as Beethoven's “Für Elise” and “Dies irae” from Verdi's Requiem.

The Dark Knight Textual Analysis

1.                  THE DARK NIGHT RISES

Mise en Scene

Tom Hardy plays Bane – voice signifies to us immediately a ‘dark villain’, deep powerful voices gives us the feeling of a strong, dominant character.

Like all typical villains we can identify them as there is something unusual about them that makes them stand out – whether it be costume, attitude, presence on screen, physical appearance – with the particular character the definitive ‘thing’ is the Voice.  For example: in the previous Batman film – Dark Night – one can identify the villains who are the Joker and Two Face, formerly known as Harvey Dent by their physical appearance and persona on screen.

The costume of Batman can tell us a lot about his character.  We know that Batman, otherwise known as Bruce Wayne, wears two individual suits, one for daytime business, the other a suit of armour for the night.  The suit of armour portrays Batman’s character in that it is dark, foreboding and has different aspects that represent his character during the day.

The colour of the costume is black that could signify that although he is a hero in the eyes of the citizens of Gotham he is still a dark character with another side to him.  We can also say that the black reflects that fact he fights against crime only at night however, this is challenged in the film when he finally reveals himself in the day to face Bane, his adversary which may show he has finally overcome his fear and does not need the darkness of the night to hide his identity.

Both Bane and Batman wear a mask and have distinctive voices to hide their true identity.

Bane wears mask to hide his scars and keep his pain at a threshold to enable him to function as fully as possible.  Whereas, Batman’s pain is not visible, he wears the mask to almost release the pain and be able to take his anger out.  Banes costume has been thrown together, is an amalgam of all sorts of bits and pieces all cobbled together.

In the film Bane is made distinctive to the audience as one of the main villains from the way he is dressed and the effect that this has on the audience. There are two main parts to Bane’s costume that creates the sense of a powerful villain that are the mask and the coat that he wears.  His mask we have already discussed but the coat that he wears can tell us a lot about his personality if we take a deeper look inside.  It is a Russian style coat that you would expect to see on an old gentlemen or family man having to go to work during the Russian revolution in poor conditions and the freezing cold to be able to provide for his family.

This creates a sense to us as the audience that Banes character is based on a person who is somewhat of a revolutionary.  However it has also been specifically made to look like an army style coat that we would expect to see being worn by an overpowering dictator that shows that Bane has a split personality and two separate aims.  A militant revolutionary portraying himself as a "liberator" in the film, and a dictator. Whereas The Dark Knight was defined by its villains, The Dark Knight Rises finds strength in its heroes.

Editing

There are a number of dissolve shots used in the clip to create a more suspenseful atmosphere which suggests to the audience that something is gradually creeping in and about to take place for example the darkness and pain.

Straight cuts to show the fast pace tempo of the film and also allows them to fit all the scenes they want to show you in the minimum amount of time they have to show you the trailer.

Low-key lighting is used in this trailer throughout to emphasize the fact that Batman is almost a shadow, a key figure in the film that reveal himself only at night. It could also be used to show the fact that during the film, for most of it the dark is prevailing the light and alternately the good.

High key lighting is used again throughout the trailer but more specifically on the two main characters that are Batman and Bane, this could be used for a number of reasons and make the audience think of alternate possibilities. The main ones are that the high key lighting is used mainly on these two characters is to share a resemblance and a comparison between them that may not always be clear to us, Batman is the character fighting against the evils of the dark while Bane is the reason why these horrors are there in the first place.

Camera Angles and Movement

Exteriors above the prison were filmed in Jodhpur, India, chosen because of the "forbidding landscape that added to the desolation".

Point of view – gives the audience the interpretation that they are actually the character themselves.  In this case, it is Batman’s perspective staring at Bane.

Close up – this is used to show the expression on the characters face and helps the audience understand their emotions and what they are feeling.

Panning – this is used to create a sense of feeling to the audience that something key in the film is about to happen as the camera is circling around the character, giving a false pretence that they are being trapped with no way out.

Tracking – this is used to emphasis the feeling of a fast pace tempo and make it more suspenseful and enjoyable for the audience creating the feeling of a chase.

Low angle – is used in this particular scene when Batman is at his weakest and with the camera at the same level as him.  It is aimed upwards to see the figure of Bane towering above him this in turn creates a sense that Bane is the more dominate character towards the audience and makes them empathise and feel more sympathetic towards Batman.

High angle – is used in this trailer when Batman is standing on a tower looking down upon Gotham City that he protects and thus giving us the sense that he dominates and controls the city in a certain respect but also signifies that he is looking upon it as a protector of it.

Sound

Both diegetic and non-diegetic natural sounds overlapping, with explosions, loud drums, Bane’s characters voice as discussed in Mise en Scene that creates a sinister atmosphere, and the use of crescendo to heighten the suspense.