Making a thriller

During our last Media lesson my class looked at a documentary by BBC TV which was presented by Thomas Sutcliffe.

Whilst we were watching the documentary we were told to answer questions. One of the questions said to explain what Thomas Sutcliffe meant when he said "Films need to seduce their audience into long term commitment. While there are many types of seduction, the temptation to go for instant arousal is also irresistible." This means that the audience must be drawn into the film and they must want to watch it throughout. He is also saying that the temptation to start with the best bits is almost irresistible. However,according to director Jean Jacques Beineix there are risks of instant arousal. Some of which are:
- You begin to wonder what you can do next
- You have to live up to the audiences expectation.

Also from the documentary i learnt that a good opening must not give the audience to much so that they will want to watch more, but it should not give the audience too little so they have a slight idea and understanding of the storyline.

We also looked at what Stanley Kauffmann describe to be the classic opening. According to him the classic opening begins with the establishing shot/long shot (of a building), then a low angle shot which begins to tilt up. You then see the receptionist and then the private office.

We were also able to look at the opening sequence of seven which was created by Kyle Cooper. The opening sequence is so effective because it draws you in straight away. It foreshadowed what was going to happen in the film. The cut away scenes are also very effective and the way the credits fluttered around before they were able to be seen created a thrilling sense.

In addition, we were asked what is meant by the term " a favourite trick of film Noir". This is when the beginning of the film is actually the ending and the rest of the film explains it.

We were also shown he opening of the Shining again. The opening creates suspense because it is as if the camera is following the car like a predator.

We also looked at some of the thrillers that the previous year had made. We were told the grade of each thriller which helped because it gave us some sort of idea of what we are suppose to make. One of the thrillers i found really good that the previous year made was blacklisted.

I thought that the students idea was well thought and made a lot of sense. It was very simple because it did not have too much and stayed in the category of a thriller. The film basically had a girl who was on her way home from shopping and it then showed her unloading her shopping. We were then shown a man in a car who looked suspicious. Once the woman finished loading her shopping her door bell rang and when she went to answer it, there was nobody there. Then as she closed the door the man who was in the car appeared behind her and the film ended there. I thought this was a very good thriller because we (the audience) were so calm whilst she was loading the shopping , then we were worried by the door bell ringing but we went back to calm once we found out nobody was there and then we were thrilled at seeing the man appear behind her. I thought that the way they built up to the climax was very smart.

Another film we were shown made by previous students was missing. We were shown someone running in the woods. She looked as though she was lost or she had been kidnapped, I was unsure of which one. Then we were constantly shown a face which looked rather scary. I was unsure if the face belonged to the person who was missing or a monster.

I did however think that the location they used was very good. They used the woods which looked very foggy and mysterious, however it would have gone to better use if they were making a horror. I personally disliked the film and thought that the concept was very bland and went on far too long. I also thought it went more to the genre of a horror rather than a thriller. It didn't thrill me at all because I was constantly shown a face which was meant to be scary. It didn't build up to anything either, and I think a thriller should be up to something that will scare the audience.

Another film I thought that was very good was the untold. This thriller achieved the highest grade. I thought it was good because they kept the storyline nice and simple. It wasn't too over the top and we were provided with just enough information. The camera shots were also very good. They had some match cuts in there also we were very precise.

One of the films I enjoyed the most was the final hour. However, I would not classify the film as a thriller because nothing thrilled me. I would classify it as Action Sci-Fi, that is what it connotes to me. I also had connotations that the main character was a spy which isn't usually a big character in thrillers. I was however very interested in the storyline and once it had finished I wanted to know more and what had led to the ending. I would classify that as action rather than thriller. But I thought their camera shots were very good.