Thriller Film Examples

In our last lesson (25th November), we looked at a number of thriller films to try and identify some of the common conventions.

One film we looked at was Cape Fear (1962). This film is about a convict who has been released and starts to stalk the lawyer who had him put away. The clip we watched demonstrated how this film broke one of the conventions in that the antagonist was wearing white when usually they would wear black to symbolize that they are evil. There was also an interesting camera shot where it was a long shot and the convict was a long way away, so very small, yet he was in the very centre of the frame which was very ominous.

Another film we saw was What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962). This film demonstated a common thriller convention which is to create dramatic irony - where the viewer knows what is going to happen but not when or how. There was dramatic irony when Blanche had thrown the note out of the window and her sister had found it. The viewer knows that the sister will not be pleased about this, as they know the character already, and so they wonder what will happen and when. This creates tension - a convention of this genre.

We also had a look at Fatal Attraction (1987). This film is about a woman who stalks a man and his family after having a one-night stand. This film demonstrated, again, dramatic irony as the viewer sees the woman watching in the shadows, as the man ascends in a lift to his car in a car-park. The viewer knows she has done something but are not sure what or if she's about to do it. This creates tension. It is then revealed that she has thrown acid on his car as the alarm goes off. We also learnt that the famous phrase 'bunny-boiler' comes from this film after the woman puts the family's pet rabbit in a pot, boiling for the family when they get home.

Finally, we looked at The Silence Of The Lambs (1991). This film demonstrated how the use of shadows can be effective. We see Hannibal loitering in the darkness through the use of a close-up where you can only just see him waiting to pounce on the woman. This film also built tension effectively as we see Hannibal reaching out for the woman and within touching distance, using a point-of-view shot from Hannibal, as she fumbles in the darkness.

Preliminary Task Research

In todays' lesson, we researched ideas for our preliminary task by watching other peoples work. This gave us an idea of what to do and also gave us ideas of what not to do.

For example, we realised that many people, when filming an example of match on action, film someone opening a door. Therefore, we thought it would be a good idea if we could come up with something original. A few ideas we came up with included throwing a rock at a wall, pulling a chair out, or switching a computer on.

We also thought that it may be a good idea to use different locations and/or costumes so that the film could be made more interesting, as many groups seemed to base their scenes around school and school life.