How has my Research informed my Planning?

Several thrillers that I have researched have influenced the development of my opening sequence in the planning phase, as well as my primary and secondary audience research.
Firstly, in Task 1 I researched three thriller posters, for "Shutter Island", "The Dark Knight", and "The Silence of the Lambs". These three posters provided inspiration for a variety of different aspects in planning. Firstly, I found the conventions in the poster for "Shutter Island" to be very effective - the combined use of portraying mystery and the connotations within the poster, i.e. split personality, secrecy and concealment created a very eerie and strange atmosphere that I wanted to emulate in my thriller planning, through use of plot and mise-en-scene. In the "Dark Knight" poster, the character is very conventional to the genre, wearing all black, which is commonly associated with evil and darkness- however other aspects of the poster suggest the character is actually the hero, such as the low-angle shot to indicate superiority. This is something I thought I should include in planning; that the character was an enigma, to make the audience question his moral standings. I thought this was a very important aspect of the thriller as it would maintain the audience's attention and add to the plot depth - this is something that I discovered from my primary research to be very popular with my audience.

For my Task 2 I explored three title sequences - these would be the most important to reference considering I am tasked with producing an opening sequence. I looked at "Seven", "Skyfall" and "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and found things I would endeavour to use and also things I would not include. In the title sequence for "Seven", I particularly liked the font used for the titles - the handwriting was written in a 'sketch' type manner and then in a typewriter-esque font. This made me think that clearer titles could be juxtaposed with slightly less neat fonts to create an effect of disruption and an almost disturbing atmosphere. I also thought that the mise-en-scene in this opening sequence was very effective, cutting to several objects for very brief periods of time, some of which were indistinguishable to me - I thought this was a very good technique for confusing the audience and was the inspiration for the "flashback" idea in planning, that the action should be broken up by brief flashes of documents, photos, maps and places to disorientate the audience. The use of sound in the sequence for the "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" had the greatest influence in planning for me - the loud bass noises and strange sound effects ensured that the audience's attention was captured for the duration, and sound is a very important aspect of any scene so it is important the soundtrack is appropriate. However the title sequence for "Skyfall" did not offer much for planning, I thought it was far too complex and long to attempt to match it, although the fonts were clear and easy to read which I think is also beneficial as the information is clearly conveyed to the audience.

In my third task I studied three scenes from thrillers and looked in depth at a particular aspect in each. "The Dark Knight" and "The Others" both informed my planning with regard to characters - in The Others, the lead character [Nicole Kidman] is portrayed as a vulnerable, through both her costume and the narrative - this is conventional of thrillers to portray females as more vulnerable and to a sense weaker than their male counterparts. However in the scene she also shows some signs of strength. This informed my planning as I thought it was important to have a woman, in a similar, outdated costume to portray vulnerability - I then thought it would be even more effective to have a young girl in this situation to conform to thriller conventions. By contrast in the Dark Knight scene I looked at the portrayal of the antagonist - although I wanted the antagnosit to be speechless so that absolutely nothing can be given away about his persona, the character of the Joker helped influence the costume design in a way; I decided it was important to maximise the element of fear in the audience. The Joker's actual face is concealed by make up and we are never aware of his true motive in the scene, something I could use in my thriller: i.e. "why is the character there?". I also looked at "the Box" scene at the end of Seven to analyse sound. This influenced my planning as the scene made good use of silence to build suspense and then very loud, startling noises to capture the attention of the audience, something I want to include in my thriller.

I have mainly detailed how my audience research has informed my planning in their respective posts but to clarify and summarise, I discovered that my target audience preferred films with a good, complex plot and an effective cast in a film, and preferred action and adventure to a stand-alone thriller. Combined with my secondary research, where I found thrillers were mainly successful in the last year as a sub-genre, i.e. they were mainly action, science-fiction etc but had elements of or could be classed as a thriller, I decided that in my own piece I needed to include elements of the action/adventure genre to engage my target audience.

G321 Task 3 - Thriller Scene Analysis - "The Dark Knight" (1 of 3)

"The Dark Knight" Thriller Scene Analysis:

"It's Simple. We Kill The Batman."

"How is the antagonist represented in the scene?"

I will be exploring how one of the most infamous characters in the thriller genre, The Joker, is presented in the scene in "The Dark Knight" where he is introduced to the mob during their meeting.

Firstly, "The Dark Knight" was directed by Christopher Nolan and released on 18 July 2008 (USA). The production companies were Warner Bros., Legendary Pictures and Syncopy, with a budget estimated to be $185M and a gross profit of around $533M as of February 2009. The intended target audience of the film would capture a wide range, mainly containing those who have read Batman comics or seen previous films, but also those who enjoy action-packed thriller films, or a potentially younger audience. The audience received it very well, with countless 10/10 user reviews on IMDb, with titles such as "Surpasses the hype" and "Certainly dark - worth the wait".

The scene begins with the sound of estranged, drawn out, and menacing laughter for a few seconds as the men sitting at the table, who appear to be divided into two sides from the start, one side formally dressed, the other not so. At 0:06, an over the shoulder shot identifies the source of the laughter to be coming from a man walking towards the table, yet we do not see any of his clothes or facial details as he covered by darkness, suggesting a character who is secretive and prefers to remain hidden, representing him as a mysterious, indistinguishable character - the audience would react by questioning who this figure is. The laughter then seems to become sarcastic, and then the camera flips so we see the characters face for the first time in the scene. We instantly recognise that his face is covered with makeup in such a way to present him as menacing and somewhat delusional, with the blacks around his eyes and red around his mouth to form an eerie grin. The make-up also helps to conceal facial expressions and de-associate him from the "normal" people in the scene, suggesting independence and anonymity. As we see him, he confidently chirps, "and I thought my jokes were bad" - this insult shows him to be a confident character, who can simply stroll into what appears to be a crime lords meeting and mock them. This confuses the audience from the offset. Almost predictably he receives a violent retaliation from who we assume to be a leader of the group due to his authoritative tone and the camera focusing on him repeatedly, as he says, without showing emotion, "gimme one reason...". The mysterious man's response to such a vivid threat, "How about a magic trick?" seems so unordinary a response, any usual character in such a situation would likely panic, yet this clown-like character seems dominant and in control with his friendly response.

As the men respond to this absurdity, the Joker flips this impression of insanity that we immediately assume as he shows his power, and smashes the man down onto the pencil, promptly removing him from the equation. Yet he immediately resumes a friendly persona when he exclaims, "Ta-da!", but the way in which he talks, with pauses in his sentences, i.e. "it's..ahh..it's gone" hints at an unstable character, inducing fear in the audience as the character is unpredictable. Immediately we are presented with an enigma in the representation of this character, one regarding his sanity. This theme continues throughout the scene. The Joker once again resumes his taunting of the men ("You ought to know, you bought it") to provoke a retaliation once more, yet this time, after proving his authority, the men are less hostile and wish to hear his proposition.

"The Joker" is immediately represented as unstable but confident character, but then proceeds to show a much more sincere tone when explaining the faults in the criminals work. He is represented as some kind of fool, to tell these powerful men what they're doing wrong would be considered a strong insult, yet the men seem nervous to react as they are unsure of what the response will be; the deranged look created by the make-up and costume makes him seem insane, yet the way in which he addresses them is sincere but condescending: "What happened, did'ya balls drop off?". A key section that reveals part of his character is when the criminal leader calls The Joker a "freak" (1:03). This causes some unsettlement from the other characters but the Joker doesn't show any signs of retaliation, he repeats his last sentence in a slightly more drawn out way before moving on; he shows no sign of breaking from his  persona. He receives more and more sincere and questioning looks from his audience as he goes on before he sighs, "The Bat-man", with a clear separation in the name and eye movements that hint at despise towards the character. This reveals a lot about the Joker as a character, as to his motives and his persona; it reveals that he does have anger within him despite remaining calm when threatened and giving little emotion away. When the Joker continues to address the thugs, he speaks in an authoritative and confident tone, i.e. "as for the television's so-called "plan"" which represents him as a powerful character who knows precisely what he is doing, reducing the fear in the audience as they begin to realise the motives of this character, but contuning to worry them due to the power this man possesses. He re-iterates this by breaking from his monotonous, sincere tone when he says how Batman will make the man "squeal" and how he knows a "squealer" when he sees one, and so not only mocks the man for his plan but for his strength also, and considering the fact he is relatively anonymous to the thugs the sequence conveys him in a sincere manner.

However, when asked for his plan, we see this sincerity in a different manner. The line, "It's simple. We, er, kill, the Bat-man." is greeted by a chorus of laughs and the criminals seem to lose their respect for the Joker at this point; we can only assume from the laughs that this is deemed to be an impossible task, yet the Joker does not show only signs of breaking, he remains serious. This further enhances the representation of strength of mind, but also, insanity, as he is deemed to be this by the rest of the room at this point, shown in the response, "If it's so simple, why haven't you done it already?" which is spoken by one of the suited men in a very condescending tone, to show the disapproval, but the Joker remains sincere and confidently retorts with "If you're good at something, never do it for free." This is a very important sequence in analysing the representation of the Joker as the dialogue here and the Joker's actions and tone solidifies the representation of the Joker as a probably insane man who strongly believes his own ability and plans, with a tactical mind set - a perfect persona of a madman for an antagonist.

We really see this madness in the Joker's character at the end of the scene. First he asks for half of the cut, which is greeted by a round of laughter, then we hear one of the men say "You're crazy", which is the impression the audience is given throughout the scene. The Joker quickly replies with "I'm not" in a very bland and dull tone, showing a hint of disgust towards the men who don't seem to acknowledge his criticisms and advice, enhancing this representation of a tactical mind set, and confidence is shown again when he insults the presumed leader's ability again, provoking a strong reaction. The scene concludes with more madness as the Joker swiftly stands holding a pin, connected to several grenades on the inside of his jacket. This representation portrays him as a unstable character and a threat, causing everyone in the room to react. Yet he maintains his calmness as he speaks "let's not blow this out of proportion", and reveals the grenades he carries on his person, surprising the audience. The man shows visible anger and questions him, and when the Joker bluntly replies with "Yeah.." it shows nerve and once again confidence in his own ability, that he can walk in and steal from the thugs and get away with it. He completely ignores the death threat, hinting that he knows it won't happen, and leaves his "card", a plain Joker card, conveying his insanity one final time before he comically leaves the room.

In conclusion, the combination of costume and make-up to create an estranged, disturbing and indistinguishable character with the Joker's authoritative tone, confidence to insult and criticise and unpredictability in the scene, the Joker is represented as a very unstable antagonist throughout the scene through various techniques and through the narrative.

G321 Task 3 - Thriller Scene Analysis - "The Others" (2 of 3)

"The Others" G321 Thriller Scene Analysis: The Piano Scene

"How are women represented in the scene? Consider the stereotypical representations of the thriller genre such as the femme fatale and the victim."

"The Others" is a thriller/horror/drama film directed by Alejandro Amenabar, and was released on 10th August 2001 (USA). The film had an estimated budget of $17M and by February 2002 the most recent figure for box office returns was $209M worldwide. It was produced by Cruise/Wagner Productions, Sociedad General de Cine and Las Produccienes del Escorpion S.L. It's target audience would be more geared towards older viewers or those more interested in dramas and mystery films. The audience received it well, with a variation of reviews on IMDb, from 8/10's with comments such as "Subtle, genuinely creepy and... SUBTLE" to 10/10's simply exclaiming "Chilling!"

The scene commences with a woman [Nicole Kidman], curled up into a ball on the floor, sobbing into her arms. Although the audience is unaware as to why (just from this scene), it immediately portrays her as a vulnerable character, which women are typically portrayed as in thriller films. We can barely hear her say, "John, where are you?" in the opening few seconds, showing fear and a longing for re-assurance, further enhancing this notion of vulnerability and weakness. However, she then appears to stop crying, and glance up, showing shock and fear, as we hear a piano begin to fade in. At this point we are unaware as to whether this is the soundtrack or if it is in the scene. However, as the woman frantically scans the room, we assume the piano is in the scene, and is the cause of the woman's fear at this stage.

The scene goes dark and at 0:32 we see the woman emerge in a night gown holding a candle. Firstly this helps to give an idea of time period for the scene, but more importantly it portrays the woman as lost. Contrasted against the darkness, she may appear quite confident and powerful in a normal setting, challenging typical representations, yet her costume means she is represented as the typical "weak" woman in the scene. The candle light here adds to this effect as it dimly lights her in the scene, creating an eerie atmosphere, and we cannot see if there is anything in the darkness in the scene, leading to the audience developing concern for the woman. Sound is also used to create effect here, with the main sound coming from the piano for which we assume the woman is searching for and the creaking of the floorboards and staircase, which is one very conventional of thrillers, and two aids the notion of fear for the woman's well-being with the growing suspense. As the scene changes we hear the heavy breathing of the woman, conveying her fear and vulnerability on a more personal basis.


Once again, the representation in the scene flips, as at 1:08 we see the woman to be carrying a large gun. Her stance in this still would suggest power, calmness and control over the situation, yet prior to this she seemed frantic and nervous. This would be associated with the typical power connoted with weaponry. This challenges typical representations, and this fluctuation between control and vulnerability adds to the confusion created by the mysterious piano in the scene.

At this stage, the piano grows louder, enhancing the mystery and hence suspense, as the woman enters a room where we presume from this development in the music, the piano is located. As the woman reaches for the door handle we hear her breathing again, flipping the representation back around again; she is once again portrayed as vulnerable. The sound now completely cuts and the piano stops playing, as we hear the door slowly creak open. This use of sound, or lack of it, also helps to represent the character, this could show her as confused, shocked, or even delusional - was the piano playing at all? We see the character as a victim, typical of stereotypical representations.

As she strides into the room holding the gun firmly, she challenges conventions. Going by stereotypes, surely the potentially dangerous task of investigating a mysterious, perhaps paranormal happening should be the responsibility of a man, not a woman? Although it challenges this notion, it actually enhances the vulnerability aspect as the audience does not expect her to be in that situation - she seems nervous holding the gun, not authoritative, causing the audience to fear for her wellbeing. When the door closes behind her, the scene changes to a close up of her face to further convey confusion to the audience.

The music begins to pick up again from this point and the woman frantically dashes to the piano to close everything up, to stop the piano playing, showing a lack of control and fear, conforming to the fact that it is stereotypically expected for a woman to not be in control in such a predicament. By contrast, when she locks the piano and turns away, she seems powerful, as the key has the connotation of stopping something by force, i.e. the noise will be stopped. She returns to her stance holding the gun to further show that she has in fact contained the situation - this challenges the representation again.


In the next scene though, the doubt as to how the scene actually portrays her is confirmed. Up to this point there is a succinct alternation in conforming and challenging the vulnerability associated with women and whether or not she is a victim or not. As she opens and closes the door, she appears very confused. Then, so suddenly it causes the audience to jump, the door slams in her face, almost comically, sending her reeling backwards. This violent act against the woman immediately shows how she is a victim to the strange goings-on in her house, the confusion caused by them and hence her vulnerability - as she falls, she drops the gun, connoting a loss of power and control. The sound picks up and the door handle shakes, and she jumps to the door. She screams, "Mrs. Mills!!", showing her fear, and this conforms to the stereotypical representation as she seeks help. Another, older woman, presumably Mrs. Mills, comes bounding down the staircase, saying "What's wrong madam?" Being the second woman in the scene, she is immediately portrayed as weaker due to her age and hence strength, (she seems very frail), and her obedience to the other woman i.e. "Madam" shows how in the heirarchy of that house she would be lower. After obtaining a key, they dash back to the piano room, the speed further displaying their fear, as the woman mumbles, shocked, "Oh my God" as she finds the piano, that she locked, to have re-opened - this would have a similar effect on the audience, who would be surprised by this and would question how this has happened. Similarly to the dropping of the gun, this would connote a lack of strength as whatever she is up against had the power to break the lock, showing the strength of the anonymous villain in the scene.

Overall, the piano scene in "The Others" displays signs of challenging the stereotypical portrayal of women in thrillers as inferior, yet overall the main character [Nicole Kidman] is seen to be a victim in the scene, with the narrative presenting her as immensely vulnerable and lacking in strength. She shows signs of power and control through using objects that have connotations with this, yet without them she is presented as alone and weak, causing the audience to fear for her for the duration of the scene. The concept of the "femme fatale" is not relevant in this scene.

G321 Task 3 - Thriller Scene Analysis - "Seven" (3 of 3)

"Seven" Thriller Scene Analysis
"If you kill him, he will win."

"How is sound used to create suspense and other effects in the scene?"

Arguably one of the greatest ending scenes in thriller films is the ending from "Seven". Seven (or stylised as Se7en) was directed by David Fincher and was released on the January 5th 1996 in the UK. Produced by New Line Cinema and Cecchi Gori Pictures, it had a budget of approximately $33.3M and box office returns of $316.4M Worldwide. The audience for "Se7en" would be a potentially younger audience due to element of the thriller/action, whereas the crime and psychological aspect would attract an older audience as well. The audience received it very well, with plenty of 10/10 user reviews on IMDb, with summaries such as , "Modern masterpiece" and "Possibly the greatest murder story ever." I will be focusing on how sound is used to create suspense and other effects in the final scene, where there is a showdown between the protagonist and antagonist in the middle of a desert.

The first sound we hear in the scene is a diegetic sound; the sharp flick of the pen knife. This noise, over the silence of the rest of the scene, quite literally cuts the tension with a knife; a very tense atmosphere is created from the offset. For the opening ten to fifteen seconds we hear nothing but the sounds coming from the location, such as the caw of birds and the sound of the wind, enabling the audience to have a better understanding of the setting for the scene, and the sound of the knife cutting the box. This creates the effect of a calm but suspenseful atmosphere.

A very important part of the scene is the sound in the dialogue. It helps to show the stance and motives of each of protagonist and antagonist. At around 0:24, the dialogue in the scene starts, with a very calm voice saying, "You should be very proud". He is greeted by the explicit retort, "Shut the f*** up you piece of s***" - this difference in the tone and choice of words of the characters creates the effect of a clear separation in the motives  of the individuals and hostility towards one another.

The scene returns to the man at the box [Morgan Freeman], and once again there is very little sound here, which creates the effect of placing the audience in the scene itself; they only hear what the characters can hear. After the man jumps in shock at around 0:31, there is a long period of silence - the lack of sound here helps to emphasise a section important to the plot, perhaps startling the audience. Suddenly, at 0:40, we hear the diegetic sound of helicopter rotors, as it matches the action in the scene. Helicopters themselves would be associated with action and the audience then links the start of the helicopter rotors with the start of the action.

Also at this point is the start of a non-diegetic sound which makes up the most part of the sound in the sequence. A low frequency "dun" effect is created, that matches key movements in the scene, such as at 0:47 where the man turns his head back to re-inspect the box. Coupled with a whining effect as a backing track, the soundtrack here builds the suspense and has the audience questioning - what was in the box? The sudden noise could also startle the audience and cause them to focus on the action to a greater extent as it would catch them off-guard. This creates the effect of curiosity and captures the attention of the audience. The noise repeats in a regular pattern i.e. there are equal intervals between the sounds. This creates the effect of an almost "ordered chaos" in the scene. At 0:55 speech plays an important part, as when the man says, "California, stay away from here, now, now, whatever you hear stay away. John Doe has the upper hand." he slurs the clauses together and speaks in a worried, fretful tone, inducing many effects on the audience - what has caused this panic in his voice, and why does John Doe have the upper hand? This further intrigues the audience to watch the rest of the scene.

From 1:00 onwards, speech plays a very important role in the narrative and conveying emotion. We hear the man shouting, "Put your gun down!" as he runs back over, whilst [Brad Pitt] tells the bald man, (who is first shown in this section with a low angle shot to perhaps show power and superiority), almost painfully, to "Shut up". This further conveys his hostility towards this man and from his tone the audience can tell that he holds a position of dominance over this man. We may have been able to tell this from his body language and stance but the speech in the scene helps to emphasise and clarify this. However, the bald man's voice seems calm, as if to suggest he has the control in the scene. The difference in tones of the characters causes the audience to make several different assumptions about the plot, and hence builds suspense as to the revelation as to what has actually happened. This confusion is further aided by the confused tones of the characters in the scene, with the suited man saying, "What you f***ing say?" and the man in the helicopter saying "What the f***..." this creates the effect of the characters being just as clueless as to what's happened as the audience is. The non diegetic sound of the "dun" and the whining effect continued, becoming more regular (about 2 seconds between each noise) and louder too, to heighten the suspense, the regularity could show how everything is beginning to come together to form a conclusion in the scene. However, from 1:41, the sound effect stops, which creates the effect of an emphasis on this particular section of the dialogue, implying something significant will occur. A moody, dark score accompanies the section, suggesting a bad revelation to come, and the man speaks with absolutely no emotion in his voice to convey a dark, misguided character. The music seems to reach a mini-crescendo as he calmly speaks, "I took a souvenir. Her pretty head." This would surprise the audience as the speech is emphasised here to signify a revelation.

This section is dominated by the continuation of the dark soundtrack and panicked dialogue between the two men [Pitt and Freeman]. The man who was at the box tries to reason with him, to get him to put his gun down, whereas the other man calmly continues, almost taunting him. This could be a representation of the man's conscience, the voice of reason contrasted against his rage. He exclaims, "What's in the f***ing box?!?" showing anger and distress through his voice. When the man says, "He just told you." he seems confident yet mocking, provoking a sincere response of "You lie!". The contrast in voices here and the way in which the words are spoken are a huge part of the sound in the scene and contribute to creating suspense and emotion in the scene, causing the audience to fear for the man who is clearly traumatised by this. At this stage, the non-diegetic sound returns, suggesting another period of action in the scene is commencing, with the interval becoming slightly shorter, quickening the pace of the scene and creating an "on-edge" atmosphere. The 'guilty conscience' effect is enhanced here with the other detective saying, "He wants you shoot him!" to try to reason with him to calm him down, yet the mysterious man continues to subtly taunt him, causing him to spiral out of control in anger. The strain in his voice when he yells, "Tell me she's alright!" makes the audience pity the man and creates a very emotional aura in the scene, which continues to grow shown by the distress in his voice when he yells, "No!", accompanied by the notes in the soundtrack becoming lower to show sadness and anger. The isolated location here also helps to portray his mind set at this stage, he has two options, to side with either one of the men, with nowhere to go. This is clearly shown where the other detective stands in between him and the antagonist. The taunts grow to such an extent that the other man lashes out, the sound of contact clearly emphasised over the growing whine in the background, which reaches a crescendo and dies off to show the importance in the dialogue to follow. The non-diegetic sound is very loud here to further add to the levels of suspense, suggesting something is about to happen, and the sudden silence of the man after his outburst also shows the significance of what he just said. When he says, "Oh.. he didn't know." he sound very sarcastic and condescending, to portray him as the 'evil mastermind' in the scene. through use of sound. At this stage, the soundtrack picks up, as the detective looks upwards in despair. The crescendo in the backing track here shows a culmination  in the dialogue to indicate a revelation and creates the effect of the suspense being temporarily paused to allow emotion to be conveyed.

  After this section, there is a prolonged period of silence in the dialogue, as the scene is dominated by the soundtrack. It accompanies the action on screen to create an atmosphere of sorrow; the strings in the soundtrack evoke pity and sadness in the audience, as the previous section of dialogue informs us that the antagonist has murdered his wife and killed her unborn child, evoking the sympathy of the audience. After about 20 seconds of the man alternating between holding his gun in a stance to indicate he is going to kill the man and backing away, to show this split conscience, once again the other detective sincerely asks him to give him his gun showing morality, and the sincerity in his voice when he says, "If you kill him.. He will win." helps to create the effect of suspense by implying a huge decision is about to be made in the scene - emphasised when David shouts, "Ah God!". This dialogue helps the audience to gain a better understanding of the character's psychology. At this stage, the non-diegetic sound returns, to show the action is resuming. After a quick flashback of a woman's face appears in the scene, the whining effect grows in loudness and pitch, enhancing the suspense, suggesting to the audience the action will reach a conclusion. We then hear the diegetic sound of a gunshot, and the sound matches the action on screen to clearly indicate what has happened. The gunshot stands out over the soundtrack to show their importance in the narrative - this also causes a surpirsed reaction amongst the audience, who could possibly be shocked by this culmination of events in the film. The scene then cuts back to helicopter and we hear the loud noise of the rotors with some panicked voices, coming from inside the helicopter, which creates an effect of confusion as to what the action taken in the scene will mean. The non-diegetic "dun" stops, and we then hear another 5 gunshots, at irregular intervals, which would indicate chaos and not order, and the whining effects' pitch has grown to a screeching loudness to perhaps show there will be a consequence to the shots fired at the antagonist to murder him in revenge. There is no dialogue during this section, which adds to the shock and confusion created by the scene's aftermath. At 4:27, the helicopter rotors return, but are quieter than the soundtrack, implying that the action is coming to a close. The man on-board the helicopter says, "C'mon set us down!" - the helicopter landing would suggest action in the scene/film is ending creating a sense of closure for the audience, but the tones of the men on-board the aircraft suggest that the story is not over for the two detectives, as the scene ends with, "Somebody call somebody!" being spoken, indicating to the audience that there will be an aftermath to the scene.

To conclude, the closing scene of "Seven" uses a combination of non-diegetic sound and variation in dialogue to great effect to create suspense and convey emotion, with diegetic sound being used to match the action in the scene to help indicate the action to the audience. The variance in the tones of characters conveys more about their emotions and mind set than their actions do for the most part and therefore helps the audience to get a better understanding of the characters in the scene.

G321 Task 1 - Thriller Poster Analysis

"How Conventional of the Thriller Genre are the posters?"

"Shutter Island" Thriller Poster Analysis (1 of 3)

The poster for "Shutter Island" reveals a lot about the way in which the poster may conform to the thriller genre's conventions and to what extent it does.

The first thing that draws the attention of the reader is the face of the man in the upper left corner of the poster [Leonardo DiCaprio]. The close up of the mans face reveals his facial expression as very stern, with an emphasis on his right eye appearing a very bright blue. This blue seems to pierce through the reader in comparison to the rest of his face, which is a much darker shade. The effect of the light coming from the match bears great significance here as it causes the light to appear brighter on half of his face than the other, perhaps connoting a split personality. This would conform to the thriller genre as it proposes a perhaps unstable character, and this notion could be further enhanced by the expression on his face, which although stern, reveals very little about himself. The partial darkness could also imply that the character prefers to remain hidden and is comfortable surrounded by darkness. The prominence of shadows and darkness in the poster mean it strongly conforms to the thriller genre, as this can be seen in many other thriller posters such as "Watchmen" and "The Dark Knight" and provides a potential theme. There also seems to be a lot of smoke surrounding the man and the island, connoting mystery, secrecy and concealment, which is very typical of thriller conventions. It enhances the shroud of darkness that covers this mans' identity further and builds on the idea that he is to remain hidden and unknown, strongly conforming to thriller conventions.

The name of the film itself has direct connotations with the thriller genre. The word "Island" would immediately be associated with isolation, a common theme amongst thriller films - we can further see this in the poster, the establishing shot here allows us to see that there appears to be some form of man-made structure serving as or on an island in the centre of the poster, and it is surrounded by water, and may be where the film is set - this location, linking with the first word of the film title, "Shutter" creates a sense of entrapment along with this isolation; anyone on this island would find it difficult to or would be unable to escape, they would be 'shut' in the island - perhaps this isolation is the reason for the lack of expression on the mans face. The island itself appears similarly to the famous prison "Alcatraz" which has many connotations, such as death, violence and retribution but most importantly fear. The island almost protrudes from the poster itself due to it's positioning and, aided by the smoke, appears very menacing and unwelcoming.

Another key aspect of this poster is the mise-en-scene: the light itself. Directly in the centre of the poster, suggesting importance, and contrasting the dark colour scheme that dominates the poster, the bright orange of the match stands out attracting the attention of the reader. The significance the light bears is that a light amongst darkness would have connotations of hope and of saviour; that they could perhaps be saved from this isolation. This light also coincides with the caption on the right hand side that reads, "Someone is missing" - when someone is lost, often a light is used to find them. The text is in the same colour as the light enhancing this idea that they are connected. It could also be noted that the text is in a very small font, perhaps suggesting that this hope of finding someone is very faint - a possible plot from the poster. Likewise, the film title's font is not particularly large as it is in most thriller film posters, it takes up a very small portion of the poster.

Overall, the film poster for "Shutter Island" seems to contain many aspects that would be typical of a thriller film and it's conventions through effective use of lighting to create mystery and uncertainty and effective use of location, colour and mise-en-scene to create an atmosphere of isolation, entrapment and even fear. The combination of the uneasy look on the man's face, the mysterious smoke, the contrasting light and the unwelcoming appearance of the island itself, the reader almost feels uneasy just looking at the poster, as very little is revealed. When something is "creepy" it is often because it is de-associated with something that is familiar to us, such as a mask on a persons face - this same effect is created here as the eeriness of the smoke and surroundings and the mans' facial expression combined is almost unknown to us, creating this strong sense of ambiguity, confusion and fear. Fear is a prominent emotion amongst all thrillers and the effects that are a result of or combine to create fear, such as a mysterious villain, victims, danger, deception, and the unknown all conform to thriller conventions - therefore, to conclude, the film poster for "Shutter Island" is very conventional of the thriller genre for the above reasons detailed.

"The Dark Knight" Thriller Poster Analysis (2 of 3)



One of the most recognised thriller films of present is The Dark Knight, and the poster is very typical of the thriller genre and it's conventions throughout.

Upon looking at this poster for a long period of time, although it is entirely different to "Shutter Island" which was analysed above and deemed to very typical of the thriller genre, they bear many similarities. Firstly, take the first word of the title: "Dark". Darkness and shades of black are very common amongst thriller posters, with other examples being "The Number 23" and "Inception". The darkness itself has connotations with evil and wrongdoing, and amongst the poster we can see that darkness plays a very dominant role; most of the poster is an eerie grey, with large clouds looming in the background, hinting at potential turmoil to come in the plot. By contrast, the second word of the title, "Knight" - a knight is often associated with nobility and heroism, so to have these two contrasting words in the title is confusing. The font is in bright white and capitals and clearly stands out against the dark background, further enhancing this notion of heroism as white is typically associated with righteousness, and the capitals may have been used to present an idea of firmness and power.

The prominent figure in the centre of the poster, without prior knowledge, we would assume to be the protagonist due to his positioning. His stance is a very controlling and powerful one, with his fists clenched and his head raised high to really portray power - this is enhanced by the low-angle shot here, to convey to the audience that this character is superior. However, the poster doesn't entirely fit to thriller conventions in this aspect. The protagonist is dressed in all black, which, as mentioned, we would normally connote with the villain, yet he seems to appear heroic - this representation is quite confusing. Assuming we do not know anything of the plot or characters, we could look further into this and relate it to the only bright image in the poster, the burning bat on the tall building.

The character's mask has two spike-like attachments on the top, which match that of the bat's ears in the blazing inferno behind him. You could interpret this in two ways: the use of contrasting colour here, from mainly darkness to one bright image, similarly to the "Shutter Island" poster, could convey the bringing of hope and salvation - we can see a lot of damage and debris in the poster and perhaps this figure is the one to bring this hope in the film. On the flip side, and possibly more strongly, maybe this figure is the one who is responsible; it is what the poster strongly suggests as the character is standing strong in front of this destruction. This character is an enigma; he is very mysterious as to what his motives are. We get the impression that this figure is seen as evil, yet there are undertones of heroic motives.

The location we see is very typical of thriller films: it is a city setting, and the lighting makes it seem like a very dark, mysterious place, with plenty of shadows. The mise-en-scene here is conventional of thrillers, and combined with the burning building and the debris that we can see in the foreground of the poster, there are connotations of violence and death, also very typical of thriller films.

The tag line of the "The Dark Knight", which in itself is a typical feature of thrillers, i.e. "Live or die on this day" in "The Grey" and "The time for revenge has come" in "Taken", really enhances this confusion and unknown aspect of this poster. "Welcome to a world without rules": this sentence summarises why the character perhaps challenges thriller conventions - there is "[no] rules", no convention to comply to in this film, which is why the character may be such an enigma and the general composition of the poster may mislead the reader if they haven't seen the film. The tagline also relates to the location of the film, that wherever this film is set, chaos and turmoil will reign. The mystery that is created within the poster as the reader tries to interpret it to produce a potential plot means it does conform to thriller conventions and contains many key aspects of thriller films that would be expected to be seen, and is hence recognised as well-known thriller film.

"The Silence of the Lambs" Thriller Poster Analysis (3 of 3)





The previous two posters were relatively modern thriller films so now I will look at a more "classic" thriller poster to see if it matches the codes and conventions of the thriller genre: "The Silence of the Lambs".

The first thing we notice in this poster is the composition; the close up of the face that takes up the majority of the available space. They appear young and feminine, presenting vulnerability, a strong aspect of thriller conventions. We also notice the colour scheme: the skin tone of the face is very pale, it appears white, even more so in comparison to the dark colours in the background. Dark colours have been seen in all 3 of my posters that I have researched showing a strong theme amongst thriller films. Once again this could connote mystery, evil and uncertainty.

Re-focusing on the face, the paleness makes her appear almost inhuman. We do not know who she is or what her motives are as there is no facial expression that can be interpreted, just a blank look - perhaps this anonymity is enhanced because we cannot see her mouth as it is covered by what appears to be a butterfly. Mise-en-scene is used to great effect here to make the audience question the significance of what is seen in the poster. It is a very simple poster regarding it's composition, there is very little to focus on, which enhances the effect of what it is in the poster. The butterfly is in the centre of the poster, hinting at importance, and there is some form of semiology here: what does the butterfly represent?, why is it there? It relates to the part of the title, "Silence" as the butterfly is covering her mouth; she cannot speak - silence is something that is very typical of the thriller genre, the word itself even if it bears no resemblance to the plot connotes mystery, as with silence there is an absence a key form of communication to detail what might be happening, speech. Combined with the darkness, silence seems almost threatening. Furthermore, the butterfly is the only thing in colour in the poster, signifying it's importance to the plot.

Another notable aspect of this poster is the red in the colour scheme: her eyes appear very red, combined with the pale face she appears almost albino. She appears to be looking right at you in the poster, which is very off-putting considering the abnormality in the rest of her appearance. The red eyes connote evil, violence and blood, and the text is also in a similar shade of red further enhancing this notion. Along these lines, the word "Silence" could also be related to murder, therefore whoever the "lambs" are/represent, they could be murdered - although little detail is revealed about the film from the poster we can create a potential plot from the title and different aspects of the poster. This narrative of pre-determined death or murder is a very common aspect of thriller conventions, and from the two prior posters we can see how this has developed over time.

There is no apparent location or setting of the film from the poster, adding to the mystery created by the anonymity and non-human look of the face, the surrounding darkness and the significance of the butterfly. Knowing very little is something that intrigues the reader, to find out what will actually occur in the film - what little is included in the poster does conform to thriller conventions and hence we would expect the rest of the film to too.

Opening Titles Timeline - "Red Lights"

Opening Titles of "Red Lights"

"Red Lights" Opening Titles in 9 Frames, from the Art of the Title

This is a timeline of the Title Sequence for "Red Lights"

The above chart is a timeline for the title sequence of the thriller "Red Lights", and details at what points different titles appear and in what order. The chart shows that three actors names are displayed before the director and title of the film, indicating their importance to the film. Next, the rest of the cast is listed, and then the main roles in the making of the film, such as music, casting, production designer and so on. The last titles to be displayed are the executive producers and the writer/director before the sequence ends and the opening scene commences. Similarly to the actors being displayed first, this signifies importance and creates a sense of closure to the title sequence. Most of the titles are displayed for a similar amount of time, about 4 to 5 seconds, with some appearing for longer if there is more to read on the screen. A soundtrack accompanies the title sequence then fades out when the opening scene begins.

G321 Task 3 - Thriller Scene Analysis - "Se7en" (3 of 3)

"Se7en" Thriller Scene Analysis
"If you kill him, he will win."

"How is sound used to create suspense and other effects in the scene?"

Arguably one of the greatest ending scenes in thriller films is the ending from "Se7en". Se7en was directed by David Fincher and was released on the January 5th 1996 in the UK. Produced by New Line Cinema and Cecchi Gori Pictures, it had a budget of approximately $33.3M and box office returns of $316.4M Worldwide. The audience for "Se7en" would be a potentially younger audience due to element of the thriller/action, whereas the crime and psychological aspect would attract an older audience as well. The audience received it very well, with plenty of 10/10 user reviews on IMDb, with summaries such as , "Modern masterpiece" and "Possibly the greatest murder story ever." I will be focusing on how sound is used to create suspense and other effects in the final scene, where there is a showdown between the protagonist and antagonist in the middle of a desert.

The first sound we hear in the scene is a diegetic sound; the sharp flick of the pen knife. This noise, over the silence of the rest of the scene, quite literally cuts the tension with a knife; a very tense atmosphere is created from the offset. For the opening ten to fifteen seconds we hear nothing but the sounds coming from the location, such as the caw of birds and the sound of the wind, enabling the audience to have a better understanding of the setting for the scene, and the sound of the knife cutting the box. This creates the effect of a calm but suspenseful atmosphere.

A very important part of the scene is the sound in the dialogue. It helps to show the stance and motives of each of protagonist and antagonist. At around 0:24, the dialogue in the scene starts, with a very calm voice saying, "You should be very proud". He is greeted by the explicit retort, "Shut the f*** up you piece of s***" - this difference in the tone and choice of words of the characters creates the effect of a clear separation in the motives  of the individuals and hostility towards one another.

The scene returns to the man at the box [Morgan Freeman], and once again there is very little sound here, which creates the effect of placing the audience in the scene itself; they only hear what the characters can hear. After the man jumps in shock at around 0:31, there is a long period of silence - the lack of sound here helps to emphasise a section important to the plot. Suddenly, at 0:40, we hear the diegetic sound of helicopter rotors, as it matches the action in the scene. Helicopters themselves would be associated with action and the audience then links the start of the helicopter rotors with the start of the action.

Also at this point is the start of a non-diegetic sound which makes up the most part of the sound in the sequence. A low frequency "dun" effect is created, that matches key movements in the scene, such as at 0:47 where the man turns his head back to re-inspect the box. Coupled with a whining effect as a backing track, the soundtrack here builds the suspense and has the audience questioning - what was in the box? This creates the effect of curiosity and captures the attention of the audience. The noise repeats in a regular pattern i.e. there are equal intervals between the sounds. This creates the effect of an almost "ordered chaos" in the scene. At 0:55 speech plays an important part, as when the man says, "California, stay away from here, now, now, whatever you hear stay away. John Doe has the upper hand." he slurs the clauses together and speaks in a worried, fretful tone, inducing many effects on the audience - what has caused this panic in his voice, and why does "John Doe" have the upper hand? This further intrigues the audience to watch the rest of the scene.

From 1:00 onwards, speech plays a very important role in the narrative and conveying emotion. We hear the man shouting, "Put your gun down!" as he runs back over, whilst [Brad Pitt] tells the bald man, (who is first shown in this section with a low angle shot to perhaps show power and superiority), almost painfully, to "Shut up". This further conveys his hostility towards this man and from his tone the audience can tell that he holds a position of dominance over this man. We may have been able to tell this from his body language and stance but the speech in the scene helps to emphasise and clarify this. However, the bald man's voice seems calm, as if to suggest he has the control in the scene. The difference in tones of the characters causes the audience to make several different assumptions about the plot, and hence builds suspense as to the revelation as to what has actually happened. This confusion is further aided by the confused tones of the characters in the scene, with the suited man saying, "What you f***ing say?" and the man in the helicopter saying "What the f***..." this creates the effect of the characters being just as clueless as to what's happened as the audience is. The non diegetic sound of the "dun" and the whining effect continued, becoming more regular (about 2 seconds between each noise) and louder too, to heighten the suspense, the regularity could show how everything is beginning to come together to form a conclusion in the scene. However, from 1:41, the sound effect stops, which creates the effect of an emphasis on this particular section of the dialogue, implying something significant will occur. A moody, dark score accompanies the section, suggesting a bad revelation to come, and the man speaks with absolutely no emotion in his voice to convey a dark, misguided character. The music seems to reach a mini-crescendo as he calmly speaks, "I took a souvenir. Her pretty head."

This section is dominated by the continuation of the dark soundtrack and panicked dialogue between the two men [Pitt and Freeman]. The man who was at the box tries to reason with him, to get him to put his gun down, whereas the other man calmly continues, almost taunting him. This could be a representation of the man's conscience, the voice of reason contrasted against his rage. He exclaims, "What's in the f***ing box?!?" showing anger and distress through his voice. When the man says, "He just told you." he seems confident yet mocking, provoking a sincere response of "You lie!". The contrast in voices here and the way in which the words are spoken are a huge part of the sound in the scene and contribute to creating suspense and emotion in the scene. At this stage, the non-diegetic sound returns, suggesting another period of action in the scene is commencing, with the interval becoming slightly shorter, quickening the pace of the scene and creating an "on-edge" atmosphere. The 'guilty conscience' effect is enhanced here with the other detective saying, "He wants you shoot him!" to try to reason with him to calm him down, yet the mysterious man continues to subtly taunt him, causing him to spiral out of control in anger. The strain in his voice when he yells, "Tell me she's alright!" makes the audience pity the man and creates a very emotional aura in the scene, which continues to grow shown by the distress in his voice when he yells, "No!", accompanied by the notes in the soundtrack becoming lower to show sadness and anger. The isolated location here also helps to portray his mind set at this stage, he has two options, to side with either one of the men, with nowhere to go. This is clearly shown where the other detective stands in between him and the antagonist. The taunts grow to such an extent that the other man lashes out, the sound of contact clearly emphasised over the growing whine in the background, which reaches a crescendo and dies off to show the importance in the dialogue to follow. The non-diegetic sound is very loud here to further add to the levels of suspense, suggesting something is about to happen, and the sudden silence of the man after his outburst also shows the significance of what he just said. When he says, "Oh.. he didn't know." he sound very sarcastic and condescending, to portray him as the 'evil mastermind' in the scene. through use of sound. At this stage, the soundtrack picks up, as the detective looks upwards in despair. The crescendo in the backing track here shows a culmination  in the dialogue to indicate a revelation and creates the effect of the suspense being temporarily paused to allow emotion to be conveyed.

  After this section, there is a prolonged period of silence in the dialogue, as the scene is dominated by the soundtrack. It accompanies the action on screen to create an atmosphere of sorrow; the strings in the soundtrack evoke pity and sadness in the audience, as the previous section of dialogue informs us that the antagonist has murdered his wife and killed her unborn child, evoking the sympathy of the audience. After about 20 seconds of the man alternating between holding his gun in a stance to indicate he is going to kill the man and backing away, to show this split conscience, once again the other detective sincerely asks him to give him his gun showing morality, and the sincerity in his voice when he says, "If you kill him.. He will win." helps to create the effect of suspense by implying a huge decision is about to be made in the scene - emphasised when David shouts, "Ah God!". This dialogue helps the audience to gain a better understanding of the character's psychology. At this stage, the non-diegetic sound returns, to show the action is resuming. After a quick flashback of a woman's face appears in the scene, the whining effect grows in loudness and pitch, enhancing the suspense, suggesting to the audience the action will reach a conclusion. We then hear the diegetic sound of a gunshot, and the sound matches the action on screen to clearly indicate what has happened. The gunshot stands out over the soundtrack to show their importance in the narrative. The scene then cuts back to helicopter and we hear the loud noise of the rotors with some panicked voices, coming from inside the helicopter, which creates an effect of confusion as to what the action taken in the scene will mean. The non-diegetic "dun" stops, and we then hear another 5 gunshots, at irregular intervals, which would indicate chaos and not order, and the whining effects' pitch has grown to a screeching loudness to perhaps show there will be a consequence to the shots fired at the antagonist to murder him in revenge. There is no dialogue during this section, which adds to the shock and confusion created by the scene's aftermath. At 4:27, the helicopter rotors return, but are quieter than the soundtrack, implying that the action is coming to a close. The man on-board the helicopter says, "C'mon set us down!" - the helicopter landing would suggest action in the scene/film is ending creating a sense of closure for the audience, but the tones of the men on-board the aircraft suggest that the story is not over for the two detectives, as the scene ends with, "Somebody call somebody!" being spoken, indicating to the audience that there will be an aftermath to the scene.

To conclude, the closing scene of "Se7en" uses a combination of non-diegetic sound and variation in dialogue to great effect to create suspense and convey emotion, with diegetic sound being used to match the action in the scene to help indicate the action to the audience. The variance in the tones of characters conveys more about their emotions and mind set than their actions do for the most part and therefore helps the audience to get a better understanding of the characters in the scene.