The Butterfly Effect

As part of our thriller research, my group watched 'The Butterfly Effect' because it is a psychological thriller and we wanted to see how these types of thriller openings differed from those of classic thrillers. The first shot shows the figure of a man walking behind open blinds. He walks slowly and carefully and it seems obvious that he is attempting to move quietly without being noticed. Once he gets to the door of the office, he kicks it open and hurriedly pushes a small, leather sofa in front of the door to prevent anyone from getting in. He then grabs a box, paper and pen and hides under the office desk. He writes a note, speaking the words out loud as he writes; ‘If anyone finds this, it means my plan didn't work and I'm already dead. But if I can somehow go back to the beginning of all of this, I might be able to save her.’ This immediately creates mystery for the audience as the note contains a lot of interesting things. First of all, it includes the idea that the main character, Ashton Kutcher, may die.

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Sin City - Frank Miller/Robert Rodriquez (2005)

Opening Shot – In the background, sounds of traffic from a large city are played. A woman stands in a long, red dress standing on a balcony. This shows her vulnerability because she could fall or be pushed over the edge. Her red dress represents love and sexuality. A vast cityscape stretches out in front of her.
Mise en Scene – Rain lashes down onto the paved floor, this is a classic thriller signifier and can represent sadness or depression.
Opening Credits - A spinning shot of a large city morphs into the words ‘Sin City’ which is spelt out by the tops of certain buildings. Comic style pictures and stills from graphic novels are shown across the screen along with flashes of light. This technique is commonly used to show that the film has been based on a comic book. Blood red writing slides across the screen to display the cast’s names. The colour of the writing gives the idea that there will be dangerous things going on in the film. Contemporary music plays in the background which has a heavy bass line and sounds very mysterious yet dramatic.

Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels

Like many thrillers, this film started off with extreme close-ups of a characters eyes. The characters are male and speak with low pitched voices. I have found that this creates a huge sense of mystery and intrigue as you can't possibly know who the character is.
Alot later on in the film, a man is shown being sick in an alleyway after having just lost a hugely important game of cards. A high angle shot is used, this creates a really good affect because it shows that the man could be feeling extremely small inside and by looking down on him we, as the audience, seem to have a better prospect than the character.
Alot of interesting shots are used. In one character's house, there are bars surrounding the door to prevent anyone from getting further inside the house. Whenever there are people inside the caged area, it immediately occurs to the audience that they are criminals. This is because the image looks as if they are in a prison cell.

'Vertigo'

Having watched certain sections of Alfred Hitchcock's films, 'Vertigo', I feel I've learnt a few things about thrillers already. The opening credits show extreme close-ups on a woman's lips and eye with a rotating spiral behind them. Spirals are a main theme throughout the film from the square, spiral staircase that John Ferguson (the detective) has to climb to the representation of the twisting, turning plot.
This film includes classic thriller signifiers; the Feme fatale, the flawed hero (who is afraid of heights) and a main theme of mystery and deciet.

The Thriller Conventions

Most thrillers revolve around a source of crime and corruption, often using ‘ordinary’ settings, either to create a false sense of security for the audience or to increase the audience’s awareness of the likelihood of the plot. Atmospheric music takes a huge part in the Mise en scene of thriller films, it builds up the tension and suspense and without it a scene could have a completely different feel to it. Thrillers often make use of close or vast, open spaces to create the feeling of claustrophobia and panic. Staircases, corridors and labyrinths are all examples of enclosed spaces which are frequently used in thrillers. Twists and turns of the plot are often used to keep audiences captivates; the film ‘Vertigo’ shows many images of spirals to symbolise the twist of the plot.

Beginning of the Blog

It's extremely hard to know where to begin...so I'll start with this:

In media studies, we are currently studying thriller films and their conventions, in order to understand them completely when it comes to making the first three minutes of our own. So far we’ve looked at still images from ‘Sin City’ and short sections from ‘vertigo’ and ‘China Town’. For my own research I have also recently watched
‘The Bourne Identity’, ‘Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’ and ‘Battle Royale’. So far, this has been extremely useful and I’ve already got some ideas for the thriller we will be filming.