thriller genre conventions

Thriller Genre Conventions

THRILLER Genre openings typically like to hint or tease a disturbance in the equilibrium despite just showing it being all calm previously.  Tension is also but it throughout the opening, this is shown through moving images and the soundtrack.

Thrillers are designed so that the audience will believe that this could happen to them in real life, so this will make them scared. To achieve this there will be a lot of close ups and extreme close ups of the protagonist, this is done to show their emotion, it also can be used to be focused on props and scenery to aid the narrative

When editing a thriller there will be a lot of jump cuts because there will be things that the audience will not be aware of but these scenes are essential for the narrative to make sense later

Cross cutting

(Cross-cutting is what you do after you've created a series of scenes or sequences, and you re-order them to create a drama that goes forwards and backwards in time) is used to build suspense which is essential of a thriller

In thriller sound is essential to create suspense and tension it often starts slow and then builds up to make the shots more effective  

Cape Fear

• Wide shot of rippling ocean 
• ECU shot of eye ball and various other body parts which could belong to a important character in the film 
• Camera stays in one fixated position
• Mid shot of figure 
• camera zooms out to capture female character
• mid shot of female

Zodiac

• Establishing shots of the big city
• wide shot of various scenery
• two shots of protagonists and plus ones

The Game

Wide shot of family event
Long shot of father and son
mid shot of kitchen workers
over the shoulder shot of man at window 

Cape Fear 

• Credits appear in cuts over moving images 
• moving shots are positioned behind the ocean
• SFX blood falling over oceans 

Zodiac

• Credits over moving images
• Typography: text decodes in

The Game

puzzle effect transition over film title
video reel effect
cut shots 

Cape Fear

• Chilling non diegetic music
• universal ident 
• studio credits
• bird flying
• character names coming in threes
• moving images of water sets mood
• character with dialogue

Zodiac

• Establishing shot over the water
• credits relating to narrative appears first
• tilt zoom
• ident
• titles over moving images
• creepy looking white kid
• tittles coming up weirdly
• characters
• inside into protagonists occupation
• glimpse into disturbance in equilibrium
• soundtrack which is a contrast to genre

The Game

• idents
• Film title
• characters are shown in the format of an old video recorder
• preparations for a wedding
• back story of main character
• reality

Key plot ideas introduced:

CAPE FEAR- Use of the colour red (represented by blood) is used to connote  the disturbance in the equilibrium could be caused by a murder or death
A theme of psychotic behaviour is hinted through the transitions which hints the narrative

ZODIAC-  Struggling father trying to look after his son

someone is in urgent need of help from protagonist

THE GAME- Drastic change in the personality over time of which seems to be an important character  

What characters are introduced?

CAPE FEAR- Young woman introduced at the end of the sequence after a fade to red and her face appears with filters

A shadowy figure makes subtle appearances throughout the sequence 

ZODIAC- The protagonist and his son are introduced  soon after we get an establishing shot of the films apparent setting 

THE GAME- The scenes captured in the opening appear to be taking place during a birthday party so the characters introduce appear to be family members

What social groups are represented?

CAPE FEAR- 

ZODIAC- Children are stereotyped negatively as highly dependent on an older figure and cant function in life without them

THE GAME- Families are stereotyped in a positive way showing love and unity
working class shown in quick cut which undermines their significance 

CAPE FEAR

Universal studios

idents

props to director

 Cast list 

film title

producer names

ZODIAC
4 weeks later
studio ident
character list
 casting director and sound people credits
producer names
props to screen play writer and director

THE GAME
studio ident

film title
(Nothing else)

Type of title sequence

All titles over moving images

Font colours used and typography:

CAPE FEAR
Distorted looking white font

ZODIAC
White Special font general lighting

THE GAME
Standard white font used of normal size

Credits 

CAPE FEAR

The credits has typography which suits the psychopathic theme of the film

ZODIAC 

The credits for this film has a typography which would suit the celestial name of the film

THE GAME

No credits but the titles are sharp and in capital letters which emphasises its importance 

Target Audience of thriller:

The target audience of many (psychological) thrillers is 18+, this is because they can have a lot of violent scenes, psychological issues which can be disturbing for younger demographics,
as well as some thrillers are more intellectually demanding.

For my product I would prefer for my title sequence to be aimed at a demographic group of E due to the fact that the settings we will be using will be very familiar to them, and if the film is familiar they it will appeal to them which will lead to a more successful product as the target audience will find it easy to decode the information we are representing.

Sound in Thriller:

From my analysis above I can come to the conclusion that thriller genre based movies like to use tension raising music maintain the attention of their target audience who are typically those of an age 18+  as their film may include scenes to explicit for younger ages.  The opening title sequence will usual hint the narrative and use titles over moving images with white text, also the typography could also be integrated into the text.