A thriller is a genre that will have aspects of anticipation and suspense.

In thriller films for an

example, it will lead the audience to be intrigued further into a film as the tension within will cause
the audience to want to know the continuing events as they are presented with thrilling aspects that
will make those to be on the edge of their seats as many scenes of a thriller will be unexpected,
keeping adrenaline running throughout the film. A thriller, whether it be a novel, film or TV show,
will all have accounts of exciting elements within. Thrillers are typically set against a problem, which
then leads to many ambiguous events, keeping the audience/reader thinking on what will happen
next; crime, then mission/investigating or an escape. There are many sub genres of thrillers,
including psychological thrillers, political, crime, supernatural thriller etc. We chose to make a
production with the sub-genre of a Crime/Thriller, we chose this as in today's generation we see
many films involving crime as this aspect is proven to keep tension and anticipation of the film high
as it can be easily manipulated; due to the wide broadcast of crime/thriller films, most of the
viewers today would almost already know the ending due to many clichs, however by using this
sub-genre we can manipulate it to be different, captivating the audience further with its odd
outcomes. Also during research, our Vox pops gave us inspiration to create a crime-thriller due to
during questioning of favourite thrillers, we found that most of the films mentioned were
categorized as 'crime' thrillers, such as 'The Dark Knight' and 'Snatch', leading to the belief that the
most successful and interesting films were indeed crime/thrillers to our audience of 15-25 year olds.

A typical crime/thriller film will include a committed crime, followed by an investigation and then
eventually getting solved as pieces of evidence fold together to form a conclusion, or it may be an
individual seeking revenge after a crime has been committed. This is what the audience would
expect from a crime thriller; a dilemma that eventually becomes solved, in most cases, many of the
endings bring an 'almost' resolved ending, with some aspects of happiness or they may leave it to
cliff-hangers to keep that tension and anticipation till the end.

We used a typical crime/thriller narrative; an investigation of an innocent victim that had been
killed. We used the normal roles of a crime/thriller that can be easily associated including a
detective, which is very typical of a crime narrative as we, the audience instantly think of detectives
if we were to think of a crime scene, an innocent victim, again very typical of this sub-genre as the
victim is always key in the narrative as it brings tension in scenes as the innocent victims are always
vulnerable to danger, keeping the viewers wary as they are put into the perspective of the victim.
We however somewhat developed and challenged this genre, instead of the crime being solved as
the detectives pieces up the evidence, we instead made the detective the vulnerable one in this
situation, in a way the detective was partly a victim and a protagonist at the same time. There was in
turn no hope given off in the production we made, as the detective is seen to be killed, therefore we
didn't follow the typical aspect of a mystery being hinted to be nearly solved but however leaving an
ending that could lead two ways; was the detective killed or did he survive. This gave us an
advantage into intriguing the audience into wanting to know the outcome.

In thriller films, the typical shots used are close up, extreme
close up and mid shots/medium close ups. Close ups are
and extreme close ups are used to give most attention to
the main characters or an object, to exaggerate the

situation shown. As you can see, the close up from the well-known film The Shining, is used to
express the characters emotional state and hyperbole it to increase tension in a scene, this shot
expresses his insanity through his unusual and disturbing facial expression that is shown in utmost
detail by the close range shot.
Extreme close ups, such as the one on the right from the
film The Grey, shows clearly the emotional state of the
character; by viewing directly to the area of the eyes, we
can tell that this character is angry and frustrated. Extreme
close ups such as this are typical in a thriller as the framing
is also manipulated to block out any other area, keeping it
quite close and maybe a little bit uncomfortable, this is
done to again increase tension further and also to increase
suspense as the audience are put in a situation of the
unknown; the audience are lead to be unwary of the
upcoming danger, therefore allowing the use of jumps to
keep the audience thrilled.
Mid shots and medium close ups are used just to present
certain key information to the viewers, this shot on the
right, provides the information that this man may be
capable of bad things such as murder due to we are
provided with the prop of a gun, that is shown clearly,
coupled by a slight viewing of his facial expression which in all looks quite serious, overall allowing
the audience to gain a feel that this character may be bad and dangerous.
Angles used in a typical thriller would be that of high angles and low. This would be used to express
who is the superior in a situation is and to portray the characters roles, for an example, low angles of
a specific character may hint to the audience that they are superior and that they have power and
dominance as the viewers are put into a quite demeaning viewing. High angles may portray the
character as inferior as the viewers see the character from above, almost belittling the character.
Editing is used to provide the fast paced aspects of a thriller, such as: straight cuts, jump cuts,
graphic match, match on action etc. Mostly straight cuts will be edited in to provide the quickness
and continuity of shots, making them flow. Graphics matches are used in thrillers a lot as it provides
connotations and foreshadows to later on in a film, providing the increased suspense as the
audience is pushed to believe a certain ending, however then completely mislead into a different
conclusion, making the thriller much more complex and interesting as it isnt obvious. Cross cutting
is also used frequently in thrillers as it tension builds by showing two different sequences that will
eventually meet into one, building the suspense as well, as the audience is keen to know what will
happen next.
Mise en scene in thrillers that are conventional is the use of
weaponry props, to provide the status of the individual, whether
they are the antagonist or protagonist, inferior or superior. The
setting is normally in a quite remote area, providing that sense of
being unescapable. For example, in Psycho, we are shown the
setting of which a murder had occurred, this low angle viewing
and extreme long shot, establishes the area as being cut off from
civilisation as the audience are shown nothing but the single

house and nothing else surrounding it, making it seem isolated into nothing but darkness. The use of
sound in thrillers makes scenes more dramatic and helps hint significant parts of the film. The
sounds will often start slow paced and will slowly build up, keeping the audience tense, types of
sound will include many stings and non-diegetic sounds which is incidental all of these will build
tension as the emphasises scenes which may have danger within (music becomes more tense and
fast).
Clothing of the character is chosen wisely in thrillers too, in most cases the protagonist wears bright
clothing to represent good whereas the antagonist would wear darker clothing to represent death
and hopelessness. As you can see from the film Homefront the type of costume distinguishes
clearly on who is the protagonist and who is the antagonist; the bright clothing worn by the two
individuals in the first shot expresses their good will, whereas in the shot below, the dark and dull
costume worn hints that this person is parallel to the colour of his
clothing dark and unhappy, giving connotations of death. The lighting
in thrillers is mostly dark and low key which lacks in vibrancy, all to give
no expressions of hope within the film, keeping and maintaining the
hopeless atmosphere to keep tension throughout. The main characters
set out in a thriller are protagonists, antagonists and innocent victims
depending on the sub-genre of the thriller, these can be different each
time, for an example, in crime thrillers, the protagonist could be a
detective/police enforcement, the antagonist could be murderer, prisoner.
The narrative of a typical thriller film will have aspects of anticipation and suspense, this leads the
audience to be intrigued further into the film as the suspense and tension given off will lead the
audience to want to know what happens next. The main feature of a thriller film is set against a
problem (often a murder) which then leads to a mission, mystery or an escape and then a conclusion
of the problem being solved or a cliff-hanger. Making a narrative complex and not obvious leads to
an effective thriller, editing such areas as dual narratives/cross cutting and flashbacks makes the film
seem more intriguing as this can aid tension very well, by keeping the audience thinking and keeping
them focused on one thing (making them unwary) allows the use of jumps to gain much more
excitement as the audience will be thrilled.
One thriller opening that did inspire us and influence our work
was the film Se7en, mostly the editing used in the opening
helped me with some ideas when it came to structuring our
production and how we are going to make shots flow. The editing
in Se7en is used to make the sequence seem disorientating and
chaotic. I liked how they structured each shot by the use of a fade
and a dissolve, making the sequence disorientating and confusing, it made
it unique and interesting as the editing was used specifically to depict
certain things about the film such as the chaotic themes the film may
include. It made the sequence flow spectacularly as the superimposed
images made it smoothly change shots this inspired me to include many
fades for it to flow but to also hint flashbacks and to hint time passing.
The shots above also show that Se7en uses a lot of close ups and extreme
close ups, this keeping the audience wanting to know more as they are
shown very little, making the thriller effective as it shows little detail, leading to it be more
intriguing, this then inspired us to use a lot of close ups to gain more tension and make the audience
want to know more and watch more to find out the purpose and why specific shots were shown.

The props used in Se7en all relates to something: investigation. The use of newspaper cuttings,
pictures and notes with areas of editing, all could relate to a type of investigation, maybe showing us
that they're picking pieces and putting them together to form a conclusion. This inspired us with our
titles, we made a production and set it out on a sub-genre of crime and so by using newspapers and
the way Se7en had used them can relate very well with our narrative, overall it influenced our group
to set titles up on a notice board, adding up evidence with the use of newspapers as evidence
helpers this relates to our narrative as in investigating a crime, you
would normally see evidence being pieced up and we normally see this on
a board in a detectives office.

We used the conventions of typical thrillers to frame and adjust our camera shots to give off specific
expressions. As you can see we used similar types of camera use as the film Se7en, where we used
a lot of close ups and extreme close ups. We mostly used these shots on weapons/evidence shown
to emphasise the danger it can bring, we wanted to clearly show the lethalness and connote death.
These shots also allow the projection of mystery due to its specific framing, it cut's out any other
area and focuses the attention to the blade in se7en and the knife in our production. It also hides
the identity and almost hints the narrative by the depictions relating to investigation.

For editing we used was quite a lot of fades and dissolves to give the effect of slowed time as it kept
the atmosphere tense as it builds up to the final reveal of the dead victim. Our editing was again
similar to Se7en with the use of superimposed images to suggest chaotic themes and to
disorientate the audience, making then confused but yet interested. The transitions were however
quick to keep that fast paced feel and maintaining tension throughout.

For the detective role we used a typical detective attire. This included formal wear, we did this due
to the clear depictions it gives, the opening of our production shows a man walking into a scene with
pieces of weaponry on the floor, without the typical formal attire that depicts a detective such as
that of Sherlock Holmes, it makes it unclear that this is an investigation without the formal attire.
The white shirt also expresses his good side, expressing to the audience that he is the protagonist
through the connotations given off from the white; good, hope, trust. We also used the formal attire
for the detective due to our inspiration from the TV show Sherlock Holmes, Holmes is well known
and his type of clothing suggests he is a detective, so by using this in our production, it gives clear
representations of a detective. The props used in our production included a baton, rope and a knife.
The knife and rope are typical props used in a crime film, such as the one in the screenshot above of
the film Psycho. The knife was used as it connotes pain and anguish that may soon arrive and giving
the antagonist a dominant status. With ropes in thrillers we often associate and think of death, in
relation to suicide. This prop connotes such feelings of being trapped and restricted, in which we
then used it to increase tension. This prop connotes death.

We used the title Classified in our film as the representations it gives closely relates to that of
investigation and crime therefore good for our Crime thriller genre. The term classified meaning to
be kept from outside viewers without consent, portrays the narrative of our film as mysterious as it
suggests that the murder shown in the opening is kept from those who need to know (the police),
this title is quite conventional of a thriller as normally we have a word associated with the narrative,
this is similar to that of the films Psycho, Divergent etc. Our opening suggest the genre due to its
investigatory aspects of a notice board with joined evidence, the detective walking through a crime
scene and finally the relation of the title, all this relates to crime and clearly suggests our narrative of
a Crime/thriller.
The typography we used slightly broke the typical conventions used in that of a professional thriller,
instead of using computerised fonts for our credits, we felt that we needed the opening to seem
more realistic. When we think or see evidence boards we do not see many print out notes, however
we see handwritten notes next to the evidence and so we decided to handwrite our production cast
next to the evidence on the board to give that sense of realism, this is almost similar to that in the
film Se7en, however they edited it on but still made it seem handwritten. We chose a print out of
the font for our final title typewriter font, we decided to use this font due to our polls, which were
used to gain audience feedback, in summary it suggested that this font was the best as it fits with
our narrative.
The characters were introduced on an evidence board due to we felt we needed to add the board to
emphasise the genre and narrative clearly shows its an investigation as its connected evidence.
Also on evidence boards we normally see pictures of those involved in the specific crime and in this
case it is all the people involved in our production. Overall we stuck to most of the conventions of a
thriller with the shot types, editing, narrative, all of these were used specifically to aid tension
throughout our film.