thriller sub-genres

In the thriller genre there are a few sub categories. How these thrillers use mise-en-scene, what the narrative is and how camera and lighting is used are all part of how a thriller is sub categorised. 

• Crime Thriller - This is a cross between a crime and thriller category, where it usually involves robberies, gangs or shoot outs where something has gone wrong. eg. No Country For Old Men
• Disaster thriller - This type of thriller is focusing on natural or artificial disasters, where the protagonist is expected to survive or save people from peril. eg The Day After Tomorrow
• Erotic thriller- This is a type of thriller which has erotica in it, and even though it's more erotic it can also be psychological and about lust. eg. Basic Instinct.
• Legal thriller- The justice system provides the backbone to this sub-genre. It usually involves a lawyer trying to prove their client is innocent after a set up or just accused. The lawyer's personal life usually gets involved and put on the line. eg. The Client
• Supernatural Thriller- A thriller which has supernatural aspects to it, this sub-genre is effective in building suspense, tension and occasionally has a twist. eg. The Sixth Sense
  
  
• Action Thriller- The most common type is action thrillers, as they're fast paced which keeps the action going throughout keeping the audiences attention, violent and have a lot of special effects.eg. The James Bond series.

Rule Of Thirds

We, as media professionals, will be using the rule of thirds alot. It's a method of positioning the shot so you catch all

Location Location Location!

For the main set of out thriller, the clincher, we've chosen an old abandoned air control tower. It is completely bare on the inside, there is nothing on the walls so it makes it perfect for the shoot! The Mise En Scene is awesome in there, it looks sinister, there is barbed wire around it and woods as far as the eye can see so our audience can get a real feel for how icolated it is.



BBFC

Brithish Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is a non profit, non government organisation. There mission statement is as follows;

'As a highly expert and experienced regulator, our mission is to:

• protect  the public, and especially children, from content which might raise harm risks

• empower the public, especially parents, to make informed viewing choices

• recognise and respect adult freedom of choice within the law

• respond to and reflect changing social attitudes towards media content through proactive public consultation and research

• provide a cost-effective, efficient classification service within our statutory remit

• work in partnership with the industry to develop innovative service models to provide content advice which support emerging media delivery systems

• provide an effective service to enforcement agencies '

They have a set of guidelines that a film must fit into in order to be of a certian catogory. These are broken down in to 'U', 'Uc', 'PG', '12', '12A', '15' and '18'. PG standing for Parental Guidence and U standing for Universal, or sutable for all ages effectively.

 Some of the main issues that the BBFC have in deciding the age restriction, or if the film should at all be released are;

Discrimination.

Potentially offensive content, relating to such matters as race, gender, religion, disability or sexuality, may arise in a wide range of works, and the classification decision will take account of the strength or impact of its inclusion.

Drugs.

No film is allowed to promote the taking of illegal drugs. If a film is promoting this then odds are that it will never reach your screen. However if it does show the serious impact or emphasise the danger then it is more likely to be allowed than if it showed no side effects. Any glamorisation of smoking or exsessive drinking will be taken into effect when the film is released.

Immatable Behaviour.

Any behaviour including smoking, drinking, bullying or carrying guns or knives that is deemed to be making it look glamorable will be restricted accordingly in order for kids not to copy or think it is a good idea. However anything that includes the glamorisation of things such as selfharming, hanging or anything putting ones self in immediate danger may be cut or not released at all.

A recent decision to ban a film would be the Human Centipede 2 directed by Tom Six. It was rejected on these grounds

'THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE 2 (FULL SEQUENCE) is a horror sequel in which a vulnerable and disturbed individual, sexually obsessed with the first film, attempts to create his own 'human centipede'. Unlike the first HUMAN CENTIPEDE, this work presents graphic images of sexual violence, forced defecation and mutilation and the viewer is invited to experience the event from the perspective of the central character. The central focus of THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE 2 (FULL SEQUENCE) is the sexual arousal of this character at the idea and later the spectacle of the total degradation, humiliation, mutilation, torture, rape and murder of his naked victims. There is little attempt to portray any of the victims in the film as anything other than objects to be brutalised and degraded for the amusement and sexual arousal of the main character and for the pleasure of the viewer. There is a strong and sustained focus throughout the work on the link between sexual arousal and sexual violence and a clear association between non-consensual pain and sexual pleasure.'

Momento Analysis.

The titles in Momento are unusual to one of a conventional thriller. The typical thriller thing to do it use a black background, with either red or white writing, this gives the audience a sence of fear, the red indicating blood, the white possibly showing death. However in Momento the titles are done on blue and black. This shows a possible theme of loneliness that could occure throughout the film, possible a form of foreshadowing by the director. The non-diagetic sounds used in the titles also show this idea of loneliness using a single instrument to begin with, and slowly adding more and more as the titles and opening scene progress. It conotes the feeling of loneliness by giving the audience a subtle and pensive sound, this again indicates how the main character goes about himself throughtout the film. As the titles finish, you get another non-diegetic sound, this being the sound of a ticking clock. This infers the idea that there is an oddity in time throughout the film. The film is done in a non-linear fashion meaning that it is backwards.

Casual Prelim task; bet you wish you chose editing over rugby now 'Paedo Payne'

'The Happening' opening review.

The Happening opening begins with the rolling skies. These skies at the start are of a reasonably normal colour, however as it progresses the clouds gradually turn to be a more gloomy daunting colour. This reflects the type of mood the director wants the audience to have. It gives a sense of mystery, and the fact it is the sky turning implies that it is something uncontrollable too. This makes the audience feel helpless. Also a lot of non diegetic sound is used in the opening sequence. It starts of with harmonious strings, and ends up being deep and chilling. This again tied in with the whether changing gives a sense of panic, or maybe the sense of, excuse the pun, something happening. 

(The Happening introduction {initial clouds})

After this there is a scene in times square, New York. The location suggests safety, there is nothing around that is a threat, no non diegetic sounds are added and the audience is left feeling safe at this time. However very quickly things change, camera shots become more rapid, leaving the audience confused again, non diegetic sounds kick in, tense sounds used by the director. This will leave the audience feeling helpless again. More so this time as they were in the comfort of an everyday surrounding, a place that safety would have been perceived, however this would have left them with the feeling of a lack of safety, like nowhere that they go will be safe. After that it goes to a close up of a woman killing herself. This is shocking for the audience to see, and the reaction of the lady killing herself is equally as shocking. The director uses a close up so that the audience are able to view all of the emotion, or in this case lack of emotion shown by the character. The audience will also experience all of the gore of the suicide, making them feel uncomfortable, and as if something out of there hands is going on. The diegetic sounds of the trees links in with the clouds shown in the previous sequence. These two things are key to how the audience understands the film later on. A bit of foreshadowing by the director perhaps. Also the fact that it is two women sat on the bench a the main characters is typical of the thriller genre, as it makes you think of a damsel in distress.

The next shot is at a building site. The audience by now is totally aware that not everything is okay, so they are not as naive as they were to begin with and suspect trouble. And true to form, trouble occurs. Again the scene is set to be reasonably safe, I mean as safe as a building site can be, there is some jovial banter flying round from members of the workforce however true to happening style, someone dies. And another, and another, and many, many more. The way they die though is the concerning part. The deaths are fantastically shot using the golden mean, as shown adjacently;

The happening contains many typicalities of a conventional thriller. It has the constant suspense involved, the overly dramatic non diegetic sounds to stress that it is tense, they damsel in distress in the opening scene and glaringly obvious foreshadowing (only when re watched). I wasn't 'The Happening''s biggest fan, however it does show very clearly some key themes in the thriller genre.