2. Psychological
Crime
Non-
fiction
Fiction
Dark
fantasy
Horror
Antagonist
Protagonist
ThrillerGenres I Enjoy & why:
Thriller – I enjoy this genre as it keeps me on
the “edge of my seat” and you don’t
know what to expect in the next
scene.
Comedy – Who doesn’t love comedy? That’s of
the reason why I adore this genre. It always
gives me a laugh, and the storylines are not of your everyday
experiences.
Action – I enjoy these films because of the thrill and excitement I get
from it.Thriller:
The reason why I have chosen the genre of ‘thriller’ for my AS coursework is because this is the one I
prefer out of all the genres. It covers a wide variety of other sub-genres, and has key conventions that
you can interpret in your own way, but still get the main plot of the narrative across. Many people
associate thriller with horror films however, thriller’s consists of an antagonist and a protagonist
character, and so doesn’t have to be related to horror. People enjoy thriller films as it can overlap with
other genres, thus broadening the audience. For example, a thriller film could include the genre of
fantasy and supernatural which could link to superpowers and superheroes. This would mainly target an
audience of a younger generation, however a thriller film including horror would be targeted at a
generation of adolescents and the older generation. Thriller can also create a range of emotion
3. Three films/ that influenced us with the genre of
thriller are:
1. The Woman in Black – this had a lot of mystery to
the film, so we wanted to see if we could
incorporate some of that into our film.
2. Se7en – this film was about a character who
seemed to have an obsession with killing, and so
this keeps the audience on the edge of their seat
with suspense.
3. Psycho – this film included many non-diegetic
sounds which worked really well with the
narrative and the plot of the story, and so this
would be useful in the narrative that we are doing.
4. The Columbine High School Massacre
Timings:
11:10am – Eric and Dylan arrive at the
school
11:14am - small bomb exploded as a
diversion set by the boys
11:19am – shooting begins
11:22am – police response
11:29am – 11:36am – library massacre
12:08pm – suicide of the perpetrators
I have decided to base my narrative on
the ‘Columbine High School Massacre’
shooting at the school that occurred on
April 20, 1999, between the times of
11:19 a.m. and 12:08 p.m.
In addition to the shootings, the attack
involved a fire bomb to divert fire fighters,
propane tanks converted to bombs placed
in the cafeteria, 99 explosive devices, and
bombs rigged in cars.
The perpetrators were two senior
students called Eric Harris and Dylan
Klebold. They murdered a total of 12
students and 1 teacher and injured 21
additional people, with 3 others being
injured while attempting to escape the
school.
5. Eric David Harris (aged 18)
Born: April 9, 1981
Wichita, Kansas, U.S.
Died: April 20, 1999
Parents: Wayne Harris
Katherine Poole
Dylan Bennet Klebold (aged 17)
Born: September 11, 1981
Lakewood, Colorado, U.S.
Died: April 20, 1999
Parents: Thomas Klebold
Susan Yassenoff
The Harris family relocated often, as Eric's father, Wayne Harris, was a U.S. Air Force
transport pilot. In July, 1993, the family moved from Plattsburgh, New York, to
Littleton, Colorado, when Wayne Harris retired from military service.
The Harris family lived in rented accommodations for the first three years that they
lived in the Littleton area. During this time, Eric met Dylan Klebold. They both went to
Columbine High School and were both active in school play productions, operated
video productions and became computer assistants maintaining the school’s
computer server
6. Dylan and Eric are walking through the school corridor with a gun
beside them.
Dylan walks towards the camera then points the gun towards it
where the screen goes black with a gunshot at the same time.
Time flashes back to a time ago
The film shows a montage and long shots of the school, all
peaceful.
We hear Dylan talking in the background about his life, how he
keeps getting bullied and how he wants to deal with this situation
We see him later on at school being nudged and pushed at school
on the way to lunch where he meets up with Eric
Dylan tells Eric about his plan and what he plans on doing. He is
sceptical at first, but as the bullying continues he agrees to Dylan’s
plan.
They meet up the next morning; the day of the shooting.
7. As this film is of the thriller genre, our target
audience is ages 15+. Most thriller films are
viewed by an audience of this year group and
above. The reason for this is because thrillers
cover many sub-genres and so it broadens the
audience's view on these films and the genre of it.
Our film will be based on this and so we would
recommend that the classification would be a ‘15’.
This is because the film would have some ‘dark’
scenes behind the storyline and would feature
guns and violence.
8. Our narrative will follow Todorov’s theory of equilibrium. His narrative theory
focuses on plot – he believed the narratives could be divided into five stages
1. A state of equilibrium (All is as it should be.)
2. A disruption of that order by an event.
3. A crisis that the disruption has occurred.
4. An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption (resolution.)
5. A return or restoration of a new equilibrium
Our film will start with the attempt to repair the disruption from the view from
Dylan and Eric, however will ‘flashback’ to a year ago where there is a state of
equilibrium, within the school. A disruption will be caused with all the bullying
going on aimed at both Dylan and Eric, and once they’ve had enough, a crisis
is caused.