Media Studies sconventional settings and locations

1. Settings and Locations
By Kirsty Griffiths

2. Typical Settings
• Abandoned places
• Isolated buildings
• City centres
• Cooperate buildings
• Everyday family home
City centres are good for to create mystery as the audience get the feeling of
everyday life being disrupted. However, abandoned areas are also good for creating
suspense for the audience as the unpredictable can happen.

3. All these locations are seen in thriller films as they create the best setting
due to the fact that the audience can associate them with their everyday
life. Thriller film settings and locations are supposed to play with the
audiences mind, so if the setting is somewhere typical, then usually the
audience will be able to relate to the characters who are in the setting.
Additionally, if the audience can associate the settings and locations in
the thriller film to their own life, it will create more suspense when they
are watching the film.

4. Atomic Blonde (Dir. David Leitch, 2017)
An example of a thriller film which is based in a city
centre would be Atomic Blonde. Atomic Blonde is
about a female undercover MI6 agent who is sent to
Berlin during the Cold War to investigate the murder
of a fellow agent and recover a missing list of double
agents. Therefore, the city centre fits well with the
storyline of the film as it creates mystery as well as
the audience getting the feeling of everyday life
being disrupted.
IMDb Atomic Blonde
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2406566/

5. Shutter Island (Dir. Martin Scorsese, 2010).
An example of a thriller film which is based In a
isolated areas would be Shutter Island. Shutter
island is set in 1954, when a US marshal
investigates the disappearance of a murderer, who
escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane.
Therefore, the isolated setting fits well with the
storyline as abandoned areas are good for creating
suspense for the audience as the unpredictable can
happen.
IMDb Shutter Island
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1130884/

6. What is a thriller?
• A thriller usually consists of a battle between the protagonist
character and the antagonist, when there is a disruption in the
equilibrium. Then the story shows a chain of bad events building
tension and suspense for the climax. The aim of the protagonist is to
restore justice, while the antagonist seeks to destroy it.

7. What is a crime thriller?
• Crime drama is one of the most enduring, popular genres, not just on
TV but also novels, films and theatre.
• Its engaging narrative offers a space for debates about policing,
criminality, gender, race and social and cultural values.
• The following are key elements of the genre all of which can be seen
as contributing to audience pleasures of watching crime dramas:
Resolution to a mystery, Question of morality, about innocent and
guilt