2. Titling
Most of the I’ve watched before have seemed to have their titles
presented over a black screen like this while having some non
diegetic music playing in the background. This also happens in
other genre films. It is also common for some films to start with a
particular event before titles start to show, my examples include
Terminator 2, Kill Bill vol1 and The Departed which all before
beginning show you a teaser, this is of probably what the film will
be about but doesn't give away too much or the audience wont be
engaged. It always pulls something surprising out. Another
convention of titles is that usually the most important film
companies or actors in the film are shown first in the credits.
3. Camera movement
Tracking and Pan shots is what’s commonly used
in the beginning of thriller films, particularly a
certain person/group of people who we should
be interested in as the audience. An example is
the bank heist scene in The Dark Knight where
the camera tracks the group at certain points.
Zooming in and out was a rarity that was only
seen in Dark knight during an action scene.
4. Camera angles
Things that seem to be quite common are the low levels of
framing and the low angles at certain points, the low angle
is used mainly to show those in a powerful position
however they also use high angles to show the difference in
characters power and who is the dominant character, but
they might also be used such as in Terminator 2 with the
first arrival of the terminator shown to be in control and
having most of the power. There seems to be a main
character(s) in the beginning which seems to have the
majority of power and this is shown through the camera
angles However when john is being portrayed its more of a
high angle as he is human and has no power because the
terminator seems to hold all the power.
5. Conventions of theme
• Crime
• Murder/Death
• Dangerous world
• Revenge
• Romance triangles (leads to murder)
• Mystery
6. Setting
• Usually in a urban setting such as a city
• In every day places, engaging audience
• Hospital settings
• Exotic settings
• Unusual setting e.g. Crop field and farm house
7. Characters
• Hero – ordinary citizens unaccustomed to
danger
• Villain – criminals, stalkers, assassins,
• psychotic individuals, menaced women,
• Innocent victim – life threatening situation
• Victims sometimes know villains, sometimes
do not
8. Most used
• Shadows
• Street lamps – highlighting villain
• Confined spaces
• Running water
• CCTV cameras
• Knives
• Something the victim fears (e.g. Clowns)
• Finger prints
• Photographs
• Weapons
• Mirrors
9. Mise-en-Scene
Costume - dark clothes for villain, normal everyday clothes
and bright colours for innocent victim. Hero in normal
every day clothes also. If victim is a woman, revealing
clothes to sexualize her thus making her more vulnerable.
Lighting – low key lighting helping to make villain more scary
as you wont always see him.
Camera Work – establishing shot, extreme close ups and close
ups, medium/long shots showing villain in relation to
victim. eye-level shot and POV shots. High angle shots
making victim more vulnerable. Low angle shots making
audience more vulnerable/fear.
