This document analyzes the filmmakers' use of conventions from thriller movies in their short film. It discusses how they incorporated simple opening titles, point-of-view shots, vanishing points, chiaroscuro lighting, isolated exterior locations, confined interior spaces, flashbacks/dream sequences, and binary oppositions between characters and locations. Examples are given of how similar techniques were used effectively in movies like Once Upon a Time in America, The Killing, and No Country For Old Men. The analysis aims to show how borrowing conventions from acclaimed thrillers helped make their short film feel more authentic to the genre.

1. Question One
Evaluation

2. Opening Titles
A convention in many thriller movies is simple opening credits, situated on a black
screen. Titles such as this build tension for the start of the film, as the audience is
unaware as to what is going to happen next. Kill Bill, Essex Boys and Once Upon a
Time in America are all examples of these simple, white-on-black titles.

3. One way in which we were inspired by real thrillers is through many shots
within our film. The worm’s eye view to the left is one such shot, inspired
by the very similar shot in Once Upon a Time in America (pictured below).
This type of shot establishes the subject as weak and vulnerable; in this
case, the victim Billy is the subject and so this shot shows his low status
and threat. The killer, however, is looked up on to signify her power. This
shot was suggested by me, as I remembered the similar one in Once Upon
a Time in America and decided it would be a powerful ending to our film
and would leave the viewer wanting to see more. However, during the
editing phase of our film we decided to cut out this shot and leave it on a
more enigmatic ending, as this shot of the coat falling over the camera
made the opening look more like the ending of a thriller.
A worm’s eye view also very similar to the one we
used, seen in ‘Inglorious Basterds’.
Worm’s eye views are relatively common in thrillers, as they
create an uncertain and helpless feeling for the viewer; the
audience is looking up at the action (usually from another
character’s point of view) which makes them feel more involved
– however, it also gives the feeling of uncertainty and
helplessness because they know they cannot do anything to help
the characters/

4. Another shot which was inspired by a classic thriller is this vanishing
point located in the forest, which is almost identical to the ending
scene in ‘The Third Man’. However, in the 1944 classic, Anna walks
towards the camera – a contrast to our thriller in which Billy runs
away from the camera and towards the end of the vanishing point.
This is significant of Billy running into the unknown – and perhaps
danger. Vanishing points are purposefully enigmatic; no one knows
what lies beyond the point, which creates an uneasy atmosphere.
Vanishing points are a common convention of thriller movies for this
reason, and so we decided to use one to make our film more
authentic.
This vanishing point in ‘Witness’ is slightly
different; the vanishing point is a door, with
what lies behind it remaining a mystery.

5. A shot which was also inspired by Once Upon a Time in America is
when the killer turns on a lamp to light up a pitch-black room. The
chiaroscuro lighting in this scene is a commonly used lighting
technique and convention in thrillers, as it helps set the mood and
can be used as a metaphor for a character’s grey morality and dark
intentions. Although visually similar, our shot and the one used in
OUTA have narrative differences in terms of characters and plot; in
OUTA, the woman turning on the lamp is a victim to a group of
corrupt cops and the lamp is used as a metaphor for her – when she
is killed, the lamp is turned off. However, in our thriller, the woman
turning on the lamp is the antagonist and the turning on of the lamp
is used to reveal her sinister intentions as it reveals a handgun.
We also used chiaroscuro lighting in this
scene because we wanted to create a
clear contrast between the protagonist
and the antagonist; Holly, the killer, is
hidden in the shadows and the dark
lighting while Billy is out in the open. We
have therefore developed conventions of
thriller, as we have used the lighting as a
metaphor for the antagonist’s dark
motives.

6. Our main inspiration for our thriller was an opening scene in the Danish crime
show ‘The Killing’. In The Killing, a young woman is running through the forest
trying to evade a murderer. Many of the shots used in our film are very similar to
ones used in The Killing; the ones pictured to the right, for example, are almost
identical in terms of the camera position and the mid-shots. The trees in both of
these shots are a metaphor for barriers and enclosure, trapping our protagonist
within the foreboding forest.Isolated exterior locations are a
convention within thrillers because
they can frighten the viewer; they
play on the fear of being alone in an
endless, uncharted place in which no
one will be able to rescue you or find
you if something happens to you.
Evidently, we have used this
convention as the protagonist meets
his end in this location.
No Country For Old Men: the
protagonist tries to escape from
the people hunting him, running
through an isolated exterior
location much like in our thriller.

7. Our second location is a regular kitchen inside a suburban house. In
our editing, we used parallel cuts to cut from the kitchen to the
sequence in the forest.
To draw a bigger impact from the binary opposites between the
forest and the kitchen, we tried to achieve normality by having the
protagonist wash up and perform chores. This location also acted as
a metaphor for the character of Billy; the claustrophobic space
creates the thought that Billy is ‘trapped’, reflecting his anxiety and
paranoia and the effect his forest nightmares have on him.
Claustrophobic and trapped spaces are a very common convention
in the genre because the thought of there being no escape can
frighten the audience, and gives them an impending sense of doom;
they know that the situation is likely not going to end well.
From left to right:
Kill Bill 2, Phone
Booth and Panic
Room: all
examples of
thrillers with
confined spaces.

8. Flashbacks and Dream Sequences
• A flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current
point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened
before the story's primary sequence of events to fill in crucial backstory. In the opposite
direction, a flash forward reveals events that will occur in the future. Both flashback and
flash forward are used to create suspense in a story.
In movies and television, several camera techniques and special effects have evolved to
alert the viewer that the action shown is from the past; for example, the edges of the
picture may be deliberately blurred, photography may be jarring or choppy, or the colour
might be changed to black and white. These are used to help the viewer to not be
confused.
• Although we did not use flashbacks in a traditional sense, we did use dream sequences
with the character Billy running in the woods. However, we changed convention by
putting the scenes in real life in black and white to darken the atmosphere while the
protagonist’s dream of running in the woods is in colour to make it ironically whimsical,
despite its dark nature. Although this may be confusing to the viewer, it is an intentional
confusion because of the psychological themes within our thriller. This uneases the
viewer; one of the main objectives of a thriller movie.

9. Binary Opposition
• Another convention of thriller is the concept of opposites within
characters, locations, lighting, movement, etc. Claude Levis Strauss said
that “Constant creation of conflict/opposition drives narrative”.
• In our thriller, we followed this convention primarily through locations;
the trackless forest suggests an unreal world distant from civilisation,
whilst in stark contrast the kitchen brings the focus back to reality (The
concept of the kitchen being grounded in reality was also one of the
main reason we chose to put those sequences in black and white – a
colour choice which further enforces binary opposition).
- In The Third Man, locations are also used to convey binary opposition. The
dark, mysterious and beautiful streets of Vienna are incredibly different
from the murky, wet, dangerous sewers.
• Furthermore, the characters in our opening – much like the characters in
many thrillers – are binary opposites. The protagonist, Billy, is an
innocent and seemingly paranoid, naïve character. The antagonist Holly,
on the other hand, is a ruthlessly efficient stalker and murderer.
- In No Country For Old Men, there is a similar binary opposition between
the protagonist and the antagonist. Llewellyn Moss is a small town welder
who happens to find a suitcase full of money, and naively decides to run
away with it instead of carrying on with his life. Anton Chigurh, however, is
similar to Holly; he is incredibly ruthless and greatly overpowers the
helpless protagonist. Llewellyn Moss (left) and Anton Chigurh (right)
Vienna (left) and the dirty sewers of Vienna (right)