The document discusses various narrative and stylistic techniques used in thrillers. It analyzes the thriller created by the author, which uses a linear and omniscient narrative to show different character perspectives chronologically. Low-angle shots and point-of-view shots are used to create tension and involve the audience. Dark costumes, locations and color palettes are employed to hide the killer's identity and signify danger.

1. Part Four..

2. Narrative.. Many thrillers use narratives such as restricted narratives, liner/non liner open and closed narratives as well as an enigma. In order to make my thriller conventional we used a linear narrative in order to tell the story in a chronological order without any past flashbacks. As well as a linear narrative we also used an Omniscient narrative. This allowed the audience to establish what was going on from different points of view. Here are cutaway shots of me and Jermaine. This is an example of where we have used an omniscient narrative as well a liner narrative. The cutaway shots allow the audience to view both the killer’s point of view as well as the victims. The audience are able to see what is happening with both of the characters. This also shows linear narrative due to the fact that the events are happening in a chronological order.

3. Genre.. Thrillers use a variety of different genres. Most thrillers have a subgenre within them. These may be horror, psychological, action and many others. The codes and conventions used for thriller genres can be Red Herring’s/Mc Guffin, Cheap Surprises and twists. We used a Red Herring in our thriller. We did this at the beginning by using very quiet sounds such as typing which keep the audience suspiciously waiting in order for something to happen. We then built up the music and increased the volume levels. This made the audience think something dramatic would happen but it was only the titles therefore misleading them. This has been done during the cutaways of me and Jermaine. Another use of a Red Herring was the fact that the audience were unaware of Jermaine’s intentions. He had been shown to just be a guy behind a computer screen who was going to meet a girl. The audience were unaware of the relationship between the two characters. By adding the kidnapping scene it completely changed the audience’s perspective as they were unaware of this event.

4. Camera Angles.. Many conventional thrillers use low angle shots. This is because they are able to restrict the audience from seeing the whole of the shot. This creates tension as the audience want to know what is in that shot which therefore creates a bit of anxiety. An example of a low angle shot is in the thriller “What lies beneath” Here are images of low angle shots being used in “What lies beneath” and our thriller. We have used a similar shot to “What lies beneath” in order to create the same tension

5. Along with the low angle shots, thrillers also use Point of view shots. This is because they want to show the narrative from a characters perspective. This is mainly used by a killer or a victim protagonist. This is used to increase the verisimilitude and involve the audience more. We have used a P.O.V shot when the killer is approaching the victim. The reason we used this shot was because we wanted the audience to see what the killer was able to see. This made the audience more involved as they were viewing the situation from the killer’s perspective. They are also able to sympathize and feel helpless towards the victim as they know something bad is going to happen yet they can’t stop it.

6. Continuity and Editing.. Many thrillers have stuck to simple continuity; however some use sharp and edgy cuts to increase the impact .For our thriller we also sued basic continuity. This was done through a P.O.V shot of the killer as he approaches the victim then followed by a long shot of the killer kidnapping the victim. We managed to keep the killer in the same position as he was in the P.O.V shot making it more realistic and professional.

7. Sound.. For our sound we wanted music that would create a tensed atmosphere as well as creating suspense in order for it to be conventional. At the beginning of our thriller we used minimal sound as possible. We used limited sounds such as the keyboard and the msn sounds. We used this in order to firstly create verisimilitude, and secondly to keep the audience more alert and in suspense. As the titles came up we used a very orchestral style of music with elements to of bas in it. We used this because it came across as being quite eerie. As it started to build up so did the story therefore allowing the music to flow through. As it got nearer to the kidnapping the music got more fast paced and upbeat. This was because we wanted to show the subgenre of an action thriller through the upbeat music. Thriller msn sounds =)

8. Mis-en-scene.. Our mis-en-scene was very conventional through its costume. Many thrillers exhibit their killers to be quite secretive and are known to hide their identity. Our killer has worn black clothes – hat, jacket and gloves. This is iconic because the colour black is normally associated with crime and death suggesting that the character is very negative. Also our killer has worn a gold watch. We used this because many thrillers use a certain item or piece of clothing to associate their antagonist with. In this case we have used the watch to associate it with the killer in order for the audience to identify it.

9. Most conventional thrillers use dark colour palettes when showing the antagonist in the movie. We also have used dark colour palettes of greys and black every time we show the thriller. We did this in order to hide his identity and not reveal who he is to the audience as “it is not about what you see it is about what you don’t see”. This is a very conventional aspect of a thriller. Also in this shot you are able to view a keyboard which is significant because it relates back to our idea of using a range of new technologies. A lot of thrillers have used new technology devices such as Dark Knight. Dark Knight used many different forms of technology.

10. As for our location we have subverted the usual conventional place for a thriller. Majority thrillers use dark and isolated places such as forests. However we have used an ordinary park to show that crime can take place anywhere at anytime. For the victim we have used red lipstick. This is iconic because it displays femininity which suggests that the character is quite helpless. Also red is associated with danger which foreshadows the upcoming events.

11. Typography.. For the typography of our thriller we used white writing on a black canvas creating simplicity as many thrillers use simple typography. The font we used was Tahoma. The reason we did this was because the white and black opposition contrasts with good and bad which is shown through the characters (killer, and the boys) which therefore connotes that there is a big difference between good and bad within our thriller.

12. For our main title “Frame of Mind” we used two different layouts for each word. For the word “Frame” we used a blue italic font. We did this in order to show purity and innocence of the boys as they did not intentionally mean to frame the killer. For the word “Mind” we used 3 different shades of grey and had written it in capital letters. This was done to make the word Mind appear bolder in order to catch the audiences attention and make that the focus of the title; as the narrative is based upon the psycho’s mind. By having a mixture of 3 shades we created 3 horizontal lines through the word due to it reflecting a prison which reflects how the psycho’s mind deserves to be imprisoned due to it being very negative. We used a dark black background which is iconic due to black being associated as being mysterious and unknown which reinforces the concept of the psycho being very secretive in the opening sequence.