The findings of our research into crime thrillers for media studies AS.

1. What We Learnt
Niamh Webb and Cliodhna Daykin

2. Secondary Research
We analysed ten films which fit the genre of
crime thriller films.
Some of the films included sub-genres:
Sin city; neo-noir
Silence of the Lambs; horror
Seven; horror and neo-noir
Momento; psychological
La Confidential; Cine-noir
Inside Man; crime-drama
The Usual Suspects; neo-noir
Shooter; conspiracy

3. Codes and Conventions
These are the common codes and conventions
we found which when creating our own film we
would have to take influence from.
Everything done in a crime-thriller film is to
create suspense and tension and engage the
audience whilst the narrative is unravelling.

4. Shot types and edits
Slow camera movements.
Slow paced edits.
Establishing shots.
Close ups of the killers face and the detective.
Some over the shoulder/two shots/shot reverse shots to
show conversation.
Use of high angle and low angle shots to show who the
more dominant character is.
Framing used to give the audience perspective and
sensation of the character being followed.

5. Sound and Visual
Moderate/fast paced sound.
Use of black, white and red fonts.
Music became louder at moments of intensity.
Music played in a minor key, mostly on stringed instruments.
Dark lighting with bright lights focused on characters and key
items.
Lack of bright colour, grey tones in costume and surroundings.
Instrumental, non-diegetic sound played over the action.
Diegetic and ambient sound to make the movie more realistic.
Conventional locations such as the office, interrogation rooms,
crime scenes, residence. This is where most of the filming takes
place.

6. Common Features
Some things we found that were common
features of crime thrillers were:

7. Title Sequences
Typewriter font was common.
Dark, black and white colours used to symbolising
binary opposition.
Red colour used to attract audience attention and
symbolise violence.
Instrumental music in a high pitch with a minor key.
Steady drum beat at the same rate as a heartbeat to
raise suspense.
Ariel shot to establish the film location as the
background. Camera pans over the area.

8. Common Features
The use of bright, bold fonts contrasting a
background, usually red fonts on a black
background.

9. Common Features
The use of extensive violence:

10. Common Features
The use of beautiful women to draw in the
target audience:

11. Common Features
The use of black, white and red to create an
impression:

12. Common Features
The music tended to be played in a minor key
and became louder and faster as the suspense
reached its climax.
The drum beats usually followed the same
rhythm as a heart beat and grew louder and
faster as tension increased.

13. Primary Research
We created a questionnaire which was given out
to 20 males aged 18-30
Our results are as follows:

14. Question 1
What attracts you most to crime thrillers?
It is clear that tension and
suspense are vital for any
crime thriller and so this
will be our main focus
when creating our opening.

15. Question 2
What’s your favourite hero
type?
Anti Hero came out most popular
with our target audience,
therefore our hero in our crime
drama will be a anti hero to
appeal to wants of Target
Audience

16. Quesion 3
What’s your favourite type of villain?
A delusional villain, would come
under the sub-genre psychological.
This is the sub genre where we have
decided to base our crime drama
on. A extremely intelligent
character is the next most popular
within the target audience.

17. Question 4
What form of criminal activity is most
entertaining?
From our research, in crime thrillers,
murder is the most popular form of
criminal activity. For this reason we
have decided to base our psychological
crime thriller on a murder.

18. Next Step
Our next Step is to plan out our crime drama.
Begin by developing our ideas- we will use a
focus group with people from our target
audience to ensure our ideas are tailored to the
requirements of the target audience.
This planning stage will include: Storyboards,
Scripts and Shooting Scripts