Thrillers often contain these basic elements in the story:
- Often there is a crime at the centre or core of the narrative (often murder but not always)
- There is normally a complex narrative structure that includes false trails
- There is a narrative pattern of establishing enigmas that the audience expects to be resolved
- A protagonist is normally systematically dis empowered and drawn into a complex web of mystery by the antagonist
- Extraordinary events happen in ordinary situations
- Protagonist with a "flaw" which is exploited by antagonist
- Titles often reflect an aspect of the protagonist or antagonist's psychological state
- There is often a scene near the end of the film in which the protagonist is in peril
- Mise-en-scene which echoes/mirrors the protagonists plight
The themes that surround thrillers are often:
- Death
- Terrorism
- Political conspiracies
- Pursuit
- Themes of identity
- Themes of mirroring
- Themes of voyeurism (People looking at what they shouldn't be)
We need to consider these elements of film to be used in our thriller:
- Camerawork
- Editing
- Lighting
- Sound/Music
Camerawork
There is alot to consider for camerawork and firstly we need to think about our camera framing. This is looking at hat we see within the frame and concentrating on how far the camera is from the subject and from what angle the shot is taken.
We also need to consider the camera movement we could use in our thriller. Unfortunately a few of these are unavailable to us because we simply do not have the resources to achieve these types of movements. The camera movements we are able to do are: panning shots (horizontal movements from a fixed axis), tilt shots (vertical shots from a fixed axis), point of view shots (hand held camera movements to give a realistic view of what the character can see) and lastly rolling shots (camera moves diagonally making the angle askew, gives the impression of being ill or drugged).
Editing
Next we need to think about how to edit and what kinds of edits we want in out thriller. To begin with we need to think about two things. The speed of editing - how long will each shot last? And style of editing - how is each shot joined with the other? By working hard on each we can create a tense - fast paced thriller that emphasizes the terror in our thriller. Once we have decided on how long each shot will last we need to think about the styles of editing and which effects will be best suited to our thriller. We are able to use these different styles of editing: A straight cut (normal transitions between shots), a fade-out/in (where the screen fades to black or the screen starts black and fades into the shot), a dissolve (one image is slowly brought in underneath the existing one), a wipe-cut (where one part of the screen moves to wipe the other) and a jump cut (where the audiences attention is brought into focus on something very suddenly). Lastly a special kind of editing called a graphic match this is where two consecutive shots that are matched in terms of their appearance.
Lighting
Lighting is manipulated in film for several effects some of which are to emphasize the mood of the scene, the personality of a character and what the director wants the audience to see and not see. There are three main light sources that are used in film. Firstly there is the key light this is the brightest and most influential. Next is the back light which counteracts the key light to make the object more "rounded" and lastly the filler light, this softens the shadows that are created by the key and back lights.
There are two types of lighting that manipulates the atmosphere within film. Low-key lighting is created by only using the key and back lights to create a contrast between light and dark to create deep, sharp and distinct shadows, this effect is called chiaroscuro. High-key lighting is where more filler lights are used than normal to give the object a more realistic look.
One technique of lighting used in film is called "Film Noir" which is a term given by French critics in the early 1940's to describe the types of films created in America. This was called "Noir" which means dark in French because of the typical "dark" story plot and the lighting that was used in the film. Low-key lighting was a typical aspect of "Film Noir" to give a sharp look of light and dark contrast.
Music/Sound
The added aspect of music and sound gives another dimension to the mood in films. In this case the added sound and music adds tension and suspense for our thriller. Within the world of film we way we see it in the cinema screens is called the diagetic world. This means that everything the audience sees or hears has been manipulated by the filmmaker so the audience deliberately notices these things. There are two types of diegetic sound called diegetic and nondiegetic sound.
Diegetic sound are sounds that are within the film world, this can be heard by the audience as well as the characters in the film. This could be dialogue between characters or music coming from a source such as a radio. Diegetic sound can appear on and off screen, for example the sound of a police alarm outside of the setting. Nondiegetic sound is sound that is not recognised as part of the film world and can only be heard by the viewing audience. This could be a voice over or narration and background music. To make visual and audio transitions much smoother between shots and scenes filmmakers use sound bridges.
Lastly the audience usually hears a sound that compliments the scene that is being watched. This is called parallel sound. An example of this would be children playing on the beach and a happy up-beat tune would normally be heard. On the other hand if the same scene was showed but the dramatic, sinister sounds of the"dur dur" "Jaws" theme which signals the arrival of the shark, this sound does not match the scene and this is called contrapuntal sound.
