Thriller analysis; Source Code - Danielle Driscoll

The opening starts with a BCU of a man whose situated to the left
of the frame showing he's leaning against some a window.
The audience can also hear off screen contrapuntal sound of a
helicopter and shooting which doesn't add up with what we can
see, however, it looks as though the character is dreaming,
therefore it is diegetic. BCU is used to show the characters
facial expressions when they wake up to the sound of a train horn,
used as a sound bridge, showing confusion as the camera pans from
left to right. All of this raises enigma as to who he is, where is he, and
why is he there? - a key element in thrillers.

MCU is used to show enough of the character to give the audience an
idea of the role he might be playing - formally dressed (shirt, tie, jacket),
showing he is upper class. He's also wearing a gold watch denoting
wealth. Dialogue is used too, 'god damn it', suggesting he is late, as he
looks at his watch. Enigma is raised as to who he is and is he of any
importance in the film?

Here we see a L2S and we hear diegetic sound of a ringtone. This also shows
the proximity of the two characters. The main source of light is the backlight
coming from outside (low key lighting), which creates shadows, making it
hard to see that characters facial expressions. 

2S is used here to show the proxemics between both characters. The backlight
shadows their faces and outlines them. Non-diegetic sounds starts to play
and seems to be parallel as it accompanies what we see on screen. There's a lot
of confusion and the music sounds eerie and helps balance out that key
element in thrillers; enigma, why is he saying he is someone different, what is
going on?

Research Task Jaz

Kill Bill.

Sound

• The first thing you hear, even before you see any image is a woman sighing in pain . This is very useful as it immediately creates enigma.  
• You can then hear faint footsteps in the background which get progressively louder, indicating the character whose footsteps you can hear is getting closer to the woman. The footsteps in the background also introduces the second character.
• all of this sound is diegetic and the other sound you hear is on and off screen dialogue. The off screen dialogue is from a character whose identity is currently unknown and mysterious, which creates suspense for the viewer.

Mise en scene

• The First image we see is a woman, lying on the floor with blood all over her face. There has been no previous indication of who this woman is or what has happened to her, this asks questions and creates suspense for the viewer.
• This then changes once, to a man's feet whilst he's walking. His shoes are smart, which could suggest that he is possibly upper class, or a gangster type character.

• We are then told who the character is by seeing him wipe the woman's face with a handkerchief with the name 'bill' clearly showing. This , linked with the title,'kill Bill' suggests that the film is about revenge on this character.

Editing

• The editing on this opening uses minimal cuts, only 2 throughout the whole opening scene. This means the focus remains on the female character, this indicates that she is possibly the main character.

Camera Work

• The camera work uses a big close up in the very beginning, this leaves the location and surroundings unknown, creating enigma.
• There is a close up tracking shot of a man's feet, which is restricted narration as his identity is concealed. This again creates enigma and suspense

Research Task Jaz

This is the thriller Deja Vu

Sound

• The soundtrack is contrapuntal (meaning it contrasts with the images) , as the beginning scenes are seemingly happy, however the music suggest that this will change at some point during the movie. This is important as the viewer is then intrigued about the events which are going to unfold and starts asking questions.
• There is some elements of diegetic sound that echos and enhances the impact of each different scene.

Editing

• Fades are used to great effect in the opening of this film. They represent a change in time, and as the film is called deja vu the images that are shown could be in the past. The viewer is in suspence as they cannot tell weather the images are in the past or the future.
• Although the editing flows in chronological order it lacks continuity and is slightly jumpy. This gives connotations of disruption, giving and unsettling mood and atmosphere.

Camera Work

• In the opening there are several establishing shots, which leaves no questions as to where the location is, however it does ask questions as to why it is set here and the importance of the setting.

• There is also a good use of quick cut editing at 1.06, the scene is jumpy and surreal for the viewer which creates suspense and helps with the impression of the clip being in the past.

Research Task Jaz

Hurt Locker

Editing

• The way this clip is editied, causes the biewer to focus on the line 'war is a drug', which emplies what the film is about.

• This post production effect in this clip causes anigma as to what is happening, the image is distorted and ambiguous, which is a classic convention of a thriller as it causes the viewer to ask questions.
• The editing is fast paced and the camera movement is shaky this creates suspense as its hard to figure out what is happening.

Mise en scene

• The mise en scene of this clip is a man being moved to another location, possibly evacuated. This again raises questions as top what is going on, is there danger in him staying where he is? Also the man pushing him away is dressed in an army outfit, showing he has some sort of authority. The guns the men from the army are holding also indicate danger.

• This is a man's eyes, this shot identifies the concern on his face and evokes the same feeling in the viewers. The hat he is wearing helps with the characterisation of him, as it shows he is in the army and creates realism.

Sound

• The use of off screen diegetic sound creates realism and makes the mood dangerous, you can hear cars beeping and a man shouting through some form of broadcasting device. The shouting and screaming gives a sense of enigma as it is not clear why they are worried.
• The sound track is parallel to the images and enhances the danger connotations.

Research Task Jaz

Tell No One

Mise en scene

• The mise on scene of the establishing shot is a group of people in an idilic setting in the countryside having a meal. This is not typical of a thriller however we do not know who these people are, which raises questions (a convention of thriller films)
• When the setting changes the mise en scene is a girl who has just woken up. This could ask questions as to who she is and what is her importance within the film.

Camera Work

• The camera work uses  a long depth of field to frame the shot, this is also a medium close up which enables the viewer to see the expression on the characters face. However this does not seem conventional to the thriller genre.

Sound

• The soundtrack in the opening of this film is parallel, as it goes with the mood of the moving image.
• There is dialogue withing this opening, which again is unconventional to the thriller genre.

Thriller Analysis; The Usual Suspects - Danielle Driscoll

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6msq8mgdnE

Camerawork:

Here, the mans identity is kept secret as the framing is made to keep
his head unshown. This creates enigma as to why it is kept hidden.
The low key lighting also suggests the man might be a villain/
antagonist.

• Tilt is used when the ring of fire is broken by urine and the camera slowly rises to mystery character, whose face we do not see, which creates suspense. This leaves us with a binary opposition as we don't know whether to like him or not.
• When the ring of fire it being lit, we see a shot where there is a man on the floor in background, but the depth of field leaves us with uncertainty to who it is and what has happened to him.

The camera slowly starts to pan down as the man is walking down

the stairs, creating suspense as the audience is left with no clues to

who he is. Yet again, his identity is kept secret and the low key

is minimal, to the point where we can't even see him. This is done to

put the spectator on egde and feel uneasy, with the mysterious black

figure slowly appearing.

• ECU is used at the beginning when a box of matches are lit, this could be used to create distortion.

Mise en Scene:

• A long black coat is worn, that many villains tend to wear or investigators. He also has a gold lighter and watch, suggesting he is rich, but maybe not for the right reasons, making the audience think he's an antagonist.

In this shot, a man is shown on the floor with a dagger in his back
denoting violence, danger and crime. This is important in thrillers
to raise enigma to who the man is, why is he dead? Was he good/bad
(binary opposition). The composistion of the frame also leaves the
myterious body from head to waist which too creates enigma, but
for me implies he is not important in the film, he's just there to raise
questions. One of the main questions may be, why did the mysterious
man stop the ring of fire for the dead man?  

• The barrels at the beginning were leaking, creating tension as we saw the man light some matches - could there be an explosion?
• Low key lighting is used throughout the opening to create eeriness and mood; crucial to thrillers.

Sound:

• Off screen diegetic sound is used when the gun it shot to create suspense.
• When the cigarette is dropped the non diegetic sound (music) gets faster, builds tempo, creating anticipation, a key element is thrillers to keep the audience on the edge of their seat.

Editing:

Gun in the left hand, deep depth of field, to focus our attention on the gun,
centered in the middle of the frame.

• At the beginning, San Pedro appears, establishing the scene. The place is also on the border line between Mexico and South America, where lots of drugs are passed through, emphasising the sense of crime, leaving the audience uneasy.

Notice how everything the mysterious man does is with his left hand.
This could say a lot about his personality; independent, resilient. Maybe
suggesting he is the hero/protagonist.

• When the cigarette is dropped, it's slowed down to give the audience time to tense up as they know what is going to happen - the place is going to blow up.
• The pace of the takes are relatively slow to build up tension, a key element in thrillers to put the audience on the edge of their seat.

Thriller Analysis; Inception - Danielle Driscoll

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VXkUzf1et4

CU, pan on waves to perhaps follow the path of the waves
to the character, also in slow motion to maybe give a sense
of consciousness. Diegetic sound, on screen, and high key
lighting. This raises questions as to where it is why.

Camerawork:
CU are used a lot to capture the characters emotion
and facial expressions. This is important in thrillers, for the audience to emphasise how the character is feeling and creates an emotional attachment.
Tight framing is used to give restricted narration, so the characters identity is concealed.
An establishing shot is used to show where the
character is and create enigma as to why they are
there.
 

Here we see a MLS of a young boy in slow motion, perhaps
suggesting it's a memory (flashback), the echo of the
dialogue also accompanies this. The focus pull could imply
going in and out of consciousnesses. It also raises
questions as to who the child is and why it is significant,
enigma.

Mise en Scene:
The interior setting reflects the threat and eeriness it
may have later in the film, low key lighting also helps
create this mood.
The spin top creates enigma as we don't know what
exact power it has; props like this in thrillers are
important to keep the audience interested as to what
they mean.
A gun is shown under that mans coat to perhaps
give a sense that the character is bad.


Sound:

CU is used to show the facial expression on the characters
face, as we can see he looks disorientated and has cuts on
face creating ambiguity. This raises questions as to why he is
 on the shore and why he has cuts on him. The camera also
 jilts left to right backing up the idea of confusion.

Diegetic sound is used for realism and helps create
mood. This is important in thrillers for the audience
to give emphasis to what the character is feeling.
Contrapuntal sound (music) is used when the
policeman shouts to the other policeman to enhance
the treat there might be.


Editing:
A jump cut is used inside the building when the
man is brought into the room. This was used to
create tension, an important element in thrillers.

The sun is used as a back light to impose a silhouette,
making the man look like a villain; the low angle helps
achieve this.

Continuity is used to give a sense of realism and to
help it flow.

MCU - EXTLS, focus pulling is used when the older man
starts to talk as the distance between the two would make
it hard to do a shot reverse shot.

Rosies Thiller Films Analysis 3

44 inch chest

Mise En Sense

. His house in the beginning looks destroyed. There is broken glass everywhere, as the door is open and the man is laying on the floor, this could suggest a burglary of some sort. The door is open, so it looks as if the burglar has escaped out of the back door.

. With all the broken things, if you look at it and imagine it not all over the place the whole place would actually look quite expensive, which means maybe it was a burglary. But then again, the television was smashed and if it was a burglary they wouldn’t smash a nice television like that, they would take it wouldn’t they?

. The man laying on the floor has messy hair and sweaty face. This could maybe suggest that he is unclean, or maybe with the title 44 inch chest, he couldn’t run very far and maybe he tried to chase the burglar and ran out of breath and fell over.

. Although he looks scruffy in the face this contradicts with what he is wearing as he looks very well dressed. So this begins to make the audience ask questions. Who is he? Why is he lying on the floor with his house all smashed up? What has happened to him? And all these questions that are being asked are very important in the opening in thrillers as it gets people wondering and thinking more in-depth about the opening scene.

. In the second scene, it is a shot of a man and an elderly lady on a sofa. The man is wearing an apron which does not look very masculine. As the living room looks pretty dated it looks as if it is the elderly ladies house and the man Is looking after her. But the thing the audience start to think is, how does these two characters have in relation with the man we saw in the first scene. And also the house we see in the second scene is the complete opposite of what we see in the first scene.

Glass on the floor in the first scene

Smashed up computer

Man on the floor in the smashed house

Camera Work

. in the beginning there is a focus pull. This raises questions, because as you see the glass blurred you cant really tell what it is. So the audience is thinking, is it diamonds? Or glass? Then as it comes into focus you can tell that it is glass. These are extreme close ups that raise questions.

 

. The Close ups in this first section of the thriller film emphasises the ides of personal space. For example if you had someone right up really close in your face you would feel uncomfortable. So by having these close ups it can make the audience feel uncomfortable.  

Sound

 . There is very contrapuntal sound in the opening sequence of the film. This is because the man is lying in a destroyed house that looks like it has been burgled with a love song playing over the top.

. in the second scene there is diagetic sound from the television. This is an example of realism because even though you cant see the tele you can still hear it and realise that it is a television.

Editing

. There are straight cuts, this gives the opening scene a quicker pace.

. Normally used in thrillers are short takes to build up the tension. But in this sequence theyhave used longer takes to create tension. By using longer takes it makes the audience really look and see what is happening.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgk16prXZsE

Rosies Thiller Films Analysis 2

The Disappearance of Alice Creed

Mise en Sense

. At the beginning of the scene it looked a bit dodgy with them stealing the car. But then as they entered the flat and started boarding up the windows it began to make the audience feel a lot worse and wondering what they both were doing.

. The screw the bed to the floor and then add manicals and such like items to it. And this then begins to look more suspicious as manicals are used to chain someone to a bed. It now looks as if they are not just doing some decorating. This begins to make they audience again ask questions which is crucial for a thriller film. People will be now asking, what are they doing? Why are they doing this? Is it Alice Creed they are going to kidnap?

. At one point the to men are in the woods. This is a very eary setting and by filming it in to woods it created an unsettled mood and atmosphere. This again makes people question it. For example people will be wanting to know what they are doing there? Why are they digging a whole? Are they going to berry someone there?

. The flat they are working on looks very empty when they enter it. It almost looks derelict. I think the reason that they used this is because no-one ever visits derelict houses and they are out of the way so no-one can find them.

Camera Work

. In the beginning sequence there are medium shots, long shot and close up's. These are all used to express body language and facial expression. The long shot in this show parts of the surroundings as well. So as you can see in above the shot of them walking in the forest. You can see their body language and the surroundings which makes them actually look like they are doing something suspicious and bad.

Sound

. There is dramatic soundtrack that has been placed over the top of the clip. This is to build tension. This is not contrapuntal sound it more parallel. As it fits in with the whole sequence. Of tension building.

. There is also diagetic sound of the men pulling down the curtains and screwing bolts into the doors etc. these are probably folys that have been edited louder. This would be to emphasise what they are doing.

. There is no dialogue in this beginning sequence. No communicating with words on what they are doing to the house. This shows that they whole thing is very thought out and planned that they don’t need to ask each other anything. They know exactly what they are doing, so there is no need for discussion.

Editing

. They have made the takes longer they getting shorter as it goes on. At the beginning when it looks as if they are just stealing a car there are longer takes. But when they get to the empty derelict house the music gets louder and the takes get shorter as we start to realise that they were not just stealing a car. There is more to this than that. By having shorter takes in builds up tension and creates a very unsettled atmosphere.

Rosies Thiller Films Analysis 1

4.3.2.1

Mise En Sense

. In the beginning of this sequence there is a girl on a bridge with crystals in her hand. This begins like this to make the audience begin to ask questions like every thriller move should. They will be asking, why is she there? Why are the crystals important?

. The girls hair is quite scruffy and she is wearing a big coat. And her make up looks as if she has been crying. By looking at this we can start to picture what kind of character she is. Maybe she is homeless.

 

. Some other girls turn up. One points a gun at her and asks her to give over the crystals. They are all wearing posher more middle class things. This is to maybe shows that they are more higher up than the girl on the bridge.

Camera Work

. In the beginning of the piece there is a big close up, this is so we can see the emotion on the girls face. If this shot was a long shot it wouldn’t have been so effective as you wouldn’t be able to see the emotion and sadness on her face.

 . There is a long shot of the girl standing on the edge of the bridge. I think this shot is used to create tension as you can see how close she is to the edge and you can see that her body language is very tight as if she is scared.

. There is also a medium shot of the other three girls who arrive as they want there crystals. This is a good shot because it doesn’t just show the facial expression and body language of the characters but I also shows a part of what they are wearing.

Sound

. There is diagetic sound in this piece such as her moving the crystals in her hand and the car pulling up. This is sound that is heard by people in the film.

. There is atmospheric music in the background so it really fits in with it. This created tension as the loudness of the sound builds up before she decides to jump of the edge of the bridge.

. There is not much dialogue in the beginning of this film. Only the atmospheric music and the diagetic music. The only dialogue heard in the beginning is when the girls ask for the stones. I think most thrillers use no dialogue in their films because it creates more tension and it gives the audience more time to think and ask themselves questions like what is she doing? And how did she end up with these stone / crystals.

Editing

. The takes seem to be quite long. This is again to create tension, because I think the audience is kind of worried that she is going to jump of the edge of the bridge, so by dragging it out it creates an unsettled atmosphere..

. There are only really straight cuts in the beginning of this film. I think this is to create tension again. Because if there are straight cuts and each take is on a different angle of her then it makes people think, is she really going to jump?

Watch the beginning of this film online on...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGq5f10bkyw

Research Task Jaz

This is the open sequenc to se7en.

Mise en scene

• The mise en scene in this opening works for a thriller as it shows many objects which cause the viewer to ask questions about the film. For example the opening shot, of a book, creates the quetion of the importance of the book as it is the first thing you see.

•  The credits are written in an unusual, unrecognised typeface which creates the mood of the film as it gives specific connotations, and creates suspence.

• This image is very powerfull. It is again unusual and most viewers would be confused as to its relevence and would again ask quetions as to the storyline of the film.  

Camera Work

• The camera work is very important in this openning. There are seveal extreme close ups of objects which at times make it hard to identify them.

• This image in particular gives the viewer no clue as to what the object is, this again creates suspenc and asks questions.

Final film with credits

Match on action...

Match on action

Match on action

Match on action

Match on action