Miss Georgiou 1/10/12

To be able  to identify what a thriller film is

Codes and conventions of a thriller film
Low key lighting
Weapons
Shadows
Masks
Victims
Love triangle ending in murder



What is a thriller film?
Settings- unknown location
Editing timings change to match the scene
Iconography - weapons
Colour/ connotations of clothing
Suspense shock surprise
Low key lighting creates shadows
Sounds mirror the action
Presentations male villains
Female victims
Protagonist
Antagonist
A murder is a key theme
High camera angle shots
Hidden identity/ masks

Target audience- 15+
Male mostly



Saw
Dark at the beginning
Hidden identity of victim on the floor
Natural silences - makes situation feel real
Hidden identity of the man talking
Gun in dead mans hand
Unknown location
High camera shot at the dead man- shows how the killer had more power
All male victims-non conventional
Chained to the side and locked

I understand that saw is. Thriller film because of the conventions such as natural sounds, the hidden identities and the high camera shot of the dead man
Add natural noises and cover people's identity and the location
Use high camera shots of important things
Low key lighting

im doing my thriller analysis of Scream 2.
when there in the cinema and Maureen Evans and her boyfriend are going to watch the latest scream film, there is a packed cinema and most of them are wearing masks which cover their identity. this is a convention of a thriller film, which masks the murders face. with most of them dressed the same this also stop the villain being fund amongst a dark busy room. as they are in a cinema it is normally dark, which little lighting from the film itself. this is another convention which shows that the cover of darkness is when most things happen, which is why lots of thriller films have low key lighting. the shots are mostly mid shots, which show them while they are sitting down, this
















saw is the sort of thriller i had imagined in my head with all the common conventions which stuck to the actual rules. i think it was sticking to easy ground whereas there are others which pushed themselves, but this is why saw is very popular. drawing the spider diagram made me aware of things i never thought could of been conventions but now have more to look out for while analysising a thriller film.