Wednesday 24 February 2010
This is the opening to 1995 thriller 'Se7en'; I think it is particularly effective. The use of extreme close ups, quick cuts, odd camera angles (for example, one shot is upside down) and some out-of-focus shots all create a dramatic feel and heighten tension right from the very start - the quick cuts directly contrasting with the slow deliberate movements of the person featured also help this. As is typical with thrillers, the colours in the sequence are kept dark with mainly blacks and browns being used and the use of shadow is prominent. The effect of this is that the film exudes mystery and suspense with the audience already hooked and wanting to know more. A lot of the shots overlap, with images and text being super-imposed on top of each other, sometimes there are two seperate shots on the screen at one time and sometimes there are flashes of scribblings and text too quick for the audience to fully read. This implies that there is a lot more to know with this film and that hidden meanings and many layers are going to be used. The music used is very sombre and dark, with echoing, industrial sounds built into it. It sounds ominous and heightens the tension. As the content itself is not that scary, the music plays a huge part in making the scene seem it. For my thriller, I will really have to consider how music can change the mood of the scene.
Monday 15 February 2010
'Taking Lives' analysis
After watching 2004 thriller 'Taking Lives', I decided to write an analysis aiming to reach a conclusion as to wether it conformed to or subverted the typical conventions of a thriller.
In what ways does ‘Taking Lives’ conform to or subvert what you consider the conventions of the thriller genre?
Each genre of film has its own set of techniques and elements that define it. Films classed at thrillers generally make use of things like suspense, complicated storylines usually with many twists and character driven action sequences. The film Taking Lives features some typical thriller characteristics, but rejects others.
The storyline of Taking Lives is one you would expect from a thriller. The basic overview is that there are a series of murders and the detective is trying to track down the killer. Special agent Illeana Scott uncovers various clues and becomes closer to solving the identity of the killer. There are various twists, turns and red herrings along the way designed to keep the audience guessing, as is usually the case with this genre. Near the end of the film, Costa (who was previously believed to be a witness, a love interest and the next victim) is revealed as the killer, but just as the audience have got over that shock, at the very end of the film another twist follows. Illeana is seen to be living in a remote house, and it also pregnant. Costa tracks her down and they fight in the house, culminating in him stabbing her in the stomach. Illeana then stabs him back, whilst telling him she wasn’t really pregnant and it was a trap devised to catch him. This twist at the very end when the audience think the film is over is used in many thrillers, for example The Usual Suspects where Verbal Kint is shown to be Kaiser Sosay and Layer Cake where Daniel Craig is shot in the last few seconds of the film.
Taking Lives is full of tension and suspense. A particular scene that exemplifies this is when Illeana Scott is walking around the killer’s old bedroom. Dramatic music is used, the room is dark and Scott is slowly walking around it on her own. Suddenly the killer grabs her from under the bed accompanied by an increase in the music’s volume and tempo, and runs out of the room before the audience or Illeana can see his face. This makes the audience jump, even though the built up tension means they were expecting it. The use of suspense shows Taking Lives conforming to the conventions of this genre.
This film is very character driven, as usual with thrillers. The protagonist, Illeana Scott starts off in a normal situation – working as a special agent and doing her every day job. As the plot thickens she becomes part of a situation that is extraordinary even for a special agent, she becomes romantically involved with a suspect who turns out to be the murder and almost becomes a victim before becoming a murderer herself. However this act of murdering Costa symbolises her life becoming ordinary again, as the audience gain a sense that things can now go back to normal and Illeana can have her life back. Films in the thriller genre often follow this structure, with a character starting and ending with a normal life and a problem being encountered in the middle. This film also follows the idea that the hero is usually someone in a dangerous job such as a police officer, spy, assassin etc, and in this case Angelina Jolie plays a Special Agent. The film ‘Taken’ is one of many that follow these elements, the family start of living quite normally - although the dad is a retired spy – before the daughter is kidnapped. The bulk of the film is taken up with the dad trying to track down his daughter, and at the end he succeeds and normality is restored.
However not all elements of Taking Lives follow the conventions of the thriller genre. The genre typically includes violence, either for the shock value or to tell the story. On first viewing you may think that Taking Lives is quite a violent film, but actually it is not very graphic and hardly any actual violence is shown. It focuses on the aftermath of brutality, with quite a few gory shots (particularly a shot of Costa in a lift holding his mothers head which he has just severed). Even the first scene where a boy is pushed in front of a car and then gets beaten with a rock, sound effects mainly create the illusion of violence. This makes Taking Lives similar to legendary thriller Psycho, where in both cases the lack of actual violence subverts the conventions of the thriller genre.
The lead character in Taking Lives is Special Agent Illeana Scott. This is unusual for a thriller, the protagonist is typically a strong male character. In this case it also makes the film slightly implausible, the idea that someone such as Angelina Jolie would have a job like that, let alone fall for average-looking witness/killer Costa. It is refreshing to see a strong female lead though, especially someone like Illeana Scott who is tough, good at her job, organised and meticulous. This makes it similar to ‘The Bone Collector’, as this is one of few other female-lead thrillers (also starring Angeline Jolie in the main role). In this regard, this film subverts the typical ideas of the thriller genre, along with any sexism that occurs when writing a film such as this.
In conclusion, Taking Lives is very much a typical thriller including all the elements you would want to find from one. However there is enough examples of it subverting the genre’s conventions to make it individual and stand out from other films in the thriller genre.
In what ways does ‘Taking Lives’ conform to or subvert what you consider the conventions of the thriller genre?
Each genre of film has its own set of techniques and elements that define it. Films classed at thrillers generally make use of things like suspense, complicated storylines usually with many twists and character driven action sequences. The film Taking Lives features some typical thriller characteristics, but rejects others.
The storyline of Taking Lives is one you would expect from a thriller. The basic overview is that there are a series of murders and the detective is trying to track down the killer. Special agent Illeana Scott uncovers various clues and becomes closer to solving the identity of the killer. There are various twists, turns and red herrings along the way designed to keep the audience guessing, as is usually the case with this genre. Near the end of the film, Costa (who was previously believed to be a witness, a love interest and the next victim) is revealed as the killer, but just as the audience have got over that shock, at the very end of the film another twist follows. Illeana is seen to be living in a remote house, and it also pregnant. Costa tracks her down and they fight in the house, culminating in him stabbing her in the stomach. Illeana then stabs him back, whilst telling him she wasn’t really pregnant and it was a trap devised to catch him. This twist at the very end when the audience think the film is over is used in many thrillers, for example The Usual Suspects where Verbal Kint is shown to be Kaiser Sosay and Layer Cake where Daniel Craig is shot in the last few seconds of the film.
Taking Lives is full of tension and suspense. A particular scene that exemplifies this is when Illeana Scott is walking around the killer’s old bedroom. Dramatic music is used, the room is dark and Scott is slowly walking around it on her own. Suddenly the killer grabs her from under the bed accompanied by an increase in the music’s volume and tempo, and runs out of the room before the audience or Illeana can see his face. This makes the audience jump, even though the built up tension means they were expecting it. The use of suspense shows Taking Lives conforming to the conventions of this genre.
This film is very character driven, as usual with thrillers. The protagonist, Illeana Scott starts off in a normal situation – working as a special agent and doing her every day job. As the plot thickens she becomes part of a situation that is extraordinary even for a special agent, she becomes romantically involved with a suspect who turns out to be the murder and almost becomes a victim before becoming a murderer herself. However this act of murdering Costa symbolises her life becoming ordinary again, as the audience gain a sense that things can now go back to normal and Illeana can have her life back. Films in the thriller genre often follow this structure, with a character starting and ending with a normal life and a problem being encountered in the middle. This film also follows the idea that the hero is usually someone in a dangerous job such as a police officer, spy, assassin etc, and in this case Angelina Jolie plays a Special Agent. The film ‘Taken’ is one of many that follow these elements, the family start of living quite normally - although the dad is a retired spy – before the daughter is kidnapped. The bulk of the film is taken up with the dad trying to track down his daughter, and at the end he succeeds and normality is restored.
However not all elements of Taking Lives follow the conventions of the thriller genre. The genre typically includes violence, either for the shock value or to tell the story. On first viewing you may think that Taking Lives is quite a violent film, but actually it is not very graphic and hardly any actual violence is shown. It focuses on the aftermath of brutality, with quite a few gory shots (particularly a shot of Costa in a lift holding his mothers head which he has just severed). Even the first scene where a boy is pushed in front of a car and then gets beaten with a rock, sound effects mainly create the illusion of violence. This makes Taking Lives similar to legendary thriller Psycho, where in both cases the lack of actual violence subverts the conventions of the thriller genre.
The lead character in Taking Lives is Special Agent Illeana Scott. This is unusual for a thriller, the protagonist is typically a strong male character. In this case it also makes the film slightly implausible, the idea that someone such as Angelina Jolie would have a job like that, let alone fall for average-looking witness/killer Costa. It is refreshing to see a strong female lead though, especially someone like Illeana Scott who is tough, good at her job, organised and meticulous. This makes it similar to ‘The Bone Collector’, as this is one of few other female-lead thrillers (also starring Angeline Jolie in the main role). In this regard, this film subverts the typical ideas of the thriller genre, along with any sexism that occurs when writing a film such as this.
In conclusion, Taking Lives is very much a typical thriller including all the elements you would want to find from one. However there is enough examples of it subverting the genre’s conventions to make it individual and stand out from other films in the thriller genre.
Saturday 6 February 2010
The 'thriller' genre
'Thriller is a broad genre of literature, film, television, and gaming that includes numerous and often overlapping sub-genres.'
The genre 'thriller' contains many characteristics specific to it. It can encompass many sub-genres: medical ('Awake'), war ('The Hurt Locker'), crime ('Seven'), science-fiction ('Donnie Darko'), religious ('The DaVinci Code) and many more. As my final piece is to be the opening to a thriller I will have to research the conventions of them in order to fully understand the genre and make my piece as effective as possible.
- Thrillers often take place in exotic or foreign settings. This makes the action seem more fantastical, providing a sense of escapism for the viewer and making the film more dramatic. An example of this is 'Taken' which is set in various locations throughout Europe whilst Liam Neeson's character is on a mission to find his kidnapped daughter.
- Tension and suspense are key features in thrillers, these are often acheived through the use of dramatic/eerie music, quick cuts, camera angle changes and the use of features such as shadows, mirrors and darkness.
- Violence is often used in thrillers, as is the inclusion of various shocking events and images of horror, for example dead bodies.
- The protaganist is often a man of action or a "hard man", often a spy, assassin, police officer, gangster, detective or other government operative. Examples of this are 'The Bourne Identity' where Matt Damon plays assassin Jason Bourne and the 'James Bond' films where many actors over the years have played spy James Bond who aims to defeat the infamous 'Bond villains' and their evil plans.
- The main character often endeavers to defeat the villain or the evil of the situation to allow good to prosper.
- The storylines of thrillers, no matter how different they seem, mostly have a similar structure. The protaganist starts off in a regular situation just living his or her life, when an event happens which plunges them into an extraordinary situation. Following this, there are always many twists and turns designed to keep the audience guessing until the very end when the main character eventually returns to a normal life.
- Thrillers often start by setting up the story straight away, by beginning at a crime scene or in the midst of a dramatic event. This intruiges the viewer and keeps them hooked from the very first scene.
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