Thriller Research

Last week we started to look at thriller films again, in particular the first few minutes of some. This was to build up our knowledge of what kind of camera angles, music and plot they use in the first few minutes to help us when planning our own openings. This is what I made note on:

The Book of Eli

2009

 

In the opening scenes of this post-apocalyptic thriller we see a crabbing shot of a dark woodland area. The tree trunks are quite thin and they give the impression of bars and imprisonment, a common feature in thriller films.  Ash is falling rapidly through the tree tops like rain and the crabbing shot starts to lower so the ground is visible. The first thing that the audience sees apart from the ash and trees in a gun. The gun is laying on the floor and soon after we see a hand, the hand that has dropped the gun. As the crabbing shot continues we can see that this hand belongs to a dead person who is laying in this dark forest. The sound at this point is non-diegetic and is slowly getting louder and adding suspense. We see something moving in the background of this shot now and as the figure gets closer we can see it is a sphynx cat, it starts to eat at the dead body. If that wasn't chilling enough the camera starts to turn and zoom, we are now introduced to a new character.
The zoom continues and as it does the breathing of this character keeps getting heavier, they appear to be wearing a gas mask. The camera continues to zoom until we see a metallic arrow head, we now have a cats POV shot. The music is continuing to heighten and we can now see the POV of the concealed character, the music stops for a short while. Suddenly the arrow is fired and once fired the shot is slowed down, this gives the impression of not knowing where the shot is going. The arrow then hits the cat and it is killed almost instantly. The concept of death and the fact that this person has had to resort to killing a cat makes the viewer want to find out what has happened. 

Brick

2006

The opening of this film is very different to the previous, it opens with a very eary, almost peaceful percussion piece. We then see an extreme close up on a man, we can mainly see his eyes, he looks sad or scared. We then see a dead body, a female character and the man crouching near by looking at her, we cannot tell is he is the killer or not yet. The background shows a dark tunnel which gives a sense of mystery and confinement. There is a close up on her wrist which is in some running water, a common concept in thrillers and we see her bright blue bracelets. We then see a a hand wearing these same bracelets put a note in a locker, obviously from when the now dead girl was alive.
The note is about a meeting, the main male character from the opening shot goes to the meeting place but no one is there, a phone box near by starts to ring. The character answers the phone putting himself in a confined space, the person on the phone knows him. He tries to make sense of what she is saying, she is in danger. We can tell this by her crying and pleas for help. She also says that it's 'nice to see him' which gives us the impression of him being watched. All the time the main character seems to be in quite isolated surroundings, the scene ends with a car speeding into the distance, we presume the girl is in this car. No one knows what is going on or what will happen which means the viewer will want to continue watching. 

Gothika

2003

This thriller opens with a rather long instrumental piece on a violin, the logo for Columbia Pictures has also been changed to fit the genre of the film.

We first hear a woman's voice whispering, she is talking about her encounters with the devil. She is clearly the psychopath in this film and she looks quite rough, the other woman in this confined space seems to be a detective or police woman. They are behind bars in the confined space, and the psycho continues to whisper her stories. The viewer gets a feeling of not belonging and that they shouldn't be there, it's a sense of voyeurism. There conversation continues for a while, the psychopath explaining how she killed her stepfather whilst the other woman listens, the psycho gets angry with the woman for not listening with her heart and attacks her. Police come in and restrain her, the light is dim and it beams onto the psychopath. 

We do not know the background to the psycho or other woman that well so the viewer wants to find out what is going to happen and why this psycho thinks she has had encounters with the devil.