Detailed Analysis of Thriller Clip

This is the opening clip of the psychological thriller Memento. In this clip a man shoots his victim and takes a picture of him however the actions are shown in reverse. E.g. we see the picture being taken then the gun shooting.

• Camera angles used are high angle
• Sound used is non digetic (violin and piano)
• Also digetic sound is used (Camera flash sound, gun shout and shouting)
• MES used is the picture, bullet, blood, gun
• The main editing is shot in reverse and also match cut
• Titles are big and spread out and serif font
• The camera angle connotes the superiority the killer has over the victim
• The non digetic music connotes suspense building up 
• The digetic music is used to shock the audience
• MES creates a sinister atmosphere in the clip
• The editing is used to confuse the audience. This is why its a psychological thriller, the audience must think
• The title connotes seriousness

Thriller Sub Genres

List of thriller sub genres

• Action Thriller
• Psychological Thriller
• Supernatural Thriller
• Political Thriller
• Suspense Thriller
• Mystery Thriller
• Crimer Thriller
• Conspiracy Thiller
• Legal Thriller
• Religious Thriller
• Techno Thriller

My favourite three sub genres are action, suspense and crime. I prefer these three compared to mystery or psychological as they keep me more intrested in whats happening, wherease the other two rely on the audience paying full attention if not the whole plot could me confusing.

One of my favourite thrillers is the horror thriller, The Omen 2006.

The Omen 2006 is remake of Richard Donner's The Omen of 1976. The film is about a couple who's baby dies at childbirth, secretly the father adopts another baby who's mother died at child birth. Little did the man know he adopted the son of satan. This leads to a series of events including death and unormal doings, the mother suspects something isn't right with her son, but it's too late as she dies and it's left for her husband to work it out. The film has a chilling ending as the husband dies and the son of satan lives, and what he will donext the audience will never know. I like The Omen as its filled with suspicion as both the audience and the characters are unaware of who the son is.

Intertexuality

This term Intertexuality is used to describe the same visual references between films we watch. The scene's are not exactly the same but there are certain aspects you recognise from other films. The film makers borrow from each other. You can tell this from various things such the props that are used, certain camera angles, sounds and methods of editing. An example of this is in the film stepfather there have a curved staircase and in the film Fatal Attraction they have exactly the same curved staircase same colour and design. One other example is in the film Psycho when the women gets murdered the shower come out of there rings and fall on her, this same shot was in the Stepfather when the women stabs the killer in the neck the director purposely showed the shower curtains coming out of there rings.

Intertextuality

Intertextuality is the term that describes what it means when a film 'borrows' a camera angle, aspect of mise en scene, a sound or an edit to there film that they have seen from others. The most common clip that has been borrowed somehow into films is Alfred Hitchcock's very famous shower scene in his film Psycho.

This scene contains amazing camera angles, brilliant character movements, perfect scenery and the most famous of all is the distinctive music.


Many films has borrowed aspects from 'PSYCHO' such as


What Lies Beneath

• White bath tub
• Blond naked women
• Non diegetic sound of water
• White shower curtains

Fatal Attractions

• White bathroom
• Non digetic sound of water
• The knife
• Blond woman dying
  

The Stepfather

• White bathroom
• The knife
• Camera shot of the shower curtain being pulled down
• However this time a man is dying
  

Analysis Of The Stepfather

The Stepfather 2009 film is a remake of 1987 American film. They are both named "The Stepfather" and they are both loosely based on the crimes of  John List. The film is about the male character (The Stepfather) who has a twisted addiction of taking on single mothers and there family. However after The Stepfather settles down with a family and gains there trust he kills the mother and her children. But it didn't go as well to plan with the family he tried to do this to in this film...

Director Nelson McCormick uses many different techniques to create suspense. Three major ones he used was Bomb Theory, False Plato & Normality.

Normality
Is established at the start of the film. The Stepfather has showered and shaved but the dying of hair and change of eye colour firstly raises audience awareness. Then he puts on the radio and drinks his coffee, eats his toast however suddenly we see dead bodies. The normality instantly stops for the audience and creates suspense however what creates even more suspense is that normality still exist for The Stepfather.

Bomb Theory

Throughout the whole film this technique exist. the single mother and children do not know that The Stepfather is a murderer and is planning to murder them. On the other hand the audience do know, this keeps us on the edge of our sits waiting to know if he'll murder them? Will they find out in time? This is called the bomb theory, when the audience knows something the characters do not.

False Plato 
This technique appears many times in the film. Firstly with the old women who's a neighbour to the family, the music and camera angles make it look like The Stepfather is in the house but then it is all calm when we see its just the cat that jumps out, then suddenly when everything was calm The Stepfather strikes and kills the old woman. Also when The Stepfather was supposed 2 be dead and the mother and her son are hugging he returns to finish his job of killing them. This is false Plato, when everything seems to be fine but is not.

List of Thriller Sub Genres

Conspiracy thriller e.g. JFK
Crime thriller e.g. No Country for Old Men
Disaster thriller e.g. 2012
Erotic thriller e.g. Basic Instinct 
Legal thriller e.g. The Runaway Jury
Medical thriller e.g. The Experiment
Mystery thriller e.g. Shutter Island
Political thriller e.g. Enemy of the State
Psychological thriller e.g. Psycho
Religious thriller e.g. The Da Vinci Code
Supernatural thriller e.g. What Lies beneath
Techno thriller e.g. The Matrix

1992 erotic thriller that made a gross revenue of $352,927,224 from a $49 million (estimated) Budget.

Erotic thriller most interest me because the genre of sex and love already engages an audience but when mixed with the genre of thriller and suspense the audience is captured even more. Erotic thrillers has been very popular through the 80s and 90s but has declined in marketability. I believe this sub genre needs to return.

Detailed Analysis Of Thriller Clip

Deja vu 

What happens in the clip 

A group of soldiers and normal people go on a ferry and then the ferry blows up. Before the ferry blows up everyone is happy with their families, merry music everyone having a good time.

Use of Camera(Movement Angle Distance)

The camera was distant so you could see what the actors where wearing it. It was like the camera was observing everything that is happening and the angle of the camera is high slightly tilted.

Sound(Musical score,Sound effects,Dialogue)

There was happy sounds mixed with heaving bass drum heart beating sounds. It had this sound so it suggested suspense and maybe something is going to happen. There was music but is was opposite to the good mood of the people.

Mise en scene (Setting, location, lighting, props)

This clip was mainly set on the boat which gets blown up. It is in bored daylight so there was a natural light in this scene. There was one main prop that stood out and that was when the doll fell from the little girls hand in the boat into the water, this was foreshadowing what was about to happen.

Editing

At the start of the clip we see loads of flicker shots and it is not smooth. It has jump cuts its jumps one shot to another in quick sessions and back again but at a different angle. plus there is also slow motion shots.

Title(general comment on front number of them,when they appear, static or moving)

Title was Deja Vu and it was type written like a type writer font. Also it was written in lower case, the credits that appear jump from one place to another and it also has a box frame that is slightly in one the writing.