New location ideas for thriller at my dad's apartment

Here are several shots of the final location we have decided on using, which is the old Norfolk and Norwich Hospital which has recently been made into apartments. We decided to scrap the idea of using the railway as there would be many difficulties with filming, such as having to buy many tickets for the trains to enable us to get enought shots, the trouble with having lots of other people around and trying to film a scene with a knife in a public place.

As you can see by the photos I have included, this new location is perfect for filming a thriller as it has a underground car park, a staircase, lift and long narrow corridors. The car park will be used as our woman character; Betty locks up her car and walks towards



these corridors reflect the ones used in the film The Shining. Although this is a slasher film, the techniques they use often have thriller aspects within them. For example these modern corridors (which in The Shining were new at the time) use the convention of having no where to escape to as they look like they go on forever. 'looking down the barrel of a gun'  

How to shoot a conversation and somebody walking

To shoot a conversation, similarly with shooting someone walking, you need a variety of shots in order to make it interesting for the audience.  You must always shoot in using the 180degree rule, this makes sure it does not confuse the audience and you are always shooting looking the same way. You can also include over the shoulder shots in order to show the person who is being talked to. 
cut-away shots are also often used cutting one from the person talking to the other, in order to see who is talking, when.

Shooting someone working often uses much of the same shots, however, there are a few more shots which can be included in order to make the cut interesting. You can take a shot of just their feet, for example, strangers on a train. This adds mystery, especially in thrillers, to the shot as the audience are unable to see who the person is and where they are going. You can also include an over the shoulder shot of the person who is walking, this gives the effect of someone being followed. You can also include a long shot showing where the person is walking to, which can also be called an establishing shot, giving the audience a sense of location.

The Sixth Sense

The Scene in which Dr. Malcolm Crowe is shot by one of his ex patients in his own home uses many camera techniques which connotate various aspects of the thriller genre. With it being the most important scene in the film (even though this is unknown until the very end of the film) the director needs to keep the audience on their seats and want to keep watching. 

The scene starts with a medium shot of Anna Crowe. The light is noir in order to add mystery to the beginning of the scene, not giving away too much to the audience, heightening the tension. The chiaroscuro lighting (non ambient) is casting a shadow behind her, connotating and hinting that there is someone else around whom the audience, and characters within the mise-en-scene do not know about, adding the fear of uncertainty amongst the audience. This extreme of lighting is highlighting her face, showing the raw fear and emotion, worrying the audience that something is wrong. A zoom shot is used to show broken plates on the floor. The camera is uneven and wobbly showing that this is a point of view shot from Malcom as he walks towards the mess on the floor, the effect of doing this is to make the audience feel involved as although they know that the camera is meant to be Malcom, they feel it could also be themselves and they feel the emotion and fear that he would feel. 

This shot shows Anna screaming. The low lighting makes the shot seem like a nightmare and her and Malcom are inprisioned inside it. The fact that the audience now know there is something there, makes them feel even more on edge, yet still making them want to keep watching. The effect of shooting this inside their home plays on the fear of clautraphobia again because they are trapped inside the room and even thoigh there is a window next to them, we know they cannot escape as they are upstairs. It also makes the scene ironic because people normally feel safe in their own homes and this privacy and safety has been invaded; causing more fear amoungst the audience as they know it could happen to them too. The director has still not given away who is there, still building up the suspense and fear amounst the audience (and characters).
 The camera pans around quickly, towards the source of the shadow.

It is hinted that the intruder is inside the bathroom by using the rule of thirds to centre the focal point drawing the eye to the door, which is framing the fear within the shot. The use of the light is ironic as usually light means safety, however, in this case, it is bringing 'light' showing the audience who the intruder is, heightening fear once again as they perhaps do not want to know any more. The effect of using a door way is to once again build tension as the door is acting as as a hideaway for the intruder, the audience will be on the edge of their seats are they are unsure of what is going to happen, whether the camera will zoom closer; revealing the person or whether the suspense will build more, still not giving away their identity. The area within in the door, using ambient lighting (as it is within the mise-en-scene), is much brighter than the area around, giving a sense of detachment  from the rest of the shot. However, this is unusual as normally it is the area in which the source of the fear is coming from, that is darker than the rest of the shot. 

A close up of Malcom and Anna's faces are used in response to the shot of the door. This shows the raw emotion and fear on their faces causing the audience to empathise with them. Empathy is important with the audience as people who watch films engage with the films much better if they can relate to the characters. In the shot, Malcom is is front of Anna, showing that he is in charge; the domineering character.  In thrillers, the woman character is often either the hero; femme fatale, such as the Bride in Kill Bill, or she is the victim. From this, the audience gather that Anna is the victim, because of the camera angle. It is making her look small, and like she is hiding behind her husband, keeping the audience involved as they will be feeling her fear. The light of the door is also casting a square area of light on Anna, almost as if to 'frame' her as the victim. This is ironic, as later it is revealed that Anna actually was not the victim. 

The camera zoomed slowly, towards the door, mimicking the way that Malcom would move towards the bathroom, showing the fear in his movements. This shot still not does reveil the identity of the inruder, only showing his clothes on the floor and his legs, once again building on the tension and curiosity of the audience. The fact that his clothes are on the floor makes the audience wonder what has happened and why the man isn't wearing them. The light is still dark in order to not give too much away, similarily with the fairly long shot, making sure the audience cannot identify anything about the man.

The identity of the intruder is given away and the camera cuts to this close up of Malcom's face giving the audience a feel of the shock and emotion Malcom is feeling. He is obviously scared, resulting in the audience also feeling his fear. This reflects on the audience more so as a few shots ago, he was the character who was seen to take charge, which is often the case with male characters.

Thriller Film Audience Research

What I want to find out:

• expectations of thriller films
• Previous films seem and enjoyed
• want people want to see more of
• Opinions of various Femme Fatales

How am I going to find out?

• Use internet, such as using imdb
• questionnaire
• asking general questions
• other student's blogs
• interview

What I expect to find:

• What thrillers they have seen and enjoyed
• What conventions used in thrillers which they think particularly work
• What conventions in thrillers they do not like
• opinions of thrillers in general
• opinions of various Femme Fatales 

Example of our questionnaire:

1. what are your personal expectations of independent thriller films? such as Red Road, London to Brighton and Tell no one.

2. What are your personal expectations of mainstream thriller films? such as Kill Bill, Essex Boys and Casino Royale?

3. Give your personal opinions of the films mentioned above or any other independent/ mainstream thriller films

4. What previous thriller have you seen and particularly enjoyed?

• Kill Bill
• Essex Boys
• Casino Royale
• Sin City
• Psycho
• Jaws
• other (please state) 

5. What conventions do you not like in Thriller films?

• Run down location
• split personality characters
• use of soundtrack
• Chiaroscuro lighting
• confined spaces
• claustrophobia
• being watched 

6. What conventions do you believe are effective in Thriller films?

• Run down location
• split personality characters
• use of soundtrack
• Chiaroscuro lighting
• confined spaces
• claustrophobia
• being watched 

7. In Thrillers, do you believe traditional Femme Fatale (such as Gilda) or a contemporary Femme Fatale (such as the bride in Kill Bill) more effective and why?

What did I find out from the  questionnaire? 

I found out that people expect Independent thrillers to have urban or well known locations that are real life, not set up, to have a low budget with not well known actors. In comparison, they expect mainstream to be action packed, have a fast pace, expensive locations, use well known actors and actresses. One person stated that they particularly enjoyed the use of location and characters in London to Brighton, similarly with Essex Boys with shot types. I found out that the most popular thriller film amongst the people I interviews was Kill Bill, with 5 people saying this was their favourite film,  however, Essex Boys, Casino Royale and Jaws also being favourites. 

I asked what conventions of a thriller people thought were effective, and the majority said that confined spaces and playing on people's fear of claustrophobia worked the best in thrillers. I also learnt that two people surveyed thought that traditional femme fatales worked the best, but a majority thought that a contemporary femme fatales worked the best as it breaks the norm, suits the time better and you can relate to them more. 

Opening of Alfred Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train

The opening of Strangers on a Train is very gripping, and a rather unusual beginning to a thriller film. Hitchcock is famous for his variety of shots connotating aspects of the thriller genre.                                                                                                

It starts by the camera focusing on two different taxis pulling up at a train station. Two men come out of the taxis and the camera (low angled) focuses on their feet, cutting from one person to the other. This uses the 180degree rule as it always shoots the feet from the same side, suggesting that they are going to meet. This could also connote the belief in 'fate' and 'everything happens for a reason' perhaps suggesting that something bad is going to happen.

The two men's shoes are very different so you can tell the difference between the two of then. The first man that walks about of the taxi has very expensive looking shoes perhaps showing that he is richer and more authoritative than the second man who wears plainer, yet still smart shoes, showing that he is also probably a business man or fairly high up in a company, yet not as much so as the first man. The fact that the man with the black and white, more expensive shoes steps out and is shown first, also suggests he is higher up than the other man.

Up until the moment they step on the train, the audience do not see their faces at all in the opening sequence, this gives a sense of mystery and builds up the tension amongst the audience leaving them wondering who they people are and what importance they have and most of all.. what is going to happen. This sense of uncertainty is essential in gripping the audience, keeping them in their seats.

The camera shots cut very quickly from one man to another, this gives the opening scene pace, which it needs to keep the audience gripped. The quickness also connotates urgency and would seem to make the audience panicky and feel like they are watching the two men and anticipating them meeting.

Thorne: sleepyhead

"Sleepyhead is a nail-biting thriller following DI Tom Thorne's investigation into a mysterious serial killer. His first three victims ended up dead. His fourth was not so fortunate. Alison Willetts is unlucky to be alive. She has survived a stroke, deliberately induced by skilful manipulation of pressure points on the head and neck. She can see, hear and feel, she is aware of everything going on around her, but she is completely unable to move or communicate. It's called Locked-In Syndrome. In leaving Alison Willetts alive, the police believe the killer's made his first mistake.
D. I. Tom Thorne (David Morrissey) discovers the horrifying truth: it isn't Alison who is the mistake, it's the three women already dead and Thorne knows that they are unlikely to be the last. For the killer seems to be getting his kicks out of toying with Thorne as much as he is pursuing his sick fantasy. Thorne must find a man whose agenda is terrifyingly unique, and Alison, the one person who holds the key to the killer's identity, is unable to tell anybody.
Scaredy Cat will see David Morrissey, Eddie Marsan and Aidan Gillen reprising their roles in an adaptation of Billingham's second DI Tom Thorne thriller, where killing becomes a team sport. The film depicts a vicious, calculated murder. The killer selected his victim at Euston station, followed her home on the tube, and strangled her to death in front of her child. At the same time, killed in the same way, a second body is discovered at the back of King's Cross station. It is a grisly coincidence that eerily echoes the murder of two other women, stabbed to death months before on the same day. Thorne discovers that this is not a single serial killer he's up against, but two of them."

Sky 1's review on Thorne; Sleepyhead

D.I Tom Thorne; a flawed hero:

Tom Thorne is a flawed hero, or arguably a loved villain as he shoots a man who killed his three daughters, making it look like suicide. No one found out that he did this until the last episode where the murderer Thorne was investigating, wrote in blood of his victim; 'How did it feel when you killed him Tom?'. The effect of giving a flawed hero (however, not to this extent) is giving the audience a character in which they can relate to. It's easy for a producer to feed the audience a hero which never does wrong, however it takes more skill, and is much more gripping for the people watching to have a character which they all know isn't perfect. The fact that he isn't perfect makes him seem more realistic as everyone- no matter how good they may seem- have faults. The fact that he is also in the police gives a more complicated, darker feel to the series which could arguably be compared to the series of 'Life on Mars' and 'Ashes to Ashes' with character Tom Thorne much resembling the flawed hero Gene Hunt.

Stills from the series:

Low angled shot of Tom Thorne making him seem important as the audience are 'looking up to him' as the hero of the shot. This still is using the rule of thirds directly drawing the audience's attention to him as the main focus of the shot.

The lighting is ambient using the sun to light the shot, giving an effect of it being natural and the scene not 'set up'. The location however, is very typical of Thriller films or television series as it is run-down and seemingly isolated with the corrugated iron acting as a wall which plays on the audience's fear of being trapped inside, allowing them to feel involved and empathise with the character. Claustrophobia is also playing on making the audience feel uncomfortable as they are unaware of who may be behind the camera and it gives them a fear of not being able to run away and escape. The location is also run down with the graffiti and scrap bits of iron falling away, this gives the effect of there having been crime before which makes the audience think it could happen again.

Another still from the series showing Thorne inside a lift, another generic convention of Thrillers. The camera is once again low-angled making him seem important. Although the camera is a medium shot of his waist upwards, he seems much smaller in this shot, making the audience aware that he is more vunerable as he is entirely trapped inside the lift. The lighting is non ambient meaning that it has been set up specifically for the scene giving the more spotlight effect over Thorne's head, also casting the lines across the metal of the walls of the lift, giving a scene of it being like a nightmare. It is chiaroscuro lighting which, in contrast to the other still, is giving a more un-realistic sense to the shot, making it feel more lke a nightmare than an normal situation. Lifts are also often used in Thrillers with the extremely small spaces and being trapped, making the audience's heart race.

Female Police Officer hiding behind the door. The lighting is non ambient in order to highlight half of her face and give the door an unrealistic looking colour also casting high contrast shadows. The lighting also gives the feel of a nightmare or as if she is 'opening the door to hell'.
Once again this is playing on the fear of being trapped, as she clearly is, yet also using the door for protection.

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Possible shots

Evie and I were inspired by the opening of Alfred Hitchcock's 'Strangers on a train'. You only see the feet of the two men walking, however, the cutaway shots from each person's foot, and the way it is using the 180degree rule, suggests they are going to meet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bjA-4no1ZY  (embedded disabled) 

The Third Man 1949 Carol Read

  The opening shot is that of a Zither, this is a cultural signifier as it is an Austrian instrument which is where the film is set. It is also used as Harry limes is good at pulling people's strings. 

  The audience are finally introduced to the setting of the film; Vienna- the capital city of Austria. Various stills from Vienna inform the audience of the context of the film shoiwng a once grand city, now a fragmented bomb site also telling them about the black market from during and after the war and already an element of darkness and mystery has been introduced upon the film. Suddenly a different wave of emotion is brought into the film with a photograph of a half sunken ship, surrounded by ice with the remains of the destroyed, once thriving, capital city in the background. A dead body, floats in the water. Only a minute in and already connotates of a thriller are uses through the sad sight of what is left of the second world war, destroyed buildings and destroyed people.  

   The camera cuts to a low angled shot of a steam train which is silhouetted against the extremely light background. The low angled shot makes the train look massive compared to the background. The train brings Holly Martins, a friend of Harry Limes, into the scene. He steps off the train wearing a trilby hat and trench coat with steam from the train covering his face- classic costume of the 1940's noir thrillers.  The use of a train pulling in to a station is often used in thrillers as it is mysterious and builds tension as we are unsure of who is about the step off the train, or who is going to be meeting our character. The person stepping off the train is often vulnerable as most of the time they are entering a place they are unsure of, such as our character here; Holly Martins. A long shot is taken of him walking through the streets of Vienna, almost as if someone were watching him from a distance. The camera cuts to a long shot of him him walking under a ladder which is foreshadowing, because it is suggested that something bad is going to happen to him. He is seen walking up the stairs and we see a fantast

ic high angled shot on a stairway looking down to Martins, as if from the perspective of the Austrian man he is talking to. A looming shadow is cast behind him causing a sense a mystery and fear. The man is talking in Austrian/German and there are no subtitles, meaning the audience do not understand what is being said, connotating he way Holly Martins is unsure of what is happening. The high angled shot has been used to show Holly as being vulnerable making the audience feel un-easy. 

The Sewer Scene is one of the most famous scenes from a film ever. It is iconic because of the varieties of different shots and the fact that it was actually shot in the infamous Vienna sewers.  

The effect used by using the sewers is showing how Harry Limes used the sewers in order to move from the different parts of the city, occupied by the different Superpowers, labelling him a 'sewer rat'. He did this by going underground and moving along the dirty, wet sewers. With the filming in black and white, this makes the wet clobbles stand out more causing a 'nightmare' effect.

Towards the end, Harry Limes is shot and suddenly the tables are turned as he becomes the vunerable one. A high angled shot looking down at Harry Limes is taken as he is dragging himself up a spiral staircase, this makes him look small and in danger. The effect of suddenly showing the villain is this vunerable light is allowing the audience to feel empathy with him. Harry Limes is seen as a loveable villain because the audience does not see him throughout the films until the very end meaning they cannot form an opinion of him.

Intertextuality:

When Harry limes reaches the top of the stairs, the camera takes a low-angled show of his hands, showing them as bigger than they would normally appear connotating a nightmare.

Tarantino uses this is Kill Bill volume two when the bride manages to free herself from the grave and the camera (much like the one used in the Third man) takes a low angled shot of her hands. The music in this scene in Kill Bill 2 is the same as from The Good, Bad and the Ugly, meaning Tarantino has devoloped his scene from referencing two others.

 

A majority of the shots filmed in The Third Man are tilted, this connotates the way Harry Limes life isn't straight forward, it's tilted and doesn't make sense, it shows him as not being perfect.