Consideration of Target Audience.

Questions asked when considering the target audience:
-what age group of people go to cinema more often?
-what appeals to women?
-what appeals to men?


Common things that appeal to women in thrillers are:
-A Psychological story, that they can get involved with to
 try and work out the storyline before its evolved.
-Music, sets the mood and atmosphere of the film.
-Interesting Characters, to themselves relate the character-Story, relate their life to the story.

Common things that appeal to men in thrillers are:

-Fighting, purely because boys are generally

 more involved with violence.

-Being drawn into the film and being able to put 

themselves in the heroes shoes in the story.

-Horror and Gory Scenes.

Both genders can also be drawn into certain films if

 stars that they are interested in are starring in new films coming out. 

Audiences are also drawn into the cinema by different kinds of offers, 

here is a screen shot of some of the offers available at the moment.

Analysis of Past Students' Work.
This is one of the previous AS 2011 media studies thriller videos: Hide & Seek.

The opening format of the video includes the school that they attended and the course number. In the next part they put the full names and candidate numbers.
The used 'LiveType' to create their logo animation in the beginning and the titles were presented in a animated format. 

Analysis of Film Openings.

Momento, Chris Nolan (2000)

Conventions-

Gun, Suspense created by seeing a flashback first and
knowing that he is going to die, Deserted place. 

Camera-
Lots of close ups throughout, zooms out showing us a
 long shot of the setting where they are. (deserted)

Editing-
Back and forth flashbacks, filmed and then
 played in rewind and black and white. 

Sound-
A loud escalating depressing, sad sound with the opening credits, non-diegetic.

Mise-En-Scene-
The image of the killing and the  music creating a gloomy atmosphere.
The colours are different in the present and past showing
the significant difference and setting between them.




Brick, Rian Johnson (2005)

Conventions-

Creepy atmosphere by no dialogue,
Opens with a death.

Camera-
Handheald camera, Close up out of focus, Over the
shoulder shot showing what the boy is looking at. 

Editing-
A graphic match is used linking the dead girls bracelets
 to a flashback of the same girl but when she is alive.


Sound-
Disjointed music playing in the background presenting
the boys thoughts and making the audience confused.
Sounds with in the disjointed music, that sounds like bells
which then use a sound bridge to go into a flashback.


Mise-En-Scene-
All blue colours used, creating an overall sad, depressing
atmosphere and mood over the scene, until it skips
 to the next scene, where the girl is also wearing blue bracelets.


Zodiac, David Fincher (2007)

Conventions-

No dialogue building suspense, Gun but an unknown killer,

 Quotes, ''lets go some place quiet'' which is a typical thriller spook.

They are in the middle of nowhere so it is out of 

the ordinary when people start turning up.

Camera-

Fixed camera, Shot/Reverse Shot, Starts with a long 

shot of the landscape showing us where the film is going to take place.

Editing-

Continuous, Skips forward to pass time.

Sound-

Chilled Romantic music playing in the background,

Sounds of the Fire Crackers foreshadowing the gun

 shots that happen shortly after. Background music dies down when 

dialogue starts, then starts again when something has happened.

The music playing is Diegetic. 

Mise-En-Scene- 

Fireworks and Celebrations, Happy atmosphere, 4th July.

Red Herrings.
A red herring is the name given to another device which is intentionally
 used to divert the audiences attention from the truth or an item of significance.
can work with other devices such as enigmas, to create suspense.


For example:
in ‘saw’ two characters spend time imprisoned in a room in which a third character lies dead.
 Throughout the film, both characters appear to be guilty of a series of murder, until it is discovered
 at the end that the third person in the room is not actually dead... but is in fact the killer.

Cliffhangers.

Cliffhangers are sometimes, though not always used.

They are often always used particularly at the end of a series on tv

in order to draw the attention of the viewers and keep them watching. 
In thrillers, they often feature a main character in a precarious or difficult
 dilemma, or confronted with a shocking revelation. 
This keeps the audience interested and keep watching in 
order to see how the situation resolves itself.


For Example:
Strictly speaking The Italian Job isn't classed as a thriller
 although this is a classic example of a cliff hanger in its famous ending.

*Also suspense is built through the reckless,

 careless driving around the mountain edges.

Enigmas.
An enigma is an unanswered question that refers to the puzzle,
something mysterious, or  inexplicable, or a riddle or difficult problem.
This is commonly something used in thillers as somethign the

protagonist has to try and solve or find out before the narrative is
resolved and before the end of the film.

Narrative- Structure, Formulas and Devices.
Continuity Editing.
A clear establishment of 'Cause and Effect' plotting which makes 

the character motivations clear and helps tell an interesting story,

 which progresses logically and steadily. 

MaGuffin.

A MaGuffin, which can also sometimes be spelt as McGuffin, 

i s a plot device that motivates the characters, and moves the story forwards, 

but has very little relevance to the story and is often forgot about by the audience. 

*not to be mistaken with an enigma.



"we have a name in the studio, and we call
it the MacGuffin.' It is the mechanical element
 that usually crops up in any story. In crook
stories it is always the necklace and in
spy stories it is always the papers."

-Alfred Hitchcock-