Wallander (firewall, BBC)

When watching Wallander we had to right down all the conventions of a thriller in just t6he opening scene. we then had to edit it in as much detail as we could.

• Eerie music creates tension and suspence, this makes you feel wary and nervous as you dont know what is going to happen.
• Black screen makes you feel uncomfortable as you dont know what is going to happen. The audience is expecting to see something bad ir sad, this also makes the audience feel very uneasy.
• The camera then goes to a crain shot of water this makes the audience wonder why there is a shot of it, this also makes them more suspicious and wary of what is about to happen.
• A sound wind effect is then introduced.
• The camera is then shown going past fields, this makes audience ask even more questions about what is going on. This also makes audience feel unsettled and uncomfortable as they are unware of what is going on.
• The sound then gets faster as the camera moves on, this creates tension for the audience as it then gets even louder, till it stops dead at two girls this makes the audience even confused as to what is going on in this short sequance.
• Close up of girls who are very isolated and in the middle of no where. this makes the audeince ask another question which is why they are in the middle of no where and what they are doing, this also makes them more aware and open.
• A shot is then cut of a van with blood on window screen, this suggests an accident might have happened but makes audeince wonder exactly what accident, even though it is something they dont want to see.
• The girls look very dirty and rebellious. Girl on forground looks like the main character she looks very serious, and the girl in the backgorund is blurred looks very scared.
• More questions are asked such as, What crime has happened?, Who done it?, Could it be the girls?
• Close up of girls faces show audience their expressions, the main girl looks angry, but the other girl looks very worried and once again scared. The deep breathing from both girls which is a hyberbolic sound as it is very exaggerated suggests they are out of breath, this makes the audeince feel very on edge and worried for them.
• dead man in van shows he has been attacked, makes you think why and how. maybe he attacked them but they fault back. a card in the van shows he is a taxi driver but why would he drive to the middle of nowhere. this changes the audeince views straight away on what has happened.
• A shot is then cut to of a close up of the mans face. You can then see the mans eye flicker, this shows the attack had just happened as he is just loosing unconsciness.
• Close up of girls hand dropping a knife, this suggests she stabbed him. makes audience feel again incomfortable, and they ask more questions such as why she had a knife? and what has happened? the noise of the knife is a chingy noise this also creates tension.

Cape Fear, 1962

During a cover lesson for Miss Lynch we had to look up the opening scene for Cape fear from 1962 . We had to find 5 questions the audeince would ask, the convention and then analyse it using the camera work.



*Cape Fear 1962, Opening Scene



5 qustions the audience would ask while watching this was:

• Who is he?



• Where is he going?



• Why does he look back?



• Who is he looking for?



• Why is he looking for him?

The conventions i found when looking at this openig scene are:

• Eerie music, this sets the scene of uneasyness and leaves the audeince wonderign why?



• Supense, makes the audeince ask even more questions



• Tension, this is caused by the Eerie music and the way he is acting.

How the camera is used:

• Long shot showing man walking and his surrounding, this gives the audeince an idea of where he is.



• panning, this follows him round to where he is walking. this looks as if someone is following his every move.



• long shot of him walking across the road the camera then cuts to a close up of him crossed the road abd walking upo the stairs, leaves audience asking why.



• Cuts to a close up of him in building, looking around.



• Extreme close up as he walks away.



• Mid shot of him walking up the stairs, walking striaght past a lady who dropped a book, he doesn't help up. this gives the audeince an idea of the sort of person he is.



• mis shot of both men looking back at each other, this creates tension.



• long shot of man talking to cleaner who is in a close up asking where someone is.

Brick (Johnson, 2005, US)

when watching brick you can see clearly that it is an opening scene as it shows many close ups and unaswered questions the viewers have to answer themselves. This also fits into the genre of a thriller as it shows bits and pieces of whats happening instead of the whole things. this leaves the audience wondering what is happening, why it is, who the characters are and so on.

the opening scene consists of many conventions and close ups withc make up this type of genre these are:

• Extreme close up of eyes, this autamatically makes the audience start asking questions ( who is he?, what is he doing?) this also draws in the attention of the audience by making them watch even more to see what is happening, This shot is very strong as it doesn't give away to much information to early.


• long shot showing him and a women laying on floor, ( has he done this?, whats happening?) This shot creates a lot of tension and confusion as you are still trying to figure out who the first character is then another character gets introduced.


• close up of shoes, shows how he is standing i.e the position, this extreme close up is showing his shoes and every detail of them, this could lead to a clue later on in the film as it is not often you have shots like this, it makes you remeber these shows clearly instead of them being a shit were you can hardly see them.


• close up of girls legs (is she dead?), this close up eaves many unaswered questions as te audience wants to know what happened to her and if she is dead or alive, this creates a great amount of tension.


• cuts back to close up of him


• close up of her hair showing part of her face


• close up of him again


• close up of her braclets ( why are they showing that?, isit some sort of clue?)

by having all these close ups at the begining doesn't give away much as it is only showing certain bits, by doing it like this makes the audeince ask so mnay questions witch fit in the conventions of a thriller and tells you it is a thriller by how it is set out.

The Sixth Sense

It is obvious from the opening scene taht sixth sense is a thriller by the many conventions used. The Eerie music at the begining sets a uneasy and spooky atmosphere, by having this right at the beginning sets the mood staright away and makes the audience wonder what is going to happen, already they are asking questions. During the opening scene a women goes into her basement, the camera work it hand held, this makes the audience think she is being watching. By having the camera work like this makes the audience feel uncomfortable and unsettled, they want to know whats going to happen but dont want to watch it. when you look at the basement it is very old and dusty/dirty. This is very contrasting to upstiars as it is very birght and comforting. by hvaing this contrast sets the mood of a thriller genre in terms of how it gets the mood across to teh audiences and teh questions they are asking.

Memento (Nolan, 2000, US)

Memento is a very good opening sequance for a thriller as it includes many conventions which show it is a Thriller Genre such as eerie music, supense and tension, unexpected, loud scream. by hvaing all these in such a short sequence adds to the effect all together, it makes the audience want to watch more and answer the answered questions they have. This opening sequance doesn't start from the beginning but from the middle, its as if it is starting with a flashback, this is really good as it gives the audience more questions to ask as to what is going on. To have an opening sequance like this sets the scene of a Thriller well and shows to the audience it is a thriller genre by how it is produced.

Memento (Nolan, 2000, US)

Memento shows it is a Thriller by the amount of conventions it uses and the camera work. while editing Memento i looked at cinematography, sound, mise en scene, editing as you can see from below.
Opening Scene:

• Just as the film begins and starts to get introduced music starts to play. the music is very slow and dramatic, this creates tension in the film as well as to the audience. by hvaing this Eerie music makes the audience feel very uncomfortable as they are wondering what is going to happen and when, it is very uneasy music.
• A close up is then introduced showing a hand developing a photo, it then fades before it cuts into a mid shot showing when he took the photo, by having the photo fading instead of development shows a confusion as it is reversed. This shot is framed to a slight angle but so the picture is still in the centre.
• a shot is then introduced of teh camera zooming out and down showing half a man putting a picture back in the camera and re taking it. by having all this leaves the audience feeling very confused and leaving them asking them selfs many questions which they are then left to answer themselves.
• The film then cuts into a close up of the wall he took a picture of, this gives the audience more to think about as they ahve to piece together what they think is hapopenign and why, this is when the stroy starts to unfold.
• A character is then introduced but the audience does not know anything about them or what they look like, this makes you want to follow the story even more.
• By having so many close ups only shows the audience what is in the shot it doesn't show you what is going on in the background. By doing this makes you wonder what you can't see not what you can, this also leaves the audience asking more questions as they want to see more.

While watching this the audeince asks many questions such as:

• Why he has that photo?
• What is it for?
• Is this a flashback?
• Whats going on?
• Evidence?

Brief of task set.

Brief: The titles and opening sequance of a new thriller genre film, this has to last a maximum of two minutes.

For this task i will be working with Emma Martin and Nathan Kent. We will be planning our short film, recoring what we we be doing and filming it all together as a group but then we will all edit our sequance on our own and how we want it to be.