Sub genre conventions (Thriller)

There are many sub genres which help categorize thriller movies as then many conventions that can be followed, different movies follow different conventions. Sub genres help categorize these movies despite them already being categorized under the genre 'thriller'.

Conspiracy thriller - This thriller consists of a hero figure (protagonist) who normally find self trapped in a situation within a powerful organization with a high power. This resolves around many antagonist characters under a secret organization, who in the end is defeated by our protagonist character. Examples of films who use this thriller convention is 'The Bourne Identity & Enemy States Of Mind'.

Crime thriller - This creates a very suspenseful film, this focuses on the life of a criminal. It includes a lot of action to build suspense and tension within the audience. An example of a crime thriller is 'Hero Wanted'.

Psychological thriller - A thriller film which has conflict between the main two characters, the conflict is more emotional and mental, rather then physical. An example of this is 'Inception'.

Innocent on the run thriller - This sub genre consists of a male protagonist who is blamed by a power above his (normally authority) for doing a crime that he has complete innocence of. An example of a film under this sub-genre is 'Fugitive'. It follows all the same conventions (innocent male blamed for a crime which he did not commit).

These are the main thriller sub-genres that have similar conventions to me and my groups film (Dream Chaser). Our film is a hybrid of :
-Innocent on the run (Our character is blamed for a crime he did not commit)
-Crime (A serious crime is committed which involves the police & secret agencies)
-Conspiracy (Our hero is trapped in a difficult situation where he's over powered by authority)

Research on a successful film director

Christopher Nolan is a very successful & world wide known film director. He mainly directs films with a sub genre in the thriller area; an example of this is the film inception, as its a psychological thriller.

Nolan received serious recognition after directing a big Hollywood film in the year 2000 called 'Memento'. He managed to direct this film on a story  idea given by his brother Jonathan Nolan. Memento was nominated for many awards such as a Golden Globe and an 'Academy Award' (Oscar) for best screen play; this was a huge push in Christopher Nolan's career.

Nolan then pushed on with his career with the help of his brother Jonathan. They both worked together to direct films which included The Batman series & The Prestige. His first collaboration was with a man by the name of Wally Pfister; he would photograph all of Nolan's subsequent films.

In the year 2002 Nolan directed 'Insomnia', an American remake of the 1997 Norwegian film of the same name. Nolan used his creative ideas and included major changes to the plot & the nature of the main character. This led the film to success as the film sold very well in the cinema with many people queuing outside of the big screens to watch it, globally.

In late 2006 a Batman film was officially confirmed; The Dark Knight. Nolan was again directing with the help of his brother Jonathan, they worked together to write a script to this film. They included a star actor to play one of the most important roles in the movie as the antagonist 'The Joker'; Heath Ledger took the role of acting this dark character. The film ended up with global success with enormous box office success; setting the record for the highest-grossing weekend opening in the U.S. It earned over $158 million dollars and became the third highest earning film of all time in the United states in October 2011. The film was then nominated for the 'Directors Guild Of America Award' for 'Best Director' for The Dark Knight. It also got nominated for a total of eight Oscars in the 81st Academy Awards. 

In the year 2010 Nolan received a seven figure contract to direct a film of the name 'Inception' due to the success of The Dark Knight. This film is a psychological thriller. Nolan wrote the script and directed the film. Filming began in summer 2009 and the film was released on July 16 2010. The film received very positive reviews & became a box office hit.

Future Projects:

In March 2010 Nolan confirmed that he's been working on an idea for a Superman movie along side David Goyer. Nolan was given the idea by David Goyer over the phone, which then led to several meetings to discuss and develop the idea. Nolan loved the idea and was more then willing to take it on.

Mr Hughes - This film was scheduled for 2004 but was delayed due to the release of The Aviator & Martin Scorsese's. Nolan feels that making this film ten years later (2014) will be more suitable as people would have forgotten about The Aviator & Martin Scorsese's. He describes this film as the best thing he as ever wrote.

The Key Of The Street - This film originally was a book by Ruth Rendell. Nolan developed the screenplay which he originally planned to direct for Fox Searchlight until he decided to make 'Batman Begins' for The Warner Bros. Nolan wanted to direct this movie once The Batman Begins hit the screens but by then the demands seemed dead. It's only recently demands suddenly increased for this movie, giving Nolan a great opportunity to give the audience what they want.

Christopher Nolan is a very successful film writer and director as he directed & writ many huge Hollywood films. He was able to change ideas into his own by creating new plots and giving characters different personalities. All the big names he directed became multi award winning movies and are definitely will be in the history books for films of all time !

Genre: Action Adventure

Narrative: Indiana Jones is set to adventure across the boarder to find the mysterious 'arch'. He must travel to Egypt as the arch is a ancient artifact which is known to have great importance. He must go through many obstacles to try achieve his goals of getting his hands on this ancient artifact 'the arch'.

Iconography: This is the directors idea of how certain situations should be presented to the audience. In this film the movie is presented as a wild adventure film. It gives the audience the idea that every task will involve a lot of drama. It also shows the audience how to solve specific situations from the directors point of view. He done this by showing hard work will bring success.

Characters: Indiana Jones is the main character & the audience will know him to be the protagonist. There are many antagonist in this film trying to stop Indiana Jones from getting his hands on the mysterious 'arch' 

Camera work: Many shots / angles are used during this clip. 
1) Establishing shot
2) Low angle long-shot
3) Side close-up shot (multi level)
4) Eye level Medium shot
5) Close-up low angle
-These are the main shots i noticed within the short opening sequence

Settings: This film was located in Egypt (Cairo) and is set in the mid day.  The setting suits well with the narrative (gaining possession of the arch). This is because Egypt is known for its mysterious artifacts.

Analysis on Memento opening

The opening sequence starts up with emotional non-diegetic audio, it's a soft melody which connects the audience with the sequence. It makes the audience feel deep emotion (sad) due to the instruments being played (violin). This gives an idea to the audience of what genre the film is 'Thriller' due to the tension being played by the non-diegetic soundtrack, which is most probably a score.



The first camera shot is of a males hand holding onto a Polaroid image. The shot is at a high angle and is a close-up. This is done on purpose to show two things.
1) What gender the character is
2) What's on the Polaroid image (blood)





It also gives the audience a rough idea of what genre the movie is from the first ten seconds; once putting together the visuals and the audio the audience should manage to work out that this movie is a thriller (Psychological).

There's opening credits during this film opening, they're placed in the middle of the frame. The text is in a simple font and is in a baby blue colour. The first credit shows the audience what the title of the film is, 'M E M E N T O' all the letters are in capitals and go across the middle of the frame, from the left section of the frame across to the right. I noticed there's a lot of space left between each letter, this is to make it appeal to the audience and to show its importance. The following credits are all in the same font and colour though they are in smaller sizes compared to the credit with the film title.

Although they take less space of the frame though this doesn't mean they are less important. In a following credit 'Co-Producer Elaine Dysinger' i noticed that the producers name is in a bigger font then the word above 'Co-Producer'. This brakes the conventions of giving power to the things/people above; it may also be a deep disguised message questioning authority and the power of the higher.

The shot cuts into a medium shot of a male actor, he has cuts on his face & seems very bruised. He's holding a Polaroid camera (prop) and he's wearing a suit. This will show the audience that this character has been through a rough time. His facial expression looks very serious, giving the impression that he is a dangerous character; making the audience keep a third eye open for him.


Diegetic sounds start to occur from the instant the Polaroid camera flashes, a close-up shot appears of blood dripping down a wall. There's male glasses on the floor along with a damaged bullet shell, giving the impression it has been used. The camera shot then changes into a medium-shot from behind a male at a high angle, he seems to be dead.

At this very moment complexed editing skills are used. The film is played backwards; this is shown by the glasses going back onto the dead males face, the bullet going back into the chrome gun and the dead man coming back to life. This maybe very complexed to carry out though when viewed by the audience it may look very simple, it's very effective as it adds uniqueness to the opening sequence and really makes the sequence more concrete.



To conclude Memento has a very solid opening sequence. They involve good camera shots & angles which is then blended with suitable non-diegetic sound track creating tension within the audience. Good editing skills is shown by adding uniqueness to the narrative by playing the story backwards. The film producers definitely got their targeted audience where they want them to be (the edge of their seats).

Batman Titles

In all the 9 frames above of the movie 'Batman' they all go by a colour coding selected by the director and any art / designing team. They follow the original Batman theme colours (yellow & black / navy blue) with the text overlaying the images. They all follow their own conventions by having dark images layered by a bright text. They follow their own conventions through their sub genre of a heroic thriller

The first frame shows the audience who the film is directed by 'WARNER BROS PRESENTS' the production company 'Warner Bros' is in a bold yellow font. This makes it stand out from the dark image behind it as it's the most eye catching part of text in the frame. The word 'presents' is in a smaller font and is put under 'Warner Bros' this shows the audience that it isn't as important as it's underneath the production company. A dark image lays behind the text, of which looks like dark grey clouds. This reveals what theme the movie will have to anyone who doesn't have any knowledge of what Batman is about as it represents mystery. 

The second frame goes with the same text colour & sizes. 'A GUBER-PETERS COMPANY PRODUCTION' the text is once gain in yellow with the first four words in a big bold font while 'production' is in a smaller font & is not in bold. It over layers the image behind it to stand out in the frame. The image behind once again is dark & grey.

All the following seven frames follow the same text sizes, font & colour with the text overlaying the image. The image in the following seven frames are all dark and all relate to the movie e.g. frame nine has the Batman hero logo. This gives a rough idea to the audience what the movie is going to be about and the colour contrasts also give the audience an impression of what the film has to offer.

The silence of the lambs

This opening sequence starts with a graphical introduction of the company who has worked on & released this movie 'Silence Of The Lambs'. It shows the audience right away that it's a 'Orion Pictures Release'.

The following shot is of a dark dead tree, in the middle of what looks like some sort of wasteland/forest. The shot is very dark and gloomy, this can give the impression that something bad has occurred; as the tree can represent death due to it having no leaves on its branches. This instantly grabs the viewers attention as they may feel fear and alarmed due to the darkness of the shot. The representation of evil also tells the audience that this film is a thriller.

Non diegetic sound track is being played through the introduction and through out some of the first few minutes of the opening sequence, the soundtrack is based on low keys and matches the atmosphere of the forest as it's very creepy; it gives effect to the audience and allows their emotions to interact with the opening sequence.

Text appears on the screen of the creators of the movie 'A strong heart / demme production'. The text size is a average size & appears on the middle of the screen. It appears with a black font with a with outline, the colours clash good together. The black represents the darkness within the shots while the white outline makes the text stand out and clear to see/read.

The shot then loses slight focus and slowly pans down to the bottom of the forest from a high angle. As this happens a character emerges from the bottom of the dark shady forest. The female character is climbing up a hill and seems to be holding onto a rope pushing her self to the top. She gets closer and closer to the camera with every strive forward she takes, this makes the high angle have less of an effect as she gets closer to the camera; this shows the audience that this female actor is gaining power with every strive.

As she reaches the top of the hill she walks into a medium shot, this allowed the audience to see her facial expressions as she reaches the top. The female actor is wearing a light blue top and black trousers, she's panting heavily as if she's struggling to catch her breath. Her hair is tied back and she seems very sweaty; though this is expected after seeing how much effort she put in to climb up the hill using the rope. Her clothing looks very dirty and worn out; this instantly tells the audience that she has been out in this forest for a while, and adds an enigma code by making the audience question 'how long has this female actor been in this forest?' & ' Is she lost or is she running away from something in this dark forest?'

During the chase of this lost, vulnerable female actor impressions suddenly change as she approaches a climbing frame. This gives the impression that she's maybe in a sort of assault course. A panning shot takes place of this female forcefully climbing this climbing frame with very slight struggle. This instantly makes the audience realize she is more powerful then we thought. It also gives the impression that she may have received some form of training due to the way she forcefully pushes her body to climb the climbing frame, finishing with a summersault. It's unusual for film directors to give females this form of power due to the stereotypical thoughts of females being weak. By giving the female actor power it adds uniqueness to the movie and makes it differ from others.

The camera then tracks the female running through the forest until she disappears into the fog within the forest. A straight cut then occurs and mainly focuses on her upper body and her feet as she runs through the forest. This builds of tension as it shows the tension within the situation of the female running through this dark misty forest, as the audience can see her facial expressions clearly and how tense it is to be in the situation she is currently in.

A male actor then comes into the shot running towards the female actor. He is wearing a cap with the letters 'FBI' this instantly tells the audience that this male has a form of authority and power. As soon as he is next to the female actor she goes down to hold her knees to catch a breath; this shows audience that she is in a weaker position as she it looking up at the male actor, giving him the upper hand in power. He is looking down at the female actor stated as 'Sherly', this represents that he has more power then Sherly, maybe due to sterio typical behavior of males being more powerful then females.

Sherly then carries on with her run as she goes towards a building. A long shot from a high angle is taking as it pans her running towards the entrance. Many extras are shown training very hard within the mise-en-scene, this also gives the impression that she is in some form of FBI training camp.

Further down the scene it shows Sherly entering a escalator full of big male extras wearing red. She's physically the smallest out of them all though she stands right in the middle, she isn't intimidated by the men at all. This once again makes the audience feel Sherly is even more powerful by not being fazed by the big male individuals.

In conclusion, the opening sequence begins by building up tension with each frame to show danger, this is done through the shots and angles used. Unsettling situations are set for the characters within this sequence though it may portray the characters current emotions. The audience should start to get a better understanding of the events within the sequence as the film gets deeper. Stereotypical behavior is not used as the directors gave Sherly a lot more power then the everyday female role in a movie. This non-bias behavior gives the female audience a film to enjoy as Sherly can be looked at as a role model due to the power given to her characters role.