Thriller conventions

Thriller conventions

Sharpie pitch powerpoint (Brief notes)

Sharpie pitch powerpoint

The title for our film is Sharpie. This is because the word sharp has connotations of stabbing and sharp objects. We are also using our logo from our previous project as it is established as a film production company.

The narrative of our film takes a lot of motivation from The Snowman; the killers are both targeting a specific group/individual and leave a mark once they have done something.

As our characters are based on stereotypical teenagers/young adults we have them wearing clothes that their demographic would be expected to wear, to make them more realistic.

The props we use are also very stereotypical of a thriller, the weapons are typically used by the killer, whilst the alcohol and phones are commonly associated with teens/young adults.

While our film is a thriller, it relies on both the enigma effect  (so the audience doesn't know who the main antagonist is) and a lot of tension where the audience doesn't know what happens to the characters.

We want to build up the tension gradually throughout the trailer, this is to set a narrative at the start and show what happens later.

Our target audience is young adults who enjoy thrills, and it may appeal to a more British audience through the characters speaking with a British accent and the British settings.

The settings start off very normal with a pub and walking down the street. It then transfers to a school at night which creates a bizarre mood as the two are not associated with each other. This could unnerve the audience which will make them more fearful of Sharpie.

We want to be able to use a lot of interesting shots for establishing the scene (tracking/bird's eye) and portraying the emotions (close-up and first person)

A lot of the conventions in thriller films are there to make the viewer feel on edge such as; fast pace, a cliff-hanger, intense themes. The conventions of trailers are there to give the viewer information in the form of: titles, release date, stereotypical characters, etc.

Sharpie pitch script

Sharpie pitch script

What makes us scared?

Thriller film titles analysis

Thriller film titles analysis

Seven:

The title for the film Seven, is white and on a black background. These two colours contrast together very well and therefore make it stand out very much, this draws the attention of it to the title. The title itself is quite bold, but it also looks as though it has been drawn with a marker due to it having some parts of the letters missing. This makes it seem quite eerie (which is good for thrillers) as markers and similar objects are usually associated with innocent things like children colouring. This is eerie as the thriller genre and children are binary opposites to each other making it seem very unnatural. There is also an after image behind the main title which makes it seem to stand out even more as it is more interesting. The use of the 7 in place of the "V" also makes it more memorable due to the fact that it also links to the title. The current title for our film is Sharpie, we are currently planning to make it look like it was drawn with a sharpie pen for the same reason as the Seven title (to make it look more interesting and relate it to the title).

Force:

The title for for Force is very bold, this makes it look quite appealing and eye-catching. Despite this, the main colour does not contrast very well to the background; they are both different shades of grey, it is distinguishable but could be done more effectively. However, the part where the title excels in is the use of blood splattered across it; blood is a key convention of thriller and establishes Force as not straying too far from the stereotypical thriller. It does also contrast with the grey which makes the title stand out more. The background looks as though it is set against a wall in a dark alleyway which connotes danger - also a key paradigm of thriller films.

Thriller trailer initial idea

Thriller trailer initial idea

The main idea for our film revolves around a group of young adults who go out drinking together, they then decide to break into a school unaware that they are being followed by the antagonist (Sharpie). Sharpie then blocks all of the exits and begins to follow the protagonists around the school. As the trailer progresses, each protagonist goes missing and is presumed dead. The viewer then finds out that Sharpie was only after the remaining protagonist, leaving the viewer wondering what happened to each of them.

Analysis of The Snowman trailer (Thriller)

Analysis of The Snowman trailer

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=the+snowman+trailer

The Snowman is a thriller film where the main narrative revolves around a killer who targets women, and leaves his mark (A snowman) after killing someone. The trailer is 2:23 minutes long and contains about 98 shots. It is most likely not in chronological order as the trailer begins with a woman being kidnapped which would be a weird start to a film.

There are 4/5 main characters with various other side characters, this allows for 2/3 narratives (based around the protagonists and the antagonist). There are also roughly 11 settings shown, these include: a city, a lake, a snowfield, a cabin, a mountain, a second cabin, a hotel, (what looks like) a museum, somewhere that is difficult to make out and a house.

Throughout the trailer, there is only one track that is repeated. It has an eerie voice and backing track to it which makes the atmosphere very suspenseful and puts the viewer on edge. Furthermore, at various points of the film, the music builds to a crescendo which makes it seem even more intense.

There are 6 titles which include: "Based on the terrifying best seller", "This October" (Release date), "The Snowman" (Title), "October" (Release date again), the name of their website and the two production.distribution companies. The fact that it is based on a book already, suggests that the story already has a following which will make it easier to attract its target demographic. The titles also use synergy; they are stylised to look as though they are frozen or cold, which keeps with the theme of snow/cold running throughout.

The film looks like it would have a 15 rating (due to the mature themes such as murder and kidnapping), but the age of the film's target audience would likely be young-mid adults. It may also be aimed at a British audience due to a majority of the actors speaking with a British accent.

A few of the camera shots used include: an extreme long shot of the mountain to show the scale of it. An extreme close-up of a victim's eye; the eye moves around a lot suggesting fear. An over-the-shoulder shot when the protagonist is talking to his (presumed) partner. A close-up of the main protagonist when the house explodes, the close-up on him shows that he is in distress and it could be assumed that maybe his partner or someone close was inside the house at the time.

Towards the end of the trailer, there is a long montage. This montage consists of clips from various characters, while the montage is very fast paced as a whole, the clips featuring the main protagonist are a lot faster than those featuring other characters - suggesting that he is involved in a lot of action. There is also a shot of (presumably) the main protagonist holding a cigarette while the background is blurred, connoting that he is tough and uncaring of people's opinion of him. The pace of the film starts off quite slow, but then speeds up a lot, this is likely to construct a narrative and then show some of the best parts of the film to show the audience that it is exciting.

The entire trailer is reliant on the enigma effect behind the antagonist, this helps to keep the viewer interested in it as they want to know more about the killer e.g. why he is doing it and who he is.