Bathory from 283goswell on Vimeo.
There are many subgenres of a thriller and our film is a thriller/horror, which was inspired from the opening sequence of Arlington Road and also Se7ven.
We watched a number of other thrillers which also helped us get inspiration for our own thriller idea; 28 Days Later, The Shining, Collateral, and What Lies Beneath.
Watching the above I realised what the conventions of thrillers are mainly to do with the music and the quick cut edits, the different angles of the camera can change the status/ perception of a character; low angle shot- someone with power; high angle shot- lonely victim. Eerie, strange and secluded settings are also conventions of a thriller. The use of mis-en-scene is a good way of creating suspense; this works because we don’t show the character and the audience would want to know who the girl is and why she is doing this, this creates suspense. I think the use of mis-en-scene creates suspense because it causes mystery to the audience, wanting to know about what this has to do with the film. The narrative affects a vast number of people, in a psychological and physical way.
“Bourne Ultimatum"-
“James Bond Quantum of Solace”-
“28 Days Later”-
By watching these clips I have realised that the main protagonist is a male in most thrillers, which goes against as ours is a female character. The stereotypes of men are seen as to be macho, strong and ruthless and would do anything to accomplish a task. Also that the music can make the pace of the film faster, also quick cuts create faster pace. From 28 Days Later I learnt that having no music and having silence can also create suspense because you don’t know what you are going to expect next.
“James Bond Quantum of Solace”-
“28 Days Later”-
By watching these clips I have realised that the main protagonist is a male in most thrillers, which goes against as ours is a female character. The stereotypes of men are seen as to be macho, strong and ruthless and would do anything to accomplish a task. Also that the music can make the pace of the film faster, also quick cuts create faster pace. From 28 Days Later I learnt that having no music and having silence can also create suspense because you don’t know what you are going to expect next.
However researching in my own time, I have seen that some thrillers have women as their main protagonist, “The Others” Nicole Kidman is the protagonist; “Alien” Sigourney Weaver and “Panic Room” Jodie Frost. This shows that women are equal to men, and also get the point of women. Women in conventional thrillers/ horror films are seen as victim, who is seen as venerable, damsel in distress who needs saving such as “The Shining”, “Panic Room” however Jodie Frost does not have these characteristic but is the protagonist yet is the victim. In Bathory the female character isn’t a typical female character in a thriller/horror but the complete opposite.
(Nicole Kidman) (Sigourney Weaver) (Jodie Frost)
We also watched “Watching Documentary”, watching this I have found out the opening of a thriller should give some idea of what the narrative is about, but not all of the narrative also the opening should always attract the audience and make them want to watch the rest of the film. This affected our own thriller because we didn’t want to give away too much information to the audience about what the narrative is about and I think we did achieve that in our opening, because we gave some ideas what the film is about with the CUs of the props. We used a close up of the pentagram in the book which gives an idea to the audience on what the film is about.
The two films we were mostly influenced by were Arlington Road and Se7ven, which I think are very different and unique styles of thrillers which follow some aspects of thriller convention but also in some parts don’t follow. We did follow some of the conventions of a thriller because we used music which I would describe as being spine chilling in the beginning and fastens at the end to fasten our pulse and get the audience at their edge of their seat. The music has tense beginning and a big fast paced end.
http://freeplaymusic.com/search/keyword_search.php music piece called lair.
We used quick cuts throughout the film to create suspense and also to fasten the pace of the film which is also helped by the music. This can also fasten the heartbeats of the audience and make them get ready for what is about to come next. I think also by using the handheld shots which gives a point of view of the character makes the audience be in the shoes of the character. I also think by using handheld also creates a more realistic shot because it is moving with a character or showing the sinister side of an object like the tree and the church in out film. The setting of half of our film is set in Old St Pancras Church, which is secluded and in many thrillers they use secluded settings.
However we also challenge the conventions of a thriller by using CUs and ECUs on our props because the props create the mood, atmosphere and also tell the narrative, rather than using conventional mid shots and long shot to create the narrative.
We used quick cuts throughout the film to create suspense and also to fasten the pace of the film which is also helped by the music. This can also fasten the heartbeats of the audience and make them get ready for what is about to come next. I think also by using the handheld shots which gives a point of view of the character makes the audience be in the shoes of the character. I also think by using handheld also creates a more realistic shot because it is moving with a character or showing the sinister side of an object like the tree and the church in out film. The setting of half of our film is set in Old St Pancras Church, which is secluded and in many thrillers they use secluded settings.
However we also challenge the conventions of a thriller by using CUs and ECUs on our props because the props create the mood, atmosphere and also tell the narrative, rather than using conventional mid shots and long shot to create the narrative.
Images of the props
As our inspiration was both Arlington Road and Se7ven, we took some inspiration on how we could use similar shots and effects to them. Using intertextuality between “Bathory”, Arlington Road, and Se7ven created a more professional and different thriller.
page turning in Bathory (top), Se7ven (bottom 2)
page turning in Bathory (top), Se7ven (bottom 2)
negative effect in Bathory (T), Arlington Road (B)
panning used in Bathory (T), ArlingtonRoad (B)
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