Taken

The film Taken, is an action thriller. The poster makes it seem like an action thriller because of the font, the colour, the lighting, and the actors facial expression. The font is in big red writing saying Taken, the colour red causes the audience to think of danger and blood, so already we feel that the actor in the picture, Liam Neeson, is a dangerous man. Not only by the font do we see he is dangerous, but also he is wearing a leather jacket, which is usual for action thrillers, and the leather jacket is black, so its as if he trying to blend into the dark and not be seen. From the poster we can see it is night time, so we feel the film could be dark and brutal. In the background we see the photoshopped Eiffel Tower, which is Paris' tallest building, so we know where his location is, not only that, but it could be metaphorical, that this man could take down the Eiffel Tower if he had to as he looks the same size as the tower. He takes up most of the poster making it obvious to the audience he is the leading role in the film. He also has a gun in his hand making it obvious he is dangerous, and possibly some type of assassin, when you include the leather jacket. Also on the poster it has a tag line saying "They took his daughter. He'll take their lives", two words "their lives" is highlighted in red, meaning there will be blood when he kills them. Also those two lines already gives the audience a short summary of what the film may be about.

Inception

Inception is one of the most accomplished films worldwide, it has grossed over $825,532,764, it is one of the best Psychological Thrillers ever made. There are a number of traits we can pick up by watching the trailer that it will be a thriller, by the sound, the camera work, the editing, and mise en scene. Firstly the sound is a very big give away its very deep tones which increase in speed as the drama of the film gets more intense. The camera work changes from establishing shots, to two shots, to shot/reverse. The pace in the trailer of camera shots and cutting is very fast showing it is a fast paced thriller, making the audience wanting to watch it. In the trailer the audience can see the incredible special effects, showing a lot of money had been invested in trhe movie, which would make the film better, making it more pleasing to the audience.

What is a Thriller?

Thrillers are essentially about the battle of justice vs. injustice. Another defining characteristic is that there is often a price to be paid for the conclusion of the story. They can be defined by their Point Of View (POV), e.g. those solving a crime (detective story), those perpetuating the crime (caper), a tough guy’s POV (film noir), a psychologist (psychodrama). Each possible protagonist in such a drama can have both major and minor character roles. There are many different genre of thrillers, such as; spy thrillers, political thrillers, military thrillers, conspiracy thrillers, technothrillers, medical thrillers, legal thrillers, forensic thrillers, psychological thrillers, serial killer thrillers, romantic thrillers, supernatural thrillers, and horror thrillers.

An example of a Psychological Thriller:

An example of a Horrow Thriller:

 



An example of a Drama Thriller:





An example of a Spy Thriller:

Unknown

In the thriller film called Unknown, we can see that it is a thriller by the poster they use. The picture makes it obvious for the audience that it will be an action thriller, not only by the objects in the picture but also the name of the film. The name Unknown for a film would already get the audience guessing what the film would be about, already making it a thriller, because no one knows about the Unknown. The main actor in this film is called Liam Neeson, who takes up most of the photo showing his importance in the film, the lightinmg half shadows out one side of his face, while the other side of his face we can see. This could make the audience think that he has a dark and light side to him, this would question the audience to ask what does he do to make him so mysterious. The whole poster is very dark, adding mystery to the film. He is also looking straight into the camera, showing that he is very serious and does not mess around. We also see a gun in his hand, making him seem dangerous, and even a killer. In the middle of the poster we see a few small faces, of other actors who will be supporting actors, and their facial expressions seem mysterious too. The whole poster is very mysterious, and indulges the audience into watching it.

Shutter Island

We can see from the poster that it will be a thriller by the colour the actors facial expression, the weather and the location. Also the actor in the picture is Leonardo di Caprio, who is well known for being in dark twisted thriller films. The colour of the poster is very dark and almost gives the audience a dangerous feel. The only light we can see from the poster is the lit up match that the actor is holding in his hand as he looks to the side in a very serious stern way. This is obvious from his facial expression that he is trying to solve a mystery, so it attracts the audiences attention even more. The weather in the background is very rainy and stormy, which is a usual for thrillers, this emphasizes it that it will be a dark thriller. Also in the poster the location is incredibly remote, as it seems to be a small island with a lighthouse and small building on top, in the middle of the ocean, again this shows the audience that it is not safe and far away from help. Also on the poster it has a tag line saying "Someone is missing", showing the audince that there could have been a muder or a person may be lost on the island, this line makes the audience think of the fim, making them intrigued to watch it.

Preliminary Task Review

In our preliminary task, we used nearly all of the basic camera shots, from close ups, to long shots, to mid shots and even extreme close ups. There was a wide variety of camera shots that were used in our task, each shot was meant to represent a different view to the audience. So the close ups were meant to draw the attention to the audience of the actors facial exdxpressions. While our mid shots were used to show the actors facial expressions and body language, to give the audience a better understanding of how the actor was feeling. We used a long shot, when the actor was entering the building to show the scenery and setting, so the audience could have an idea of where this scene would be taking place. We used a two shot, where the two actors were in the frame, this shot was used to express the relationship the actors had with each other. Half way through the actors coversation, we used low/high angle shots, to show which actor was superior and which one was inferior to the audience.

Human Centipede

The Human Centipede trailer makes it obvious that it will be a thriller, through certain traites that it does e.g. in a remote area. There are two american girls in germany for their first time, and they are trying to find a party but get lost and their car tyre gets punctured. During all this there is a dark solemn music which is going around, and the weather is rainy and stormy another obvious thriller trait, They find a house in the middle of nowhere, another thriller trait, and where they find a creepy mad scientist another trait to a thriller. In the house there are painting of siamese twins, which is extremely weird, leading up to a twisted thriller. All these points are signifies of the genre and part of the codes and conventions of the thriller

Camera shots and Movment