Hitchcock;

Alfred Hitchcock is a very famous Film director. Hitchcock is well known for his psychological thrillers. Such as 'Psycho', 'North by North West', and 'The Birds'. In these thrillers, many devices are used these being: MaGuffin, Enigma, and Red Herring.


A Maguffin is a device that encourages the character and advances the story even though it has no relevance to the actual storyline. E.g. in 'Psyco' it is the money that Marion runs away with.

An Enigma is a mystery or a problem in the story. In thrillers it tends to be something which the protaganist has to try to find or solve before the film finishes.

A Red Herring is a device which diverts the audeince from the truth. Red Herrings can also work with devices such as (Enigmas) and create suspense. 

  
   

No Country For Old Men

In my previous media lesson we watched an extract of the beginning of the film 'No country for Old men'. In this extract it gave out a lot of tension and suspence which is crucial in a thriller.

At the beginning of this extract there is a voice of someone talking and adressing the audience however he is not to be seen on the screen as it just shows empty landscapes. This creates mystery and suspence as you want to know who the person is talking and you want to know where it is placed as they seem to be in the middle of nowhere. Another point that creates mystery is that you do not see the murderer's face until a bit later into the extract, instead of showing the murderers face they create a silhouette of him by using backlighting. 

This extract also brings an amount of curiosity to your mind as the killer shows no emotion when killing his victims, and stays in a calm manner. It brings you curiosity as innocent people are dying and he seems to feel nothing inside. Another reason why i feel this extract brings curiosity and confusion to the mind is that the murderer chooses to fool one of his victims into thinking that he is a police officer and will not hurt him so he trusts him to do whatever needs be.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQNvn4eb8LQ

^ This is the link for the extract

About a Thriller;

Thrillers tend to get your heart racing, in suspence and tension and include an atmosphere of crime, murder, violence and menace. They include things that you may not notice or see in your everyday life and what may appear to be strange. For example they can include psycopaths and femme fatale. Other characters are more likely to be a Villian, a Victim and Police. Most Thrillers include a twist at the end and use sound to create drama and atmosphere. Examples of Thrillers are; Godfather, Inception and Shutter Island.

    

Coursework brief;

In this Blog I will explain the research that I have made into the thriller genre and thriller films. I will also show the steps that my partner and I have made when making our 2 minute thriller beginning.  

Hi :)
My Name is Hannah Sharples i would like to welcome you to my blog. On this blog i will explain and go through my 2 minute Thriller that i will be creating.

Thriller Conventions

-Crime at the core of the narrative (often Murder) 
-A complex narrative structure, with false paths/clues/resolutions
-A narrative pattern of establishing enigmas which the viewer expects to be resolved
-Protagonist who is systematically, dis empowered and drawn into a complex web of intrigue by an antagonist. 
-Extraordinary events happening in an ordinary situation.
-Themes of identity
-Themes of mirroring
-Themes of Voyeurism
-Protagonist with a 'flaw' which is exploited by the antagonist.
-Titles often reflect an aspect of the protagonist/antagonist psychological state.
-There is often a scene near the end of the film in which the protagonist is in peril.
-Mise en scene which echoes the protaganist plight.