Planning: Action and Crime Thrillers

Action Thriller


This type of thriller is normally a race against the clock. It contains a myriad of violence and an obvious antagonist. Usually, it would feature a large amount of guns, explosions and large elaborate set pieces for the action to take place. Action thrillers have elements of mystery and crime films but these elements take a backseat to action. In addition to that, action thrillers normally contains a MacGuffin  which is basically a plot element which has a goal or a desired object that the protagonist pursues. However, the desired goal/object is irrelevant to the story line. A MacGuffin in action thrillers would normally be an object, a person, a place and sometimes it can include more abstract types such as love, power, money, victory, glory and so on. Moreover, a Macguffin in action thrillers is the focal point in the first scene but after that, its importance declines and therefore gets forgotten at the end of the movie.

A great example of an action thriller would be 2 Fast 2 Furious. This is because in that movie, you would usually see car chases between the protagonists (Brian O'Conner & Roman Pearce) and the antagonists (Carter Verone and his bodyguards). In that car chase, there would be explosions, cars would sort of damage whether it would be scratched, dents on the bumpers or mechanical failures. Additionally, there would be shoot out between the antagonists and the protagonists. A MacGuffin within 2 Fast 2 Furious would be the majority of the racers especially Orange Julius who was driving the orange Mazda RX-7 and was one of the many racers who managed to escape from the police.

             

Crime Thriller

This type of thriller is a hybrid of both crime and thriller films that offers a suspenseful account of a successful or failed crime/crimes. Crime thrillers usually emphasize action over psychological aspects. The focal points within crime thrillers are murders, robberies, chases, shootouts and double crosses. These are the central ingredients when it comes to crime thrillers. Crime thrillers usually focuses on the antagonists (in this case criminals) rather than the policemen who as usually seen as the protagonists. In some cases, crime thrillers may involve heists and robberies.
A good example of a crime thriller would Pulp Fiction. This is because if in the beginning of the movie, there was a couple ("Pumpkin" and "Honey Bunny") that attempted to rob a diner and threatened people's lives as they had realized that they could make money off the customers let alone the business. Later on the film, Jules Winnfield played by Samuel L. Jackson and Vincent Vega played by John Travolta were on their way to collect a briefcase from Brett played by Frank Whaley who went beyond the limits of the boss, gangster Marsellus Wallace. When they had arrived there, they confronted him and his men over the briefcase and when Vincent finds the briefcase, Jules confronts Brett with a gun & reads a passage from the bible before he shoots him. This fits in with crime thrillers due to the fact that they revolve around murders and shootouts.

Planning: Techno and Horror Thrillers

Techno Thrillers

Techno-thrillers are a hybrid of genres, these genres include Action, Thriller and Science Fiction. Techno-thrillers focus strongly on details, especially on the technology, which is frequently of military origin. Techno-thrillers blur smoothly into the category of hard science fiction; the defining characteristics of techno-thriller are an emphasis on real-world or possible near future technology. The most well known Techno Thriller author is called Dan brown, he has made films such as the "the lost symbol".

The Film that I will be talking about is called "IRobot":

IRobot was directed by Alex Proyas and is one of the most well known Science Fiction thrillers in its generation. The summary of the film goes as follows; "t is the year 2035. Everybody in the world relies on a huge system of robots, which are programmed specifically to help humans and not harm them in any way. But one person does not think that robots are helpful. Chicago homicide detective Del Spooner. but one day, he received a call from the United States Robotics (USR) about a recent death of renowned robot scientist Dr. Alfred J. Laning. Spooner immediately blamed this incident on robots without justifiable reason or proof. Then, he begins his investigation on Lanning's death, only to discover Sonny, a "unique" robot. What Spooner does not realize, is that something is about to happen. Something that is beyond even spooner's wildest dreams".

Horror Thrillers
Horror films usually involve an antagonist who is often portrayed as the "monster". This monster in different genres of thrillers can either be an actual monster or a psycho on the run for blood. The reason why people love to watch horrors is because they love to watch people die. In this case, every horror movie in the past always had stereotypical characters that end up dying in the same order. It goes from the black guy first, the lustful women second, the big guy of the group and finally the "final girl". The final girl is seen as innocent and smart showing how they are vulnerable, However, every time one of their friend dies, the final girl gets mentally stronger and stronger. Horror thrillers have 3 main camera shots, The POV to get the viewer to join in on the action or see what they see, cut away shots to hide the actions of the killer or cut in shots to actually show the action clearly.

Planning: Binary Structures

The Binary Structuralism

The Binary Structuralism is the representation of a character. These characters within the media are taken through a process by which characters are analysed beyond what is merely shown.

The way these characters are analysed can be in various ways.

• The way they dress
• Their language
• Their location
• Where the location is shot
• And their interactions with other people.

Characters are represented by their relationship to power and the societal value that is connected to that power.

These groups are called Stereotypes.

Stereotypes are oversimplified definitions of a person or a type of person which can be seen as a narrow definition which do not allow opportunity to change which leads to prejudice.

In the media, the producers use stereotypes in their films because they are well known and because they are subjective (good or bad depending on who). Another reason why producers use stereotypes in their films are because they

 are easily understood to a wide range of viewers, it saves time to use them and can lead to easy comic situations such as the movie Borat.

Demographics

Demographic is the form of "Categorising people". An example of being demographic would be like, if they find a student wearing a uniform doing an activity that is usually frowned upon, the community would automatically think that the whole school has this behaviour.

Sentences usually start of as "This school makes them......"

  

As with the binary Structure

The binary structure is seen with the ideal-I, audiences often look for images which compliment their own self images. As of 2009, white British account for 80% of television viewers, Because of this, lots of television shows appeal to white people which creates a system that breaks it into two parts - Good and Bad.

Age

Age has ranges, Old, Middle Aged and Young.

Old- Old people have the money, the time, but they haven't got the energy. In modern society, Old people have power, However, in the media, old people are seen as weak and unable to defend themselves making them an ultra-conservative. The age range would be 40+ to be classified as Old.

Middle Aged- Middle aged people have the money, the energy but never any time. This is because normally, the middle aged group are normally the working group. This age group are known as professionals because they have the power over the other two groups. The age range is 21-40.

Young- This age group have the time and the energy but not money. the age group is normally 20 and below. To everyone else, they are seen as troublemakers because of stereotypes.

 Race

 EMG's (Ethnic Minority Group) are portrayed as subservient. Subservient means being prepared to obey others without any questions whatsoever. Examples of ethnic minority groups within the UK would be White Americans, Black Africans, Asians and so on. Often, ethnic minority groups are involved in drugs, violence and anti-social behaviour. Furthermore, they are self aware of the inability to climb the social ladder e.g. they are unlikely to be rich.

Class

There are  three different types of class that are stereotyped within the media. These are the lower class, the middle class and the upper class.

The upper class only associate themselves with other members within the same class. If they were to interact with lower classes, then it would usually be in employer/employee relationships. They are usually seen as highly educated/albeit ignorant to the plights of the lower class.

The lower class are always portrayed as having no work or skill, addicted to drugs/alcohol/both and if they have children, they are usually bad parents. In addition to that,  they do not care about

 Gender

Both male and female are stereotyped within the media. However, women are objectified are sexual objects for men. This means that the only time that a man would want a woman is when they want sex. They are also often subservient to men in both professional and personal relationships. An example of a woman being subservient to men in professional relationships would be that the woman either be a secretary or a receptionist and they would have to obey the rules and the boss (male) had ordered them to do. An example of a woman being subservient to her man in a personal relationship would be when the man would go to work and be the breadwinner of the family and he has ordered the woman to do the cooking, cleaning and the gardening etc. On the other hand, the male would be powerful, dominant and wants everything to be done exactly the way he wants. 

Sexuality

When it comes to media, homosexuals are often portrayed as ultra-feminine or ultra-masculine depending on the gender. Usually, male homosexuals would be seen as ultra-feminine. For example they would talk like women (" work it girlfriend") and they would usually wear skinny clothing such as skinny jeans and crop tops. In addition to that, female homosexuals would often be portrayed as ultra-masculine. For instance, they would talk like men (" What's up bro") and they would wear loose clothing such as tracksuits, trench coats and sometimes have might see them wearing clothes that have been made specifically for men. Their work roles are usually hospitality or industry based (designers, bar, club etc.) Furthermore, they live the party-boy lifestyle i.e. sex, drugs and obviously partying.



Region


Regional representations are often ignorant to the ideals of mainstream culture. Regional representation often very heavily stereotyped. London is the biggest region in the UK as this is where most people live so this means that the TV shows most satisfy that region.
 



Planning: Rear Window Analysis

  Rear Window

One of the films we analysed was rear window, which we then presented above. It is a rather old film published by Alfred Hitchcock in the 1954. It is largely based around the idea of scopophilia, voyeurism and sexual objectification.

The film stars James Stewart and Grace Kelly and is one  Alfred Hitchcock's very first films are well as societies' very first thrillers. 

Planning: Annabelle Analysis

Annabelle analysis

Annabelle is a very recent movie released in 2014 of a doll haunting and punishing a couple and their child - unborn at the start of the film however, overall it all started with satanic cultures that gave both the protagonists and the audience

Planning: Psychological Thriller and Torture Porn Analysis

Psychological Thriller

Alfred Hitchcock is considered to be a God of suspense films, as it was he who first produced many of the recognised techniques.

Peter Hutchings states that a psychological thriller is one "with domesticated settings in which action is suppressed and where thrills are provided instead through investigations of the psychologies of the principal characters."

Plot twists are a common feature within these sort of films. A plot twist is a change in the direction of the outcome of the plot. They are used to keep viewers engaged by providing them with some form of surprise. In addition to plot twists, unreliable narrators are utilized to help enhance this sort of genre because they tend to mislead viewers and influence them to believe a totally different theory. This contributes to the element of surprise or confusion because it forces people to delve deeper mentally and try and come to a definitive conclusion, however it is not always possible. A final feature of a psychological thriller is a MacGuffin. A MacGuffin is a goal which the protagonist attempts to achieve, but it doesn't hold much importance to the overall plot.

Se7en is a well-known psychological thriller because it successfully implements the aforementioned techniques. A plot twist which can be seen in Se7en is when John Doe, the antagonist, who has confessed to numerous killings, has offered to show the detectives where a final victim is situated. But to the viewer's surprise, he has Detective Mills' wife's head delivered to them. Mills, who is a fiery individual, eventually finds out and through anger, kills Doe. Killing Doe meant that his own wishes to serve the Almighty Power had been fulfilled.

Torture Porn

Torture porn, or splatter film, is seen as a sub-genre of horror film and primarily focuses on the gore. In comparison to general horror films which leave the graphic violence in the lurch through highly regarded shots like cut-away, torture porn tries to inflict fear in viewers by displaying the "physical destruction of the body and the pain accompanying it." Furthermore, torture porn doesn't seem to have any clear plot order and it appears that each scene comes along naturally.

is a widely recognised splatter film because it slowly progresses through the stage of pain and each scene is acted out in an extremely detailed manner. The antagonist is portrayed as a mentally-twisted individual who thrives on the pain he delivers. This characteristic of gore can be seen when a student within the movie is stripped and chained to a chair, to the point that his dignity has completely been taken. His body parts are then individually targeted with malicious weapons and he is made to voice his discomfort. Moreover, the torturer provides the protagonist with a brief glimpse of freedom, as well as hope, before stripping him of that privilege.

Planning: Camera Shots and Angles

Extreme Long Shot
These types of shots can be utilised in a variety of ways. For example, the extreme long shot (pictured above) is usually used as a scene-setting. This makes it easier for the human eye to identify where the movie is set. In addition to that, the extreme long shot will display the outsides of buildings as well as the landscapes. If there is any action involved within the extreme long shot, it will be eye-catching which normally presented in war and disaster movies. This type of shot would be used at the very beginning of a movie.

High Angle Shot
High angle shots are when the camera is placed above eye level and therefore it means that it looks down on the subject. This makes the subject seem childlike, vulnerable and insignificant. A high angle shot would be used within a movie when the protagonist would come across the antagonist which intensifies the movie scene.

Low Angle Shot
Low angle shots are when the camera is placed below the eye level and looks up at the action. By using the low angle shot, it makes the subject appear larger, dominant and superior. In some cases, this shot would be used after the protagonist encounters the antagonist which is normally done using a high angle shot.

Long Shot

A long shot are seen as life sized. For instance, people on a movie screen would be seen as 6 feet tall. However, people fill approximately 75% of the entire scene. This type of shot would be used in the beginning of the movie after the extreme long shot so people would know the exact location to where the film is set.

Close Up Shot

These shots frame the entire object to be looked at. Close up shots are used to draw attention to the specific object and as the camera gets closer, tension is built. This is used for when someone is about to say something dramatic such as "Will you marry me".

Medium Shot

Medium shots will usually show the figure from the knees or waist up. This is also known as the Hollywood shot due to the fact that it is the shot used in most feature films. Medium shots are used for dialogue within the characters, body language, facial expressions and gesticulation (hand gesture). This type of shot would also be used just before a close up shot within a movie.

Medium Close Up

Medium close ups always give a view of the characters from the chest upwards in contrast to medium shots. Also, this is used when two characters have a conversation with each other on the screen.

Full Shot

A full body shot is when the height of the frame is filled with the human figure

Extreme Close Up

This type of shot shows further on what the human eye can see on its own. If the extreme close up shot is of a human being, it would only show either the mouth or the eye in one frame. An extreme close up would be used in intensifying moments within the movie such as hostile conversations and so on.