My favourite thriller.

Despite having seen many many thrillers in the past all of which leave me on the edge of my seat, i have come to the conclusion that apart from all dance films, 'Man on fire' is my favourite thriller/crime movie of all time.

Man on fire is a 2004 American action film based on a novel of the same name by A. J. Quinnell, that had previously been filmed in 1987. This version was directed by Tony Scott and starred Denzel Washington. It is a true story which relates to certain people, touches their heart and raises awareness.

Former Recon Marine John Creasy (Denzel Washington) travels to Mexico City to visit his friend and former CIA colleague Paul Rayburn (Christopher Walken) who owns a private-sector security firm to protect business executives. Creasy confides that he has become an alcoholic, disillusioned with life because of the horrors of his past and Rayburn offers his support, encouraging Creasy to take a job as a bodyguard.

Because of the extremely high rate of kidnappings in Mexico City for the lucrative ransom money, businessman Samuel Ramos hires Creasy to guard his nine year-old daughter Lupita "Pita" (Dakota Fanning) and Creasy reluctantly accepts. Pita immediately takes a liking to Creasy, though he remains distant and unapproachable due to his depression. After a night of heavy drinking, Creasy attempts suicide but the chambered round in his gun fails to fire. Considering it a sign to live on, he begins to warm up to Pita and they develop a friendship. He mentors Pita and through his training she wins a swim meet competition. Pita gives Creasy an emblem of Saint Jude, the patron saint of lost causes as a token of appreciation and he wears it as a necklace from then on.

A gang of kidnappers strike when Creasy drops Pita off at her piano lesson and despite killing four of the assailants and being shot multiple times, he is unable to prevent her abduction. The Ramos' agree to deliver a dead drop ransom of $10 million per the instructions of "The Voice" the mastermind of the kidnapping ring. The drop, however, is ambushed by members of a Mexican crime syndicate called "La Hermandad" and the money is stolen, resulting in The Voice notifying the Ramoses that Pita will not be returned.

In the main scene of the dramatic kidnap when Pita screams for help and Creasy, he is trying to do his job, but also save the girls life, as not only is it his job, but he has made friends with her and has a strong bond with her. Slow motion is effectivley used as she screams and struggles to get away, gun shots are fired aimlessly which increases the drama and tension, making this scene even more upsetting and unsettling.
They adjust the colour of the footage, overlap, fast forward, use slow motion, repeat and also enhance and take away certain sounds. This will always be my favourite thriller/drama/crime film. I definitley recommend it.

Detailed analysis of Thriller Clip

What lies beneath

Movie starts with black background and keeps the audience in tension for a few second. Soundtrack starts to slowly appear. Music is very mysterious and increases the audience interests. On the black background, a production company displays in slow pace with full of smoke (fog). Suddenly, title shows up. It’s very wavy and looks like a reflection on the water during a full moon night. The bright light moves from right to left, creates impression of going somewhere. However, because light keeps changing the position, it’s unable the audience to see properly. After a couple of second, a white scary face with black eyes appears on the screen. It looks like a dead person underneath water. The audience gets the first clue of what about is this movie.

The face is looking up straight 'into the audience' and suddenly change into the main character's face which coming out from the bath. 

Then the camera takes the audience inside the main character's bathroom. It is coming through the door, towards her.  It is a point of view shot which makes the audience feels like they are coming inside too. 

Her breath is hard and loud. She seems kind of scared and frightened. She looks around herself to check if she is safe and alone.

Then the camera jump into next shot. There is a close up on the hairdryer (it tells the audience that this might be an important props in this section). She drags it in to the mirror and blows the hot air.

Then suddenly the hairdryer stop working. (There is a next hint to the audience which tells them that something bad is going to happen). When she is trying to fix it, she gets an eclectic shock, but the hairdryer starts to work back.

Then again camera slowly moves from her into the mirror.(The mirror is a next props which might be important thing in the movie) The camera moves again toward her shoulder and the audiences are able to see her reflection in the mirror. It gives a feeling of something or someone watching her.

There is no dialog, and very small amount of diegetic sound, which draw the audience attention very successful. It also increases the level of suspense. Also, there is a quite high key lighting and lots of white props around her: bath, hairdryer, dressing gown. It all give an impression of safety, but because of the black background and dead face in at the very beginning, it tells the audience that is a supernatural thriller with lots of suspense moment. 

Thriller sub-genres

Thriller is a suspenseful adventure story of movie which includes lots of different sub-genres. Through this, audience can define what kind of thriller they want to watch. Also it helps them to 'predict' what kind of story is going to happen. The particular sub-genre tells audience what kind of story they may expect and what level of suspense is going to appear in the movie.

Here are different thriller sub-genres with example:
ACTION- *Expendables* (2010)
PSYCHOLOGICAL- *Donnie Darko* (2001)
ROMANCE- *He loves me, he loves me not* (2002) 
SUPERNATURAL- *What lies beneath*(2000) 
POLITICAL-*Enemy of the State* (1998)
CRIME- * Bangkok Dangerous* (2008)
MYSTERY- *V for Vendetta* (2006)
CONSPIRACY- *The Manchurian Candidate* (2004)

At the moment, thrillers which inspire me are:

Pulp Fiction, Momento, Donnie Darko and V for Vendetta. The level of suspense works the most effictively in that kind of films. I think, there is a fantatic opportunities to play on people's mind and scare in unpredictable for them way. That is why, for my 2 min thriller opening sequence, I will choose either a mystery or psychological thriller.

Range of different thriller sub-genres

Intertexuality.

Each media text exists in relation to others. Texts are framed by other texts and are constructed more by their intertextuality than by their authors. A TV show for example is not only related to other TV shows of its genre but to all TV shows, to commercials, to current political events, to films, to academic discourse. All potentially can and do influence each other.

For example Psycho's famous and popular 'shower scene' has influenced and inspired many thriller and horror movies at this present day. In class we watched a previous thriller opening made by students who borrowed aspects of Psycho's shower scene, however they reversed roles, instead of the man being the killer, the girl was the killer. The man was the vicitm in need of help and she was the murderer. This was very effective as it went against typical gender representations.

What lies beneath is a triller with a twist in the end. Things started to go wrong when Claire (Michelle Pfeiffer) began investigation of the murder of a college student whom appeared to 'seek' her help. The image below shows a snap shot of the shower scene, a white tub, shower curtains falling, vulnerable woman in danger, everything inspired by Pyscho.

We also watched Fatal Atrraction, where a man and a woman are fighting in a house and then she comes at him with a knife; this scene is borrowed from Psycho because it looks similar to when a shadow shilouette stabs the woman in the bathtub. In The Stepfather they show a man doing an everyday ordinary thing like shaving and washing his hands that put the audience in a false sense of security, as his shaving equiptment are so neatly organised as if he has OCD, making the audience suspicious.

How is suspense created in Momento?

One of the first films we studied was Momento, a psychological thriller film written and directed by Christopher Nolan. A memory inside a memory, Memento is a complicated head spinning adventure. It stars Guy Pearce as Leonard Shelby, a former insurance fraud investigator searching for the man he believes raped and killed his wife during a burglary. To cope with his condition, he maintains a system of notes, photographs, and tattoos to record information about himself and others, including his wife's killer. I found this films tecniques interesting as it uses black and white film when focusing on a flash back and colour when focusing on the present day. Suspense slowly builds up through the quick editting and snap shots, as they create shock and mystery, unfolding the past making the story clearer to the audience.

Thriller inspirations.

The best thriller novels are plot driven, present a chain of events that are compelling to the reader, and create an atmosphere of anxiety. However, the best thriller novels do not succeed unless they focus on characters who has problems the reader cares about, and characters that evoke sympathy. Sympathetic, well-drawn characters are what make the best thriller movies.

Inception: In a world where technology exists to enter the human mind through dream invasion, a highly skilled thief is given a final chance at redemption which involves executing his toughest job to date.
Production Co: Warner Bros. Pictures.
Budget: $160,000,000

The Dark Knight: Batman, Gordon and Harvey Dent are forced to deal with the chaos unleashed by an anarchist mastermind known only as the Joker, as it drives each of them to their very limits.
Production Co: Warner Bros. Pictures.
Budget: $185,000,000

Goodfellas: Henry Hill and his friends work their way up through the mob hierarchy. Henry Hill is a small time gangster, who takes part in a robbery with two other gangsters who have set their sights a bit higher.
Production Co: Warner Bros. Pictures.
Budget: $25,000,000

Psycho: Psycho is one the biggest, most well known thriller movies of all time, creating the stereotypical view of the vulnerable woman in danger of the male killer. The shower scene of death has inspired many films to recreate it, as it became so popular and 'talked about.'
Production Co: Shamley Productions.
Budget: $806,947

Die Hard: New York cop John McClane gives terrorists a dose of their own medicine as they hold hostages in an LA office building.
Production Co: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation.
Budget: $28,000,000
The Shawshank Redemption: This movie is based on a novella 'Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption' by Stephen King. This movie tells the story of two men who bond in prison while serving their sentence, and find comfort, and eventually redemption with each others help.
Production Co: Castle Rock Entertainment.
Budget: $25,000,000
    

Definitions of Suspense

Using dictionary, the word suspense means a state or condition of mental uncertainty or excitement, as in awaiting a decision or outcome, usually accompanied by adegree of apprehension or anxiety. 

So in another word, it is a narrative trick used in films or nolves involving periodic suspension. It share the course and its emotional tranquility used to increase tension or suprise of the viewer or reader. It also include the unexpected twist before the moment of horror. It allows the audience to achive a snowball effect of drama.

Thriller movies promote lots of excitement with high level of anticpation, anxiety and nerve-wracking tension.

The level od suspension can make people jump off their chair. However, suspense is used in very standarlised way with similar characteristisc and features, which helps to fulfill audiences expectation. 

The moment of suspension is the most important emotion felt as part of the situation in the thriller movies. 

Alfred Hitchock is a MASTER OF SUSPENSE.

He used lots od suspense technique in his psychological thriller film. 

"Psycho" made in 1960, is one of the biggest suspense movie I ever saw.