Thriller Pitch

For our initial idea, we are thinking to make our thriller an action thriller. Action thrillers contain more violence than the other sub-genres, it also has an obvious protagonist (Chris) and antagonist (Jamie). There are generally quit a few locations in action thrillers, our opening includes a number of different locations as it is a chase scene. Our actors will be Chris and Jamie and they will be playing characters who's names aren't mentioned which gives a bit of mystery to the plot. Jamie's character will be chasing Chris' character through the woods and then into a car park where they will be hiding between cars. This will be filmed mainly with hand held camera making the scene more tense.

The Genre will be mainly represented a race against time, Chris' character (the protagonist) will be racing to get to the car whilst Jamie's character (the antagonist) will be chasing Chris. Another way the genre will be represented is that there is an obvious antagonist (Jamie) and an obvious protagonist and this also shows binary opposites.

One suggested location is the Long road car park. This helps because it is on site so we wont waste any of our filming time going to an off site location. There is also a shipping container and trees that can also be used in our opening.

Shots and sounds will be used to keep the tension and pace of the opening clip at a thriller standard, these sounds will be fast paced at times to shot the tension. Shots that show characters in positions of power and weakness will be used during the progress of the clip, showing any changes, if any, during the chase scene. Hand held camera shots will be used frequently during the chase, to provide a more point of view perspective and increase the confusion of the thriller that will give the audience an increasing number of questions being made.

The opening sequence will include, to start with, the ident of the group. Then, just before the ident has faded, heavy breathing will come on. the chase scene will then start and, towards the end, the protagonist will get away just in time, then catching his breath. Narrative will be over the top of the protagonist catching his breath. This leads on to the titles where it will then fade out.

The titles and credits will be handwritten and at a fast past to go with the rest of the opening and then near the climax of the credits, the music and writing slows down. The title for our product will be Anonymous.

Thriller Ident analysis

For the ident analysis we chose to analyse the ident for 20th century fox. This ident is good as...
The sound is quite loud which brings it to the attention of the audience, the music also starts as a drum role, suggesting that something good will follow. After the drum role, a brass orchestra starts to play, which can be interpreted as something with importance and of good quality is about to be shown, it can also be seen as something royal.

The visual side of the ident is quite straight forward, with the logo 3D giving it an edge to other idents as it was made during a time of great change of graphic improvements. The clip zooms out and pans across showing the whole logo, which is large and golden; this goes with the music with great effect as it looks important and is good quality. It stands out in the location as a huge statue or wide plynth, towering over a city. There are also search lights going over the statue making the whole atmosphere that the ident should be respected.

Trial Garage Band Opening Theme

Today we looked at how music is a major influence in films in general and then saw how much was lacking in a mute thriller opening, Identity.

In garage band we made our own opening theme for the film opening and added non-diegetic sounds that matched the mood of the film and tension, and then had diegetic sounds of the outside world which was raining. We managed to make 1: 50 seconds of music for the opening.










The aim of the soundtrack is to build tension and suspense within the scene whilst fitting in with the diegetic sounds. The any dialogue in the soundtrack helps tell the audience about the plot of the film.

We had to make our own soundtrack in garage band to go to the opening scene of Identity, we used mostly non-diegetic sounds this is the actual music that supports the scene by creating tension or suspense. Our soundtrack was simple but effective in creating an erie and tense atmosphere.
Unfortunately we didn't get to add any diegetic sounds in like the thunder or rain as we couldn't find the right noises, in the time given.

Action thriller analysis

The Action/ Thriller we chose to evaluate was Terminator. The film has a complicated plot that involves a cyborg being sent back to the past from an apocalyptic future to kill Sarah Conner who is the leader of the resistance against the machines, this is a common convention of a thriller as it keeps the audience guessing the whole film.

Terminator contains a lot of strong violence, much more than other thriller sub-genres, this is because there is less mystery to the plot as we already know the protagonist and antagonist. The antagonist is obvious, it is the Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) this is another common convention of action/ thrillers.

Throughout Terminator there is always the sense of time running out, the characters are constantly against the clock trying to complete their mission. This is very conventional of the action/ thriller genre as it keeps the audience in suspense.

The protagonist Sarah Connor has the equilibrium of her life disrupted when the terminator starts following her, this starts the dangerous 'cat and mouse' game off which continues through the film. She has to survive at any means to save the future.

Analysis of "Seven" opening

The sound of Seven in the opening is very important. It sets up the rest of the film and can make the audience want to watch on, or turn the film off.

The first sound heard in the film is the low rumbles and a siren of traffic outside. This is used to give the audience an idea of where the film is located. Also, the siren of a police car represents the nature of the film and how it is about Crime/ policemen.

You can also hear mumbling of other people who are clearly not in the same building as what is being seen, giving the impression that the walls are thin and therefore the area is quite poor in comparison to some other estates.

Morgan Freeman's character makes very little sound in the opening clip, the occasional noise of using an object, but not much else. This can give the audience the idea that his character is quite withdrawn and thoughtful, as at the crime scene he lets the other detective do the talking.

When Brad Pitt's character arrives on scene, he is heard before he is seen. This probably gives the idea that he is an outgoing character who will later get into difficult situations.

Their dialect is also very different between Pitt and Freeman. Morgan's speech is better pronounced and softer in comparison to Pitt's. He also has a more common vocabulary on comparison to Freeman.

The metronome, the regular tick noise, is clearly there to represent something in the film, and will become more important later in the film.

The opening credits is loud, low pitched music, giving a sinister sense to it. The sounds are synthetic, with disregard to classical instruments. The pace of the song picks up as the credits progress and at the climax, there is spoken words and then a loud rumble finish, which goes with the thriller genre style.


Within the micro elements, I chose camera angles, looking at the opening sequence, there are a lot of low angle shots on the main characters. Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt are shown in positions of power as they are the main characters and they are the characters who are on the 'good side'. There is also high angle shots, one of which is on a victim who is laying dead on the floor, this shows him in a position of weakness because he is dead.
Another shot that is used quite frequently is a long shot, this is so that the audience get to see the surroundings of the characters and so they know the setting of the scene. this helps the viewer to understand about where the characters are and helps them get an idea of the period of time it is set in.
shot reverse shots are used between Morgan Freeman and another character to show the conversation and this is good because it shows not only the person talking but also the reaction shot of the person listening.
At the end of the opening, there is lots of jumpy shots and this gives effect because it makes the viewer a little confused about the situation but it also gives a slight insight into what will happen at the end of the movie.



Within the micro elements I chose special effects. In movies special effects are used for an almost real effect of something that cannot be acted out in the scene such as a corpse, blood spatter or explosions. In "seven" they use some special effects such as in the opening scene it begins with a corpse in a pool of blood and a realistic blood spatter on the wall, this emphasizes that its a thriller and the plot is based around death and the drama involving it. in the opening credits there is also a person who is see behind the credits cutting their finger prints off with a razor blade this tell the audience that this is the killer because he may be trying to cover his tracks. this also tells the audience that they are messed up in the head this is the stereotypical serial killer seen in most thriller and horror movies.









Se7en is a action/ thriller film starring Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, they are both detectives solving a murder committed by a serial killer. I focused on the mise-en-scene in Se7en, this includes the costumes, sets and locations.

Morgan Freeman is wearing a stereotypical detective costume smarty dressed with a trench coat and hat, this shows us pretty quickly that this film will be based around solving murder mysteries and other crimes.

Brad Pitt has a typical maverick detective costume this is a leather jacket and more casual clothes. These two characters are quite miss-matched, pairing them together creates conflict between the two characters adding an element of drama to the film.

The costumes and sets don't give us a clear sense of the time period that this film is based but taking a guess it would be between 2000 and today. One thing we can learn about the film from the sets is that it is based around poorer areas of a city in America.

Preliminary Task Video

In a last minute decision, we used lift doors rather than a classroom door because of the convenience and it gave us a greater chance to practice the skills we have been learning. Below is the finished product.

Preliminary Task Plan

For the preliminary task we are having Phil filming, Jaimie as the first actor, Chris as the second actor and Angus is going to edit the film to a final product. There are no specific props needed, as it is more a task testing editing and filming skills, and the location is going to be in the G block building, in an empty classroom. Below is a storyboard plan of what shot we will be doing.

Preliminary Task shots.

This clip shows several shots needed in the preliminary task. At the very start of the clip, it gives an establishing shot, which gives audiences the idea that there is going to be a change in location. There was also a couple of reaction shots in the clip, when Chandler says he wants to quit the gym. This is just to show the audience the simple opinion the character has on the statement Chandler has.


This second clip shows a conversation using the 180 degree rule, this gives the audience the impression that they are having a real conversation and puts the two people in an over the shoulder perspective. There is later a match on action shot of Joey using a power drill that goes through the wall and into Chandler's room, nearly getting Chandler. This is to keep the story of the show going with as little stalling as possible. There is later a long shot to show all of the friend characters in the same room and are all working together. At the very end there is a close up shot of the cupboard Joey is in in. This works with the dialogue of Joey as he is talking and it makes sure the audience understands that he is inside that cupboard.