History of Thriller Films

History of Thriller Films

   

Alfred Joseph Hitchcock

Born: 13 August 1899

Leytonstone, London, England

Died: 29 April 1980 (aged 80)

Bel Air, California, United States

Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was the most iconic and influential person in the world of thriller films, he was way beyond his times and produced some of the most best and well-known thriller films there are and are even still loved and admired today by many people. Hitchcock was known as the master of suspense as he would always have the audience in the cinema on the edges of their seats as he would always keep the audience guessing and with his great editing skills and narrative Hitchcock perfected the best thriller convention of suspense. Alfred Hitchcock is one of the most renowned and influential film directors and in his career he ushered the two most important periods of cinema history – the arrival of sound and the introduction of colour. He perfected his art in both disciplines, reverting back to black and white when he felt the need, and mastering not only silent pictures but sound and colour ones too. However even though he did so much to move thriller films on and make them better for the audience he unfortunately never won an oscar for best director, this was disappointing for him but he said he was not in the film industry for the accolades but he was instead in it for the viewers pleasure.

Over many years of his directing career Hitchcock directed a number of films and here are his all top 10 which was most critically acclaimed:

10. Lifeboat

9. Dial M for Murder

8. Rope

7. Psycho

6. The 39 Steps

5. Shadow of a Doubt

4. North by Northwest

3. Notorious

2. Vertigo

1. Rear Window

Hitchcock was known for his watershed and uncensored films that led him to have to change numerous shots and edits within many of his films. Hitchcock had to re-shoot the kissing scene from Notorious as at this time there was a kissing law that there could not be a kiss longer than 3 seconds to be shown within cinemas. 

Alfred Hitchcock always featured within his film, he was always at the beginning of the film, he would show himself and explain to the audience what the film would be about and explain why he wrote the film. this would give the audience a sense of him wanting their best interests at heart and really caring about the audience more than any other reader.

This the the thriller film The Birds, this one of Alfred Hitchcock's iconic films. He decided that he would direct a film about birds as this was one of his fears and thought this was going to happen in the future. Hitchcock used school children within in this clip as he has realeased that young school children show the audience innocence and this will appeal to the audience, he added this within his film so the audience would feel the emotions of the characters. Also as Hitchcock was the genius of cinematic tension he would incorporate this within his film and keep the audience on the edge of their seats.

This is the film Psycho and this clip shows the most iconic scene that everybody knows Hitchcock for which is the shower scene. Hitchcock again has incorporated this within the film as Hitchcock is afraid of water and what would happen while he was in the shower. However again Hitchcock had crossed the line within this film as at the time there was no nudity within any film and this was seen as too inappropriate but Hitchcock still decided to add this within his film to create the effect that it had on many people. If there was no nudity in the scene then it may not have been remembered even today

A modern day well known thriller director is James Collet-Serra is most well known for writing the thriller Orphan. This was a psychological thriller as it would scare the audience but at the same time make them think and try to work out what has happened. 

In the film, ate and John are grief-stricken with the loss of their unborn child. However, they rebuild their troubled marriage as Kate goes into therapy, and is sober for one year from her alcoholism. The couple adopts a nine year old Russian girl named Esther, and they welcome her home but their son is less welcoming. However, Kate begins to suspect that Esther is not an angelic little girl after all, and harbors a sinister secret.

James Collet-Serra, has directed this spectacularly it creates a lot of suspense for the audience as they do not know the true extent of Esther troubles and also that the story will not make sense until the end of the story. Serra has directed this film to keep the audience on the edge of their seats and keep them guessing and entertained throughout.

Individual Storyboards

Individual Storyboards

After completing our group narrative where we each put our own ideas together and came up with our thriller film narrative, we first decided to use a 16 year old girl as this shows her innocence and is a convention of a thriller film. We then each separately drew our own storyboards so we could show each other what we feel our thriller film would look like. The story boards will also help our groups by in what camera shots we will use for which frames to make the film seem most conventional and professional. My storyboard shows the girl walking home with her friends, she takes the way through the forest but she doesn't realize she's being watched by a man. The man then creeps up on her and kills her. However in our thriller film we decided not to show the girl getting killed and instead the screen just go black. 

I then came up with the attack sequence for our thriller film, the attacker comes in front of the girl and she is frightened and scared, then there is a close up of the girls reactions and emotions and this gives an idea of what she is going through to the audience. Then girl tries to run away from the attacker but then the attacker catches up with her and strikes her but before you see her hit the floor the screen goes black.

I then came up with the scene where the attacker catches the girl, within in this sequence I have used a lot of close ups as it will show the emotions of the girl and the killer. I have also used mid-shows as it shows the girls surroundings, the editing styles have varied throughout this sequence as it would give a different feeling from one frame to another, this was because each frame has different types of emotions.

Risk Assessment

Risk Assessment

As a group we felt it was very important to consider certain risks that may occur during our filming as my group and I need to put the our health and safety first before everything, we feel we need to be prepared for any risk that may occur when were filming.
This risk assessment will help my group in filming and I believe that if we assess every risk possible it will then help us to get on and make the best thriller film we can without worrying about the risks that will occur. It will also let us get on with our filming as we know what risks may occur when filming in the location, our props etc, and how to overcome them.

Filming Schedule

Filming Schedule

My group and I discussed and planned our filming schedule, we feel that it is important to have a filming schedule as we can set times to finish each scene and can have a time we are finished our film. This can also help us to see if we are behind at any point and then we could correct it and then speed up. We each discussed what sort of camera shots and iconography we need to use and incorporate within our thriller as this would be noticed by the audience and the better the iconography the more the audience will pay attention. The iconography needs to make sense to the audience otherwise there will be no relevant reason for it to be there.

My group and I tried to follow our filming schedule but we found it hard and had to alter some of the components that we had written down as we felt the timings we had written down were too short and each frame we was creating was longer than we anticipated, we felt that we hadn't analysed enough of the shots and frames that we were using as we felt that the duration of frames and shots had to change if the frame was more important than the rest. We also changed a part of the iconography as we had the girl victim taking off her headphones so now she would not be using her headphones as she walking through the forest while being followed by the attacker. Lastly instead of using one flashback me and my group decided that we would use two as we felt that the audience needed to have more information about the attacker as the audience had not seen the attackers identity throughout the thriller film.

Health and Safety

Health and Safety

Planning Cinematography

Planning Cinematography

Camera shots are important in thrillers to give different perspectives of what is going on and to set the tone of the film. Different camera shots make the audience feel like they are there but it can also make the audience feel like they’re spectating what is going on within the film.  This engages the audience and makes them want to continue watching. Also the different camera angles show the audience different emotions within thrillers whether it is anger or just being scared the audience will feel the emotions with the character.

Within my thriller the four main camera shots we will be using are:

• Mid Shot - Mid shots are used to show the part of the girl but still showing the audience in some detail of the whole surroundings. I will be using this shot when she is talking to her friends and not paying much attention.
• Long Shot - I will be using this camera angle to show the girl walking along with her friends, we have decided to use this shot as it as show the girls surroundings but also as it will show her body language from far away.
• Over the Shoulder Shot - We are using over the shoulder view as it gives the audience a perspective look at what the person is seeing. We will be using his shot when the attacker is walking behind her and the girl cannot see him. This shot builds up suspense for the audience as they know what there is someone behind the girl but the girl does not.
• Close Up - Close ups are used to emphasize the emotional state of the person, this draws the audience into the persons personal space and this lets the audience share the emotions with the person.

The target audience I have chosen will build relationships with the characters as the I have varied the camera shots and the audience will be able to connect to the innocence of the girl and the beastly nature of the attacker. The audience will feel sorry for the victim due to the close up it will show the innocence and all the emotions of the girl also the audience will be feeling a sense of despair as they know what is going to happen to her before she does due to the over the shoulder shot, this creates suspense for the audience as they don't want the innocence of the girl to be taken. The girl is around the same age of my target audience so the victim will be able to connect with the audience on a peer level and they will understand what is going on in her normal day to day life. Also the audience will build a relationship with the attacker as they will want to know who he is and why he is attacking the girl, this creates a sense of tension due to the unknown nature of the attacker. 

Opening Scene Narrative

Opening Scene Narrative

Frame 1
There will be 4 girls walking down a residential road after leaving school, this would mean that they would be in their school uniform, this will be a good convention of a thriller film as they are all girls and show innocence that young girls have. A long shot will be used as it can easily show all four girls and this will inform the audience of what they are doing. We will be using high key lighting as the girls are happy with no cares in the world, there will be natural sounds from the road and the girls talking and laughing, but they don't know that they are being watched by the attacker. The kuleshov effect will be used when editing as it will hint with the girls emotion and bring the first two frames together to make a small montage.

Frame 2
One of the four girls will leave the other girls on the residential road and then walk through a forest pathway not knowing that there is a masked attacker that is hiding in the bushes. over the shoulder shot will be used in this frame as the audience will see the masked attacker but the girl will not, this will create a sense of suspense as the audience do not know why the attacker is there and what he is going to do. Again I will be using high key lighting as all 4 girls are oblivious to the fact there is a masked attacker in the bushes meaning that the girl walking by herself is still happy listening to her music. The sound of heavy breathing will be accompanied to the frame when the girl is walking past the masked attacker this shows the audience that he is angry and wants to hurt her, there is also natural sounds of the trees whistling in the wind and the cars going past on the road. The kuleshov effect will be used when editing as it will hint with the girls emotion and bring the first two frames together to make a small montage.

Frame 3
Another frame of the girl walking in the forest path, shot I will be using is a mid-shot as it will show all the surroundings that the girl is walking in and this will create tension as the audience know that she is being followed by a masked attacker by the girl doesn't know, also the audience will not know where or when the attacker will show himself. There will still be high key lighting as the girl is happy still walking listening to her music, there will still be natural sounds of the trees and cars but also the fading voices of her friends as she gets further and further into the forest. A straight cut will be used when editing and will go straight to the next scene.

Frame 4
The girl is now in the middle of an empty field and is still walking oblivious to her is following her. The lighting will start becoming low key lighting as it shows the audience that the attacker is now getting closer because when the light becomes darker this will set almost a horror tone to this frame. The sounds of muffled music from the girls headphones will be heard by the audience, then the editing style of shallow focus will be used when the girl is walking and the attacker appears out of the bushes behind the girl but the girl cannot see or he hear him.

Frame 5
This frame will be a flashback of the attacker using a mid-shot to show the surroundings that the attacker is in to show the audience more about him, the attacker is looking at a picture of the girl and remembers conversations that they've had, this will inform the audience that this is not just a random stalking but they know each other, this will create tension as the audience do not know how they know each other and why he wants to attack her and angry with her. Low key lighting will be used to give a dampening the mood as the audience have now got background information about the mask attacker and now know that he wants to hurt the girl for an unknown reason. The sound of laughter from the girl would be heard in this scene and the conversation that the attacker and the girl are having, a straight cut editing style will be used just to move straight onto the next scene as it could show the audience the mental instability of the attacker as he can just move from one flashback straight back to reality.

Frame 6
The girl is now walking through the empty field and the mid-shot will be used to again show all her surroundings to see if the attacker is anywhere in the frame, but now the girl feels like she is being watched and keeps looking over her shoulder to see if she is actually being watched. The lighting is getting lower and lower as it's getting dark outside by also to inform the audience that the masked attacker is getting closer and closer. Only muffled music from the headphones can be heard. Straight cut again will be used to go straight onto the next scene.

Frame 7
There is another flashback of the attacker a mid-shot will be used to show his surroundings but also an over the shoulder shot will be used to show what he is looking at. The masked attacker is in a dark room with a baseball bat in his hand, this will again show the mental instability of the attacker, the sound of heavy breathing from the attacker will also show the audience the anger that he has for the girl. Then the attacker leaves the dark room with a baseball bat in his hand and this shows to the audience that the attacker is now going to go and get the girl. A dissolve editing style will be used as it will be putting two images together, we have decided to use this as it shows the audience what he wants to do and then puts the image of him walking out of the dark room and the girl still walking through the empty field.

Frame 8
The girl again walking through the field more quickly than before as she is now frightened as she feels she is being watched more closely than before, mid-shot will be used as when the girl is looking round for the attacker his will show the audience that there is nobody there that she can see, she looks behind then looks in front of her many times. Low key lighting used as the attacker is close and ready to attack her this foreshadows the next scene as the audience know what is going to happen next.

Frame 9
When the girl looks in front of her again she sees the attacker close to her with a baseball bat with a mask on his face, my group and I will be using a mid-shot to show the audience what the attacker looks like. Low key lighting was used as the attacker dampens the emotions and mood of the film as now the girl is going to feel scared and frightened. The only sound that can be heard is the sound of the music that the girl is listening too, a straight cut editing style will be used to go straight to the next scene as the audience will want to see what happens next and how the girl reacts.

Frame 10
There is a close up of the girl and the emotions that she has and how scared she is, she is still in the empty field but now with the attacker in front of her, she is now scared with fright. Low key lighting will be used as the lighting will match the girls emotions as she is scared of the attacker, the sound of the girl screaming will be heard in this frame.  Another straight cut used to go straight onto the next scene as the audience will want to know what happens after the girls reaction.

Frame 11
Victim backs away from the attacker in fear, over the shoulder shot will be used showing what the attacker can see the girl doing, the attacker begins to raise his baseball bat slowly, this will create tension as the audience knows that the he is going to hit and try and kill her. Low key lighting used again to show the emotions of the girl as she's scared, again only sound heard is the girl still screaming. Then another straight cut is used.

Frame 12
There is then a panning shot downwards used to emphasize the attacker having a baseball bat, then the attacker raises the bat and the strikes it, then the screen goes black. This will create suspense as the audience doesn't know what's happened to the girl. Low key lighting used for half the scene until the attacker strikes the girl then the whole screen goes black. Dramatic music can be heard when the killer and girl are both in the shots but only can be faintly heard and the girl is still screaming but then when the screen goes black the music becomes louder and then the screaming stops. Straight cut used to the end ending of the film.