Thriller Analysis

Thriller Genre:

The narrative of a typical thriller film will have aspects of anticipation and suspense, this leads the audience to be intrigued further into the film as the suspense and tension given off will lead the audience to want to know what happens next. The main feature of a thriller film is set against a problem (often a murder) which then leads to a mission, mystery or an escape.

Thriller films will have specific characters to aid tension and enhance interest including roles such as ‘innocent victims’; this will often rise suspense in scenes in which the victim is often unknowing of the danger, also there will be most likely a criminal (the antagonist) with often a dark past which leads them to be dangerous, they will most likely have a hidden identity which soon uncovers as the film progresses keeping the audience keen to find out the past of the individual and who exactly the person is. Overall depending on the sub-genre of the thriller there will be extra roles, for example if it were to be a crime thriller there may be such characters as detectives, police officers in which leads them to be the protagonist often a brave individual eager to solve the problem.

The camerawork of a thriller often involves shots such as close ups or even extreme close ups to give most attention to the main characters in which shows their emotions to exaggerate the situation - a close up of a panicked face could relate to the severity of the situation. Jump cuts keeps the audience on the ‘edge of their seats’ in which may be used when showing the antagonist as to keep identity hidden, it makes the film fast paced and captivating. Also there may be low angled shots of the antagonist to give impressions of power and dominance. Cross cutting is often used also in thrillers to build suspense as it often signifies an important upcoming event which rises tension.

The use of sound is crucial as it make scenes more dramatic and helps hint significant parts of the film. The sounds will often start slow paced and will slowly build up, keeping the audience tense.

Props used in Thriller films consist of weapons to not only connote such things as danger but to establish the good from the bad, the protagonist or antagonist. The props used always tells you something about the character even if it is simple, like mirrors for example, not only an object that everyone may own but it can still signify something such as a reflection of past of the character or the inner bad of someone as they look at the mirror. Clothing of the character is chosen wisely in thrillers too, in most cases the protagonist wears bright clothing to represent good whereas the antagonist would wear darker clothing to represent death and hopelessness.

Finally the location of a thriller depends mostly on the narrative, however by the use of lighting, the atmosphere can become much more exaggerated, in most thrillers the lighting is ‘low key lighting’ in which creates moods of despair and helplessness keeping the audience tense throughout.

Thriller Film notes - Homefront:

-          This film is about a former DEA agent moving to a small town, he gets into trouble with a local meth lord who he is unknowing of and causes his daughter and him to be in danger.

-          The setting of this film is quite typical in the genre of a thriller; it is shown to be a small rural town, this helps to give off senses of helplessness and isolation, in which it may be hard to escape from danger, therefore can be easily manipulated to rise tension.

-          In this film we have three main roles – the protagonist, the antagonist and the innocent victim. Jason Statham plays a role of a DEA agent who is seen as the protagonist, then there is James Franco, a meth drug lord who is seen as a quite disturbed man as we see early into the film, he is the antagonist. Finally we have the innocent victim who is played by the daughter of the DEA agent, she is seen as a helpless and innocent character prone to danger.

-          Props help a lot when distinguishing good from bad. Weapons are used to signify who has greater authority however also symbolises danger. The clothing symbolises a lot, in the film we only see the daughter and DEA agent father wearing caps, this projects the closeness and relation of these two characters, however it can also be seen as something that isolates them from everyone else and so are easily interpreted as the main characters. In relation to clothing, we often see the drug lord wearing quite rough attire which is quite dark and dull, representing danger and instability of the character. Whereas we see the good (the daughter) wearing clothing that is bright and vivid such as pink, this therefore represents hope and innocence.  Other props include ownership of horses = peace and meth/drugs = unstable.

-          The main camera shots of this film consists mainly of medium close ups, close ups and mid shots. They keep interest in the characters and can easily give of information such as looking at their facial expressions to show emotion, the close ups are often used to draw the audience in and share the feelings of the character. These close range camera shots keeps the film tense as it is hard to know if danger is close when there is little sight of the surroundings. We often see the camera angle being at neutral for most of the film, however in some areas where the antagonist is being shown, the angle of the shot becomes low making the audience see the drug lord as superior and dominant connoting danger. Towards the end tension is normally at its highest with its fast paced action, this is coupled by some extreme close ups, we are shown the girl to be in a small confined space, with the extreme close up the audience can feel how the character is feeling at that moment as it projects such feelings as restriction, these shots also signifies dangerous and tense situations.

-          The edits and transitions of this film include a lot of jump cuts and cutaways, the cutaways are used to show that danger is coming and how vulnerable the innocent are, we are shown the father and daughter having a birthday party while another scene is shown where the drug lord is planning something.  Cut transitions help the film to be fast paced and interesting, it helps to be straight to the point. The lighting is chosen carefully in this film, where in the beginning we are shown the surrounding area to be quite radiant and vivid in colour, symbolising a new and hopeful life for the newly moved family, however towards the end where danger is around or when the antagonist is being filmed, the lighting becomes dark and dull, showing despair and distress.

-          Homefront has a lot of non- diegetic sounds in which is often music tracks which adds effect to the scene and atmosphere, making it tenser and intriguing, it intensifies the mood.  Also the music also makes scenes more dramatic with slow paced music when showing the drug lord, this adds mystery to the character.