5 Thriller Films Reasearch

1) Psycho

• Fast jumpy music, gives a creepy effect

• Main character is a psychotic individual

• Marion Crane is the innocent victim (typical thriller convention)



• Quick paced action

• Hybrid film, psychological thriller

• Indirect violence when the viewer hears Marion in the car thinking about past events

• Bad Weather e.g. thunder and heavy rain gives a creepy/mysterious feel to the scene

• Tension is built up with slow paced scenes then followed by fast paced action scenes

• Creepy house Marion sees out her window cannot be seen fully due to shadows. This creates a mysterious feel and a sense of the unknown about the house



• Close ups of faces + expressions focus on reactions from characters and focus on what the character is saying

2) Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer

• Main character is once again a psychotic individual (typical thriller convention)



• The women he kills are innocent victims (typical thriller convention)

• Camera slowly zooms in on faces and expressions to build suspense

• The darkness creates tension and suspense

• The main theme of Perfume is pursuit, this is apparent when the main character pursues the girls for their scents

• Serial killing

• Focuses on the action not the surroundings

• Slow paced scenes, builds suspense

• Close-ups of important yet subtle events/actions



3) Collateral

• Dark / low lighting creates a sense of the unknown

• Green tint during some scenes creates a mysterious feel

• Sudden / dramatic events. Examples in the trailer below are when the dead man falls on the taxi and when Tom Cruise pulls his gun on Jamie Foxx:



• Fast paced music played when something important is going to happen

• Close-ups on faces and expressions

• Camera focuses on action in the foreground and background is out of focus. This can be seen in the trailer above at 0:59 seconds

• Cut-away shots used



4) Kill Bill Vol.1

• Split screen picture used



• Mysterious man whose identity is anonymous, all that the viewer sees is his legs and hand and all that the viewer hears is his voice

• Mixture of colour and black and white scenes

• Heavy breathing audible yet a solid black screen is all that’s visible

• Fast paced music played during the fight scenes



5) The Dark Knight

• Main character is a superhero

• It’s a hybrid, it’s a mixture of superhero and thriller

• Night scenes, so low lighting is used

• Fast paced

• Slow paced music apart from when in pursuit

• Zooms in on facing when talking to show reactions and expressions of characters (The Joker and Batman)



• Birds-eye camera shot



• Camera pans out to birds-eye camera shot of the city