AS media coursework

Final Evaluation of 'Disturbance of the Un-woken'

2009-05-06T08:35:00.000-07:00

Media Evaluation Of Opening ‘Disturbance of the Un-woken’.

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms of real media products?
When planning mine and my groups’ thriller opening, we firstly had to evaluate real thriller openings to identify common conventions used, so we could therefore use them in our own opening.I evaluated different thriller openings with the rest of my group in which we found that all the titles were used at the very beginning of the opening so that the music was completely focused on by the audience; this would therefore create the intended atmosphere and let the audience know what kind of thriller they are watching. (0.00 -0.33) All titles and build up of music with main character singing in the background, this was a main influence from evaluating thriller openings that was used in our own opening. This challenges the normal conventions of a psychotic genre, as shown in ‘Signs’, a lot of distant shots of the main character is used and no talking takes place (2.08 – 3.27 of the signs extract below), whilst our opening uses close ups and midshots of our main character talking to her teddy bear. This was so that the audience would be engaged with our main character straight away and with the additional eery music used in the background of both the titles and when she is playing with her teddies and low key lighting shows that the opening is going to be dark and quite sinister. Also, we centralised her in shot to show her importance, although when the male character enters the room, more time is spent on focusing on him in shot as it emphasises his dominance over her character, as stereotypically, men are the stronger gender.

Another common convention used in thriller openings is a long establishing shot to set a calm base to build tension upon. We also used this in our own opening (0.34 – 0.45). Although, instead of a long shot which is normally used, as shown in the ‘Signs’ extract, we developed on this and used a zoom. This I thought worked well, as it is as if the audience is peering into her window, watching her, almost how it is when she is in the woods.

Although, the mise en scene were all our own ideas. Maizie, (main female actress), is dressed in dark red lipstick and a stripy dress that match the colours of a spinning spiral stereotypically used to hypnotise people, this was used because this linked back to the psychological genre and to emphasise her character isn’t normal. This challenged normal conventions used in thriller openings, as normally to start off with, like in the ‘Signs’ extract, they will make it seem that everything is normal, plain costumes and surroundings to add the creepy feeling that anything can happen to even the most normal looking people. Although the costume we had used in our opening, had apparently instead confused people who had watched it, as they were not sure why a little girl would be wearing make up, but the point was that Maizie was not a little girl, she was of teenage age, but because of the abuse as shown in our opening, it had made her still behave like a child.

Maizie Cast’s character - talking to her teddy bears in ‘Disturbance of the Un-woken’.

2. How does your product represent particular social groups?
For our opening, we used the social stereotype of males’ dominance over women, our main character is a girl who is abused by her father, which is typical of thrillers with abuse storylines. Also woman are stereotypically the weaker sex, we have emphasised this in our opening by using low angles on Maizie and high angles on our main male character Tad. Also, Tad when entering the room is the main focus when it pans over to him walking over to Maizie (0.55 – 0.59), in the shots he is in, he is centralised the whole time and when we edited it, we made it so that he stays for longer in shot than Maizie does. On the other hand, Tad was dressed up purposely with dark rings around his eyes, white t-shirt and jeans, with a drunken bottle of alcohol in his hands, even though we have used the typical woman inferior to men, we made it so that the male was put in a negative light, that the male being in power and control over this girl was a bad thing, emphasised by Maizie’s reaction to the verbal abuse. The audience will connect with Maizie’s character and so sympathy towards her will be created and therefore our opening will appeal to anyone.
I do not think our opening represents any kind of social group, I think we have cleverly made it so that it will appeal to anyone who likes psychological thrillers, the added abuse storyline along with the feeling of being followed creates a more in depth story as it seems it doesn’t matter if she runs away from it, it will always follow her.

3. What kinds of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

The genre of mine and my groups opening is psychological thriller, which means that I had to look at industries who distributed psychological thrillers like ‘The Sixth Sense’, ‘Signs’ and ‘Basic Instinct’. I found that MGM studios have distributed a large amount of thrillers in which most of them are psychological thrillers, for example ‘Basic Instinct 2’, ‘Child in the Night’ and ‘Deceiver’. Therefore, I would think MGM studios would be most interested in our media product as a lot of these psychological thriller films they distribute include focusing on a main characters story, our female character is the main focus of the story, how she deals with the abuse, her running out the house and then wandering around the woods alone (1.34 -1.44) with the feeling of being watched, when all of this goes on, the audience follows and feels the same way that she does, therefore creating the connection between the character and the audience. Camera angles I believe were best to present her being followed were the low angle zoom shot onto her scared, and the handi cam shot of her being crept up on from behind, this is used right at the end of our piece, and I believe this makes a good ending.
Also used in a lot of psychological thrillers they distribute there is a build up of suspense in the story. In our opening the build up of suspense is used twice, when in the house being shouted at by her father (0.53 -1.15) and then again when she feels like she’s being followed in the woods (1.33 – 1.58), the editing at this point is cut more quickly to create the build up of suspense and ties in with more fast paced music than is used at the beginning. I think having the end shot being a climax of suspense is good to keep the audience fixated. MGM studios also released ‘Rebecca’ and ‘Sabotage’ which are both films directed by Alfred Hitchcock, well known for his psychological thriller ‘Psycho’, this proves further that MGM would be best to distribute ‘Disturbance of the Un-woken’ as psychological thrillers obviously appeal a lot to this industry.

4. What would be the audience for your media product?
For our opening we had to justify after researching the BBFC what certificate our opening ‘Disturbance of the Un-woken’ would come under. I thought that my groups opening was a certificate 15 as our opening represented a girl that had been abused, but didn’t show her being abused. Also, no language was used, drugs, nudity or sex. This also ties in with my predicted target audience, as having it as a 15 will allow the younger males I think that our opening would appeal to, to be able see it.

I think the audience for my opening ‘Disturbance of the Un-woken’ would be aimed at young teenage males to males in early twenties. This is because stereotypically the thriller genre appeals more to males, also with our main character being around the same age, this could appeal to our audience further. Furthermore males are stereotypically more simple than females, watching our main character being verbally abused, especially as she is a girl and the story is following her, could be off putting for a female to watch as they will relate emotionally to her character, whilst males may not think about it and instead of being off put by the abuse shown, could be more engaged, because any kind of action or violence stereotypically interests males whilst making the animatic as written in ‘presentation of animatic’ on my blog, we realised that we had done too many distancing shots away from the main character. We had focused more on her running away, and so this therefore meant she was away from the camera a lot of the time, especially as we had so many setting changes, it went from a house, to an alley, to the woods, to another alley and then to a barn house. So a lot of the shots were long shots with the odd point of view. To create characters that would connect with the audience we had to add more close ups, midshots and reaction shots of our main character so that this connection was there and engaging the audience. I think this worked, especially in the house, as sympathy towards her character was created through using close ups, and reaction shots, like the one pictured below. This is an issue we developed on immensely and in our final piece of ‘Disturbance of the Un-woken’ I believe the aimed connection between our main character and the audience is achieved.

Reaction shot of Maizie being Verbally abused.

5. How did you attract your audience?
I think that our engaging of characters attracts our audience. When Tad is verbally abusing Maizie, he is in darker lighting than Maizie is in to show he is a more sinister character, Maizie is in more high key lighting showing that she is innocent, that she does not deserve what is happening to her. Also, the music changes when Tad walks into the room, it is faster paced with lower tones, to emphasise his sinister character and the tension that is built between him and Maizie. Showing that our female character is inferior to this male dominant character will let the audience sympathise with her character and keep them engaged into what happens to her when she runs away from this, as this haunting of being hurt seems to follow her. This then links to the suspense built up by the editing, we used different camera angles in short length so that Maizie wandering through the woods made her look lost and confused, adding to the fact she is not in her right mind. I think this will attract our audience as they will create more sympathy towards her character.

The main prop used was her teddy, which was symbolising the fact that she was clinging onto her childhood. This may have confused the audience, as it seems now that this was not presented in the right way so that people watching would understand that. This is because even though we had a shot of her talking to the teddy, the ongoing confusion of her costume made it difficult for people to know what age she was supposed to be. This was a downfall on our part, but I do not think this affects the aimed connection between Maizie’s character and the audience.

6. What have you learnt about the process of constructing the product?
Constructing our piece was a hard process. The story in which my group and I had originally made is significantly different to how the opening turned out. Originally our female was going to have flashbacks of when she was younger getting abused verbally and chased around the house, scared and frightened. Also, she was going to wake up at the end and so whatever it was that was chasing her in the woods would’ve all been a dream, supposedly. This we were told was too cliché and was also difficult to film because there aren’t many parents who would let their young child be shouted at by a complete stranger. We edited out most of these shots by taking out the pictures from the storyboard, but kept some of the in the house shots that are in the real product, (0.46-0.48). I think editing parts of our original story benefited our piece as we tried to put too much into such little time, which would’ve made the opening too confusing and so benefited our work and audience as it therefore is more engaging as the narrative flowed better.

After making the storyline, storyboard, scripting and filming our shots, we had to edit our footage on an apple mac on premiere pro software. This enabled us to change the lighting, in which we made our shots darker to make the atmosphere more intense. Also it allowed us to add sound, which proved difficult. Finding music that fits in well with the narrative , especially with our piece, as the narrative changes from being in an atmosphere of intensity, when our main female character is being verbally abused, to a build up of suspense, when she’s running away and believing she is being followed. Finding a piece of music to fit both was impossible and so we had to use two different ones that could be merged together and still fit the narrative. This was a slight downfall with my groups final piece, as we focused too much on the narrative and the editing that the sound got pushed aside in priority.

Editing also proved difficult, because I had never used an apple mac before, let alone an editing program, my skills were non-existent, so the equipment I took charge of was the filming equipment. I am now able to assemble a tripod to achieve the shots I want, for example heightening and tilting the tripod to create low angles. Before this I had never used a tripod. I also understand from the filming process why particular shots are used and what they achieve, for example the high and low angles to create the inferior and superior characters. Having the knowledge to use the camera equipment properly is important to produce the best quality shots possible, so the film shoots for me was a good learning process.

7. Looking back to your continuity task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

I feel that I have learnt a lot from the continuity task project to the final piece. My camera skills improved significantly, making sure that the characters in shot are centralised, emphasising their importance. Also using the camera to tell the story, not the actors, this is what we had tried to do before in our animatic by trying to include a lot of speech into one shot and only changing the camera angles when the characters in the shot moved. This improved in our continuity task as this was the point where we put our high and low angles into practice, making the character who had cheated on the other in our story be looked down upon in mid speech.

Researching into our sub genre made us drastically change our piece, when as a group we analysed thriller openings, we realised that the titles were all shown first in one go, we had separated out our titles onto different shots which proved difficult as our surroundings, for example the shots in the woods, made our text difficult to see. This improved our work, especially as we had difficulties in putting the titles on shots in our chosen colour and font as they couldn’t be seen. Instead we made black background titles that are presented in a slow sequence with eery music to entice in the audience. (0.00- 0.33).

As a group, we struggled with editing, but this has improved since our continuity task. Using transitions became an easy process, we would test each transition to see which one worked best, so we took care into what looked good with our piece. Also, we learnt cutting shots whether shortening them or editing them out became easier, as before when deleting a shot, the effects with that shot, example sounds or transitions, can be deleted with it, which could affect the other shots in the sequence and so now we know to lock the bars that have the affects in them and to cut them down yourself when the shot has been deleted. This made us more confident with the equipment and even though I still have a lot to learn on the editing front, I have still obtained skills that will benefit me in the future, for example knowing how to shorten or lengthen shots in a sequence and adding sound by importing music through itunes on premiere pro and how to add it to a sequence.

Centralising Maizie emphasised her importance in the shots we used.

'Disturbance of the Un-woken' final piece and mark.

2009-04-22T07:31:00.001-07:00

We got given our final grading for my groups piece. We got a B, which is good, but we also got given advice on what needed to be done to get an A grade. We needed to use less music pieces, as this made the video seem as if it were cut up into sections than flowing as one opening. The costume additionally confused the audience, as what was supposed to be portrayed was the main female actress was supposed to be older, but acted like a child, because she was twisted by being abused by her father, hense the teddy was meant to represent her clinging onto her childhood, so we had dressed her in extravagant clothing and make up so she would look weird, but instead it seems that people thought she was meant to be a child and so what she was wearing looked strange. Also, going into the woods faded the audiences interest, and so to improve it, cutting out the wood part of the video and adding more 'in the house' shots would have helped increase the mark.

I think that my piece is good, but after hearing the advice given, I understand why our piece was a B not an A. The parts of the video that I am proud of is definitley the actors we used, they were extremely good, we were complimented of how connected we made the audiences with our characters from use of the closer camera angles. Also, I am proud of the story, even though it was quite cliche, we did put a lot of thought into the story and how it was presented, re-shooting and editing the opening a few times over to try and get it right. I have learnt from this that you have to pay attention to detail, because it is only a couple of minor details that have to be changed for the mark to go from an a B to an A.

Notes on Evaluation Questions

2009-03-30T10:30:00.000-07:00

In the evaluation the following questions must be answered:
• In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Our opening uses conventions that are mainly used in real thriller openings. As a group, our intial story was a very typical psychotic thriller storyline, in which it would all be a dream and throughout the opening she was having flashbacks. We then realised that this was too typical and quite unprofessional, having a good storyline wasn't the main priority, but up until that point, it had been. Going by a streotypical storyline will not make the audience interested in what they are seeing, as they will already know what is going to happen. Also, because we had used so much footage of the actors, it was difficult to place the titles in the right areas, and so after watching real thriller openings, we realised that they were of real importance and so we changed our footage to having all the titles being shown at the beginning. This has also emphasised to us the importance of sound, as we needed to find music to match our chosen genre to be shown with the titles, as this will set the mood for the rest of the opening and is important to make that impression on the audience of the kind of thriller we are presenting. I don't think that our opening challenged the conventions in any way, I think that we stuck to them, as this proved to be the best way of making an opening.
• How does your media product represent particular social groups?
I do not think our opening represents any kind of social group, it was made to encourage different social groups with the same psychotic thriller interest to watch. It could represent abnormality, but it is over emphasised and exaggerated.
• What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I think the most likely distributor of our thriller would be Viacom, I say this because their film division has a wide range of companies, for example Paramount, that provide a wide range of films. As our genre is of a psychotic thriller, they could be interested as as a genre of thriller, they are quite popular.
• Who would be the audience for your media product?
I would say that my opening aims at a 15+ audience, men or women and of any culture. I think this is an advantage to us, as this will encourage a wider audience, and if this was apart of a real industry, that would increase the likeability of a profit to be made.
• How did you attract/address your audience?
To attract our audience, my opening made sound to be the key first feature, this is to lure people into the story, as the more unusual the music being played is, the more likely people will be drawn in to watch and see what is going to happen next. Then to tie in with the music, the right costume and dialogue was important and to make a certain pace, starting with a bold opening of having Tad Finney, ( our main actor), shouting at Maizie Cast, (our main actress), to keep the audiences interest, then to make the atmosphere intense by keeping the focus on Maizie.
• What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I have learnt you can change a lot to what you have filmed to fit your own ideas. When filming shots, it is ok to have them that little bit longer, because they can be edited down, and effects help to create the atmosphere and intensity you really want to add to your opening.
• Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
I feel that the opening looks more like an actual thriller opening, having the titles at the beginning, our editing has also progressed a lot as that was the area we struggled most in. The shots really work and I feel now the story runs more smoothly than it did before, as people said when evaluating it as a class, that it was a bit confusing. The sound also fits in with our story completely now and gives the opening the atmosphere we aimed for. I have learnt that the little things matter in a opening, slight details that are changed can go a long way. Also, going by the conventions that real thriller openings use really helped my understanding of how to make one and improved our opening to the standard it is now.

Rough Cut Completion and Presentation

2009-03-26T06:20:00.001-07:00

The rough cut of our piece was finished and given in on time. This was then presented to the class along with every other groups and as a class we compared and commented on what we thought was the best and worst of the class. We discovered that even though our first minute was of A grade standard, it started to loose its appeal on the second minute, a common problem with the other groups also. To improve our footage, we have to make sure that our piece doesn't become too confusing, and so we will have to re-edit our piece again so that as an opening, it shall flow smoothly and still keep the audience gripped. To get ideas, we watched openings to thrillers as a class and noted down the conventions in which were used quite commonly in the thriller openings. Conventions most used were having all the titles sequenced at the beginning of the openings along with music to fit the genre of film being shown. Actual filming with characters were not the main focus and establishing the scene and main characters were vital for each opening. So, we have taken these conventions into account and will use these ideas into our own opening when re-editing.

My Progression so far with the Thriller Opening.

2009-02-25T03:33:00.001-08:00

I feel that I have made a fair amount of progress throughout this project, filiming has been a real eye opener for me, as when making the storyboard I felt we had made a great thriller opening, but overtime realised initial ideas when starting and only practised filming a little before, there is a lot more thought that needs to go into what shots you need to do to make sure your audience will connect to your characters. Also, filming is time consuming and extremely difficult to get the exact conditions and exact shots you would like. Experimenting with this has helped my knowledge of knowing how to make a good thriller opening and so that part of this project has been significant for me. My lack of knowledge on the editing front has not really helped my group, and so I will be attending to extra help from my teacher, which will hopefully help me to know more about the program 'Premiere' and therefore will help my group. I have contributed to my group as much as I can when it came to ideas and helping with the work, but lack of communication between us has made it difficult for all of us to get an even amount of work each, and so I feel I could do and want to do more, but again I need to know more about how to edit to really contribute to the group significantly.

Third Film Shoot

2009-02-20T04:25:00.000-08:00

5th february - Our story of our film opening had to change slightly, our flashbacks are now the footage in the woods, so we had to then film new footage of our main character when she is older in an office. We filmed this at Amber's house. All the shots were inside mainly, but some of the shots were by the window or through the window, and because of the snow around this time, we had to be careful not to get the snow in the shot, as it isn't in any of the other shots we have done, therefore this was to keep continuity. Filming overall went well, we got all the new shots we needed done and the shots fit in well with the rest of our footage.

Second Filming Shoot

2009-01-28T06:59:00.001-08:00

Our second actual filming shoot took place on sunday the 25th of January, we had tried to meet up on the 22nd of january, but because of lack of members, it ended up not going ahead. One of our group members was absent, but this didn't affect our shooting. We re-shot all of our wood shots, all in good lighting and this time it didn't take as long to shoot as because of the experience of our last shooting, not as many mistakes were made. We then after the wood shots were made, filmed in Amber's house for the flashback scenes, where we had Tad Finney play the Dad and Lia Stubbings play the younger version of the main girl in our opening. The only problem that occured was that the camera ran out of battery, so to improvise, we used Amber's own camera to film with that, even though we have the footage, the quality isn't good enough, and so we shall have to re-schedule for another film shoot for all of the flashback scenes.

First Filming Shoot

2009-01-28T06:59:00.000-08:00

On thursday the 15th of january me and my group went out and did our first filming shoot after school. All of us went along with our main actress, Maizie Cast and did the main wood shooting near Amber's house. I thought the shooting went well, all of us contributed and most of the shots got done, although we had to leave after about an hour and a half as it became dark very quickly, which meant the lighting for the filming wasn't good enough. When showing our shots to Mr Michie, we had a good response, saying that our mise en scene and costume was good, but the shots were a little shaky and were too short. So, because of this we will have to reschedule another time to re-shoot our footage and shoot the rest that we hadn't already. This will give us the oppurtunity to improve on our shots.

Presentation of animatic of thriller opening.

2008-12-18T12:05:00.000-08:00

My group and I presented our animatic to the rest of the class. Overall, good comments, but we need to go back to the drawing board and edit some of our shots as a lot of our animatic is the main girl character in our story running, when really we need to add more of her facial expressions and what's going on in the area to create more suspense. I am pleased with our final animatic as we had flashbacks in our animatic, which is difficult to present in a storyboard, but the class said they understood the flashbacks, without the need of it being explained. Also our sounds were good, created the right atmosphere and helped the people watching it know what was going on, for example; sounds of footsteps were used for a shot coming from behind the girl, to let the audience know that it was the antagonist creeping up on her. I think when we start filming that it will go well and the animatic gave me and my group a good understanding of what needs to be included and what needs to be changed to make a good thriller film opening. I'm also proud of my group, as we are working a lot more as a team, with sharing jobs to make sure that not only one person gets the work load.

Analysis of Questionairre's.

2008-12-18T10:43:00.000-08:00

Questionnaires’ analysis.
1) When the term Thriller movie comes to your mind what are your first reactions?
Blood ///
Gore ////
Music ///
Pace ///// //
Death //
Deception //
Horror ///// ///
Suspense ///// /

2) When you watch a thriller film what is your favourite type of thriller to watch?
Horror ///// ///// ////
Sci-fi /
Drama ///// //
Crime ///// /
Spy ///// //
Other //

3) What do you think is the main part of the building suspense in a thriller? Music, sound, setting, camera angles, pace, etc?
Sound ///// ///// ///// //
Setting ///// /////
Camera angles //
Pace ///// /
Other /

4) If you were to watch a thriller, what would you not want to see in it and why?

Stupid girls ////
Confusing/boring storylines ///// /
Chase scenes ///
Blood ///
Romance ///

5) Would you expect characters to be stereotypical in a thriller or would you like characters to represent something different to their normal association?

Different ///// ///// /
Stereotypical ///// ///// ///
Don’t mind /

6) What sort of conclusion do you most like to see in a thriller, or do you like a mix?

Mix ///// ///// ///// //
Typical Conclusion /////
Death //

7) Do you prefer thrillers to have a straightforward plot or do you prefer plot twists?

Straightforward Plot ///// /
Twists ///// ///// ///// ///

8) How much of the plot do you think would be revealed in the opening of a thriller?

Lots //
Not a lot ///// ///// ///// ////
None ///

From these results people would prefer in a thriller to have horror and pace in the opening, their favourite types of thriller are Drama, Horror and Spy. Sound and setting are most important to the people answering to make a good thriller. Things not to be put into a thriller would be a boring storyline and that people like a stereotypical plot, but with a mixed conclusion and twists in the plot. Finally, not a lot should be revealed in the opening of the plot, but enough to keep people interested.

I will use this information to help make up our storyline, pick our genre and to know what to use for our animatic - for example the pace and the horror genre should be used in our thriller opening mainly as they are most likely to keep the audience watching.

BBFC - Certificates - 15 and 18

2008-11-26T12:45:00.000-08:00

15 certificate - Allows all of; drugs, nudity, sex, violence, horror, imatible techniques and language, but more brief and discreetly - and if in the purpose of the context, if it's necessary.

18 certificate - as 18 is known as adult, all of the above is allowed as it is the person's choice to whether they want to watch what the film is involving.

I think my film will be a certificate 15, as I don't believe our ideas so far are at a point in which a 15 year old couldn't watch our film because of the content.

Continiuity Task

2008-11-26T12:33:00.000-08:00

Video hasn't been uploaded yet.

For the continuity task, again like in the practice film task we had to film 2 people, (Jamie and Amber), having a conversation, only this time for some reason, we had to come up with ourselves why person A (Amber), had to leave. This meant we had to come up with our own script as well as storyboarding and filming.
Our group decided that our script would be that Jamie had cheated on Amber with her brother and she had found out about it from somebody else, so she went storming in to confront him. We came up with about 18 shots. I took charge of storyboarding, as from learning from our animatic task, someone needed to be in charge of that. Also, because storyboarding was one of my stronger sklls, taking charge of it let me develop on this skill further in trying to get the drawings done quickly and efficiently, and also to make sure that what I am drawing will be the image in which us as a group wanted. Amber and Jamie did scripting and Huw did the filming, so communicating and working as a group has improved also.
Overall our continuity task was quite good, although it could have been improved by changing camera angles when starting a new shot, editing needed to be worked on and Amber needed to be at a high angle on camera to show that Jamie was inferior to her as he was in the wrong, as low angles were used on him, but also on her, which didn't make sense. Also on positioning of camera as it was slightly tilted.

The level we got was a high level 2 - low level 3.

Practice Continuity Task.

2008-11-26T12:12:00.000-08:00

For the practice continuity task as a group, we had to film 2 people (huw and amber) having a conversation, being able to make sure that our filming continued smoothly. The filming went well, the 180 degree rule wasn't broken and it mainly flowed well. Except at one point when we made a mistake of not having Amber sit in a chair in which she was sat in 2 shots later, so bascially appeared from nowhere. So I learnt that you have to make sure that your props and people are in the right place as well as the camera. Also shots of people entering and leaving are extremely important for continuity and can be easily forgotten, so I have learnt that they need to be there. Otherwise pretty good, it was good to have a practice task so that for the real thing we knew more about what we needed to be doing and what we weren't doing.

Analysis of Animatic.

2008-11-26T12:02:00.000-08:00

Because of technical difficulties, ( our animatic didn't get complete as the laptop went missing and then got deleted off of the laptop ), I am unable to show my animatic onto this blog post.

For our animatic we had to come up with a series of shots using a storyline in which we had to make up ourselves. This was to be a 60 - 75 second opening of a film. We were given the first 3 shots and then had to carry on with making up the shots in the animatic ourselves.
Our group decided to do 4 shots for our storyboard each, which ended up being a bad idea as all the drawings are different. This made our group learn that only one person should be in charge of storyboarding. Also we needed to be working more as a group, as instead only one person took real charge and did the most work.
If we were able to finish the animatic, I would have helped more into developing the animatic and also with making diegetic sounds and adding that to the final product.
Overall, it didn't go too well, but I learnt a lot from it and so this will help me do better in my other projects.

Thriller Analysis Conclusion

2008-11-07T02:39:00.000-08:00

In conclusion I discovered that to make a thirller opening it really depends on the sub genre when making it to how it is made. Main conventions used are pace of editing - to create atmosphere and intensity, mise en scene - as it gives clues to the audience to what will happen in the film, stereotypes - helps viewer understand what is going on, music - the music you choose needs to go well with the editing and camera angles to create a certain atmosphere depending on the type of sub genre you want to do. When making my own thriller opening I will take what I have learnt from analysing all of this and put it into my own opening.

Thriller 5 - Hostage

2008-11-07T02:10:00.000-08:00

Film Title: Hostage
Director: Florent Siri
Title Designer:
Technique Effect (Analysis)
Camera – distance, angle, movement… Camera pans, tracks and zooms out, constantly moving, never stopping, this is to signify that the policemen shown are looking for who ever is kept hostage and that they do not stop looking for them. Additionally, it shows a long shot of housing and shots where the camera is on the ground inbetween two cars, showing that they are looking high and low. By using panning and tracking in the title sequence – this links to the sub genre in which it comes under – action thriller. This flow of action always being shown keeps the build up of intensity going linking in with the music and editing.
Editing – speed, style… Editing is at quite a fast paced, to go with the music and also the camera actions as this goes with the fast paced action of them looking for the hostage, which creates an intense atmosphere. Fast editing is typical in action thirllers as this keeps up the build up of intense and suspense for the viewer and signifies the action happening later on in the film - this links to the mise en scene to introduce the characters and the happenings of the film.
Sound – effects, musical score… Music played to help with the pace of the narrative – keeping with the fast pace search – also uses a police siren when the name hostage appears – signifying again that the police are handling it. Intense music that builds up the tension is typical in an action thriller, this will keep the audience watching and keeps to the pace of the film.
Mise-en-scene – props, costume, setting, lighting, colour… Black buildings wth a red sky are used, makes the town look deserted, like everyones dead.In the long shot of some houses in that street, there’s a red house in the middle, signifying that that is where the hostage is being kept and that the other houses have nothing to do with it. Houses also are surrounded in barbed wire and gates, relating to the title of hostage as these are used to keep people out – to protect whatever is inside the house. This is emphasised further when there is a shot being inside a house with bars on the window, again showing that someone is trapped. Mise en scene is extrememly important as when looking closely it gives out clues to what will happen in the rest of the film, showing policemen looking for the hostage and having a red house signifies that the person that put the other person into hostage will be caught ‘red handed’.
Special Effects – CGI, animation… All of the title sequence is made as an animation, but looks very realistic, this creates a 3D view and is able to let the camera track or pan into different places to let the viewer get used to the surroundings at different angles, therefore showing where the hostage is not. Using animation lets the camera go to their key points to give off clues to what will happen in the rest of the film – this then also sets the scene to which the action happens – showing all angles to the town also shows how hard it is for them to find the person in hostage.
Titles – font, colour, placement, over black / over clip… Names are put onto the buildings in the town, all in white, except Bruce Willis, who half of his name is white on one building, half his name black on another signifying that he could have a split personality in the film, that there is confusion about what he needs to do. Titles seem unimportant, but again can signify what will happen in the film and what the characters and their roles are in the film. Helps set the scene for the film also – making it a thriller with confusions of what he feels and the use of colour to signify stereotypical means, example white being innocent.

Thriller Opening 4 - Alien

2008-11-06T12:41:00.000-08:00

Film Title: Alien
Director: Ridley Scott
Title Designer:

Technique
Effect (Analysis)
Camera – distance, angle, movement…
Camera zooms out very slowly from a direct point, but is blurred so that the audience do not know the surroundings in which this is taking place, connects to the theme of the unknown.
The suspense used by the camera is clever, audience wants to know what is going on, therefore wanting to see the bigger picture, for things to come into focus, but instead the zoom is slowly taking it’s time to zoom out, but stays blurred so that the audience will have a certain feeling of uncertainty – creating a weird atmosphere.
Editing – speed, style…
There is no editing used, this is so that the audience know that the starting point in which this is filmed hasn’t changed, to keep this feeling of uncertainty there.
Using no editing lets the camera and mise en scene take control, and as both categories have already created a certain type of suspense this keeps this suspense going, building up the suspense to keep the viewers watching.
Sound – effects, musical score…
Eery music is used to create a spooky atmosphere – again adding to the atmosphere of being in the unknown, also using sounds of a irregular heartbeat and opening of doors, without showing what’s going on to the audience, emphasises the creepy atmosphere.
Sound really connects to use of mise en scene and camera to create an uncertain build up of suspence on not knowing what is going on – signifying that this same uncertainty will carry on throughout the film.
Mise-en-scene – props, costume, setting, lighting, colour…
Anything in the scene is blurred, uses low key lighting, so there are no objects in which you can see, other than what looks like a chair, which must have significance, again to give the feeling of the unknown, as aliens are not known to exist.
Creating an atmosphere in which the audience doesn’t know what is there and what is going on helps to create a feeling of curiosity in which should keep the viewer watching to find out more – there is a certain horror characteristic that comes with not knowing what is going on, as its most likely to be something unpredictable and will take you by complete surprise, this build up is typical in horror films as it wants to make you scared and connecting with the sci-fi genre as well, creates an even more scary situation as the viewer won’t know what is going to scare them.

Titles – font, colour, placement, over black / over clip…
People’s names appear straight away, as soon as the camera starts to zoom out, written in white to stand out further in a very blurred and black background. The name of the film Alien takes time to appear, as so does the music gradually get louder, signifying it will take time in the film for the characters to realise the full picture – what’s going on – that the aliens really exist.
Using white text for the people’s names is almost trying to create a boundary, making them stand out further so that the viewer will look at them instead of what’s behind the text, making the viewer more suspicious, also connects to alien life form as stereotypically in sci-fi films if aliens are tested on it’s behind a white sheet, in white room, with bright white lights, to show them off to the world, to show they exist.

Thriller Opening 3 - Casino Royale

2008-11-06T10:57:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiwxzAZrBR0 - this is there because I don't think the clip works.

Film Title: Casino Royale
Director: Martin Campbell
Title Designer:

Technique
Effect (Analysis)
Camera – distance, angle, movement…
Uses low angles to make James Bond look dominant and most important, also long shots to show to the viewer people being killed, where the gunshots are leading.

Using low angles are a good idea when making your very well known hero look more important than he already is. Also using long shots is important so that the audience can see all the action going on, to be able to take it all in.
Editing – speed, style…
Editing at varied speeds, parts are faster, when the action of Bond killing people is taking place, then slower when watching the card patterns move, showing the film isn’t always going to be action packed.

Typical in action thrillers, is fast paced editing, good for signifying the tension and action that will go on later in the film. Also this creates suspense as immediately audiences will want to figure out who’s going to die and why.
Sound – effects, musical score…
Music played without that describes and relates to James Bond, the lyrics ‘are you willing to die’ is a good example of this as Bond risks his life whilst doing his job.

A Bond theme tune is typical for a Bond film, this particular song tells you more about him and saying ‘you know my name’ is true as he is a well known phenomenon. Describes what Bond does and sets the story for the audience. Also combines with editing to create a calm pace when violence is going on.
Mise-en-scene – props, costume, setting, lighting, colour…
Card symbols are the objects used to kill people in this title sequence, people who are going to die are in red and they shatter into the card symbols. Makes it clear that playing cards is more than just a gamble for money. Also when James Bond is standing next to the queen of hearts, when the shot aim goes over her face, it turns into Eva Green, signifying romance between them, but also her death. Cleverly used as it goes unnoticed.

Typical also in not only action thrillers, but all sub genre’s, a romance story, using Eva Greens face on a queen shows that she is more than just a typical Bond girl, as the queen normally has a king, and as he is placed next to her, this signifies that the king is him.
Special Effects – CGI, animation…
The whole title sequence is animated, except at the end which you then see his face. This is to bring the focus back to reality

Use of animation in a action thriller isn’t normally used, so this is a good signifier in showing that this film is different to other action thrillers, and more so to other Bond films.
Titles – font, colour, placement, over black / over clip…
Colour scheme sticks mainly to black, red and white, the colour of cards. Daniel Craig’s name is put first to show he is of main importance, the hero. Use of computer screen with verification of his double O status, again signifying what will happen in the film.

Keeping to the card colour scheme shows that when James Bond gets to playing cards, which it signifies through the constant use of cards and it’s symbols fighting on his side by stabbing people and being used as bullets, will work to his advantage. Although, you see a card slit Bonds chest, this signifies that this time Bond gets hurt, not normally what you would see in a Bond film – again separating itself from other action thrillers and other Bond films.

Thriller Opening 2 - Sin City

2008-11-02T09:48:00.000-08:00

Thriller Opening Analysis Sheet

Film Title: Sin City
Director: Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez
Title Designer:

Technique
Effect (Analysis)
Camera – distance, angle, movement…
Camera uses mainly mid-shots and close ups to help the audience relate to the characters. Also the camera zooms in on their faces when they are talking to eachother, showing they are becoming closer emotionally and physically.
Typical in romance thrillers, is having a relationship that is complex and one of them being murdered. The director in this film decided instead of having a third person killing off the other man or the woman, he would have the man who could have had a relationship with this woman kill her, adding confusion and keeping the audience’s attention to find out why. Camera shots really helped with this as they made it obvious there was a connection between the male and female character in this title sequence and to make it unobvious that he was going to kill her, as used a close up on them smiling at eachother and then all the audience hears is a gunshot.
Editing – speed, style…
The speed of editing is slow to create a calm atmosphere, also adds to the sensual atmosphere between the man and woman. Having a peaceful atmosphere adds more of a shock when he shoots her, adding to the mystery of this thriller.
Editing helps with the typical romantic thriller and it added to the tension between the two characters and the atmosphere around them, peaceful, quiet, secluding them from the party they had walked away from. Made it more mysterious as no one had come looking for either of them and no one had heard the gun shot, even after she is shot, the atmosphere and pace of editing is the same. As if the male character was ok with what he had done and was prepared to do it.
Sound – effects, musical score…
The only music used is a diegetic sound of a saxophone in the background coming from the party that both the man and woman had walked away from. Saxophone adds to sensual atmosphere between the man and woman, as the sound of it slowly fades away, seems to help the narrative of what the man is feeling. The reason he is there seems apparent but slowly fades away to what he is really there for – to shoot her. Also a diegetic sound of his footsteps to make it seem like he is creeping up on her, and diegetic sound of the lighter being lit, the small lighter makes a tick sound, almost like a trigger. Also diegetic sound used of thunder and rain, typical in thrillers to create tension. Also a non diegetic sound of the male characters thoughts, immediately captures the audience’s attention and lets them relate to his character.
Sound effects have a huge part in this title sequence in showing that this film is a romantic film, using narration helps to connect to his character, showing he is most important, but even though the audience knows what he is thinking, they still don’t as they don’t know his prerogative for killing the female character as he seemed to want to love her, not to kill her. Adds to the mystery of this character. Also the sounds seem to be what he is thinking and feeling, thunder and rain appear before he is to commit the crime to show trouble is brewing, also the rain shows deep down he is upset by what he has done. Other sounds like the saxophone relate to both characters, what they both seem to feel towards eachother at the time.
Mise-en-scene – props, costume, setting, lighting, colour…
Set in black and white, shows it’s a memory, adds to mystery as the woman’s dress and lips are still in red, showing she is there for the man’s love, but then later on when she is shot, represents blood. Signifiers of her death include her black make up on her nails and eyes, and shivering at the beginning of the extract to show she is weak. Also he gives her the cigarette and lights up the lighter for her, smoking is known as a drug that can kill and he is also the one to shoot her, smoke leaving the gun after she is killed.
Black and white is typical in thrillers as normally the audience is given one character to relate to, not necessarily meaning they are a good character, but you see their memories and thoughts as the film goes on, as this creates tension and mystery, as the audience doesn’t know that much about them until the end of the film, creating no certain good or bad figure. Which relates to this title sequence as this particular memory obviously belongs to the male character, thinking he is a good guy as he says he wants to love this woman, but instead he kills her in a calm and collective way, which gives off a creepy vibe to the audience as he doesn’t seem too bothered about what he has done. She was there to love him which is represented by the red lipstick and dress she wears, showing the physical attraction and then from the way they were talking, they seem to make a emotional attachment, she learnt to trust him as so did the audience, which makes it more shocking when he kills her, as he seemed like a decent man. This is a very clever technique created by the director as the male character seems normal, but then kills the female character, showing looks her deceiving, adding more mystery and tension.
Special Effects – CGI, animation…
Shots of images appear on screen, they come up at what seem to be vital parts of the title sequence, helps with narrative – adds mystery and reinforces this part of the film is a memory.
These added images show that he is thinking of this memory in block images, in black and white, trying not to see in detail what he did, showing that the male character could be ashamed of what he did, but again, audience is unsure of him and cannot trust their instincts on this particular character.
Titles – font, colour, placement, over black / over clip…
No text appears in this title sequence, instead the narrative of the story starts straight away to verify the type of film it is and immediately attracts the audience into relating to the characters – especially the male figure.
Having the film start with a memory, getting straight to the narrative will keep the audience fixed as already they have started to be introduced to characters and a murder has taken place, creating confusion and suspense as there seems to be no reason why it has happened. This is cleverly done, as most films start with the production teams names coming in and out of the starting setting and this director has got straight to the story instead, creating that mysterious thriller type of suspense.

Thriller opening 1 - Se7en

2008-11-02T07:21:00.000-08:00

http://learning.chalfonts.bucks.sch.uk/file.php?file=/278/Video/Thriller_Openings/Se7en_-_Opening.swf
Thriller Opening Analysis Sheet

Film Title: Se7en
Director: David Fincher
Title Designer:

Technique
Effect (Analysis)
Camera – distance, angle, movement…
Camera uses close ups and extreme close ups but at different angles to show the actual action going on in the shots. This shows significance in what is going on. There is no movement made by the camera, as the editing does the movement for it.
Not showing too much movement, relates to the structure of a religious view on life, to be a proper Christian, you have to behave as the bible tells you to behave and so this shown through no camera movement, as they have no freedom to do what they want, they do what they feel is right to them, looking at the world at a different angle, again projected on the camera angles used. This effect is used to draw the viewer in as close ups make the viewer feel they are there whilst the situation is happening, also gives them an understanding on what the film is about.
Editing – speed, style…
Speed is fast paced, also uses a certain pattern, to make it seem like the title sequence is being shown on an old projector, so quick images appear of blank screens with scribbles on to make is seem old fashioned, as the old fashioned view is a big part of the rest of the title sequence.
Fast paced editing creates tension, also in this case curiosity as the editing is so fast paced at certain points, you cannot read what is being written or what the pictures are actually of, this is to create a certain atmosphere, mysterious, very common in thriller openings, keeps the viewer’s attention.
Sound – effects, musical score…
Music is played throughout the whole of the title sequence. It is eery at first, but seems then as the title sequence goes on, drums and guitars are played and at the end of the song the only lyric is said, which is ‘you get me closer to god’, which relates to the title of se7en, as if you don’t commit any of the seven deadly sins, according to Christian view, you will go to heaven.
Music helps viewer’s understanding on genre of film, in this case, thriller music is normally eery to create a tense and mysterious atmosphere, the use of drums and guitars also add a fast pace, showing action is going to take place.
Mise-en-scene – props, costume, setting, lighting, colour…
Some clips go red, showing blood, which is then emphasised when needles are used; blood gets onto thread, which then stitches up the books they are writing. There are shots were there is a black and white hand that are separated from eachother with a red line, emphasising the cross between these two ethnicity’s can equal death/hell. Hands seem to be a main part of the title sequence, stitching books together and writing in books and over words – like pregnancy, assexual and fantasising, which connecting to the already established importance of religion theme to this title sequence, would be crossing out sins.
What goes on in a thriller based film in the title sequence should leave as much suspense as possible. As used in this title sequence, signifier’s are used to show what the film is about and will include – showing important aspects and the time it is set in. This title sequence also signifies the way of life for the characters in this film – the Christian way.
Special Effects – CGI, animation…
None used.

Titles – font, colour, placement, over black / over clip…
Black screens appear with handwritten names of the actors and actresses in the title sequence, relating to the rest of the title sequence as it shows a hand writing in books and stitching with needles. Also from the images used of people with brain injuries, hands in the title sequence could be said to be ‘helping hands’ researching people who need the help, helping for the greater good.

Names of the actors appear first, Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, good way of luring in viewers as well known and loved actors. Theme of words being handwritten again adds to old fashioned theme in title sequence, olden day times create a specific type of creepiness in itself as punishments for being bad were a lot worse and their views were much stricter – their society a lot more structured. Example, for the religious view, if you commit a deadly sin, you are therefore going to hell, while people nowadays wouldn’t necessarily think that, as it is our choice to be religious or not. This religious view is extremely apparent in the title sequence – shows its significance to the viewer.

What is a thriller?

2008-11-02T05:27:00.000-08:00

Thrillers often take place wholly or partly in exotic settings such as foreign cities, deserts, polar regions, or high seas. The heroes in most thrillers are frequently "hard men" accustomed to danger: law enforcement officers, spies, soldiers, seamen or aviators. However, they may also be ordinary citizens drawn into danger by accident. While such heroes have traditionally been men, women lead characters have become increasingly common; for an early example see Sigourney Weaver's character Ripley, in the movie Alien, 1979.
Thrillers often overlap with mystery stories, but are distinguished by the structure of their plots. In a thriller, the hero must thwart the plans of an enemy, rather than uncover a crime that has already happened. Thrillers also occur on a much grander scale: the crimes that must be prevented are serial or mass murder, terrorism, assassination, or the overthrow of governments. Jeopardy and violent confrontations are standard plot elements. While a mystery climaxes when the mystery is solved, a thriller climaxes when the hero finally defeats the villain, saving his own life and often the lives of others. In thrillers influenced by film noir and tragedy, the compromised hero is often killed in the process.
In recent years, when thrillers have been increasingly influenced by horror or psychological-horror exposure in pop culture, an ominous or monstrous element has become common to heighten tension. The monster could be anything, even an inferior physical force made superior only by their intellect, a supernatural entity, aliens, serial killers, or even microbes or chemical agents. Some authors have made their mark by incorporating all of these elements (Richard Laymon, F. Paul Wilson) throughout their bibliographies.
Similar distinctions separate the thriller from other overlapping genres: adventure, spy, legal, war, maritime fiction, and so on. Thrillers are defined not by their subject matter but by their approach to it. Many thrillers involve spies and espionage, but not all spy stories are thrillers. The spy novels of John le Carré, for example, explicitly and intentionally reject the conventions of the thriller. Conversely, many thrillers cross over to genres that traditionally have had few or no thriller elements. Alistair MacLean, Hammond Innes, and Brian Callison are best known for their thrillers, but are also accomplished writers of man-against-nature sea stories.
Thrillers may be defined by the primary mood that they elicit: fearful excitement. In short, if it 'thrills', it is a thriller.

[edit] Sub-genres
The thriller genre can include the following sub-genres, which may include elements of other genres:
Action thriller - In which the work often features a race against the clock, contains lots of violence, and an obvious antagonist. These films usually contain large amounts of guns, explosions, and large elaborate set pieces for the action to take place. These films often have elements of mystery films and crime films but these elements take a backseat to action. Notable examples are the James Bond films, The Transporter, and the Jason Bourne novels and films.
Conspiracy thriller - In which the hero/heroine confronts a large, powerful group of enemies whose true extent only he/she recognizes. The Chancellor Manuscript and The Aquitane Progression by Robert Ludlum fall into this category, as do films such as Three Days of the Condor and JFK.
Crime thriller - This particular genre is a hybrid type of both crime films and thrillers that offers a suspenseful account of a successful or failed crime or crimes. These films often focus on the criminal(s) rather than a policeman. Crime thrillers usually emphasize action over psychological aspects. Central topics of these films include murders, robberies, chases, shootouts, and double-crosses are central ingredients. Some examples include The Killing, Seven, The Godfather, Reservoir Dogs, Inside Man, and The Asphalt Jungle.
Disaster thriller - In which the main conflict is due to some sort of natural or artificial disaster, such as floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanoes, etc., or nuclear disasters as an artificial disaster. Examples include Stormy Weather by Carl Hiaasen, Tremor by Winston Graham, and the 1974 film Earthquake.
Drama thriller - In which the story consists of the elements of a thriller and drama film. These films are usually slower paced and involves a great deal of character development along with plot twists. Examples include The Illusionist, The Interpreter and The Prestige.
Eco-thriller - In which the protagonist must avert or rectify an environmental or biological calamity - often in addition to dealing with the usual types of enemies or obstacles present in other thriller genres. This environmental component often forms a central message or theme of the story. Examples include Nicholas Evans's The Loop, C. George Muller's Echoes in the Blue, and Wilbur Smith's Elephant Song, all of which highlight real-life environmental issues. Futuristic Eco-thrillers are of the Science Fiction genre that propose ideas that will or may occur and include such works as Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy and Ian Irvine's Human Rites Trilogy.
Erotic thriller - In which it consists of erotica and thriller. It has become popular since the 1980s and the rise of VCR market penetration. The genre includes such films as Basic Instinct, Fatal Attraction, Looking for Mr. Goodbar, and In the Cut.
Horror thriller - In which conflict between the main characters are mental, emotional, and physical. Two recent examples of this include the Saw series of films and the Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later. What sets the horror thriller apart is the main element of fear throughout the story. The main character(s) is not only up against a superior force, but they are or will soon become the victims themselves and directly feel the fear that comes by attracting the monster's attention. Other well-known examples are Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and Thomas Harris's The Silence of the Lambs.
Legal thriller - In which the lawyer-heroes/heroines confront enemies outside, as well as inside, the courtroom and are in danger of losing not only their cases but their lives. The Innocent Man by John Grisham is a well known example of the type.
Medical thriller - In which the hero/heroine are doctors or medical personnels working to solve an expanding medical problem. Robin Cook, Tess Gerritsen, Michael Crichton, and Gary Braver are well-known authors of this subgenre. Nonfiction medical thrillers are also a subcategory, comprising works like The Hot Zone by Richard Preston. Films such as Awake are other examples of medical thrillers.
Political thriller - In which the hero/heroine must ensure the stability of the government that employs him. The success of Seven Days in May (1962) by Fletcher Knebel, The Day of the Jackal (1971) by Frederick Forsyth, and The Manchurian Candidate (1959) by Richard Condon established this subgenre. A more recent example is the 1980 film "Agency".
Psychological thriller - In which (until the often violent resolution) the conflict between the main characters is mental and emotional, rather than physical. The Alfred Hitchcock films Suspicion, Shadow of a Doubt, and Strangers on a Train and David Lynch's bizarre and influential Blue Velvet are notable examples of the type, as is The Sixth Sense by M. Night Shyamalan and The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith (who also wrote Strangers).
Spy thriller (also a subgenre of spy fiction) - In which the hero is generally a government agent who must take violent action against agents of a rival government or (in recent years) terrorists. Examples include From Russia with Love by Ian Fleming, The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum, and television series such as Mission: Impossible and 24 (the latter demonstrating a break from the norm by Robert Ludlum, as it is as much a psychological thriller as a spy thriller.)
Supernatural thriller - In which the conflict is between main characters, usually one of which has supernatural powers. Carrie by Stephen King and Unbreakable by M. Night Shyamalan and Torchwood are notable examples of this genre. This type of thriller combines tension of the regular thriller with such basic horror oriented ingredients as ghosts, the occult, and psychic phenomenon; the supernatural thriller combines these with a frightening but often restrained film. They also generally eschew the more graphic elements of the horror film in favor of sustaining a mood of menace and unpredictability; supernatural thrillers often find the protagonists either battling a malevolent paranormal force or trapped in a situation seemingly influenced or controlled by an other-worldly entity beyond their comprehension.
Techno-thriller - A work that usually focuses upon military action, in which technology (usually military technology) is described in detail and made essential to the reader's/viewer's understanding of the plot. Tom Clancy defined and popularized the genre with his The Hunt for Red October, and is considered to be the "Father of the Technothriller."
Most thrillers are formed in some combination of the above, with horror, conspiracy, and psychological tricks used most commonly to heighten tension. Combinations are highly diverse, including:
Science Fiction thrillers: The Terminator, I Am Legend, Blade Runner
Science Fiction/Horror thrillers: Jurassic Park, Alien
Techno/Political/Conspiracy/Military/Horror Thriller: Predator, Robocop, S.M. Stirling's Draka novels
Legal/Forensic/Psychological/Horror thriller: Thomas Harris' The Silence of the Lambs, novel, Seven.

This research has been taken from wikipedia.com