Analysis: Existing AS Media Thriller

Captive

The opening of ‘Captive’ begins with a close up shot of the characters hands tied up, which immediately relates to the title of the film, and how it relates to the narrative. In this shot, we can see that the characters arms are covered in blood, which leads the audience to wonder what has happened to the character to make them covered in blood. 

This is followed by a close up shot of the characters feet and ankles tied to a chair, which further emphasises the main theme of the film, with the character being kept captive. The characters shoes are covered in blood, too, which leads the audience to wonder whether the character has been murdered or not, and adds to the sinister nature of the shot. A little more of the setting is revealed here, with the ground being dirty and covered in puddles, which suggests that the character is being kept in an outdoors location, or a dilapidated building. 

The dripping of what the audience perceives to be water initially, fits with the diegetic sound of what the audience perceive to be water dropping. From a close up of the character, we can see that in fact, the dripping is of blood coming out of the mouth of the character. This plants enigma codes for the audience as they want to know how the character got into such a state, with his face also being all bloody and covered in cuts. The use of the diegetic sound of laboured breathing is used to present the bad state that the character is in, and used to highlight the fear that he is experiencing. 

The use of CCTV shots, of 4 different areas of the location help to establish where the character is. It also makes the audience anticipate seeing another person come up in one of the other sections of footage, other than the one that the captive character is in.

The blurred point of view shots show that the character is extremely drowsy as he is unable to see properly. It also indicates that he might have experienced a blow to the head, which is further indicated by the following extreme close up of the cut on the characters cheek.

The introduction of dramatic, non-diegetic music as the character starts to attempt to break free, builds tension in the audience. This is a stereotypical convention of a thriller, as they often use high-pitched instrumental pieces as a means to build anxiety in the audience, and to make them anticipate danger. The fast paced editing between the shots of the character attempting to get out of his restraints highlights the frantic nature of him trying to escape.

The long shot of the restrained character, that zooms in to a medium shot is used to primarily show the breathing of the character as it starts to become erratic, which symbolises the increasing destress that he is facing. This builds suspense as it foreshadows that danger is approaching.

The CCTV shots return, which are accompanied by non-diegetic, hitch pitched music to build tension. This time, there is another person in the piece of footage at the top right hand corner, in which the footage then goes black and static, and the music intensifies. This focuses the audience on the other character, and reinforces that this character is the one that brings danger.

The music keeps heightening in tension, as the intensity increases, along with the pitch. The diegetic sounds of the captive character screaming, as the other character can be viewed through the window of the dilapidated building, further emphasises that this character is the one responsible for what has happened to him. The intensity of the non-diegetic music, accompanied by the diegetic screams of the character, are really effective in building increasing fear in the audience.

The sequence of shots with fast paced editing between shots of the captive character, and flashback shots to give the audience an insight into how the character became captive. This sequencing is really effective as the juxtaposition between the shots before he was captive, and the shots whilst he is captive show a contrast between freedom and captivity. The flickering of some of the flashback shots, particularly of the shot of the other character, create a sense of foreboding, and reflect a warning sign flashing to alert the character to danger. The close up shots of the dolls create an enigma code for the audience, as they wonder what significance they have to the narrative, and make them want to watch the film to find out why. In this sequence, the shot in the reflection of the puddle, in which the character can be seen to be disappearing, it is unclear as to whether the character is being grabbed from behind, or whether the character is starting to run from something. This makes the audience suspicious and creates tension.

All throughout the sequence of flashbacks, the intensity of the non-diegetic string music continues to build until it comes to a sudden end, and the screen goes black. This makes the audience wonder what will happen to the captive character, when the other character reaches him, and draws them in to watch the film. 

On the black screen, the title of the film ‘Captive’ flickers into the middle of the frame. The flickering of the title, again, acts as a warning sign and highlights the danger that is faced by the captive character. It also makes the titles seem more eerie and sinister.

Overall, I believe that this thriller opening sequence is very effective in building tension in the audience, and that it fits very well to the typical codes and conventions of thriller films.

Case Study: SEPTEM

SEPTEM - A Thriller Short Film

"Twenty-five minutes. Seven people. One of them must die."

SEPTEM is a thriller short film written and directed by Hazel Hayes and Sammy Paul, two upcoming figures in the world of film. Both creators use their YouTube channels to distribute their short films, of which has proven to be a successful method of getting their work seen. Additionally, by using their YouTube channels showcase their work, they have gained themselves audiences. 

Hazel Hayes (@thehazelhayes)

Sammy Paul  (@ICOEPR)

According to the IMDB page,  SEPTEM was produced with a budget of approximately £10,000. The relatively low budget is typical of a short film made in Britain. The film was released in June 2015, and since then has gained close to 200,000 views, and it's main form of advertisement was through social media platforms. This is telling that social media platforms are an effective way to advertise new films. It was produced without an official production company, but was created with the help of the YouTube Space London. 

This film fits the codes and conventions of the thriller genre by creating tension and keeping the audience of the edge of their seats. The opening of the short film starts with a close up of a box with a pill in it. This immediately creates an enigma code and makes the audience question what is the significance of it. However, un-stereotypically, this enigma code is shattered almost instantly by a voice over which tells that within the next 25 minutes, one of them must take the pill, or they will all die. The voice over falls over a two crabbing shots that reveal the characters to the audience, eventually revealing that the voice over is in fact one of the characters speaking. Although this shatters the suspense creating enigma code, this creates its own tension as the audience are aware that at least one of the characters must die. This makes them question as to what person will meet their end, and how the characters will come about the decision at to who will die. The voice over falls over a two crabbing shots that reveal the characters to the audience, eventually revealing that the voice over is in fact one of the characters speaking. 

The colouring and lighting of the film is stereotypical of a thriller film. It includes lots of dark colours such as deep red, black and brown. The dark colours represent the sinister aspect of the film, and help to create the eerie atmosphere. The lighting used also helps to create an eerie atmosphere as the room is quite dimly lit and this in turn casts lots of shadows. 

The non-diegetic highly pitched strings music used in the opening of the film is stereotypical of the thriller genre. The music creates an eerie atmosphere which puts the audience in suspense as this type of music stereotypically warns of something dangerous and connotes that something bad will happen. The introduction of a bass playing as the title sequence appears creates a sense of foreboding. The use of very low notes in diegetic music is common to scenes of suspense, and typically foreshadows danger. An example of this is the famous sequence used in the Jaws films (included below).

Jaws is a thriller film produced by Universal 

 Studios, and was directed by Steven Spielberg.

The dark red and black background of the title sequence is stereotypical of the colour schemes associated with thriller films. The block capital white writing reveals itself slowly, with the font twisting, and then the title is zoomed in upon. In my opinion, the slow turning of the letters reflects the twist of the plot and how things gradually get revealed to the audience, and creates tension due to the title not being revealed straight away.

The credits sequence (featured below) was composed by Tom Barnes. The non-diegetic music is fitting for the end of the film, as the piano creates a sombre atmosphere. This is fitting with the upsetting ending and projects the feelings of the audience in the music. After the dramatic ending, it also creates a contrasting calmness, which allows the audience to recall and reflect what has happened in the film.

Audience Survey: Thriller Genre

As a means of conducting some research into what people look for in thriller films, I conducted a Survey using Survey Monkey. In my survey, I asked questions to find out my target market and to find out what people look for in thriller films. Additionally, I asked questions to find out which forms of marketing they come into contact with most, and which forms of distribution they use to watch films. 

I asked ten people if they would answer my survey, and these were the results that I got:

Question 1

The first question I asked was to find out the gender of the person taking the questionnaire. My results tell me that 50% were male and 50% were female. This is important information to consider when deciding the target audience of my piece. This information means that I will make my film suitable for both genders.

Question 2

In used my second question to enquire the age of the person that was taking my questionnaire. From my results, I can see that the highest percentage of people fell under the 16-19 age bracket. This information is important as I need to make sure that my film appears to my target audience. Finding out that 16-19 year olds are the age bracket that most typically watches thrillers means that I will use this as the target audience of my film.

Question 3

My third question asked what thriller sub-genre people preferred. My results tell me that 40% of people prefer crime thrillers. This is closely followed by psychological thrillers and medical thrillers, which were both opted for by 20% of people. This tells me that I should be looking to make either a crime thriller, medical thriller or psychological thriller as these are the most appealing sub-genres and this will entice people to watch my film.

Question 4

In my fourth question, I asked what colour people most associated with the typography in thriller films. My results concluded that people mostly associate the colours white, black and red with the typography of the thriller genre, with white being the most associated, at 40%. These results tell me that I should make the typography of my film white, and possibly include some black or red. Perhaps, I will use white typography on a black background for the titles screen of my film.

Question 5

My fifth question tells me that people believe that cinematography, editing and music are all equally important in making thriller films effective, as they all totalled 30%. This question was very important as it reveals what my focus should be in order to make sure that my thriller is effective for the audience. The results of this question tells me that I should make sure that my cinematography is good by using a range of camera shots and angles to vary the footage and make it more interesting for the audience to watch. It tells me that I should make sure the editing is good by using a range of different techniques such as jump cuts and fades, and by using fast paced editing in dramatic scenes to build tension for the audience. Additionally, it also tells me that I should choose the music carefully so that it fits with the film and the scene well. I could choose music that helps to reflect the narrative of the story, and music that helps to create suspense in the audience to intensify their viewing experience.

Question 6

In this question, I queried as to what is people's preferred narrative of a thriller film. I found that murder was the most popular narrative at 30%, and this was followed by abduction, at 20%. I was surprised to find that a narrative surrounding romantic triangles tied with the popularity of abduction, by also achieving 20% of the votes. The results also tell me that 20% of people preferred other narratives that the ones I had mentioned. From these results, I should consider the narrative of my film to include murder, abduction or a romantic triangle, or perhaps, a narrative I have not specified, such as assassination. 

Question 7

The results of this question tell me that, generally, people believe the opening sequence of a thriller is importance to grab their interest in the film. This means that I will need to make my opening sequence of a thriller interesting and attention grabbing to make sure that the audience become engaged straight away in the piece, and so that it makes them want to watch the rest of the film. To make my opening sequence engaging I will make sure that I include lots of enigma codes that make the audience wonder what is going on, and will entice them to keep watching, in order for them to find out what did happen. 

Question 8

I included a question about what type of marketing that people usually engage with. The results told me that most people find out about new films through social media or through YouTube. This tells me that my target market are more in touch with digital forms of marketing, and therefore, I should look to use digital marketing for my film. Using digital marketing would ensure that my target audience would know about my film.

Question 9

Finally, I included a question to enquire which form of film distribution that people typically engage with. The results tell me that most people normally watch films using digital streaming services. This is fitting with the results of the previous question, as it tells me that not only are my target audience more in touch with digital forms of marketing, but also with digital forms of distribution. This tells me that I should look to use digital forms of distribution for my film, as this would mean it would be most accessible to my target audience.

Conducting a questionnaire has been very useful as it has helped me to decided on the target market of my film, and will help me with the production, marketing and distribution decisions for my film, too.