Thriller Opening Analysis (Wanted)

The opening begins with what we believe will be the mains characters voice whilst we are looking around an average looking office in an urban setting which is common in thrillers. We eventually see the main character (James McAvoy) who is around 20 to 30 years old and is dressed maturely this type of character is common in thrillers, due to the title of the film ‘Wanted’ this may suggest that the main character could be evolved in a situation that he can’t control which is a very common narrative in thrillers. In the opening of the movie we as the audience get an insight of the main characters life’s, which is very rough this is because his apartment is falling apart, his girlfriend is having an affair with his best friend and he suffers from panic attacks all this makes the audience feel sorry for him and this then makes him a venerable character also.

After a few minutes into the film the story line switches to a well dressed mature man entering a better maintained office in the same urban setting, as the audience we assume that these two different story lines are connective, but creates an enigma because we don’t know how these character and story line are connected (where two different stories are connected this is not very in thriller but it does happen). The music suddenly builds with suspense when the character notices a red laser dot on his assistances forehead; this tells the audience that there is a sense of danger. The audio-visual becomes very fast passed when the assistant gets killed they audience then becomes aware that this character is in danger.

Then the character calmly goes to the opposite end of where the shot came from it show a point of view shot of what the character sees and it shows a slow motion focused shoot of the enemy who is on the roof of the opposite building to his office. Then we see a closes up of the characters foot to show the audience of how much power the character is putting into his run. Then the character run toward the glass window and breaks through and the glass takes shape of his body whilst flying through the air, all this is done is slow motion to create suspense of where or not he his going to make it to the other side.

The iconography in this sense are the guns that the character has, these are the most commonly used weapons in thrillers, and starts to shot toward his enemies. The characters shoot the enemies with precision this tells the audience that he is a professional; this is also shown due to the way he is dressed. As the character reaches the roof top the sense gets more fast paste and the music more intense, however it goes slow-motion when ever a fire is shot this is to build up suspense in whether or not the character will be shoot. The cameras switch fast between what the character see and what the enemy sees this is to again build suspense and for the audience to get a point of view of what each side is looking at.

Finally once all of the enemy are the character phones starts to ring, as he answers the camera starts to go around him in a fast paste this is to show the audience confusion as the character doesn’t know who he is talking to and where that person is. Eventually just before the conversation ends the character look down as sees that he is standing on an large ‘X’ as he dose this the camera moves upward which show the character being tiny and it also show the audience that he is exposed and venerable.

After this has happen the camera show us the character head on and in slow motion we se him get shoot this is to emphasise the bullet going throw his head and makes the audience question as to who had done this. After the bullet has entered the character head we then go back in time however this time we as the audience follow the bullet and where it came from, this is all done fast paste to show how fast the bullet was travelling and far it had to travel. We then see a quite casual man sitting with a large gun, which again is common in thrillers, who says the last sentence to the character on the roof top and then fire the gun. This creates an enigma as the audience doesn’t know what this man has against the character.    

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Thriller Poster Analysis

Liam Neeson character is looking down which shows he has authority. Also he a mature character in his 30s-40s that is dressed very smartly which you would find in most typical thrillers. There is a lot of low key lighting which could symbolise that he is in a situation that he can't control and he doesn't know what is going to happen next because he's in 'the dark'. Its mainly black and white which are very masculine colours, and this is usually found in 'noir' thrillers but it can be found in other types of thrillers. the black and white colours help the word 'TAKEN' in orange pop out of the poster. the tag line could symbolise the narrative of the film because this shows that he wants to get his daughter back, and kill any one who get in his way which is very common in thrillers. The main character in the middle is hold a gun which is the most common weapon used in any types of thrillers. Liam Neeson name is spread right across the top of the poster, this symbolise that he is the main character in the film. it is common for the main character name to be on top of the character itself in any film poster.

 As you can see the only person on the poster is a woman, which could symbolise that she is the main character, however its common for women to be the main characters in any types of thriller, but over the years they are becoming more common, these characters are usually called 'Fem-Fatal' which mean she uses her sexuality to get what they want. The dragon represents Yang (women) which could suggest that they film is based around a woman. The red of the dragon symbolise that the women maybe dangerous because she has a dragon tattoo as the title clearly states. The poster is very low lighted of black and white which are very masculine, and these colour are typically used in thrillers. Also this may suggest that there maybe male within in the films. the title is very big and bold which again, it is common for thriller covers to have this.

Forms and Conventions

Characters:
In most typical thrillers there is usually an Innocent victim that is put into a situation that they either can't control and/or are not prepared for, for example 'The Resident' where the Innocent woman gradually realise that her landlord is watching her in the flat she lives in and can't get control of that situation. How ever, there is also the law side of thrillers where they can have the police, FBI, detectives and even politician In some thrillers and not all of them do follow the law, for example in 'Enemy of the State' Will Smith's character is being hunted down by the corrupt government agents, who are presented as the villain. Also when it come to the police as the main characters in thrillers there is sometimes a policemen that acts like the wise one who is very knowledgeable and does things persicly, then you have his/her side kick who is raring to go does things quickly and pays no attention to doing thing 'the right way' and who acts very cocky. This combination of characters is seen with Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitts in 'Se7en'

Theme:
Themes are what the movies narrative is based around. In many typical thrillers the themes are based on obsession and deception and some thrillers can contain both of these themes. For example in 'se7en' the psychotic killer's character in the movie has an obsession with Christ and the 7 deadly sins and then deceives the audience by giving themselves up to the police. However the character that has an obsession in the movie is not always the main character, for example, in 'The Residents' the movie is biased around Hilary Swank's character and the obsessed character (her landlord) slowly comes into the movie as time goes on. Other themes such as jealousy and revenge are not used as often in the thriller genre, but they are found in some movies. These theme are usually put together into the same movie, for example, in 'The Bodyguard' the main character (Whitney Huston) is being stalked by a person is jealous of her fame and wealth and plans there revenge.


Narrative:
In most thriller movies there are a lot of chases and shootouts, but these are all based around a 'race against time' scenario, where the main character has a limited amount of time to figure out the truth or to catch the villain. Films like 'Enemy of the State' is based around this scenario, where Will Smiths character is caught in a situation and has to catch the villain (Politicians) in a limited amount of time. Whereas the film 'Leon' where Natalie Portman's character seek revenge on the enemy with the help of an assassin (Leon) they have a limited time to do this, because the enemy will hunt them down and also because its all gang related there a lot of shootouts and chases between the police, the enemy's and the hero/heroins. 

Iconography:
In most typical thrillers you usually have an urban setting, but it's the run down side of life. There is a lot of high tech equipment such as mobiles, bugging equipment, fast and suit up cars and guns also in a typical thrillers. all of this iconography is used in, for example, 'Silence of the Lambs' (Psychological) its set up in an urban setting, that is quite run down and is gun related. also in 'Leon' (Crime) that is based around some very rough streets and is very run down place to live. However not all urban setting are run down. In 'Enemy of the State', (Conspiracy) Will Smiths character lives in a very clean and quite way of life, the house are big and people dress like first class, suits and dresses. Also its very high tech, it has bugging devices, satellite computers and fast suit up cars.


Audio-Visual Style:
In most typical thrillers, they mainly use low key lighting to create a very paranoid and gloomy atmosphere, Also a lot of unusual camera angles to create a creepy atmosphere, and to keep the auidence on there feet. They use tense and dramtic music to keep the auidence on the edge of there seats and also it help set the sence of action happing on then screen. However in action thrillers they use a lot of fast paste editing for such thing as shootout, for example, in 'Leon' this creates an element of suspence.

list of thrillers i have seen (1990-2011)

Revenge

The Bodyguard

Conspiracy

Kindergarten Cop

Enemy of the state
Jumping Jack Flash

Crime

The Taking of Pelham 123

Leon

Psychological

Seven

One Hour Photo

Disturbia

Devil

The Resident

Orphan

The Silence of the Lambs

Definition of a thriller (genre) and it target audience

The thriller genre is a very complex category, because it is all about the suspense, tension and terror that it brings towards its audience. However this genreclearly overlaps with categories such as horror due to the build up of suspense and terror, witch makes it hard for people to say whether it is a thriller or another type of genre. Some thrillers have twists towards the end of the movie, this is to throw their auidences perspection off either the character or even the movie itself. I believe thatthriller genre movies are aimed at teenages 15 or over because most thriller movies are rated 15, This is due to the conflict and the low level of violences that most thrillers contain. however some thrillers are rated 18 because they could have much more detailed violence within the movie, which would attract the more older viewer. 


thrillers can be placed  into sub-genres, for example:

• Conspiracy - this is about a a hero/heroine that confront a large and powerful group of enemies, example of a conspiracy thriller is 'Enemy of the State'
• Crime -  this is the oppsite of a conspiracy instead of focusing on the hero it focus more on the criminals, this can include such thing as shoot out robbies and/or chases. they can also include serial killers. examples of a crime thriller is 'The Taking of Pelham 123' and leon'
• psychological - this is all about the state of mind of the charaters, and either by there own curiousness or by pure accident get themselfs into a situation or a conflict that the charater are not prepared for. examples of this is 'The Slience of the Lambs', 'The Residants' and 'Se7en'