These are types of films known to promote intense excitement, suspense, a high level of anticipation, a great sense of expectation, uncertainty, anxiety and nerve-wracking tension. If the genre is to be defined strictly, a genuine thriller is a film that continuously pursues a single-minded goal - to provide thrills and keep the audience cliff-hanging at the 'edge of their seats' as the plot builds towards a climax. The tension usually arises when the main character(s) is placed in a terrifying situation, from which escape seems impossible.
Famous Thriller Directors
Alfred Hitchcock - was the son of East End greengrocer William Hitchcock and his wife Emma. Raised as a strict Catholic and attending Saint Ignatius College, a school run by Jesuits, Hitch had very much of a regular upbringing. His first job outside of the family business was in 1915 as an estimator for the Henley Telegraph and Cable Company... His films include many famous and recognizable names such as:
The Birds
North by Northwest
Vertigo
The 39 Steps
Steven Spielberg - Undoubtedly one of the most influential film personalities in the history of film, Steven Spielberg is perhaps Hollywood's best known director and one of the wealthiest filmmakers in the world. Spielberg has countless big-grossing, critically acclaimed credits to his name, as producer, director and writer...
Here are some of Steven Speilbergs Thrillers:
Munich
Catch Me If You Can
Minority Report
Jaws
James Cameron - was born in Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada, on August 16, 1954. He moved to the USA in 1971. The son of an engineer, he majored in physics at California State University but, after graduating, drove a truck to support his screen-writing ambition. He landed his first professional film job as art director... Thrillers made by James Cameron:
The Abyss
True Lies
Ailiens
Ailiens
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
How these directors helped?
These directors helped as most of these films made by them are well-known and are very good. Here are some of the films which gave a good inspiration while making our own:
The Birds
‘The Birds’ by Alfred Hitchcock is a film about a time when birds seemed to stop being creatures which people liked to listen to and admire; they appeared to get together to become a very large flock of angry flying monsters who attacked people even in their own homes, terrifying them and pecking at them until they collapsed.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056869/plotsummary
My mom who watched this film told me that ‘I considered this film a thriller as it starts quietly and gradually the birds began to gather but there is no indication at this stage of what will happen. The tension builds up slowly, one woman is attacked and gradually the attacks come more and get more severe. Eventually the humans are forced to move out of their homes, this event would have been unthinkable at the beginning of the film.’ From what my mom said it really helped get a better understanding. At the end when she said that, ‘this event would have been unthinkable’ this helped me a group a lot as we wanted our film to have a plot twist at the end, in other words to have it ‘unthinkable’.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056869/plotsummary
My mom who watched this film told me that ‘I considered this film a thriller as it starts quietly and gradually the birds began to gather but there is no indication at this stage of what will happen. The tension builds up slowly, one woman is attacked and gradually the attacks come more and get more severe. Eventually the humans are forced to move out of their homes, this event would have been unthinkable at the beginning of the film.’ From what my mom said it really helped get a better understanding. At the end when she said that, ‘this event would have been unthinkable’ this helped me a group a lot as we wanted our film to have a plot twist at the end, in other words to have it ‘unthinkable’.
Jaws‘Jaws’ made by Steven Spielberg is about a small community called Amity Island whose main business is its beaches. There is something in the sea that is attacking swimmers. They can no longer enjoy the sea and the sun as they used to, and the spreading fear is affecting the numbers of tourists that are normally attracted to this island. After many shark attacks the great white shark continues to stay and won't go away. Sheriff Brody, with friends Hooper and Quint decide to go after the shark and kill it.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073195/plotsummary
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073195/plotsummary
I have watched ‘Jaws’ and it has its good thriller elements which made it a good thriller. For example throughout most of the film the shark wasn’t shown which made me and probably everyone else who watched the film ask themselves many questions.
If you watch the video below it shows how good the shark doesn't have to be seen to make it quite terrifying.
If you watch the video below it shows how good the shark doesn't have to be seen to make it quite terrifying.
We wanted ours to create many enigmas and ‘Jaws’ is a perfect example for this.
'Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines' written by James Cameron is about; It is a dark time for the resistance and Skynet is on the verge of going online, the events of the last movie has changed nothing and John must now battle a new Terminator called the T-X. As before, the resistance was able to send another T-800 as a protector for John, and it’s still a question of which one will reach him first...
I haven’t seen any terminator films before and I don’t know anyone who does but I watched one of the openings of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.
(There are many openings to this film and since I haven’t seen it before I wasn’t sure which one to choose, so I chose one of them.)
After watching this, it made me want to watch more as it made many questions come into my head. I wanted to have many questions answered, such as; what’s going on? What is the voice talking about? Where is the location? Why is there a huge bomb exploding?
Now I know that there have been previous terminators and unfortunately like I said before I haven’t seen them so these questions would have been answered or maybe the second terminator might have had a plot twist. Even if it is the third, it has a great opening as it doesn’t give much away. We wanted our film to be like this because we wanted the audience to ask themselves questions so that they would want to watch more.
Another opening:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-Rj8JHSVSI (couldn’t embed)This title sequence was good as the first video because not too much was given away. However the sequence started to drag as it was too long to be a title sequence. Most title sequences are usually just a minute this was 3x the limit, so from this I knew not to make my own too long as it would have not made the right conventions of a title sequence, I also had to make sure it wasn’t too short. Also the soundtrack was very good as it helped build up tension making you want to know more.
Conclusion
By watching these thrillers and getting a better understanding of thrillers it has really helped, from this I know now that most thriller title sequences don’t tend to give out much detail of what’s going on, so I will have to make sure that I do the same.
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