Answers The Question Sheet

1)- What is the purpose of the opening to a film?

Draws the attention of the audience and introducing the plot to make interested in finding out how it is resolved. It sets the scene and often includes the opening credits, theme music, and introduction to the main characters.

2)- What techniques can a director use to create suspense in a film?

Eerie music or sharp sound effects which make the audience expect the unexpected and extreme close up shots which only give a small insight to what the characters are doing implies secrecy and makes the audience intrigued to know what’s going to happen. Cliff-hangers and complex plots.

3)-How do you think a thriller film is defined?

Main elements are tension, suspense and excitement; and events in the film build up to a climax where the plot which has been building up throughout is revealed.

4)-What films can you think of that would fit into the thriller genre?

Seven (David Fincher, 1995); Salt (Phillip Noyce, 2010); The Bourne Identity (Doug Liman, 2002); The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980); Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme, 1991); The Hills has Eyes (Alexandre Aja, 2006); Saw (James Wan, 2004); Inception (Christopher Nolan, 2010); Shutter Island (Martin Scorsese, 2010); One hour Photo (Mark Romanek, 2002); The Mothman Prophecies (Mark Pellington, 2002); Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979); I Am Legend (Francis Lawrence, 2007)

5)- The thriller film can be divided into sub-genres – what different types of thriller films do you think exist?
Murderous passions, political thrillers, change of identity thriller, psycho-traumatic thriller, moral confrontation, and innocent on the run.

6)- What are the characteristics or conventions of a thriller film? (Consider narrative, characters, mise-en-scene, and stars)

Impacts the audience to feel suspense, tension and excitement; and intrigue the audience to wonder what will happen next and draw them into the action. The audience usually feel sympathy for the victims, and include famous and familiar landmarks or use every day objects or activities to make the audience relate to the story. Also often include law enforcement officers, spies, superheroes/supervillians or pilots; and then generally ordinary citizens drawn into the situation by accident.

7)- What do you think is the audience pleasure of a thriller film?
to be entertained and to spend the film trying to figure out the plot, usually who commited the crime if its a detective thriller. To be able to relate to the characters personalities, but be intrigued by the fantasy world.

8)- What do you think are the differences between a horror and a thriller film?

A horror film is created to unsettle viewers to install disgust, horror and fear; whereas a thriller installs suspense, tension and excitement. These genres can overlap and based on good vs. evil, but thrillers often have a plot which is resolved in the end whereas a horror usually ends with the characters dying.

9)- Using the internet research the ‘top 50 thriller films’. Look at the top 20 – which ones have you watched? If it’s not that many, why do you think this is the case?
I have only seen one film out of the top 20 which is Inception (Christopher Nolan, 2010) , and this is probably because I don’t go to the cinema or watch films very often, but I have heard of most of them and even already know the plot of some.