How have you used or challenged forms and

conventions in your thriller?

Plum O’Keeffe

‘Silence of the lambs’

This is a close up shot taken from ‘Silence of the lambs’ which is a psychological thriller. This is a classic thriller shot that shows the audience what the character is thinking. We used this to show the audience that the character is paranoid.

This is a direct camera address which challenges the classic Hollywood structure that is designed to create a real and believable world where the camera is not acknowledged. Normally when the character looks into the camera it reminds the audience they are watching a film. However, here we have challenged this convention to create an uncomfortable feeling for the audience as they feel they are in the shoes of the main character. This helps to convey the sense of paranoia because they audience also feel they are being looked at by a stranger.

Here we decided to blur the POV of the main character. This is an effect that is commonly used in thrillers to suggest to the audience that he was on drugs/drunk. The two screen prints on the left I took off CSI Miami when one of the characters had their drinks spiked at a club. I think choose to screen print these as they were similar to the screen print taken from our thriller.

This shot shows the audience that there is tension between the two men as they pass in the doorframe, this tension is emphasized through their eye contact. Eye contact is used a lot in thrillers between strangers to create tension. This works as the audience may be able to relate to it. This is an example of a two shot eye line match.

Here we used a shot to show one of the characters looking back. This kind of shot is used in thrillers to show that the character is aware of the other characters actions, this emphasizes tension. In our thriller the character was looking back at the main character because he noticed that he was acting paranoid/shady.

To the left is a screen print from 24 which is a TV thriller, the director Darren Aronofsy used many mirror shots in the series, he has used this one to show the characters reaction to the bullet holes. Mirror shots are the step up from a POV shot as you can see the characters reaction. Here we have used is so the audience can see the main characters reaction to the other character looking at him. They are also catching eye line which creates tension.

This is one of my favourite shots from our thriller. It is the POV of the character in the cubicle which really emphasizes how paranoid the main character is as he looks back at the other character. I think this shot is effective as it places you in the characters shoes so you feel as if you are catching eye contact with the main character this is making the situation stranger.

We used this close up shot of his face to emphasize his deep paranoia, as you can see through his eyes how uneasy he is. This is a similar shot from the thriller ‘A Cruel Picture’.

‘A Cruel Picture.’

‘Personal Best’

We decided to use this shot of the girl kissing with her eyes open catching eye contact with the main character because emphasized the strangeness of the situation and as it is the last shot it also emphasizes his paranoia that everyone is staring at him.

This is a shot from a TV programme Personal Best which was similar to ours.