Target Audiences

A thriller as a genre has its own target audience. I would think that the majority of people that watch thrillers are from teenagers upwards, I don't think that younger children would want to watch a high tension complex thriller to a disney movie for example. However certain thrillers are aimed at percific people:

Death Proof - For example, 'Death Proof' (2007) I feel is aimed at a certain group of people. The movie is full of good looking under dressed girls and full on fast car violence. In one scene the leading male Kurt Russle gets a lap dance off of a drunken half naked young girl, deffinantly atracting a male audience, also includig references to drugs and sex. I feel this movie is aimed at Male teens to late 20's, it has all the stereotypical likes of a young male. When writing and directing for what was to put on to the screen I feel Quentin Tarantino was creating the movie for that type of audience.

However if you compare this to another thriller movie like 'The Davinci Code' then the target audience changes. 'The Davinci Code' is a smart intelligent mature religious thriller and is based on a best selling novel. I highly doubt that the target audience for this movie is the same as 'Death Proof', I would say that this movie as it is more maturer it will be for a older audience and will attract people of culture and intelligence, so you can imagine the content of the film will be more challenging for the audience to watch. This would also appeal to people of religion and people with interest in art and books, where as 'Death Proof' does not show any signs of wanting to attract that type pf audience.

Depending on the content of the thriller the target audience can change completely, it depends on what type of people the writer, director and the producers want to attract to. Thhis will also see a massive difference in advertising between movies of a different target audience.

Music to a Thriller Movie

Why does a thriller movie need music? The music helps to create the atmosphere, with out the music the scene we see on the screen would not be as thrilling for one or capturing. Loads of thriller movies usually go down the same route of having music play quietly but effective in the background, possibly a low bass.

One Movie that comes to mind when I think of thriller music and building terrific suspense is Jaws. The music in Jaws really helps to create a eerie atmosphere, from every 'F' to 'F' sharp as the shark locates its pray. With long and fast string notes the music really helps to draw in the audience watching.



Another great soundtrack to a thriller is the one from The dark Knight. For me this is because its not like any other soundtrack to a thriller movie, it has a very distinctive melody which repeats throughout the movie to help keep the tension. The strings in the music play quick fast notes to compliment the fast action on screen, this works really well and makes the action on screen even more thrilling! Using percussion to underline the bass giving the music a dark feel and almost has a epic feel to it making the drama on the screen bigger also.



The music theme for Kill Bill is to put it in my own words amazing! It suits the type ppf thriller it is so well! It helps to build the climax and the struggle which Uma Thurman will face to get her revenge on Bill. The use of brass helps to dramatise the music making the music feel more epic and helps to make Uma Thurman look more invinsible.

Thriller Directors

Christopher Nolan -

Top Four Thriller Movies
1. Dark Knight, The (2008)
2. Memento (2000)
3. Insomnia (2002)
4. Prestige, The (2006)

Chris has directed some of the best thriller films in this decade. Starting with Memento in 2000, this Blockbuster blew me away the first time I watched it. I thought it was really clever how the movie is filmed in pieces and is put together when Guy Pearce starts to remember his memory. The second Insomnia made in 2002 about Two Los Angeles homicide detectives are dispatched to a northern town where the sun doesn't set to investigate the methodical murder of a local teen. The third, The prestige made in 2006. The prestige is about Two rival magicians up against each other to make the perform the better tricks, but the main trick on their mind is the transporting man which draws in the crowds. This Movie is high in drama and is a different kind of thriller, by watching the tricks on screen we are literally hanging on to see what will happen. And the last in 2008 with The Dark Knight. This movie is truly inspiring to all comic book movies is sets the bar for me and Chris developed the concept of Batman in a realistic mature thriller movie.

Quentin Tarantino-

Top Four Thriller Movies

1. Pulp Fiction (1994)
2. Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004)
3. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
4. Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2002)

Quentin Tarantino has always been a controversial director with the critics and his viewers, however for me he has made one of the best sub-genre thrillers in Pulp Fiction. Pulp Fiction shows a great story of mob gangsters and the people surrounding them. With great performances from Samuel Jackson and John Travolta.

Not forgetting the Kill Bill volumes one and two which exploded on to the movie screen in 2002 and 2004. Both these movies are jam packed with action and gory fight scenes, with tight thriller suspension and our leading lady Uma Thurman tries to track down Bill.

Steaphen Speilberg -

Top Four Thriller Movies

1. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
2. Jaws (1975)
3. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
4. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

Steaphen Speilberg is a world wide known name for his fantastic directing. For me these are his top Thriller movies, with Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark being my favourite of the Indianan Jones movies. With Thrilling action.

Jaws also is one of my favourite movies of all time, it has such suspence and thrilling to watch. For me it does not matter that the macanical shark lacks authentisity, especially as Speilberg chooses not to show the actual shark til the very end oof the movie! My favourite thrilling scene in jaws is the scene where Brody (Roy Schneider) looks through the book of shark attacks and we here the music kick in every time he turns the page.

Sub - Genre

'Scary Movie' is a sub-genre of a spoof comedy thriller. This particular movie bases its story line on 'Scream' a thriller movie made in 1996. Using the thriller techniques to build the suspense like in 'Scream' but instead of a bloody frightening outcome the movie has a comic out come. This idea of a spoof comedy thriller was very popular with its audience as the 'Scary Movie' brand has gone on two make a second, third and fourth. My favourite scene in this movie is actually the opening one, when we see the killer and the victim face to face, the killer has a knife at the ready and our victim beside her has a tray of deadly weapons and a banana, instead of picking up the a weapon to defend herself she picks up the banana.





'Reservoir Dogs' is a sub-genre of a crime thriller. The movie mixed with lots of thriller techniques and suspense also has a plot of crime. This is a very common sub-genre with such movies as 'Eagle Eye' and 'The Inside Man' also made in this style. Reservoir dogs is a fantastic movie and did well as director and writer Quentin Tarrantino's first film, however the end of the movie did cause a lot of criticism. My favourite Scene is this movie is when we see Mr.Blond dancing and singing to "Stuck In The Middle With You" as he slices the ear off of a helpless policeman.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiU2pKQ683s (Stuck In The Middle With You)


'The Dark Knight' is a sub-genre of a action crime thriller movie. Christopher Nolan the director did not take the similar route to other Batman movie directors before him and take a comic book like outcome, but instead he tried to make the film more of a thriller and more realistic. 'The Dark Knight' I think has suspense and a great 'villain' and is epic and thrilling but also has the crime story line, and of course has loads of action fighting and car chases (What Batman movie would be complete without it!). My favourite scene in this movie is when the Joker has one of the mob gangsters up to a pool table with a knife and he is telling him how he got the scar's on his face.

Thriller Actors

What makes a good thriller actor? To be a good thriller actor you have to be able to keep your audience tense and make sure your acting on the screen is obviously above all thrilling to watch. Most thriller films have a 'villain' trying to undermine a 'hero'. The hero needs to be strong and be able to connect with his or her audience, this is vital in giving a good performance in a thriller film. If there is no connection between themselves and the audience when the hero comes into trouble if the audience has a strong emotional connection with him or her then it will be more thrilling. Here are some examples of well known and resppected thriller actors:

Matt Damon - Matt appeared in his famous trilogy of the 'Bourne' films. In all three playing a trained assassin, who is trained to kill and protect. Matt has been nominated for several awards for his acting in the trilogy.

Also not forgetting 'The Departed' (2006) playing a young cop undercover in a crime gang. Matt has developed himself now as a hard thriller actor with his dedication to four consecutive Thriller films.

John Travolta - I chose john as one of my favourite thriller actors because of two fantastic performances in to great tense and entertaining thriller films:

The first, 'Pulp Fiction' (1994), this film is one of m favourites and John gives a fantastic performance as a gang employee of Marcellus Wallace. John really drew his audience in and gave a thrilling performance as he stabs the syringe into Uma Thurman's heart.

Second, 'The Taking of Pelham 123' (2009), When I went to see this film in the cinema I was captured my John's performance as the 'villain' holding passengers hostage on the subway for ransom. I loved how he played the character as quick witted but also a vile unlikeable character at the same time, it was like he had two sides to him, one minute he would smiling and be very witty and the next angry and over powering. This really drew me and kept me on the edge of my seat, I felt his character was unpredictable which made it so thrilling to watch.

Rachel McAdams - Rachel has a great performance in the movie 'Red Eye' (2005). Rachel plays the young organised hotel manager who has booked a flight back after a family funeral. Rachel gives a great performance as she battles the master mind terrorist Cillian Murphy, she really connects with her audience as she gives a very emotional performance. Aslo Rachel gives a good performance in 'State of play' (2003).

180 Degree Rule

Here is a picture explaining the 180 degrree rule. The green area where the cameras are looking is following the rule of 180. In the top right hand corner we see where the actors are placed on screen, if we croos the 180 degree line to the red section and film from there we see in left hand corner the characters change there position on screen. That is why it is important to follow the rule.

Evaluation and Final Edit of Prelim Task (2nd)

Looking over our video I thought as a group we did really well. The continuity was smooth and I feel our video is to a reassembly good standard, however there is lots of room to improve.

We opened up on a two shot of Will and CJ sitting on the ground talking, this was good and I liked how we panned up to follow Will as he began his journey, however the next shot that follows is very dull and next time I would look at different ways of making the journey more interesting. Next the POV from the stairs, this shot I thought was one of our best it was interesting and saved the journey from being completely dull, going in to the high angle shot which I thought was a good way of showing the actors surroundings. The POV getting into the lift lasted to long and I don't think was necessary either, I think if I were to film that section again I would have a mid shot from inside the lift as will enters. The pan coming out of the lift was nice and smooth but once again was to long, maybe a upward angle shot would have been nice to use instead. Finally when he gets to the room we had the POV as our actor is instructed to push not pull the door, I think personally this was our best shot, it was interesting and wasn't to shaky either. Our conversation between our actors was good, with over the shoulder shots. Also what was good about it was it was pasty and didn't drag on for to long . Finally our the end shot as will exits, the zoom on to the pens was not the best.

Overall comments: There are quite a thew bits I would do differently if given the chance. The transactions needed to quicker and more interesting. I think especially if we are making the thriller the need to make shots more interesting and the whole think a lot quicker paste is a necessity.