Motifs in thriller films: Isolation

Common motifs in thrillers are often themes of revenge, obsession and most importantly murder.


Steven King thrillers, in this case both Misery and The Shining, often not only just contain these themes, but will 
also use an overriding theme to present them. In Misery and The Shining this motif is Isolation.

 The Shining(1980)

Based on the novel by Steven King, directed by Stanley Kubrick.

The overall theme presented using isolation in The Shining was murder.

Surroundings:

(These shots clearly present the vastness of the desolate surroundings used in the film)
The desolate and vast area surrounding The Overlook Hotel in The Shining make it the perfect setting for this dark thriller film.
The isolation in this film is presented through the surroundings and allows for the horrific events that go on inside, the murder and revenge, to seem inescapable. The theme of isolation is commonly used in thrillers in various ways, for example in Psycho isolation is presented using the juxtaposition of the busy city around the characters. However in The Shining it is very clear how Steven King used this isolation to create a sense of fear and panic for the audience.

( This shot shows the moment at which Wendy realises that hope of contact with the outside world is diminished)

Various scenes throughout the film refer to the isolation of the hotel to give a feeling of panic and fear. For example, whilst Jack is trying to kill his wife Wendy and their child Danny, Wendy finds a radio telephone and attempts to contact the outside police force, this gives the audience a sense of hope although, after a few minutes of trying, we find out that the phone lines are down due to the snow. The lack of contact with the outside world gives the perfect setting for something awful to happen, the audience now know that Wendy and Danny are completely alone against Jack, the isolation again gives the film this sense of being trapped that thrillers so often use.

Another example of the motif of isolation used in surroundings could be when Wendy and Danny are trying to run from the house, but can't quite manage as the snow is too thick. This 'almost' nature of the film keeps audiences on their seat and at the same time reveals the vastness and isolated nature of the surrounding scenery.

Character:

(Danny and his imaginary friend, presenting his isolation with the rest of his family) 

Each family member is fairly isolated from the other, Jack is obviously isolated from Wendy and Danny after he begins to turn mad although we see other themes of isolation between characters before this. 

For example, Danny's gift of The Shining puts him in a position of isolation from his family, in the beginning Danny can read the janitors mind without even having to talk out loud. Later on in the film this is a huge advantage as Danny can call for help, although again here we see the 'almost' nature again. This theme of isolation within the family contributes hugely to the sense of looming fear that is already felt due to the surroundings, and gives another factor that Stanley Kubrick could have used to keep tension high.

The isolation Danny experiences is also reflected in the twin girls, the use of lonely and isolated children is often used in thriller films and allows for directors to present a certain unstoppable madness whereby audiences can't escape.  

Misery (1990)

Based on the novel by Steven King, directed by Rob Reiner.

The overall theme presented using isolation in Misery was obsession. 

Surroundings:

(Again these shots present the vastness of the isolation between the characters and the rest of society, and present how alone they are.)

Surroundings are huge in presenting isolation in Misery. Snow is a common theme in both The Shining and Misery and is used in both to allow the antagonist to keep the victims trapped with them.

In Misery, Annie Wilkes keeps her biggest idol Paul Sheldon(a famous writer) hostage at her house after a car crash he had. She uses his injuries and the desolate isolated surroundings around her house to keep him there as long as she can. For example, after Paul realises that he is being kept by someone fairly psychotic, he attempts, just as Wendy did in The Shining, to call someone for help. This time he finds the phone has been disconnected although Annie uses the snow as an excuse for why the phone wont work. 

 The theme of isolation here keeps the audience on edge the same way that The Shining does.

 

There is also a different way in which isolation is presented in Misery than The Shining, as in Misery, the whole state is trying to find Paul, the theme of frustration and being almost free, keeps the audience wanting to know what happens whilst simultaneously creating a very strong sense of loneliness through the juxtaposition of the  amount of people out looking for him. This is clearly presented when Paul looks out of the window and sees a police helicopter flying overhead, and also when the police come to interview Annie and Paul is hidden with no way of him telling the officer where he is. The isolation keeps the same 'almost' nature that The Shining hold and gives the film an on going feeling of tension throughout. 

The theme of isolation may be important to our thriller opening, as it is a prominent feature of most thriller films, we may need to include a location or character that presents this. Not only does isolation help to keep the audience feeling on edge, but also helps to create a realistic scenario- without background noise or movement characters are the focus and because it's not a busy surrounding there seems to be no escape or help.

Camerawork used in the opening of Psycho

Camerawork in Psycho(1960)


INTRO

Alfred Hitchcock's opening to Psycho uses various cinematic techniques and camera shots to create an eerie and tension filled thriller.

The film begins with a high angle panning shot, moving slowly over the city and giving the audience a sense of the surroundings. This is usually used as an establishing shot although in this case it may have been used to hide something. Hitchcock may have used this as, although the film is set in a busy city, it emphasises the characters isolation, by placing such odd events within a normal area Hitchcock keeps a sense of loneliness. This feature  is commonly used in thrillers to create a feeling of insecurity and apprehension for the audience, by placing ordinary events within extraordinary ones, directors can toy with what the audience feel secure with and use it to make them feel on edge.

The idea of isolation is reinforced with how the camera zooms into the characters window, the movement creates a feeling that the surrounding city will have no impact on whatever goes on in this characters life, almost as if Hitchcock has created her own world to which others are unaware of. Zoom shots from vast areas into small ones also have create an almost claustrophobic atmosphere that keeps the tension building throughout the scene.

A little later in the clip the camera is on Marion as she gets ready to leave, she looks down onto the bed and the camera pans down to show the envelope she is looking at, it slowly moves closer to it revealing that it is filled with money. The slow and creeping movements of the camera in this shot keep the audience captured and on the edge of their seat as it reveals various secrets about her. The same technique is used just after as the camera moves to show her suitcase.

In doing this Hitchcock can keep the audience questioning, a major feature needed in thrillers.

A close up shot of Marion's face is next used, revealing her anxiousness and distress, the next shot is a point of view shot again pointed towards the envelope. This technique, in this case, is used to easily tell the audience that whatever the envelope is or has inside of it is hugely important to the plot. Often a close up and then point of view shot are used to portray a characters feelings towards someone, or something.

The next shot is of Marion looking into a mirror, mirrors are a massively used in thrillers to create disorientation and confusion, and can also be used to again give the audience a hint to what the character may be feeling. As the camera follows the characters movement the mirror is kept behind her the whole time, the effect of the fast movements of the camera paired with the mirror in the background creates a disorientating effect for the audience and keeps them unsettled.

Hitchcock continues the use of the close up paired with the point of view shot in the next scenes, as Marion is driving the camera is kept on her, the car stops and the camera moves to the point of view shot showing the people crossing in front of the car, as Marion looks the camera focuses on one man, flicking from her face to his. This technique again gives an impression of Marion's feeling but also gives the audience her view of the man. These shots are vastly important in creating a certain view on a character, in this case the audience feel inclined to go against the man on the road in front, as he is obviously causing stress to Marion.

The camera then switches to show a mid shot of the car driving into a dark ad gloomy looking distance, giving a clear sense of dread and eeriness to the upcoming scenes.

This next scene begins with Marion driving away from the service station. The camerawork is still in keeping with the close up shots and point of view shots although now each time we switch back from the point of view shot the camera moves in closer to Marion's face. This intentional zoom each time we look back gives the audience a looming fear, a sense that when we aren't looking something can happen. This is often used in thrillers as a common feature to make audiences feel as though no scene is safe.

This technique also allows Hitchcock to express Marion's changing feelings as time goes on, as the camera moves closer to her is an almost sense of a definite, that her feelings now are as they always will be. Hitchcock uses this idea to present her feelings of madness, and gives the audience a feeling of sudden realisation and fear the she may be the one to look out for.

The camera moves to a point of view shot as it begins to rain, the headlights of the cars in front are blurry and deformed, again the camera can focus on objects to make the audience feel disorientated.

The torrential rain to follow also gives an eerie feeling as the audience cannot anticipate may be ahead of the car. 

  

The finishing shot reveals the infamous Bates Motel sign, revealing the word 'vacancy' clearly beneath, the hotel sign gives a sense of relief for the audience, so that Hitchcock can scare them even further with what's to come.

Mise-en-scene in film noir

Women and German expressionism in film noir

Women in film noir 

There are usually two types of women in film noir; the femme fatale and the traditional housewife.


The 'femme fatale' in film noir uses her sexual appearance and bright nature to manipulate men in order to gain power or money. Femme fatals often reject the conventional roles of a woman, in the 1940s, that society ahs placed upon them .The traditional housewife/mother and often in the end her rejection leads to her own death and the death of the men she comes into contact with. Her rejection of societal norms further reiterates the support for the existing social norm and order for the male dominance.
This shot shows this over sexualisation of women in film noir as well as perfectly portraying the power the femme fatale holds over the protagonists in the film. Smoking was also seen to be highly glamourised and femme fatales would often smoke as it was seen as something only those with status or power could afford to do.Femme fatales will often wear dark clothes, such as black dresses, and heavy makeup to present their attractiveness but also to portray their darker side.

The traditional housewife completely contrasts the femme fatale, and is seen as naive and innocent. 

Often the traditional housewife's role in film noir is to romanticise the idea of the stay-at-home woman, and to create a character to which the audience can feel for. They were portrayed as pure, often placed in light coloured clothes with little makeup  and light fair hair. The lighting used in the scenes that show the traditional housewife are usually backlights, or hair lights, to present the innocence and delicate nature of them, in comparison to the dimly lit hard lights used for the femme fatale to create shadows and highlight feminine features such as the cheekbones or eyes.

For our thriller opening we may use the conventional gender roles presented in the housewife role- the antagonist being a man and victim a woman. This not only incooperates the film noir genre but also is a common feature in most thriller films, making it clear which character is which.

German Expressionism

German expressionism was a movement to describe manipulation in

art, architecture and film. Many feel there is a link between the architecture at the time(1920s)and cinema, the artwork and scenes in expressionist films often feature sharp angles, great heights and distorted geometric shapes in buildings, by reflecting these features in film, directors could manipulate scenes to add feeling or a characters thoughts to the mis-en-scene.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a 1920 German silent horror film directed by Robert Wiene from a screenplay by Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer. (IMDB)
It is one of the most influential films of the German Expressionist movement.   

The sharp lines and geometric patterns closely resemble the architecture at the time and present a sense of distortion and a twisted atmosphere, an important feature to film noir in helping to immerse the audience in the plot.

This theme continued in theater and painting and rejected realism, giving the creator the power to present inner thoughts through the scenes and allowing for a darker more in-depth film. Some classic examples of films that clearly show German expressionism are 'Nosferatu 1922', 'Faust 1926' and  'The Last Laugh 1924'.

The confusing nature of German Expressionism is an interesting feature I would like to include in our thriller opening, possibly through broken glass place on the floor, although this may prove difficult due to the geometric angles used. 

Conventions of an opening to a thriller film: Fargo

Conventions of an opening to a thriller are;

Openings to thriller films are almost always used to build tension and create an eerie or suspense filled atmosphere, setting the ambiance for the rest of the film.
Many cinematic techniques, such as low-key lighting(a common feature in thriller films used to give a distorted or dark look to the scene) or orchestral music (often use as string instruments can be manipulated to give an eerie scratching sound) are used to emphasise certain traits of a thriller film such as high tension.



Fargo 1996

The main theme of Fargo is kidnap, but themes such as murder and revenge also appear throughout. 


 Fargo (1996) is an American crime/horror thriller film written,  produced, edited, and directed by the Coen Brothers. It stars a pregnant Minnesota police chief (Marge) who investigates a series of local homicides and a struggling car salesman (Jerry) who hires two criminals to kidnap his wife in order to gain money and pay his debts. Inevitably consequences occur and Jerry's plan becomes a nightmare.  (IMDB) 

Title sequence


The title sequence to Fargo is fairly simplistic, but extremely effective in building the atmosphere for this eerie and unnerving film. Immediately the scene opens with a quiet but sharp sound of a guitar, along side the words 'This is a true story' followed by a brief background to the story. This pulls the audience in straight away giving them a sense of insecurity, whilst also giving the plot a huge point of interest. The calm and quiet music paired with this gives a sense of the 'calm before the storm',a technique that is often used in thriller films to create a false sense of security for the audience that can later be destroyed to shock further, and again makes the audience feel on edge.A vast, bleak, snowy landscape follows, this unusual set-up creates an un-easy feeling (this unconventionality in thrillers is common and helps to add sense to the initial confusion) and gives the film a cold and dreary atmosphere, the added manipulation of the violins matches this ominous tension and gives an almost sinister tone to the film. The vacant headlights of Jerry's car follow, slicing the fog as he drives towards the camera, the lighting is kept little but enough as though it were evening, this again gives the film an early feeling of tension through the lack of bright lights and colour.As the car pulls up the hill into full view low sounding drums are played almost like a drum roll to build expectations and increase the tension. The car finally comes into the view of the audience, a full orchestra is used to present the importance of the car/person inside. It could also have been used to pull the audiences attention to fully focus on the scene cutting through the bleak and calming environment before. At the height of this exciting music is the title, this again draws the attention of the audience towards the film. The final shot of this sequence is the tow truck driving away from the camera and into the distance, this creates a sense of mystery and gives the audience questions that need to be answered, keeping them intrigued and also giving the film that important sense of confusion that thrillers rely on.


The sound from this clip, the drums especially, may have an influence on my thriller opening. They effectively build tension without having much on screen to support this- this may be helpful as creating tension through the scenes proved slightly difficult when filming our prelim task.  

Conventions of thriller sub-genres

Prelim Evaluation

Our preliminary task presented us with successes and failures, in both making and planning. 

Our preliminary task group was made up of Alice, Ali(both on screen as actors)me and Katie(behind the camera). All of our filming was done using my Canon 600D DSLR camera, and used mostly hand held shots due to the fact we could not get hold of a tripod. 

 Our film didn't necessarily focus on a particular social group, or represent any fully, although the characters we created could be seen as representative of a group as a whole. Our film featured a possible drug deal, although this was not entirely clear, the assumption could be clearly made. Due to the age of our actors, Ali and Alice, it could be seen that our film was to represent the younger teenage generation, if so, they would be presented in a negative light and reinforce stereotypes of teenagers due to the content of the film being drug related. This negative light was reflective in the juxtaposition of the dark colours worn by the actors and the warm, almost candle-lit diegetic lighting appearance of the Cathedral. This juxtaposition puts our characters in a position where they clearly stand out, allowing for the pure and beautiful nature of the Cathedral to represent society, and the dark nature of our characters to reflect those who may be frowned upon in society. 



 Our piece created a slightly unusual thriller(we knew because we are going to make a thriller we would make the prelim task also a thriller), due to our location. The Cathedral featured warm, comforting tones and allowed for us to make a seemingly comfortable environment tense. The unusual, but appealing shots allowed for our film to appeal to those who may be more interested in the cinematography of the film; although i do feel the story helped add an uneasy feeling to the film, a feature we found slightly difficult to obtain due to the slight lack of thriller films we knew and enjoyed.



The technology throughout the film was relatively easy to use, due to the fact that the camera was easy to use and produced a great quality of film. Although there were a few issues. Firstly, the unavailability of a tripod caused major issue. Many of our shots were far too shaky to use in the final edit, and due to the camera being able to pick up delicate changes in lighting, we couldn't film at a different point. The issue of the tripod was overcome in certain shots such as this one(seen below) as improvising we found a chair to rest it on, as the clip reveals however the shot was still not fully still, and this left us with an unprofessional look to the final edit. The second problem with the technology was that, because we couldn't find any sound equipment, the camera sometimes focussed too heavily on the background noise, such as the rain, rather than the actors voices, leaving the conversation fairly quiet and the audience's focus on the ambient noise. 

A few errors also occurred during editing, our film clips could often have to be re-uploaded due to the program not recognising the clips, this often led to us losing editing time. The film was also supposed to be accompanied by non-diegetic sound of Cathedral/ Church music, such as the sound of a choir, although after attempting to place the sound over the film several times, eventually we had to give up as our computer would again not recognise the sound clips on many of the pieces of film. The diegetic sound also had the same problem, the editing program seemed to cut much of the sound throughout creating a jumpy, rough effect that again made our film look extremely unprofessional. This problem with sound will have to be fixed, although we are unsure how to currently. 

I feel there are a few strengths of our film that we can be proud of; the filming was a long process that was often frustrating and caused us to disagree quite a bit, although i feel  overall each shot was carefully planned and took into considerations things which may not have been thought about before we began, such as the public walking into shots or the problem that some shots didn't look as we wanted them to. Throughout filming we all contributed to framing each shot to ensure we all felt it looked aesthetically pleasing and that it fitted to the scene that was to be filmed. A few shots that I feel proud of include the shot of the chairs near the end (see below), I felt the lighting looked almost perfect during this shot and the slight blur allowed for the whole shot to seem much softer than the rest of the film. The shots I feel may have needed to be cut or re-shot were firstly, the beginning of the film, although we had planned to take a few establishing shots, all together they appear to make the film seem to move fairly slowly - and with this being an opening to a thriller, this only served to relax the audience rather than keep them tense and intrigued. Secondly the conversation, we realised it would not look professional as neither Ali or Alice are professional actors; and I feel this paired with the camera not picking up the sound, and the amount of times we had to shoot the clip due to other members of the public walking into the frame, made the sequence feel slightly un-organised and messy. The most upsetting feature of our film was the sound and I feel this made the overall piece much worse than hoped.
Next time, we may have to plan for others to be around, and take into consideration that it will take a few tries to get it perfect- and not to get frustrated when the take isn't as we imagined. This all ties in with the initial planning of our film, our mind-map of ideas and list of shots could have been more detailed as many of our shots we knew what we wanted them to look like, but were not sure how to achieve this immediately. Hopefully this won't be a problem during our next planning as we will have much longer and know how to plan in detail. I feel with sufficient planning, research and knowledge of various shot types and how to use them, we could improve the overall quality of our work. 
There were however a few areas of planning that greatly helped our piece. On decided the location almost immediately, it left us time to plan other aspects of the film such as the story, costumes and lighting etc. 

Our planning included mainly thinking about how each shot could reflect something about both characters. We used various shots throughout the film some planned and some improvised to match our location. Firstly we knew we had to include establishing shots to allow the audience to familiarise themselves with the location. The first establishing shots were of the statues, using pulled focus, we felt in using these statues as a primary focus we could immediately establish this as a place of high importance in society. 

             

The next establishing shot was a high to low angle shot of the main area of the Cathedral to present the vastness of the location and to allow for the film to include the beautiful architecture of the building. 

The next shots included the stain glass windows to fully display the location was a religious environment, which we could then juxtapose with the daring nature of our film.






The next shots were to establish our characters and build up the tension of the film, we used a mid, fairly central shot and had our characters walk either side of the camera. This allowed for the audience to feel immersed in the film and kept each character on opposite sides to the other, allowing for a clear opposition between them both. SHOT This central framing continued as Ali walked down the pews towards Alice, the framing of this shot not only allowed for the continuance of the opposition of characters but also the frame matched the one before, giving a natural feeling shift into the next scene.  

The shot following is a low angle shot of Ali walking towards Alice, he is central to the shot with the chairs adding to the architectural symmetry in the shot. By showing Ali from a low angle it allows for him to seem much bigger than in reality and puts him in a position of power(later destroyed, and by centralising him in the shot he is the main focus of the audience allowing us to show his importance in the piece.The position of Ali also reveals a back-light, or hair light, from the window behind him serving to further emphasise his initial power.  The emptiness of the pews also added to the overall uneasiness of the film and allowed for the story to seem much more realistic (due to the fact people were not around). 

   

The conversation was the next sequence and used shot-reverse-shot to present each speaker, and allowed for our piece to remain continuity. Throughout the filming we were fairly conscious of continuity, both with the position of characters and other aspects such as the lighting this helped our film overall to keep the same warm colours and the fluidity during the conversation. 

The final few shots of Ali leaving again reflect the emptiness of the Cathedral and give a slightly more relaxed shot of the two characters after the issue had been resolved. The shot of the candle followed by the evening sunlight on the chairs and stairs, gives a calming effect and allows for the audience to relax slightly after the threatening nature of Alice's character and the situation Ali was put into. 

 We stuck to the 180 degree rule throughout the film, to make sure the continuity of the film was not disrupted. The camera must stay on a 180 degree line around the characters to keep the position of them the same throughout the piece. Some films break this rule to create a confusing, unusual effect to the film although this is difficult to achieve perfectly, and so we stuck to the rule. 


(picturetaken from http://titles12group1.blogspot.co.uk/) 



In the beginning the editing proved fairly difficult as we had either not edited before or had used a different program. The program we used was 'premier pro', and although it was difficult to use, after we had learnt the basics (from Alice who had used it before) it was a little easier to edit. The main problems occurred, as mentioned, with importing clips and keeping them on the program without them going 'offline'- the program being unable to locate them. Throughout the process I have learnt how to condense clips and place them onto longer clips to create the effect of the perspective changing and giving a more sophisticated feel to the sequence. My editing skills have vastly improved as before i had only edited a few small pieces using 'movie maker', for our thriller opening I think this will help hugely, as we will be able to edit much faster and hopefully develop some more skills to give our film more depth. 
The editing process did come with a few issues although now i feel that after having resolved most of them, I can ensure they do not occur again. 

To conclude, the filming proved, although difficult, extremely enjoyable and allowed for us to explore to possible shot for our future projects. The editing also allowed me to learn how to edit efficiently and hopefully will help when it comes to editing our final piece 

Preliminary task

Stills from clips that weren't used.

                                          Katie accidently ran into these shots..

                                          

                                          Without a tripod this shot was too shaky.