Opening sequence

Thriller theme

Taken 2008 

 these are three key themes that are presented throughout Taken trailer which are: control, violence and investigation. 

one way control is placed in the trailer is through the dialogue:   

"Skills that are me a nightmare for people like you"(1:10)

"If you let my daughter go that'll be the end of it ... but if you don't ill look for you, I will find you and I will kill you"(1:16)

one way violence is portrayed is when Brayan Mills daughter watches her friend Amanda getting abducted to then leading to her on abduction hence why the film is called take. 

lastly, one way investigation is portrayed is also through dialogue:

 "Where is she" (1:25)"you have a 9 6 chance of ever finding her " (1:18)

all of these ways connote and denotate the audience how to feel the enigma and suspense which makes them question what is going to happen next or what they assume may happen which is what the narrator wants because that's how they draw viewers to even watch the film as it drives the desire to do so anyways. the thriller is made clear when it shifts from an average holiday to then watching her friend being kidnapped knowingly building up suspense as she is next. then there is violence, they will also question if his threatening and "Skills "is actually true or is he bluffing? will he save his daughter and her friend or will be get shot and killed in the process or discover what he may also find whilst fighting the two young girls/ it all makes the audience question and intrigue them to want to go ahead and consumer the film one way or another which also connotes the investigation side of the thriller seen as they can see how close they are getting each and every minute for him to finding his daughter and seeing the justice slowly progress.

in my future film, the way I would use these three features that facture into thriller is showing how it makes the people in the situation (the actors) feel. for example, if someone is fearing their life, I wouldn't jus show that they are scared and trapped but i would find a way to explore their emotions whether it is talking to themselves and having there thought process out loud or screaming it to the guard or whatever may be the situation that makes it a thriller. i would show control as having someone show power and the other showing no say or control on situations and being in a loophole that they can't get out of. 

Thriller tech mood board

 thriller mood board 2)

bird box- post-apocalyptic horror thriller

mise-en-scene:

lighting: 

fogginess represents that there is no vision as it has a grey lighting all through out that scene, you cannot see above and beyond.

majority of the time the scenes are in light and not dark seen as to the characters they are already in the dark and have no vision.

location: all begins in the hospital, before they start, they are all in one house and now they are mainly running through forests and have split up either because they are dead or have needed to, they go over a river to seek shelter.

era: present day and past 

performance: an ordinary day for a woman who is going for her pregnancy scan until she leaves and sees unusual behaviour, a woman bashing her head into the building glass wall, the women driving away from the hospital with no power or control that results into a crash. This all then leads to figuring out that our eyes have to be hidden or your eyes, your soul and self-control is all gone and hypnotised to something else. 

everyone including the main female and her two children have to go survival skill with mum and figure out a way to live or survive for the time being, everyone goes down their own path in the end, let the best one win.

props: guns, bats, blindfolds, a bell, newspapers on cars, boat with paddling gear.

camera angles and shots:

there are wide shots such as the boat imagine above that portrays to us that it's a long and scary process as they are in the middle of nowhere. the mother trying to keep them together is shown through her holding them tight and not letting them go, however the blind fold also represents that they cannot protect one another and are vulnerable.  

editing: 

majority of the shots are long shots as they tend to build up as much suspense as they can a long with the enigma of wondering what the outcome is going to be. any short shot is mainly to do with violence which also has its own way of creating tension as there is so much going on in one scene, so much that cannot be controlled which makes the audience feel as if they are in the movie.

they love to use low angles and, in this case, to represent the young girl as her hight isn't of course as tall as her mothers. it also shows how little power she has over anything and how the mother is the leader although she is powerless. 

dialogue:

"But under no circumstances are you allowed to take of your blindfold "

"Every contact we have had from the outside has brought us death."

the music that would play leads up within the suspense of long shot, the longer it is taking in the scene the higher pitch or deeper the music is going which creates a sense of anticipation which makes you want to see what's going to happen even more. 

the voice covers are birds chirping in the background or little whispers trying to lead everyone with their blindfolds on to take it off. there are also the gun shots and people screaming. the branches cracking as they step through the forest.  

Thriller mood board

Thriller mood board 1)

Prey for the devil horror/thriller

mise-en-scene:

lighting:

has a variety of different lighting modes however the most occurring thriller scenes were in the dark, with a gloomy setting of having to question in your head on what's going to happen next because of the fear you will feel. Therefore, majority of the sincere scenes are in the dark or coming out from the shadows. although, there are also lit up scenes where they are in the prisoned rooms trying to confront demonic possession.

location:

this was set at a catholic church school for exorcism as the film is about a nun who tries to train into doing exorcists as of her past experience and how her mum dies. they also visit Dante's house as Anne tries to help his pregnant sister who is possessed.

era:

past as there aren't cases of possession anymore and based off of past stories and beliefs that were brought down.

performance: 

nuns are forbidden to perform exorcism, Although Anne goes out of her way to help a little girl that she beliefs is possessed by the same devil her mum was possessed with. Father Quinn had recognised her talents and added her to classes however she crossed all lines and barriers. She experiences disturbing situations such as getting harassed by an elderly man whist being trapped in his room. They go through old files of possessed patients and figure out what they have all needed in order to survive but was somewhat to late as they only saved 1 person at the end.

props:

majority of the props are the bibles and crosses; this is the only thing alongside prayers that can actually help them as well as holy water. all of them have appropriate clothing's.

camera with angles and shots:

there are several scenes with close up shots such as when the young little was swallowing her own hair as it was getting sucked up into her throat with no control. 

there are over the shoulder shots such as when Anne was looking over Natalie. 

the wide shot is within a low angle where Natalie the young possessed girl is crawling to the ceiling as the camera gets lower and lower till she jumps from a tall angle.

the camera moves where often too fast to be able to analyse what's on the screen which is what makes it a thriller and horror film, the fact there is too much to process puts you on edge because everything is happening very fast.

editing:

the more intense the shot the faster the time slot is between shots which is what gives the thriller vibe as the faster the music the more intense and suspense it is also leading up to.

there are the lights flashing to create an unexplainable visceral pleasure amongst the audience within all the creepy music that sets the atmosphere and twisted characters doing dehumanising things really give the sense of suspense which creates the thriller of being on the edge.

the transitions from scene to scene or shot to shot is unspeakable. a sudden jump or movement that goes into a dark shot that then turns into a zoom out with intense music just goes to show how camera angles and shot goes a long way if done and used correctly.

sound:

the music goes from a slow paste to a urgent impulsive upbeat sound that makes your heart feel like it is pumping faster which really sets the tone of you should be scared or on corner of your seat because it's about to start. non-diegetic sound is what will create all scenes to the build up with the tension it has. 

dialogue: it is very serious which can be told from the tone of voice and the fact that it may be the most simple few words that impact and make the hairs on your arm to stand up the most and in this case is  "your mother has a pretty voice"(she's dead) or "she said the voice didn't really want her, it wanted me"

the narrator of the trailer is mainly Anne and whoever plays inside the film that plays an important part which emphasises the important scenes as it is seen shown and played as the little parts of the film.

Conventions of sub-genre