Tuesday, 17 April 2012
Friday, 9 March 2012
Friday, 2 March 2012
Key Questions we need to think about to find our Target Audience.
Who typically buys psychological thrillers?
We need to think about age, gender, social class, ethnicity etc.
We need to think about age, gender, social class, ethnicity etc.
How your target audiences purchase their films?
What your target audiences expect from psychological thrillers in terms of style, content, performance etc?
What are the likes/ dislikes of the audience? How are these reflected in their attitudes to psychological thrillers?
How do the aesthetics of our film meet the needs and desire of your target audience?
Tuesday, 28 February 2012
Codes & Conventions of Psychological Thrillers
The single greatest characteristic of a thriller is obvious. It "thrills" as one reads it. The plots are scary, the characters are at great risk and the novels are constructed in a manner that makes the reader really want to keep watching.
A story that starts with a serious problem, a protagonist (usually a person with an almost fatal character flaw) who tries to solve the problem only to find that it gets worse and worse and worse. The plot rises to a dramatic confrontation with the antagonist, usually on his territory, and ends with a short conclusion.
There are some general characteristics that most but not all thrillers have. These usually include a plot that concerns itself with life-and-death issues. Sometimes thrillers involve murder mysteries. Nearly all thrillers put the protagonist and other sympathetic characters in serious danger. Most thrillers have seriously malevolent antagonists.
If it has you biting your nails and staying up late at night, double-checking that the windows are locked and worrying and fretting about whether the characters are going to survive, chances are it is a thriller.
A story that starts with a serious problem, a protagonist (usually a person with an almost fatal character flaw) who tries to solve the problem only to find that it gets worse and worse and worse. The plot rises to a dramatic confrontation with the antagonist, usually on his territory, and ends with a short conclusion.
There are some general characteristics that most but not all thrillers have. These usually include a plot that concerns itself with life-and-death issues. Sometimes thrillers involve murder mysteries. Nearly all thrillers put the protagonist and other sympathetic characters in serious danger. Most thrillers have seriously malevolent antagonists.
If it has you biting your nails and staying up late at night, double-checking that the windows are locked and worrying and fretting about whether the characters are going to survive, chances are it is a thriller.
Wednesday, 11 January 2012
Defining a Thrill
To cause to feel a sudden intense sensation; excite greatly. To cause to quiver, tremble, or vibrate. To feel a sudden quiver of excitement or emotion. To quiver, tremble, or vibrate. A quivering or trembling caused by sudden excitement or emotion. A source or cause of excitement or emotion. A slight palpable vibration that often accompanies certain cardiac and circulatory abnormalities. |
Sixth Sense Trailer, Synopsis and Why is it a Thriller?
He sees dead people - but can you see what's coming?
Months after a vicious assault, child psychologist Malcom Crowe (Bruce Willis) takes the unusual case of Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment), a boy who claims he can see ghosts. But as the investigation progresses, it seems that Crowe and his wife (Olivia Williams) are becoming ever-more distant.
Extremely classy chiller-with-a-twist from M Night Shyamalan, who went on to reteam with Willis on the excellent Unbreakable, but has never returned to the heights of this.
Why is it a Thriller?
Serious Problem: Murder mystery
Protagonist: Malcom Crowe
Developing Problem: Boy sees dead people, and his wife grows distant to him.
Antagonist: Murderer?
Protagonist in serious danger.
Widely regarded as Hitchcock’s greatest work, this hypnotic mystery stars James Stewart as ‘Scottie’ Ferguson, a height-fearing ex-cop who is asked by an old friend to follow his oddly-behaving wife (Kim Novak).
His curiosity leads to obsession, with devastating consequences. But that’s only half the story. A haunting, striking and utterly compelling masterclass of technique and storytelling, Vertigo is so good it’ll make your head spin.
The Hollywood remake of the BBC political thriller features Russell Crowe (who replaced Brad Pitt) as a slobbish, old school Washington DC hack who investigates a plot against his old student buddy-turned-congressman Ben Affleck.
The tightly-plotted, tortuous tale weaves through numerous sub-plots involving the apparent suicide of Affleck's mistress, to dirty tricks from a sinister private homeland security firm.
Lancastrian writer Paul Abbott's original script is beefed up by - among others - Bourne scribe Tony Gilroy while director Kevin McDonald effectively condenses the six hour-long episodes of the 2003 TV version.
Denzel Washington is the company commander whose suppressed memories of exactly what Shreiber did single him out as a target of dark political forces. Ambiguous and unsettling, this makes the Manchuria of the original (a region of China) became Manchurian Global, a huge Halliburton-style military service company and home to Shreiber's hawkish mother (Meryl Streep).
Friday, 6 January 2012
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