Thriller analysis

Mesrine OTS The title are presented in a typewriter style, flashed on with a faded centre. This kick-starts the eeriness and gives the audience a sense of what the film could be like. The text appears all together, at once, so the audience don’t have to work to read it. This could mean that the film is not as complex, and the storyline could be easily guessed, or that it could be easy to follow. The soundtrack supports this at there is silence at the beginning then straight into eerie/creepy music using pianos and violins – common in thriller soundtracks. The first shot is a split screen, where a woman peers outside the house, stepping out. She then walks forward in one side of the split screen but in the other she is walking backwards. This disorients the viewer, forcing them into concentrating more. The setting is a quiet street with just the main characters about. This could indicate that this film is a thriller as the centre of attention the main characters, so they are not distracted by random people milling about. It also gives a feeling that something is about to happen. The first scene tells us that the character is weary and uneasy as she is constantly scanning her surroundings and hitching her bag back on her shoulder.

The music creates an eerie atmosphere, giving the impression that something bad is going to happen. It’s in sync with the movement on the screen, changing with what’s happening on screen but has the dark, underlying sound throughout. At a certain point, there were high notes on a piano which is usually associated wit horror/thriller. The sound effects of a garage door that slowly opens, and a sudden loud noise of a car horn startles you – making you sure you are not too relaxed – and that there’s more in store. Rumble of the engine, car door slams, reversing, screeching of tyres: an everyday sound that adds to the tension. Atmosphere is created by the woman's obvious uneasiness and awkward movements. The split screen with a slight delay between them causes a bit of confusion for the audience as they have to look at both. Woman just peers outside the door, with the rest of the shot out of focus This shows that she is hesitant, maybe even scare. Shallow depth of field here so your eyes are drawn to him. Also, the fact that he is walking behind the lorries with the camera following him, implies that he is a shifty character. He gets to be in the centre of the shot, so maybe he has the power and control in the film. Dog: for protection?

Sixth Sense The Sixth Sense is a psychological thriller film. This means that there is conflict of mental and emotion between the main characters. In this film, the man needed to get a grasp on reality, and become more aware of what really is going on around him. The journey there is what lights the curiosity in the audience, with subtle clues through out which hints to the outcome. The main character is an ordinary person who was unexpectedly involved in a shooting (he was shot by an old acquaintance in his home) which influenced his live. He also had marriage problems and he had to gather the courage to talk directly to his wife. There is plenty of suspense and tension and this feeling heightened with the atmospheric music. The music is typical of this genre as it increases the tension and excites the audience, foretelling that something bad is going to happen. The dark lighting produced feelings of helplessness and added to the effect of eeriness, which, in turn, increased the audiences fear and anticipation.

Collateral The first shot is of the man (which happens to be Tom Cruise, so this could be to engage the audience as he is well known – and associated with thrillers and action films) strolling through a crowd. The characters both wear suits and sunglasses (very formal) making them look like important business men or Secret Service/FBI (government agency) The briefcase scene – at first, think that they just bump into each other by accent, but of course not everything is as it seems. So, the more you look at it, the more fake it looks (start to notice the little nod at the end of the sequence) meaning they bumped into each other on purpose, to swap the suitcases over – adding to the idea of them being agents. Their body language suggests that they are ‘on a mission’ or on business as they have a direct walk and looking straight in front. Their expressions are a mask as if they are hiding their emotions. All this adds to the mystery, When they bump, they do apologise as it is expected of them, but there are subtle hints that it’s not all as it seems. Otherwise, there is no dialogue, the characters action and body language narrate the scene. His sunglasses hide most of face, and most importantly his eyes, so we don’t know where he is looking. Assuming he is an agent, he wouldn’t want people to know where he is looking, especially if he is following a target.

There is a shot that uses a fixed aperture to just focus on the character rather than the surrounding people, blurring them out and making sure they aren’t directly looking at the camera. The bag here must be of some significance because in this shot, the camera is at a low angle, and the bag is put right in front of it, and the bag is the main subject matter, being the only object in focus too. This is an interesting Point of View shot, that follows the man after he leaves the ‘bag swap’. Before this, the shots are long/medium shots where is walking to the camera, but now he is walking away from the camera in close-ups. This is the first sighting of the man, and …