Questionnaires

1.   Gender: 

o   Male

o   Female

 

2.   Age:

o   15-20 

o   21-25   

o   26-30   

o   31-35   

o   36+

3.   Preferred sub-genre: 

o   Horror     

o   Psychological    

o   Romance    

o   Comedy    

o   Other___________

 

4.   What factor do you think is the most important in a movie: 

o   Soundtrack      

o   Character     

o   Storyline     

o   Setting     

o   other___________

 

 

5.   Would you be fine to watch scenes which involved violence and gore:  

o   Yes   

o   No

 

6.   Which factor do you like in a film: 

o   Action      

o   Suspense     

o   Horror    

o   Gore      

o   Romance   

o   Others_____________

 

     

7.   What is your favourite thriller movie: 

o   The Dark Knight Rises        

o   Southpaw          

o   Black Swan

o   Fast & Furious                 

o   Mission: Impossible            

o   Inception             

o   The Expendables 3                                                                      

o   Other__________________________

 

8.   What do you like about a thriller movie in terms of opening:

o   Flash back    

o   Chase scene  

o   Everyday life    

o   Other___________

 

9.   What is the best thing about a thriller movie:    

o   Actor/Actress     

o   Plot     

o   Poster     

o   Twists    

o   Others__________

 

 

10.       In a thriller movie what factor makes the scene interesting: 

o   Background music       

o   Costumes          

o   Setting       

o   Others_____________           

        

Gender Representation

Brick	Just by watching the trailer of this movie, I can tell how women are portrayed as a weak and hopeless person especially by the character of Emily. Women are also seen as objects, following their bosses (man) order, male gaze. Men are shown as powerful, violent, has authority, never give up till they reach/find what they set out to do.	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Zfw8__A7ps
Donnie Darko	This movie is mostly based on the protagonist; as usual it is a male. He is represented as someone who has unique superpowers, has authority, dependent on himself, courageous. However, Females are seen as someone who is dependent on the male character, powerless, pretty face, long hair etc...	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdKbNuhXWvQ
Drive	The main protagonist is a male character who is shown as someone who would never die even in extreme conditions. He is good at fighting; shows power, muscular, good looking, goes against the law and the antagonist. The woman is shown as a wife material, pretty, dependent on the protagonist such as hiding under him when antagonist shows up.	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWX34ShfcsE
Heat	The man is presented as someone who would go to any extends just to save his loved ones. He is strong, goes after the antagonist, never gives up and always wins at the end. Women is the protagonist’s wife, she doesn’t have an important role, dependant on the protagonist to save them, weak, someone who is able to consult the male character.	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xbBLJ1WGwQ
Leon	The main male character is portrayed as a very serious and mysterious person. He is quite strong, emotionless; can kill anyone who comes in-between his work. The young girl is displayed as an innocent young lady, positive, cheerful but also feisty. She mostly relies on the main character.	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcsirofJrlM
Miller’s Crossing	The male characters are seen as someone who has authority, power and money. They seem violent, protects the women. The woman is seen as someone who is sly. Male gaze, object (used for sex), causing trouble.	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYifReJJn4M
Shalloe Grave	In this movie the male character is portrayed as someone who cares about money, mysterious, horrifying, not trust worthy.  The woman is portrayed as someone who does things that has been told to her by the protagonist. She is seen as an innocent person at first but sly as time goes on.	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbxNej_MJlw
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy	There are mostly male characters in this movie. All the protagonists and antagonists roles are done by males. They are shown as intelligent, calm but violent at the same time, powerful, getting their jobs done at any cost. There are only few roles of the female. They are mostly just being a wife/girlfriend of the Male characters. Portrayed as someone who is dependent on the male characters, weak, used for sex.	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPKhWXhiMSw

Se7en	The two main protagonists in this movie are portrayed as intelligent and brave men. They have family and friends they like to protect from the antagonist. Also, they risk their lives to save innocent lives of others. The woman is seen as an elegant person who isn’t aware of dangerous things happening around. She is quite innocent and relies mostly on a male character.	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4YV2_TcCoE
Bourne Identity	Main character is displayed as a mysterious man. He is quick and strong; is able to fight. He doesn’t get hurt/killed easily, is violent.  The Female character doesn’t know what is going on as she is dragged into the problem because of the make character. She is slightly innocent.	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpKaB5dvQ4g
The Machinist	In this movie the protagonist isn’t shown as someone who is strong physically or mentally. He has some psychological problems but he still doesn’t give up on life as he doesn’t want to be killed, which shows us how he can become strong. On the other hand, the woman is giving the man advice. Also, women used as an object to sleep around with.	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0fuHY4U1UA
Silence of the lamb	The protagonist in this movie is women characters, who is seen as brave and determine to do her job but could also show weakness sometimes depending on what kind of game the criminal plays with her.	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuX2MQeb8UM

Opening analysis: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPKhWXhiMSw

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, is a thriller movie based on spies and traitors, in the opening scenes I can see how the main aspect of these scenes which makes it interesting is the background music. This is mainly because the background music somehow creates an eerie and mysterious atmosphere especially when the classical song starts playing since the beginning. You can hear knocking and footstep sound, to make the audience feel as if something is going to happen. The old man has a typical voice of someone who narrates the story or someone important. Some dialogue and voice over is being said to tell the audience what is happening and is going to happen.

In the first scene, Rhythmic editing is used to make the scene have suspense aura. During this process: CU (knocking), over shoulder (opening door and talking), LS (Pan) shots are used to show cautiousness coming from the old man; when he first saw the man through the use of CU but as soon as he recognized who the man was he opened up a bit and LS was used to show this. LS is also used to show the setting, in this case the room of the old man which is filled with papers and books, this suggests us how the old man is very intelligent. After that, an extreme LS is used to show the scenery of the place, which zooms out. In these scene the old man acts as a narrator to give us some idea about what the movies is based on. There were a lot of Medium shots and LS which was taken from a low angle really quickly with the background music to make the audience something will be happening and maybe the character is in some sort of danger. After the man was shot, there are some scene where the people in the background did nothing or just walked away casually making us believe that these kind of things happens quite often. The women from the balcony is shown again from a low angle, making us believe that she could be someone which power or maybe she will be appearing again later in the movie as she could be playing an important character for the protagonist. Most transitions had shot reverse shot and the timing was quite fast when the background music was building up to make the audience feel nervous and excited at the same time.

Throughout most scenes, the lighting was quite dark to make the atmosphere serious. The scenes included props such as ancient-expensive looking wooden furniture, stacks of books/papers, lamps, tables, chairs and many more. By using these props it is able to show the audience where the place is and if it is an important place or not. The customs are appropriate for the characters as it reflects on their personality and what job they do.         

Movie analysis: The Dark Night Rises

The Dark Night Rises:      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GokKUqLcvD8

After watching this thriller based movie, I found out how the director uses certain elements in the movie to make the audience feel suspense and excited as the same time. The codes and conventions in this movie as very clear: Bane’s character has a very deep voice making the audience believe he is a man who holds a lot of power. Not only that, Bruce also seems to have a very deep voice once he wears his batman costume making the audience confuses; within these two character who actually overpowers whom. Christopher Nolan has used plenty more codes and conventions within this movie which also includes the customs and masks of the protagonist and the antagonist, which clearly states how these two characters are the main ones in the movie. Not forgetting, Catwoman who also has a costume, making us believe that she is the main actress in the movie and her role is a helper of the protagonist.

The setting of the movie also contributes to the atmosphere, which the director wants to create. In this movie, Nolan has included a lot of scenes which were shot in a dark settings such as the back ally way or inside the prison where there was minimum light being exposed in the room.  This created almost an eerie like atmosphere and made the audience feel entertained and excited to see what would happen next in that scene. As I stated how the scenes were shot in dark settings, the lighting would have been very dark which also contributes to the atmosphere by make to look frightening and mysterious in some scenes.     

Nolan has used the typical structure of the movie, which was introduced by Todorov (Todorov Narrative Theory). In the first scenes you could see how the scene was Equilibrium as everything was fine and no destruction was shown. However, as time went on the Equilibrium was disrupted by the antagonist, Bane. From then on everything started falling apart till the protagonist; Bruce decided to do something about this matter. As you can guess after Bruce solves the problem everyone lives happily ever after as new Equilibrium was created.    

To be honest, the movie was good but I was able to predict what would happen next. Maybe this was because of the fact how everyone knows about the story of Batman. However, there were some parts even I wasn’t able to guess what would happen. Overall, I liked how Nolan used his setting, lighting, props, costumes and mostly his choice of actors to bring out all the emotions which the audience were meant to be feeling when watching the movie.  

In my opining, I think that this movie is quite similar to our movie as Bruce had a bad past and so does our protagonist, but every time they have someone next to them to support them. For Bruce it was his butler, Alfred or even Catwoman when he is faced with problems and for our protagonist it is the psychiatrist, Nathan and sometimes his step-mother, Eve who gives him hope and happiness. Nevertheless, there are a lot of differences between Nolan’s ‘The Dark Night Rises’ and our ‘The Nightmare’ as the two protagonists are from different class and the protagonist, Bruce didn’t get physically abused in his past.  

Production and distribution companies

DreamWorks:

DreamWorks was first established in 1994 by Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen.  This company has multinational deal with The Walt Disney Studio and its most important shareholders includes of Walt Disney, Reliance Entertainment, Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. DreamWork has released some popular movies/animation such as Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, Saving Private Ryan, Transformers, The Ring, War Horse and many more.

Paramount Picture:

Paramount Picture was first originated in 1912 by Adolph Zukor, Viacom and William Wadsworth Hodkinson in the U.S. Paramount Picture’s studio which is located in Hollywood is one of the longest used studios that are still in use. In 1927 Paramount Picture won its first award in ‘Academy Award for Best Picture’. Paramount Picture’s parent company include of ‘Viacom’ and ‘Famous Players-Lasky’.  Some of Paramount’s popular movies include of Titanic, Star Trek, Jackass: the movie, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Iron man, Mission: Impossible, Thor and many more.   

Dimension film:

Dimension Film was first established in 1993, its founder is Bob Weinstein who is also founders of The Weinstein Company, Miramax and Weinstein Books. Dimension Film operates in New York City, U.S. Its most popular movies include of Scream, Spy Kids, Scary movie, Sin city, Halloween and others.  

Thriller Genre

 What are the main elements in a Thriller movie?

• Suspense
• Tension
• Excitement
• Exhilaration

In a Thriller move what aspect can determine if it includes suspense?

• Unpredictable moments/events
• Builds to make end moments memorable
• Making the audience feel as if they are on the edge of their seat 

Story and Settings:  

• ·   Fights or chase scenes
• ·   A problem- an escape/ mission/ mystery

What are the main characteristics?

• Action scenes
• Protagonist and Antagonist
• Protagonist seeking justice at the end 

Theme and characters:

• Criminals, stalkers, assassins, agents, terrorists, cops, couples
• Revenge, kidnappings, captivities
• Romance, Comedy, Horror, Gore, Action

What does thriller movie do to the audience, which makes them interested throughout the whole movie? 

•     Terror
•     Suspense
•     Uncertainty
•     High level of anticipation
•     Anxiety