Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred hitchcock is one of the most well known thriller film directors and is known as the master of suspense. becasue of the great suspense and tension in his films they are some of the most populer ever films. films such as north by north west and psycho. alfred hitchcock is said to have made films about his fears and tries to make the audience suffer as much as possible in temrs of anticipation and suspense.



Thats him :)




In his films he uses many different techniques that make his films so good. 

Macguffin  a macguffin is a plot device that motivates characters and advances the story with little relevance to the actual story line.

Enigma An enigma is a dilema or a task that needs to be solved or completed by the protagonist by the end of the film. This is a bit like a side story line.

Red herrings A red herring is the name given to a technique and device that is designed to avert the audience away from the truth or away from an item of significance making them more suprised when this problem or item does come up within the movie.
here are some posters from his movies

 

No Country For Old Men :)

No country for old men is a great example of a thriller and is in the sub genre of a crime thriller. from the first scene the darkness and mystery is set.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSyC45584jM

as you can see from the video link of the first scene a man being arrested instatly draws the audiences attention  to what has this man done. a short while after this a gas canister is shown this puts real suspense into the audiences mind wanting to know what the canister is for and how it relates to what is going to happen.

The scene in which the first kill occurs really makes the audience feel adrenelin and really sets the tone for the rest of the film. it is also the first moment that they get to see what the canister is actually for. the way that the killer is so calm in what he does really creates an image of sadism and enjoyment of what he does. the link below shows you the first kill.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xyvOCNCXdU

thriller codes and conventions

These five codes and conventions are a must for every thriller firstly :

Low key lighting which creates dark harsh shadows.

Cliff hanger :o to create the feeling of suspense and wonder.

antagonist and protagonist

back lighting

fast editing

What is a thriller :o

Thriller
Thrillers generally contain a Hero and a Villain. with these come   action scenes such as car chases and fights.  another common occurance in thrillers is the femme fatale which is basically a beautiful women who gets in the way of the hero and they are often trouble. Films that femme fatales are best known are in james bond films when they distract and may even try to kill the hero. A film that is in the thriller genre is a film that is full of suspense and tension to make the viewer 'thrilled' . Within the thriller genre there are few sub genres some examples of these are :
phychological  thrillers

inception

These types of thrillers often include elements that are made to , in a way , mess with the mind.  Sometimes the suspense comes from specific characters story lines  where they have to solve conflicts and dangerous situations  with their own minds.  this makes the viewer relate to experiences and plays and manipulates the mind to feel fear and tension.



 Action thrillers

Die hard

an action thriller film obviously contains wide ranges of action scenes. they are made to make the viewer feel adrenaline when a death defying stunt is made or when the hero is close to death. it makes you feel as though the character is you. This is a link to an action scene inm the film die hard 

Die Hard bomb in elevator scene

Crime thriller

 the godfather       

A crime thriller is  often a very suspenseful type of thriller with the viewer wanting to know whether a crime will fall through or not. it often focuses on the criminal as opposed to the policeman or the force trying to prevent the crime. again these of ten contain lots of action. the topics that are commonly found in action thrillers are robberies, murders, chases and shoot outs   

Welcome to my first blog for media studies. This is going to record my progress and research throughout this project which i am very much looking forward to.