Controlled analysis

Imdb user review
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, or as it is originally titled Men Who Hate Women, is one of the best contemporary thrillers I have seen in a while. It combines a suspenseful plot and brutal violence with a deep exploration of its title character. It goes beyond its plot, revolving around a missing persons investigation, to become an at times disturbing character study. Michael Nyqvist and Noomi Rapace are essential to the film's success. Both actors inhabit their roles convincingly, making us care about people who could have been stock characters. Although the bulk of praise has gone to Rapace, Nyqvist's performance is also worth attention. As Blomkvist, he provides a stable counterpart to Rapace's impulsive Lisabeth Salander, at times coming across as the more sympathetic character.Much has been made of the level of graphic violence, particularly sexual violence, in this film. Although this may be off-putting to some viewers, it helps establish one of the film's most important themes: the impact of violence on its victims and its capacity to warp the human personality. The most graphic scenes, which come early in the film, help establish this theme, and play an important role in characterization as well.Hopefully, this film will be remembered at Oscar time. It is far better than most of the dreck that Hollywood has on offer. "

I agree with the aspect of the user rating I have highlighted in yellow, although it may be off-putting to some viewers I feel that the violence and graphic scenes actually develop the character of Lisbeth, not only does it allow the audience to sympathise with her but when she gets her revenge it strengthens her character and allows the film to further challenge the genre by having such a strong female character.
The Guardian film review
"Originally (and pertinently) entitled Men Who Hate Women, this first story has now been adapted for the screen and finds its way to the UK having already become a European box office smash; the other two have also been filmed and their release here will presumably depend on how this is received. For what it's worth, I predict healthy returns. It is a forensic procedural with explicit violence, sex, sexual violence, violent sex and crime-scene photos of the sort that were once never shown, then just glimpsed and now blandly lingered over in every detail.
Michael Nyqvist plays Michael Blomkvist, a reporter facing an unjust prison sentence for criminal libel. Before his jail term starts, he is hired by a wealthy industrialist to solve the mystery of a niece who disappeared 40 years before, and who, poignantly, once babysat Blomkvist as a boy. He uncovers a string of hate crimes, and teams up with a super-sexy badass computer hacker with emotional issues called Lisbeth (Noomi Rapace), the eponymous tattooed girl. This film is probably too long, and it's only after the first hour that the narrative engines are properly revved, but director Niels Arden Oplev really socks it over. A must for the existing fanbase: others might have preferred it in two or three TV episodes."

Analysis of thriller aspects within Shutter Island (2010, Martin Scorsese)- unfinished

Shutter Island is a 2010 film set in 1954 America. The main character Marshal Teddy Daniels investigates the disappearance of a murderess who escaped from hospital for the criminally insane on "shutter Island" and is supposedly hiding nearby. According to IMDB it is classed a Drama, Mystery Thriller and I shall be exploring these thriller aspects within this analysis.

Scorsese instantly sets the genre through use of the location and the island's possession of thriller generics. The film begins with a small boat moving towards the island, the main character is vomited and the camera is unsteady to mimic the violent waves and to make the audience feel uncomfortable and to heighten the tension within the film from the beginning. Various types of extreme angles are used to begin with connoting absurdity and surrealism essentially foreshadowing the ambiguous events that go on at the Island. The still shot to the right is a long establishing shot of the Island. The Island is a generic location as is incredibly isolated as nothing surrounds it but violent waters. Water plays a great role in the film and could be seen as a way of separating Teddy psychically and mentally from the real world. The sea prevents him from leaving the island as seen in the still (top right) and in the still (bottom right) the rain distorts Teddy views creating a strong sense of surrealism and making Teddy vulnerable.

Analysis of thriller conventions within Psycho

Psycho is a Alfred Hitchcock thriller film made in 1960 starring Anthony Perkins and Vera miles. It is the story about a young female named Marion steals $40,000, she leaves town and encounters a motel proprietor named Norman Bates who seems dominated by his mother.  

User comment taken from IMDB

"When Psycho came out, the horror industry of movies was merely monsters, zombies, werewolves, and vampires. So when Psycho hit screens, the audience was finally introduced to psychological thrillers. It hit with such a huge bang that the audience was shocked...with fear and suspense. Psycho created what the thriller genre is today. It sliced through clique monster movies and changed it forever. Still today when you look at Norman Bates and his extremely freaky look when you see him watching the inspector's car sinking into the swamp sends chills down my spine. And when Marion Crane met her bloody demise in the middle of the movie, Hitchcock proved to everyone that this movie is different, different from every other movie you have ever seen. The cinematography in this movie is fabulous, the music is marvelously freaky, the acting is magnificent, the story is exceptional, and everything else about the movie is great. Too bad the sequels and the new remake was complete trash."

Generalised thriller conventions in Psycho;

• Claustrophobic locations
• Use of Femme Fatale
• Use of Ambiguous characters
• Use of murder (though not specific to the genre)

One of the first signifies of the thriller genre in this scene is through the sound, at the start this point we hear non-diegetic music which creates a melachonic atmosphere, building sympathy within the audience towards Marion as she is pictured alone sitting in an hotel room doing calculations and writing down figures, she looks at them and sighs, then tears them up. The room she is sitting in is unglamourous, dark and shadowed; which mirror her villainous character. Perhaps her ripping up the calculations was done purposefully by Hitchcock as metaphor or foreshadow of what will later occur to her as she conforms to her classic femme fatale role -deviant woman who is later tamed or eliminated.

    Marion then enters the bathroom and takes the paper and flushes it down the toilet, implying that Marion is "flushing away" her hopes of survival away. As visible in the still to the left Marion closes the door and essentially confines herself creating a claustrophobic environment and building suspense. She then continues by taking off her dressing gown and reducing her clothing until completely naked. We see close ups of her feet as she climbs into the bathtub and violently draws the curtains closed, implying that she is blocking out the world, "washing away" the crimes she has committed and creating a sense self-security however, as seen in the still shot to the right, the audience sees she is not secure or safe and feel effects of dramatic irony. She is in a position of vulnerability as she naked, in a confined space with nowhere to escape. At this stage we hear only diegetic sound of her turning the shower; which creates realism allowing the audience to relate to Marion's unsuspecting attitude.

We see various close ups of Marions head in order to see her emotions, to allow the audience to relate and also close ups of the shower head. The point of view "worms eye view" shot to the left makes the water seem somewhat menacing and violent connoting danger, which makes the audience feel as though Marion is small, vulnerable and quite insignificant. 

The camera changes to a mid shot of the shower curtain, revealing a silhouette. The camera  remains stationary as the silhouette becomes closer to the curtain; the tension increases as the audience realise the figure has aggressive intent and also when questioning who the figure is. The use of black and white film is particularly effective at this stage as the silhouette would appear less sinister and mysterious if it didn't contrast with the whiteness of the shower curtain; the blackness of the silhouette also creates strong connotation to death and evil. As the figure draws back the curtain the shots are swift and last no longer than a few seconds which has been done perhaps to highlight the brutality of the stabbing. Each separate shot would shock -especially a 1960's audience, as the viciousness had perhaps not been seen before. The deigetic music heightens the tension within the scene as it is; loud, urgent and resembles screams.

      After the stabbings the camera slowly pans down tow the bottom of the bath that is now flowing with blood, shocking the audience as it displays the severity of his murder.

Misfits strangling scene inspiration

Misfits; Series 2 episode 1
Although Misfits isn't a thriller we could still use it as an influence for our thriller opening.
       In this specific scene they have used various close ups of the knotted hands, his face covered by the bag and his chest area to create a convincing "strangling". I thought we could perhaps use these ideas if its too hard to kill somebody with a plastic bag alone, we could consider the idea of the girls hands being tied together. Perhaps she could wake up, after having been knocked out, tied up in a room where she is then strangled. However this idea would make it difficult for us to include the thugs.
  



Analysis of the Third Man and Generic thriller conventions

The Third Man is a film directed by Carol Reed in 1949. The film won an Oscar, and won 2 of 4 nominations. It is the story about a man named Holly Martins who arrived in Vienna to visit his friend Harry Lime, who he finds has recently passed away in a car crash. Holly sets about to find out whether its true if Harry is dead. The predominant actors include Orson Welles, Joseph Cotton and Alida Valli.


User review taken from IMDB
"This is a rare film that is flawless in every respect. It combines great acting and memorable characters with a fascinating story, taking place in an interesting setting and adding a creative musical score. "The Third Man" is remembered for many things - for Orson Welles' wonderful performance in his appearances as Harry Lime, for its wonderfully appropriate musical score, and for its nicely conceived plot surprises. Adding to these is Joseph Cotten's fine portrayal of Holly Martins, which holds the rest of it together - it is his character who initiates most of the action, and also through whom we view everything and everyone else."



Professional review from The Guardian
"Watching it again, the theology of the piece is what emerged for me: the strange and sinful presumption of Harry Lime (Orson Welles) in faking his own death, the succession of betrayals in the lives of his friend Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) and tragically loyal girlfriend Anna (Alida Valli), and Lime's gloomy afterlife, a damned soul in Vienna's hellish sewers.... What redemption can there be for Harry Lime, the grotesque exploiter of sick children? Could Anna and Holly's own growing love for each other, a sadder and wiser love, constitute some kind of secular forgiveness? A great film."
  

The title sequence begins of a full screen shot of a cultural signifier- a Zither. A Zither is a musical instrument common in Austria, this has been done to instantly tell the audience where it is set. The audience are able to hear Non diegetic sound- "The Harry Lime theme"  which acts as a personification of Harry Limes character;  upbeat, cheeky and attractive. It also relates to the common phrase "pulling someones strings" implying that Harry Lime knows how to pull peoples strings.
       The film begins with various shots of war torn Vienna. At the time Vienna was divided into four parts and was governed by allied forces; France, America, Russia and Britain. We hear the Voice over of an anonymous British voice (the use of an anonymous narrator creates a sense of mystery) who mentions Vienna's old "Glamour and easy charm", this could even be considered as a reference to Harry Limes character. He goes on to further mention the thriving black market after the war, this implies that the narrator had some involvement within the black market creating an element of darkness and worry. We then see the sign

   We then see an image of destroyed Vienna, which shocks the audience and creates sympathy. A boat is on its side and sinking- much like the people of Vienna and Holly if he continues to seek Harry. This also implies that there was a lot of trouble in Vienna at the time and what was once a thriving proud capital city had "sunk". Also we see a dead body lying amongst rubble, and ice. The film setting refers strongly to the films theme of corruption which is a common theme in thrillers. 

     We are then introduced to one of the main characters Holly Martins. The audience see a low angle shot of a silhouetted stream train, the use of the train is highly generic in thrillers as it creates high amounts of tension and mystery as we wonder who is getting off the train and why they have come to the new uncertain place overall making the audience feel anxious for them as they are in a state of venerability. Holly Martins is introduced wearing a Generic style costume of a thriller character, he is wearing a long coat, trilby hat and he is carrying a briefcase. This shows his character as mysterious and important as his hat and coat cover him and allow him to hide himself and the briefcase is a typical reference of mystery as it acts as an enigma. We then see a long shot is taken of him walking through the streets of Vienna, we then see him walk underneath a ladder. This acts as an ironic poke at superstition and foreshadows that bad things will happen to him, which in a sense could be considered dramatic irony.  

He then enters a building, the audience see him walking up a generic stairways from a high angle shot making him look small. Non-ambient lighting has been used to created a long haunting shadow; this could represent another side to Holly however I personally think it represents Harry Limes character. Reed has used almost the same shot further on in the film when Harry is in the sewers, because we fully see his shadow at this stage I believe it foreshadows that he won't be able to escape. Stairways are a generic location as people are extremely vulnerable to falling. We then see a low angle shot as we see the Austrian man he is talking to, this shot has been used to make the Austrian seem important and powerful. He is speaking his native language and Reed has chosen to use no subtitles. This has been done to essentially create confusion for the audience, to make it seem like a nightmare and to see through Holly's eyes. 

Analysis of various shots and characters and what thriller conventions have been used;

Use of canted shot;

The canted/slant/tilt shot is used frequently in The Third Man and is popular with the thriller genre as it can be used to mirror a character; to create a sense of nightmare and surrealism and also to connote imbalance, instability and transition.

*distortion

Setting;The location of the sewer plays an enormous role in The Third Man, and presents obvious thriller conventions such as Noir lighting, Claustrophobic spaces and the feel of a labyrinth. The use of the sewer firstly has been used by Reed to show that the only place where you are free is below the surface and acts as a reference to Harry's characters. He chooses to run to a "safe" location as above ground is like a maze, however we later find out that underground is too. The choice of location implies Harry is considered "a rat".

Anna Schmit;
Anna Schmit is the Femme Fatale within The Third Man, as the audience later find out she is in love with Harry- the charming villain, and her deviance is presented when the audience are made aware that she keeps false papers. She is an incredibly mysterious character, firstly the audience sense her mysteriousness when she is present at Harry's first funeral. In this scene she is considered as highly inscrutable as she shows no emotion as she watches her lover be put to rest, the audience can not tell what she is feeling. Secondly the audience feel she is mysterious when she is established as an actress. This instantly suggests that she is able to act, lie and to "wear masks" when she needs to and when she is forced to. The audience also view Anna as inscrutable and enigmatic as she walks away from Holly creating a very unexpected, unromantic ending.

Possible locations for thriller opening

I took various different photos where I thought would be an interesting location for our thriller opening, for my intitial ideas.

 This is a high angle shot of a hallway in my house, because of the many possible routes you are able to see, including two doors it gives a slight feeling of being in a labyrinth.

 I asked my mum to pose for me, whilst I stayed in the same position. It created a quite generic shot, with the shadow and claustrophobia.

This is the same shot however it is taken from a low angle

This was an attempt at noir styled lighting however I feel it is too dark and it is difficult to establish what is what.

This is an almost birds eye view shot of my bathroom, I really like the use of light and how it would contrast with the characters dark personalities and the dark incidents

Concepts Board for thriller film

This is a really poor quality image (click on it to see the original size) of a concept board for another thriller idea I had. This specific idea would be a psychological thriller due to the use of character; in psychological thrillers characters are not reliant on physical strength, but are reliant on their mental abilties. Psychological thriller change the generic thriller formula to an extent of emphasizing the characters as much as the plot. Psychological thrillers create the suspense needed for it to be considered a thriller by playing games, munipulating others or trying to destroy others mental state.