Music In Thrillers

Thriller is a genre of literature, film, video gaming and television that uses suspense, tension, and excitement as the main elements. The best examples of thrillers are the films of Alfred Hitchcock. Sub-genres include crime thrillers, mystery thrillers, paranoid thrillers, psychological thrillers, and horror thrillers.

I am now analysing 4 different titles sequences' music throughout them and comparing them to one another. With this I am seeing if there is a trend in the type of audio used in Thrillers or if there is a variety. My aim is to find out as much about the sound in thrillers by analysing these following four movie title sequences: Inception, Shutter Island, Seven & Limitless; and from this hoping to gain knowledge in what is typical music of a thriller which my group and I can therefore go on to use when creating our own for our title sequence.

Inception:
loud dramatic symphonies
building up
repetition
loud dramatic build up fades out to loud waves
ambient sound of waves
sound of children in distance
ambient calm tide coming in
eery sound developing
calm eery beat with calm tide
loud shriek/scream of a child in the middle of peace
sudden noise



Shutter Island:
long orchestra sounds
sharp sounds
deep loud sudden sounds
loud to quiet
repetition
build up
deep horrific trumpets and symbols
small sharp blips
replica siren sound



Seven:
lightning and thunder like sounds
static sounds
repetition
computer generated sounds
robotic
sci-fi sounds-space
sudden sharp sounds
radio tuning
strange sci-fi/space fake eery music
constant beat
music layering
fast beat
non-digetic narrative or speech
quiet end



Limitless:
silence
loud bangs
sudden sound
quiet ticking clock in background building up
banging getting slightly faster
quiet speech in background begins
louder bang and narrative starts
mellow melancholy quiet noise
faster banging and mechanical drills
digital sounds
non digetic up-beat music
quiet low sounds
parallel foley sounds of police cars
parallel sound and gun shots

(I couldn't find the opening scene or sequence on youtube or the internet so I instead watched it using my DVD that I have because I've already seen and have the film)

When looking at all four of these opening sequences collectively we can see there are a lot of commonly used aspects of music in the thriller genre. For example I can happily say that repetitive deep melancholy downbeat music is used a lot. As well as the use of it being quiet or silent. Furthermore there is a high use of ambient, foley, parallel and non-digetic sounds. This brings me on to the narration or  voice over of the main protagonist which we only hear in one of the four examples; however from personal experience I know that this is in fact used commonly within thrillers. This loud, deep, mellow sounds are repeated through the thrillers as seen in the four examples, along with the build up of the sound level rising. This is to reflect the tension in how it is rising and coming to a climax, therefore raising audience suspicion, tension, anxiety and mystery.

Typography In Thrillers

Inception:
The typography used is set in a bold, san-serif font, and is red. This makes the title stand out from the background images. The text has a large font size adding to the clearness and boldness of the title. The colour red is associated with anger, blood and danger which connotes that this thriller film involves action. The colour red can also connote love and desire in this thriller. 

Shutter Island:

The typography used is set in a bold, san-serif font, and is red. The style of the fonts looks like the text has been blurred. This connotes that the film involves hidden identities or actions that should not be scene.  The large font size and the colour of the text makes the title stand out from the background images. The text has a large font size adding to the clearness and boldness of the title. The colour red is associated with anger, blood and danger which connotes that this thriller film involves action and murder.

Black Swan:

The typography used is a serif style of font. This symbolises the elegant aspect of this film, as serif font styles are commonly associated with females. This connotes that the target audience for this film is woman. The font size is large to make it clear and bold to read. The black text colour links to the title of the thriller and connotes a dark or evil sense to the film.

Casino Royale:

The typography used is a san-serif font with a blurred ultra blue effect. This connotes a hidden identity or criminal offences, that should not be seen, involved in this thriller film. The blurred effect connotes speed and pace to the film, suggesting this film involves action.

Taken:

The typography used is a san-serif font to connotes masculinity. This suggest this film involves action and violence. The white text colour with the large font size and all the letters in capitals, makes the tile bold and stands out from the background. 

Se7en:

The typography used is a san-serif style of font which makes the title bold. The white text with the large font size an the text in capital letters, adds to the clearness and boldness of the text from the background images. The font also has a blurred effect. This may connote crime and hidden identity as blurred images are commonly associated with things that should not be shown.
The number '7' replacing the 'v' in the typography links to the title of the film and makes the title unique and creative. 

Identity:

The typography used is a serif style of font with a black to red colour fade/gradient. The colours red and black connote: anger, blood, danger and darkness within this thriller film. The colours also link to the images shown above. The large font size make the title clear to read and bold and outstanding from the white background.

By reading through this research a member of my group has done I have now learnt the regular themes throughout the typography used within thrillers. As well as this I realise that it may differ depending on a certain sub-genre or the time the film is set or made in. I can see that san-serif font is confidently used a lot which tells me they might do this to create a bold and more masculine appearance rather than with the feminine look with serif fonts commonly used in comedies and romance.

Analysis of Thrillers

Psycho - 1960 - mystery/horror/thriller:

The first thing we see is the company the film is representing which in this case is "Paramount Release"  which can interest the audience as it was not seen to present a thriller. In the background we can hear upbeat music which creates tension for the audience. Hitchcock is the first name to appear on the screen which suggests he is the most important. The name of the film then moves across the screen which creates tension


Seven - 1995 - crime/psychological/mystery/thriller:

"New line cinema" is the first thing we see as it is the company the film is representing which is typically how all films open with. We then see someone opening a book which is unusual in a thriller as a lot of fantasy or childrens films have the opening of a book. However, the book used is unlike a fairy tail book as it is empty as in has no words or pictures. This could give the effect of making it look suspicious to the audience and therefore reinforcing the fact they are about to watch a thriller. The music playing in the background is very tense and eerie. On top of the music we can hear digetic sound of the pages of the book being turned which suggests it is significant to the story. The music contrasts the book as it is intense yet the book seems quite boring as there is nothing in it yet at the same time quite the book and the musics contrast could be quite intriguing. The typography used for the names of actors and crew is filmic and looks like un-neat handwriting which gives it a creepy feel. We then see a drawing of a pair of deformed hands which again could make the audience suspicious of why they have been drawn, and who ever drew the hands are clearly artistic and detailed. A shadow then moves across the scene and we hear a door creaking as the light moves over the drawing it brings the focus onto it. Jump shot is used as we see different images of unusual tools which suggests the character is planning to make something. 'Brad Pitt' name is parted and flashes to bring focus and attention on the actors name for audience recognition and interest. There is then a split second scene where we can see writing on a wall which says "D-35" which might give the audience clues if it is relevant later on in the film. The last thing we see is someone scraping their skin off their fingers which makes the audience uncomfortable and wonder why someone would want to do that and what must of happened to make them do it.



Limitless - 2011 - mystery/sci-fi/thriller:

The music played throughout the opening is quite upbeat and new which reinforces the fact it is a modern type of thriller. We see images of planets and stars when showing which company is representing the film which in this case is "Relativity Media", this denotes the film is going to be a science fiction thriller. There is then a close up shot of a crystal ball which gives the idea of looking into the future - again a sic-fi feel. the first name to come up is Bradley Cooper, this is shown in the bottom right corner where actors names are typically shown in openings of films. the typography used is white, bold, capitals which stand out from the background and makes the audience focus on the name. Unlike most of the thrillers I have previously looked at, the main colour used is blue which gives a mysterious feel to it. It also suggests the film is not going to be dark or scary. We then see the crystal ball moves across the screen at the same time revealing an actresses name. This could connote mystery and hidden meanings within the film. Jump shots between names of crew and actors creates tension and excitement. Producers and crew names are only shown for a few moments which is less than actors as to show importance for the audience. The name Neil Burger is shown at the beginning and the end of everyone elses names to show how important he was i the production of the film. The music fades out and the screen goes black to confuse the audience as this would normally happen at the end of a film. We then hear bangs in the background which reinforces the mystery and tension. The screen then lights up and and we see a metal door shaking. This intrigues the audience as they now want to know who of what is behind it which makes it thrilling.

(We couldn't find the opening scene or sequence on youtube or the internet so we instead watched it using my DVD that we have because we've already seen and have the film)

Casino Royale - 2006 - action/crime/thriller:

The first thing seen in the title opening sequence of Casino Royale is the main character (James Bond) suddenly turning and shoots the at the camera. then blood from the top of the camera starts to pour down. This creates tension as the audience feel that they have been shot by this character, which connotes that this film involves action. The gun fire from the pistol shot triggers the music to the title sequence. The music creates tension and excitement as it is includes an orchestra including: trumpets, symbols, an electric guitar and loud, heavy drumming, which builds drama and a thrilling tone. The first text seen in this title sequence is "Albert R. Broccoli's EON Productions LTD. presents".This is the production line that made the film and connotes that this is the most important information as it appears first on the screen. .It can also connotes that the audience maybe familiar with this production line from other films and therefore know they are watching a good film.The font is in a san-serif style, with capital letters and a white text colour. This makes the text clear and bold. The blood then merges into the background of the screen and images of hearts, spades, diamonds and clubs appear, suggesting this film is about gambling. During the images is the name of the actor that plays the main character of James bond (Daniel Craig). The music then fades as the title of the film appears on screen. This builds tension and excitement and connotes that this is the most important information of the title sequence. The music suddenly begins again with the electric guitar and images of a silhouette of the main character sitting on a pattern, related to casinos and gambling. The names of the actions then start to appear on screen in white colored text and capital letters. This helps to make the name bold and clear. More images of the silhouette of James bond appear loading his weapon with imagery related to gambling and cards, not bullets. More imagery related to gambling and casinos appear with weapons firing card types not bullets. The music becomes fast and has a higher tempo which creates a exciting and thrilling tone to the sequence. Along with the music is multiple scenes of James Bonds and a bad guys silhouettes fighting and James bond winning which shows he is the antagonist, the hero in this film. This connotes action and violence in this film. More names appear on screen such as the producers, costumes and make-up, casting directors, editors and all people who made this film, names. Images of targets appear on screen which when the bad guy fall on, reveals a roulette wheel, linking to the subject and title of the film. the bad guys are being killed with cars types such as: diamonds, clubs hearts and spades. Which connotes killing and action takes place during the time in casinos. Patterns and cards form the background for the title sequences all relating to the subject of casinos. The card, seven of hearts is the main  focus of the screen and bullet holes have shot the card to form the famous letters of '007'. The card is the seven of hearts, which connotes love in this film as well as action. The silhouette of James Bond appears and starts walking toward the camera. The face of the silhouette slowly fades away revealing the face of Daniel Craig who plays James Bond in this film. This build tension as it is the first time we see the face of the main character. Along with this image is the name of the director. The single piece of text connotes that the name is important and makes the text bold and clear. Suddenly the face becomes black and in-sync with the music. This connotes the character has an hidden identity as a spy.



Taken - 2008 - crime/action/thriller:

The first thing we see in the title opening sequence of Taken is a party hat saying happy birthday. The scene is shot using a hand held camera. This connotes that this is a family or home video. As the scene cuts to a young girl with her mother opening presents, music starts to play. The music is from a piano and is calm and peaceful. The first piece of text we see is the production who made the film. The font is in a san-serif style, with capital letters and a white text colour. This makes the text clear and bold. We then hear laughter as the young girl opens her present to reveal a horse and smiles in joy. More text of information appears on screen. The music becomes more tense and thrilling as the next scene reveals the young girls cake being handed to her on the table. The camera zooms on the top of the cake and the number 5 placed on top. The camera is fluttery and creates a thrilling tone along with the quite music in the background. We see the small, young girl blow out the candle of her cake which then reveals the next scene of the main character sitting, asleep at home in darkness. This connotes that this character was watching the home film on his television. The character wakes up and text appears on the screen. The text is a name, which suggests that its is the actor that plays the main character in this film (Liam Neeson). By this scene the music has stopped and we only hear diegetic sound. The next scene shows the audience the character sitting at home, turning on the light and holding a picture. We see that the setting in which the character is placed is basic. We see Chinese takeaway boxes left on the table which connotes that this character is unhealthy and maybe poor. We see more text appear with the names of the writers of the film. During this scene is the character picking up and holding a piece of paper with the word 'karaoke' printed on. He gets up and takes the piece of paper. As the character passes the camera reveals the picture frame which the character was holding. The picture is of a girl on a horse. This connotes it is the young girl grown up and connotes that she is his daughter. This gives the audience a sense of realisation in the film as they figure this out. During the shot of the picture frame is the title of the film in bold text. This is the end of the title sequence as the scene changes to an outside setting, and continues with the story.



Evaluation:
From all this analysis the rest of my group has done it now gives me an insight into the thriller genre and their title sequences as now I can read through this analysis of the title sequences and realise the key codes and conventions as well as the aspects we need to incorporate in our own title sequence for a thriller. Furthermore this analysis allows me to compare them with each other and see how the codes and conventions differ and see whether this is because they are different types of thrillers or directors style. This is because I have realised all films are shot in different ways and made in different ways depending on a lot of things, including: directors style, target audience, genre, age restriction and many more reasons. So this analysis allows me to ask myself this question and think about why something has been done in a certain way. e.g why has this sound been used here and then not here? etc.

Age Resctrictions

What Is the Difference Between a 15 and 18 Rated Certificate?

In films there are different age certificates due to the content in films and what the BBFC deem acceptable for certain age groups within Britain. This is due to certain scenes and footage within films like language, violence and the content of the films. This is then analysed by the BBFC and other age rating companies in other countries to decide whether a film is a 15 or 18 etc. They do this to stop certain age groups seeing content that is too explicit for their age. For example if you are 14 and trying to see a 15 film, you wont be able to as you will need to have ID to prove you are 15 to buy/rent or watch the film anywhere. This therefore applies to the other age groups.

A 18 Certificate contains:

• very strong violence
• frequent strong language and very strong language
• strong portrayals of sexual activity
• strong verbal references to sex
• strong horror
• strong blood or gore
• real sex (in some circumstances)
• discriminatory language or behaviour (e.g racism or homophobic)
• drug taking.

A 15 certificate contains:

• strong violence
• frequent strong language
• portrayals of sexual activity
• strong verbal references to sex
• sexual nudity
• brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references
• discriminatory language or behaviour (e.g racism or homophobic)
• drug taking

This research that I have have used from a member of my group is very useful to our overall research as it allows us to understand the boundaries in the film industry and see what we can use in our clip if we want it to be either a 15 or 18 rated clip. As well as this it gives us an insight into the audience and how censorship works, additionally what audience we should target depending on our chosen age certificate. From this research I learnt this and learnt the different aspects of these classifications.

Furthermore, after this I went on to then look into each of the categories within the age certificates to see what they were defined as and examples of them were:

Nudity:

Nudity in the form of sexual content can be shown but not in thorough detail with only the basic appearance of it and to certain audiences, as well as this nudity can be shown regularly as long as it shown in a plain ordinary manner and not presented in a sexual way.

Drugs:

Showing drugs in films are acceptable, however it is how they are presented that is what makes it wrong and right. It can only be shown if they are shown in a bad way, showing them being misused and not advertising them and persuading audiences.

Horror:

Horror is allowed to be shown to a certain extent, e.g you can't show someone committing suicide as people can get ideas and think it is acceptable and certain scenes cannot be shown in detail as it is too explicit.

Discrimination: 

Meaning the media cannot endorse discrimination in the form of language, behaviour, what is displayed or portrayed. For example discrimination such as disability, race, age, sex etc.

Sex:

Sexual scenes are allowed without detail, although they should not be aimed to arouse or pleasure the audience but just for the story etc.

Violence:

Violence is allowed in case and can be strong violence as well as sexual violence in some examples. however gory violence or overly dramatic probably will not be.

Language:

Strong language is allowed and most language is allowed in film throughout, however if it repeated to become an item or a phrase that is easily absorbed by the audience then it isn't.

Thriller Genre Research

My Research Into the Thriller Genre, Hybrids, Sub-Genres and the Evolution

Thriller Genre:

The thriller genre is the type of films that use intense excitement, suspense, high level of anticipation, anxiety and tension. Thriller and suspense films are literally the same types of films with the same features and categorizations as each other.

The aim of a thriller film is to leave the audience constantly on the edge of their seat in suspense and anxiety with cliff hanging experiences as the plot builds up to a climax. Tension usually arises when the main character is dealing with a mysterious situation from which either he could be in trouble or escaping on some dangerous mission that seems impossible or shocking. When their life itself is threatened and they are in the unknown or not expecting something when in or potentially involved a dangerous situation or atmosphere. Thrillers usually involve characters that come into conflict with each other or with outside force.

Thrillers are often sub-genres of the genre ‘thriller’ as there are so many varieties that also fit into other genres. For example:

• action-thrillers (Kill Bill - 2003)
• sci-fi-thrillers (Donnie Darko - 2001)
• psycho-thrillers (se7en - 1995)
• romantic-thrillers (Live Flesh - 1997)
• political-thrillers (Malcolm X - 1992)
• psychological-thrillers (Requiem for a Dream - 2000)

Horrors are commonly closely related to thrillers. As the horror genre are designed in the same type of way - to provide the audience with intense suspension or tension, however horrors take their audiences through agony and fear. Suspense-thrillers come in many different ways: there are murder mysteries, chase thrillers, women-in-danger films, courtroom and atmospheric, plot-twisting psychodramas. Thrillers tend to stay away from crime, gangster and detective related plots and rather focus more on the suspense and thrill of the film.

Thrillers include such characters as convicts, criminals, stalkers, assassin, innocent victims, characters with dark pasts, psychotic individuals, terrorists, cops and more. The themes of thrillers frequently include conflict, terrorism, conspiracy, pursuit, or romantic triangles leading to murder or danger.

The reason there are so many different sub-genres of thriller is because within one thriller there may be other aspects of say a romance, horror, sci-fi or any others. This may be because of different directors intentions or their target audiences; furthermore even down to the evolution of genre or thrillers to be exact in which films are now being changed to set to the current time in which they are made or evolving to the new likes and dislikes of the mass.

Evolution:

The first thriller was made in the 1920’s with a film called ‘The Lodger’ by Alfred Hitchcock which was made in Britain. This therefore brought a new type of film to the world. HItchcock took influences from German expressionist techniques as well as murders by “Jack the Ripper”.

Thrillers then in the 1940’s changed when director George Cukor in 1944 created a psychological thriller called ‘Gaslight’ which gave insight into the different sub-genres within the thriller genre itself. This film was about a scheming husband planning on making her wife go insane to gain the inheritance. Then in 1946 Robert Siodmak directed the film ‘The Spiral Staircase’, which was also a psychological thriller about a serial killer murdering disabled-young women in the local community.

In the 1950’s Hitchcock went on to adding Technicolour to his films, which led to the classic film ‘Strangers on a Train’ in 1951, where two passengers join in a battle of wits and exchanged murders with one another.

Cape Fear was then made in 1962 by director J.Lee Thompson which is a psychological thriller about an ex con seeking revenge on his attorney who holds responsible for his convictions. However this film had aspects of crime too which made it a crime-thriller and therefore emphasised the use in sub-genres within the thriller genre.

The 1970’s of film were very different as Hitchcock hadn’t released anything for 2 decades. where he released the violent film ‘Frenzy’ which came about when films were now containing R rated scenes with viscous and explicit footage which Hitchcock therefore used in ‘Frenzy’.

In the 1980’s  Stanley Kubrick directed the film The Shining made in 1980 which was a psychological thriller as well as a horror, mystery and drama. This therefore emphasises the mix of genres and how thrillers evolved over time due to the change of other genres and audiences enjoying psychological films. The Shining is about a family going to an isolated hotel where the father gets influenced by a spiritual presence, while his psychic son sees horrific and violent memories of the past and future. This film can be debatebly a horror or a thriller.

The main theme throughout the thriller genre in the 1990’s was the psychological kind, of mental themes and character’s escape. For example Rob Reiner’s ‘Misery’ based on the book by Stephen King in which the character Annie whom is a unbalanced fan, terrorizes an immobile author, where in one scene she actually breaks his ankles. This shows just how much the thriller genre had evolved by then as before it would be too horrific for a thriller to even show such scenes let alone any movie.

In modern day thrillers compared to earlier thrillers tend to divert from the traditions of a classic thriller towards the more horrific and gorey themes. This is because the mass audience have become so desensitized to the classic thriller scenes that they find it boring and therefore need something else to keep them intrigued and ‘on the edge of their seats’ with anticipation like thrillers should do. This is why thrillers and any other genres evolve as they need new aspects and ways of keeping their audience’s happy. Therefore this is why the thriller genre has evolved the way it has and how I have said turning from the classic thriller through psychological to a more horrific theme where it seems to be argued to cross over in cases.