Cliff Hangers

Cliff hangers are a very common and engaging way of keeping the viewer interacted with the piece of film they are exposed to. cliff hangers are often used in weekly soaps like Eastenders and Coronation Street. without cliff hangers there shows will not be a successful as no tension will be present in keeping the viewer to continue watching the show. Cliff hangers are even used in books, when Great Expectations, by charles dickens was published, it was published in stages and to keep the reader engaged in the book cliff hangers were used. Cliff hangers are successful when there are sequels to a show or film. A cliff hanger was used in harry potter and the deathly hallows part 1, to build tension and suspense as to what would happen in the sequel to ensure there will still be viewers. cliff hangers allow the viewer to imagine a possibility of what may happen next without making it entirely obvious as to what may actually happen.

MacGuffin

In fiction, a MacGuffin is a plot device in the form of some goal, desired object, or other motivator that the protagonist (and sometimes the antagonist) is willing to do and sacrifice almost anything to pursue, often with little or no narrative explanation as to why it is considered so desirable. A MacGuffin, therefore, functions merely as a plot element that catches the viewers attention or drives the plot. In fact, the specific nature of the MacGuffin may be ambiguous, undefined, left open to interpretation or otherwise completely unimportant to the plot. Common examples are money, victory, survival, a source of power, a potential threat, a mysterious but highly desired item or object. The MacGuffin is common in film, especially thrillers. Usually the MacGuffin is the central focus of the film in the first act, and then declines in importance as the struggles and motivations of characters play out. It may come back into play at the climax of the story, but sometimes the MacGuffin is actually forgotten by the end of the story. 

North By North West

North by North West

A ‘innocent’ New York advertising executive is mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies, and is pursued across the country while he looks for a way to survive.

Directed by : Alfred Hitchcock

Thrillers are characterized by fast pacing, frequent action. resourceful heroes who must thwart the plans of more powerful and better equipped villains are common to 'north by north west'. A thriller is a villain driven plot, whereby he presents obstacles the hero must overcome. Hitchcock said thrillers allow the audience, "to put their toe in the cold water of fear to see what it's like". this is seen in north by north west when the is constant tension throughout in the quest to see what would happen to the protagonist.

north by north west overall is a very successful thriller, it constantly keeps one engaged and allows tension to be heavily felt throughout the film. the feeling of never ending suspense and commonly seen gun fights and the intellectual ways of over coming merely impossible situations allow the thriller to be as successful as it is.

Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE, 13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980, was an English film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, billed as England's best director, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood.


Alfred Hitchcock directed many films over the 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's. Alfred Hitchcock famously crafted north by north west, the birds and psycho. these of which, i have watched and generally analysed the structure of how it has been mastered in the thriller genre

Paranormal Activity

Hello again

Recently I watched paranormal activity 4. I noticed that to engage the viewer the film used no sound to build tension and a long range camera shot to scape the whole room allowing one to watch the protagonist of a scene while sub consciously watching to see what may happen next. Personally I found that the technique used was successful as I was constantly engaged and always scanning to see whether an object would move etc. this added a remarkable amount of tension. In contrast to the general filming technique they also used an unfamiliar way of shooting, they used a close up shot as though it were a webcam and through doing so the viewer sees what the protagonist doesn't, leaving suspense and tension as again the viewers eyes will scan the background for unusual movement abnormal to the norm. Finally I noticed that a hand held shot was used, POV, this made more tension as one cannot fully gasp what is presented in the scene as one cannot fully focus, this again builds tension as the speedy, unsteady camera makes the viewer wish that the camera would remain steady so that one can analyse what happens chronologically. Overall I believe that paranormal activity was a very successful piece film in terms of the arrangement of Mise en scene, screenplay, script and use of camera shots. Paranormal activity 4  is a successful horror and thriller and is a must see

Types of THRILLERS

 Hello again!
 Today I am exploring the multiple types of Thrillers as it will give light as to how i will shot and control the film, and as to whether which branch of a thriller i will explore upon.

The Different Types of Thrillers

Disaster Thrillers are a branch of thriller which the main conflict/problem tends to be caused by a natural or artificial disaster such as the en of the world, hurricanes etc. An example of film in this genre is 2012 and the Day after Tomorrow.

Legal Thrillers are a type of thriller where the hero conflicts and and confronts the enemy or criminal being inside or outside the legal system at which one may jeopardise the case and could result in the criminal walking free. An example of this is Se7en.

Supernatural Thrillers contain elements of the supernatural genre adding suspension, tension. usually there is either a supernatural being or a psychic or someone who has supernatural abilities. examples of films contained in this genre are Paranormal Activity.

Erotic Thriller is a type of thriller with strong aspects of erotic presences throughout the film, and has been available since the rise of home cinema, examples include; chloe, colour of night.

Crime Thrillers associated with legal thrillers tend to be either a successful crime or group of crimes or the failure of a group of crimes. Crimes can include burglaries, shootings, drug deals, examples are Scarface, silence of the lambs.