Conventions of thrillers

Task 1

Thriller Openings

Similarities:

All these movies have the thriller genre in common. They all feature aspects of horror/thriller films such as jump scares, cliffhangers, build-up of tension and mystery. 

Malignant 

is the latest movie from the Conjuring Universe. The movie features a young woman, named Madison, “who is paralyzed by shocking visions of grisly murders, and her torment worsens as she discovers that these waking dreams are in fact terrifying real-time” 

Malignant’ s trailer is gruesome with it starting with the young woman’s paralysis of the murders happening before her eyes. The scenes happen relatively quickly with fast-paced editing and metric montages that gradually build tension through each shot onscreen. The trailer shows a video footage or  

Home video of Madison, before the tape whirs and shows another footage that seems as though something was missing and another footage of her creepily looking at the camera is shown (cut). 

The next scene cuts to a tape that’s been damaged/destroyed with the black lines showing up. The tape cuts off and the setting becomes eerily dark. A woman (presuming it’s Madison), is not shown after the shot tape cuts off and is then seen from behind, possibly stabbing the next victim. 

The following shots titled, “every kill, every victim, brings him closer, to you”, are fast-paced shots with quick editing that show the different victims being murdered through the girl’s eyes, before the murderer comes for her at the end. The murderer has been with her since her 9th birthday (inference from home video) and has stayed with her ever since but, she says he’s the devil and his name is Gabriel. 

The Guilty 

follows the story of a 911 call operator, Joe Baylor, who, amidst the Californian wildfires, is taking every call that comes through his line. Most calls are typical, with dispatch being en route or sending the required services over to their location, shortly before hanging up. However, one call completely changes his working, as he’s about to hang up on a woman who’s in imminent danger and pretends she’s talking to her daughter (who is the 911 operator, played by Jake Gyllenhaal). Joe realises her danger and quickly asks her yes or no questions so the person she’s captured by doesn’t question her. The questions eventually lead to Joe dispatching as many services the people in danger need, but everything changes when Joe goes in-depth to who exactly the caller is and he ends up finding more than he wanted to - criminal records, abandoned children, prison records, etc. 

Joe tries his best to help the family, but his efforts spin out of control with his violent actions after dispatch and other services aren’t complying with what he wants them to do.

The trailer uses diegetic sound of the callers and Joe, the 911 operator, with again, fast-paced editing that lead up to a gradual breaking point. Everything is from his point of view, and it all occurs in one setting and location, the building he’s in and the desk he’s in, and California. 

The titled shots show the credits and titles of , “there is more to than what meets the eye”, shown in red flickering lights, hence showing danger and violence, and quite possibly blood and its relation to death. 

The Conjuring: The devil made me do it 

is the 3rd movie from the Conjuring Universe. It follows the story of possession, terror, murder and unknown evil that shocked Ed and Lorraine Warren in real-life. 

The title of the movie literally states what the 3rd conjuring is, possession by the devil. The shots are conducted in a fast-paced overtonal montage, that gradually builds up tension, shot by shot. Most of the shots are shown in a dark room with scarce sight, therefore showing something is in the room, unbeknownst to the audience who it is. The shots have information written on them, in a newspaper style format, sort of showing how the events unfolded in sequence. The trailer gives a show and tell aspect rather than not telling, but the information given, isn’t overloaded or in-depth but rather small, brief clippings of what’s happening, so the audience can follow along. Most of the shots are wide shots in the beginning, before it cuts to a wide-to-close editing style, before the eventual long shot in the end. It gives the audience an understanding of the setting but it shows and tells the storyline. 

Oxygen

tells the story of a girl named, Liz, who’s running out of oxygen and time, in order to survive she must find a way to remember exactly who she is. The scene starts out with the setting, and how the woman is enclosed in this medical interface, with no idea who she is or why she’s here. Being trapped in a box-like structure, gives her limited time and oxygen available. The scenes show flashbacks of her life, as she’s trying to remember her life, by seeing clues on the box structure she’s inside. The first shots show wide-to-close editing, with long shots and wide shots to give the perspective of how she’s trapped, and close-up shots of her reaction. The shots are cut between 2 different storylines that are both happening at the same time and are heavily linked to each other. It first shows her, then a mouse in a maze, then cuts back to her, then back, the mouse in the maze. It shows how the maze is a trap, unless able to figure your way out, which contrasts with Liz, as she’s also trapped, unless she can find her way out. The next scenes show flashback scenarios with the edges of the screen blurred, to give the idea she’s remembering memories. The next shots show her in the box, looking at her achievements and memories and exactly who she was/is. An interesting shot is her in the box full of mice, with nowhere to go, it sort of suggests she’s an experiment/test subject for others. The overtonal montage, shows the different events of her life, in different sequences, before the last shot of her screaming, “help”, with red lights are shown. The red background signifies the danger and threat as she’s approaching critical oxygen levels, therefore showing her imminent danger at the moment. 

The scenes cuts back and forth from her flashbacks and memories, hence showing the different stories of her life. 

Similarities:

Malignant and Oxygen tell the story of a woman uncovering her life and the mysteries that life in-between. They both have to save themselves from danger and the terror they currently face, with the help of footage and home-videos (flashbacks and memories). 

Conjuring and The Guilty tells the story of investigators and operators who have to help others, but their help and efforts eventually lead to something bigger than they expected, and something completely out of their control. 

All movies cut in between shots and build up tension through mainly overtonal montage and quick paced editing (which is traditional for thriller films). All films use red lights to highlight/enhance the imminent danger and threat, each character faces. 2 of the movies (oxygen and malignant) cut to different stories/narratives, whereas the other 2 (conjuring and the guilty) follow the current character and their own narrative and the narrative of the people in danger (who need saving) 

Differences:

However, some are very different. For example, the guilty, is about 911 calls and how each minute of the call is someone’s life on hold, and the responder has to be the one to save them. It contrasts with the conjuring as it features 2 investigators coming to save the person who’s been possessed. But, undoubtedly, all of the movies don’t have many differences or barely any, as they both have similar features.