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Lesson 1
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Lesson One: The Tutor ;
Thriller movie Conventions: Opening: it seems that Ethan Campbell, a private tutor to rich and vapid teens, is the unwitting hero, hired by his friend Chris for a mysterious assignment for a lot of money requiring a week long live-in to start. Ethan’s girlfriend Annie is pregnant and they seem charming, happy, healthy and interested in the opportunity to make more money. Ethan takes photos to pass time.
A driver brings Ethan to a very rich area and is led through a huge estate to his charge, “Sir Jackson”.
Who is the student, Jackson? It is set up like he is going to be the villain. He is not forthcoming, seems highly intelligent, though odd, maybe “on the spectrum.” Other teens at the house taunt Ethan with sexual innuendos, but Ethan remains cool.
Jackson says he’s not allowed to talk about what father does; mother was sent away. Jackson knows way more about Ethan than he should like, he’s not married to Annie, Annie is pregnant, and isn’t Ethan worried about having a bastard child? Ethan, clearly disturbed, wants to stick to work.
Who is Jackson’s father? What happened to Jackson’s mom. A cousin, living in the house with some girls for the summer, hints that the mom wasn’t sent away. What happened??
Ethan is taunted with 5 grand which he takes while Jackson and the cousin seem to have won some bet. Ethan is left picking money up from the floor, says just when I thought I saw it all.
Jackson later shows up at Ethan’s room in pajamas and pretends to be sad, climbs on the sofa and puts his head on Ethan’s knee…says his father never liked him, and getting Ethan to reveal bad things about his own father and mother leaving him. Jackson pops up and leaves, ” You do listen, he says” not ever having been sad and Ethan is angry about getting played again.
Ethan wants to go home, the week is up, but Jackson invites him to a dinner with his dad but Ethan refuses. A man appears, Ethan assumes it is Jackson’s dad but this is not stated. Ethan says he won’t come to dinner, the man says it’s okay, offers to let Ethan take a large painting, they have so many… very odd. Then later Ethan tries to find Jackson through the huge again empty house and finds lots of photos of Ethan and Annie on Jackson’s computer. Though Appalled, Ethan gets back home.
Chris later calls Ethan and says he is invited to return for 3 x the money. A year’s work in a month! Ethan is duped into returning to the mansion rather than meeting in the city, but Jackson never shows up, instead calls and stalls and says ‘have some fruit’…Ethan eats fruit that is drugged and wakes up struggling to survive being thrown in a lake 7 hours later. It seems like Jackson is playing a deadly game, but why? Ethan hitches home to Annie soaking wet, having missed an important baby doctor appointment.
Annie does not believe Ethan’s story that Jackson would drug Ethan or throw him in the lake and alludes to “something that happened before.” Perhaps Ethan was unfaithful before? Maybe Ethan has a dark side after all?
Ethan and Annie meet friends for dinner, Ethan is drinking, clearly not a good drunk, and begins talking trash about his rich clients, says he feels like a whore etc etc unsavory comments puts everyone off and then Jackson appears at their table! Jackson says his father owns several buildings on this block and they weekend there in the city. Annie hates when Ethan drinks – we find out Ethan has this flaw, as well as how he feels about being a tutor, and it reminds Annie of Ethan’s father, which also is not a good thing.
Ethan then finds a lot of photos in his dark room of himself with girls, he is horrified, and there is a photo of Jackson he took. Were these photos taken while Ethan was drugged? or what?? Annie asks if Ethan got any good shots and Ethan says no.
Chris calls again but says Jackson is firing Ethan, is scared of Ethan, accuses him of being inappropriate with girls and there are photos. There are photos but… but… Chris then fires Ethan who now cannot get a job even as a busboy. Annie confronts Ethan: who is Rachel Platt? Here is a news story from years ago, she was murdered. Rachel is someone Ethan once knew, he downplays their “affair,” says she was not murdered, she committed suicide. Annie says “poor Jackson.” Ethan is befuddled by her taking Jackson’s side. Ethan’s past seems pretty murky and Annie knows a lot that is also surprising.
(At this point I thought Rachel must be Jackson’s mom, Ethan had an affair with her and this is revenge upon Ethan). Annie kicks Ethan out. Another flaw of Ethan besides drinking: he is violent, beating the steering wheel of his car “why won’t you just die?” Clearly Ethan is not the okay guy we thought. He seems as creepy as Jackson, just in a different way.
Escalation. Ethan and Jackson meet “accidently” and threaten one another, both accusing the other of having lost everything because of the other. Then Ethan is arrested. A video shows someone in a hoody beating up Jackson in an alley. It seems Ethan is set up again. Annie has compassion for Jackson, he’s been traumatized she says, he can’t help it that he came from money. Why is she so understanding about the things happening to Jackson?Why doesn’t she believe Ethan? What is in his past really? How does Annie know Jackson?
Escalation again… Ethan lurks outside the giant mansion, strange people are unpacking and going in. Ethan, like a lunatic, confronts them, but they don’t know any Jackson. Ethan accuses the owner’s wife as being one of the women in the photos, she waves at him, the man kicks Ethan off the property. Ethan is at the police station again. Rachel Platt was Jackson’s mother, and Ethan was questioned years ago when she died. Jackson’s father also died a few years ago so Ethan could not have met him at the mansion. Ethan is crying, told not to leave town. He says he just wants his life back.
Jackson calls Ethan, says to meet him or else the “charade” will continue, and says to meet him where “she” died. Ethan goes out to the mansion, the dock by the lake where Jackson is. Jackson confronts Ethan, he knew to come here where she died, so he killed her. Jackson is making his case despite Ethan’s protests. The cousin hits Ethan from behind. When Ethan wakes on the floor by a fireplace, Jackson further incriminates Ethan, reading from Rachel’s diary…she said Ethan was pathetic, would not let go and each point enrages Ethan more, and he goes from weeping to anger to admission!! In the ensuing struggle, the cousin is killed by Ethan who now hunts Jackson like a predator, the turn-around is complete, Ethan is a very bad guy, regardless of Jackson. He killed Rachel.
As Ethan closes in on a weeping and hiding Jackson in the boat house, Annie Shows up! She confronts Ethan who now is totally the insane killer, saying that they’ were good together but now she knows too much’. A shot is fired. Ethan falls and sinks in the water. (too easy??)
The serene lake, sirens, the detective watches police divers who are not finding the body. Annie is with Jackson. (Cripes, they look like they are related. I think they are). Why didn’t you tell me you thought he did it, Annie asks Jackson. I wanted to find out for myself, he says to Annie. They gaze out the window together.
Last scene…there is Ethan!!.. the monster that just won’t die and keeps coming back. Smiling kindly, he is talking his Tutor game to a new client, ‘it is all about connection’ he says, echoing the words he said at the beginning of the movie. His winning smile fades…creepy. The end
Twist: the Hero and Villain reverse roles. Misleads: friend of Annie’s tells her that she may be jumping to conclusions regarding Ethan and that she is obsessing about Rachel’s story on the internet. Mystery and Reveals about Jackson’s dead parents, and how the character of Ethan erodes (his dislike of the rich students, his drinking, his violence, his sordid past, his guilt), why is Annie so compassionate to Jackson? Suspense: Why is Ethan being stalked? What is going on in that big empty house, who are the people there? When Ethan begins stalking, will he kill Jackson and Annie? How the heck did he survive being shot in that lake? We will never know.
What did I learn: That I still talk too much about plot and need to be more succinct about the components of the thriller genre. There were no scenes that didn’t add to the story, also that not every detail needed to be explained, like were Annie and Jackson really related? or who were those girls with the cousin who was killed at the end. I need to learn when it is okay to Gestalt and necessary to explain. The music was in sinc with the action from light and amusing at the beginning, to eerie and foreboding and dramatic at the end.
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This reply was modified 1 year, 9 months ago by Leslie A Aguillard. Reason: trying to title the assignment correctly
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This reply was modified 1 year, 9 months ago by
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“Knock at the Cabin” – M. Night Shyamalan
When strangers appear at the family’s cabin, the family is presented with an impossible choice. And in true M. Night Shyamalan fashion, it is a slow-burn thriller with setups and reveals as we move along.
Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: Eric
Dangerous Villan: this one is not clear in the movie – Leonard, one of the strangers appears to be the group leader of the strangers, and the other three strangers each have a different trait that also makes them a unique and unlikely bunch of villains that has come together.
High Stakes: Sacrifice one of themselves – or the world will end.
Life and death Situations: Multiple – while the villains are threatening and injuring Eric/Andrew, the deadly situations are reversed. Causing a dilemma for Eric/Andrew in do they save them, or do they believe them?
This movie is thrilling because? the dilemma they have been given is a hard one – do you sacrifice a loved one to save the world from apocalypse – it is thrilling because of this choice and because of the choices the 4 strangers are making them do.Big Mystery: Who are the strangers, why did they show up and why are they forcing themselves in – but are not acting like what a hostile break-in would be..
Big Intrigue: Are the strangers crazy, or are they actually telling the truth?
Big Suspense: What will Eric and/or Andrew do? -
What I learned in this lesson was how mystery, intrigue, and suspense not just combine but interweave to make a thriller thrilling.
In DIE HARD, our Unwitting but Resourceful Hero is NY cop John McClane, coming to see his wife in LA and cheesed off that she’s doing so well in her job.
The Dangerous Villain is Hans Gruber, the head of a murderous gang plotting a corporate heist of 600 million dollars from a vault which will involve killing numerous innocent bystanders.
High Stakes – John McClane must try to survive this pack of lethal killers in order to save his wife and the two-dozen hostages.
Life and Death Situations – the thieves kill the company’s top man in charge, Mr. Takagi, which places John’s wife Holly in the dangerous position as the new top person in charge. John must keep the killers from finding out that Holly is his wife. The highly organized and prepared thieves come after John with a coordinated attack using radios to hone in on him, aided by their massive machine guns, when all he has is a little pistol and no shoes. He must escape through vents and dangerous open elevator shafts as the bad guys blast away at him. Later even the FBI members shoot at him and he’s forced to jump off a 30-plus story building with nothing but a firehouse tied around his waste.
The movie is thrilling because as John becomes more bloody and exhausted from running barefoot on broken glass, his chances of beating the killers seems to be shrinking, even though he is slowly decreasing their numbers. We are dying for him to succeed as the more we know about the thieves, the more hideously awful they reveal themselves to be.
Big mystery- what tricks do these thieves have up their sleeve that John must face all alone with his little pistol.
Big suspense – will bleeding and limping John McClane stay alive long enough to defeat the bad guys and save his wife and the other hostages?
Anything else that makes this movie a great thriller? Yes! Not only was this a clever action story with increasing amounts of suspense, intrigue, danger, and betrayal, but it was also successful as a buddy movie with the budding friendship of John and his new pal AL. It also has a profound character transformation as John McClane goes from being angry at his wife for being successful to finally realizing that his wife was the “best thing that ever happened” to a “bum” like him. Basically, this film has it all as it lands on these points in a physical, emotional, and meaningful way.
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Lesson One Movie: Sisu
Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: Arksel Korpi
Dangerous Villain: Nazi commander and rapist sadistic sergeant
High stakes: Loss of gold and death
Life and death situations: Truck w/nazi’s; minefield (5); Scortched Earth/Hanged; AircraftThis movie is thrilling because – Arksel becomes more injusred but even more determined, even pulling shapnel and bullets out of his body as he continues.
What is the BIG Mystery, Intrigue, and Suspense of this story – why is he so focused on keeping or recovering the gold, what is the source of his skills
Big Mystery: How can Arksel keep moving forward.
Big Intrigue: Will Arksel survive the next scene.
Big Suspense: Will Arksel survive? Will he defeat/kill all of the SS complany?
Anything else that makes this movie a great thriller? It contians outrageous and satisfying scenes with bullets, bombs and even some laughs. The movie is exciting with surprising thrills and filled with action and suspense. Somehow, this movie maintians humor while being both bloody and brutal.
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The movie is Jack Ryan Shadow Recruit
the conventions of THIS story.
unwitting but Resourceful Hero:
Ryan was recruited to be an analyst but soon gets forced by circumstances to become a field operative.
Dangerous Villain:
The villain, early on is identified as a finance minister in Russia, who has a vendetta against th3 United States.
High stakes:
The villains’ plan is to destroy the US economy by crashing the Dollar in the international markets, thus causing the “Second Great Depression”.
Life and death situations:
From the earliest scene in the movie, the hero escapes a helicopter crash, then fights off an assassin in his hotel room in Moscow. In almost every scene in the last half of the movie, his life or that of his girlfriend are always in danger.
This movie is thrilling because?
The viewer never knows how they will succeed in stopping the villain’s plans and not get killed in the process.
What is the BIG Mystery?
How the villain plans to implement the big plan to crush the US Economy.
Intrigue: The hero isn’t sure who to trust, and where the net danger is coming from.
<font face=”inherit”>The suspense of this story: There is a deadline for implementing the terrorist strike that will signal the actions to </font>destroy<font face=”inherit”> the US /</font>dollar.
Big Mystery: Where will the terrorists strike the US
Big Intrigue: The struggle behind the scenes in Moscow, and the motivation for the main villain.
Big Suspense: Stopping the terrorists’ bomb.
4. Anything else you’d like to say about what made this movie a great thriller? The love affair between the hero and his girlfriend makes the viewer care more about what happens to them.
5. Answer the question “What I learned doing this assignment is that every thriller follows the same plan. Want the hero to survive, introduce an evil villain who has no redeeming qualities, set an urgent crime scene, that has a time crisis to stop, stop the horrible event, kill the bad guy, and hero gets the girl.
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<div>THE THIRD MAN BY GRAHAM GREENE </div>
Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: Holly Martins an unsuccessful pulp fiction writer who has been contacted by his school chum to meet him in Vienna for a money making proposition
<div>Dangerous Villain: Harry Lime, Holly’s friend and accused black marketeer </div><div>
</div><div>High stakes: Holly is too blinded by his devotion to Harry Lime to see Harry’s’s truly criminal. Holly’s life is threatened by the occupying, American, Russian, British, German police. Accused of murdering a porter, Holly is hunted by thugs, Anna (Harry Limes girlfriend) is arrested, Vienna is plagued with contaminated with diluted penicillin. Will Harry’s girl friend forgive Holly?</div><div>
</div><div>Life and death situations: Anna is arrested. Holly is hunted by a mob. Holly thinks he’s being kidnapped.Anna reveals Holly’s betrayal. Harry kills a policeman. Harry is hunted in the sewer. Holly has a gunfight with Harry in the sewer</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>This movie is thrilling because? Blind loyalty becomes blind outrage</div><div>
</div><div>3. What is the BIG Mystery, Intrigue, and Suspense of this story? Who was the Third Man who witnessed Harry Lime die. Was his death accidental? And did Harry really die</div><div>
</div><div>Big Mystery: How evil was Harry Lime</div><div>
</div><div>Big Intrigue: Harry Like faked his death </div><div>
</div><div>Big Suspense: Is Harry Lime evil enough to kill his best friend, Holly Martins </div><div>
</div><div>4. Anything else you’d like to say about what made this movie a great thriller? The movie skillfully underplays EVERYTHING! Even the musical score is devoid of Suspense staccato. Instead it’s lyrically melancholy zither music. And yet it’s still intensely thrilling</div><div>
</div><div>5. Answer the question “What I learned doing this assignment is…?” “The Third Man” is betrayal. </div> -
What I learned doing this assignment is when you analyze a movie into its parts, it’s not so intimidating. Everything is clearer.
Mission Impossible 1
Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: Ethan Hunt – his team is killed and he has to
Dangerous Villain: Job- has killed IMF teams and will get the NOC list and execute agents
High stakes: Get the disk back of all the agents’ identifies will be discovered
Life and death situations: The team is killed, Ethan is on the run for his life
This movie is thrilling because? – It always keeps you guessing – high action – contains suspense, mystery, intrigue, betrayal, tension, and twists.
Big Mystery: Who framed Ethan and who wants the NOC list?
Big Intrigue: Phelps aka Job wants to frame the IMF team and steal the NOC list to sell to Max
Big Suspense: Will Phelps discover Ethan is on to him? Can Ethan prove his innocence and unmask the mole.
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Did my assignment post about the movie Coma from 1978?
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What I learned from this assignment is a better understanding of the typical conventions used in thrillers, that you have to keep the plot simple, and in order to keep the audience guessing, you need to have a good plot twist.
Coma (1978) Thriller
Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: The protagonist is Dr. Susan Wheeler a young and ambitious medical resident. She becomes the unwitting hero when she starts uncovering suspicious events at her hospital and becomes determined to find out the truth behind the mysterious coma patients.
Dangerous Villain: The dangerous villain is Dr. George Harris. He is involved in a sinister plot at the hospital, and his true intentions gradually become apparent as the story unfolds.
High Stakes: The stakes are high as Dr. Wheeler discovers a disturbing pattern of patients unexpectedly falling into comas during routine surgeries at the hospital. Her investigations put her own life in danger as she gets closer to unraveling the conspiracy.
Life and Death Situations: The movie revolves around life and death situations as patients’ lives are at risk during surgeries, and Dr. Wheeler’s life is also threatened as she delves deeper into the mystery.
Thrilling Aspect: “Coma” is thrilling because it creates an intense atmosphere of suspense and mystery. The sense of danger, the unknown, and the hidden conspiracy add to the overall excitement and thrill.
Big Mystery: The big mystery in “Coma” revolves around the unusually high number of patients falling into comas during routine surgeries at the hospital. Dr. Wheeler becomes suspicious of this trend and starts investigating the cause behind it, which leads her to uncover a disturbing conspiracy.
Big Intrigue: The big intrigue centers on the hidden motives and actions of certain doctors and administrators at the hospital. As Dr. Wheeler delves deeper into the investigation, she realizes that there is a sinister plot at play, and she becomes determined to expose the truth.
Big Suspense: The big suspense in “Coma” arises from the constant sense of danger and uncertainty surrounding Dr. Wheeler’s discoveries. As she gets closer to the truth, the threat to her life increases, and the audience is left in suspense, wondering if she will uncover the conspiracy in time and if she will survive the ordeal.
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This reply was modified 1 year, 9 months ago by Dianna Ippolito.
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This reply was modified 1 year, 9 months ago by
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Lesson one: Law Abiding Citizen
What I learned doing this assignment is that every scene had tension – even the scenes that were not about tense moments. For example when they are doing the segue to “ten years later” and are just showing the DA at home and the fact that his daughter is now ten years old, he asks where his cell phone is and she asks, “Why, it’s not glued to your hand?” and then when she wants him to eat breakfast but he states he doesn’t have time, she gives him “a look” and he says fine, grabs a piece of French toast and takes a bite – “There, you happy now?” It’s not tension, like you’re waiting to see if the bomb goes off (as in later scenes) but it serves to keep the audience at a little bit of heightened level of anxiety, tension, whatever you want to call it I guess between this scene and the one previous when he talks to his wife when she is pregnant and they engage in “banter” it is tense banter – he is talking to the baby (in utero) and says “ass” and the mother says, “Language” and then he tells the baby that her mother is a “hard-ass” and she says “Heyyy…” This type of banter is not what you would see in, say a comedy, that would be funny and light-hearted – I learned that “banter” has a different tone (and different purpose) depending on the genre… I also learned that it is a good idea when thinking about the mystery, to ask the question words – is my mystery based on who, what, where, why, when, or how? – and if one of those is in your story and gets solved it should create another. We know “who” is doing it (it’s Clyde, not an accomplice) now the mystery becomes “how”? Multiple mysteries or mysteries that slide into new mysteries will keep the story fresh and interesting and will keep the audience on their toes. In this movie, there was a ton of “whys” at the beginning. Why did Clyde let himself get arrested? Why did he kill his roommate? Those were solved as it went along with a segue into other mysteries. It is actually crazy when you really look at movie for the MIS, how much you see that there is weaved in and out.
Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: Mr. Rice (the DA) or Clyde
Shelton – Clyde is the “protagonist” by movie standards – it is his story
from beginning to end and begins with him being the victim of a violent
crime. I did a survey, and most people consider him the “hero” but
anything you read online puts him in the role of villain. He is certainly
resourceful – to the level of genius. Maybe he can be considered and “anti-hero.”
Dangerous Villain: Clyde Shelton, if you believe the internet, but
in many people’s estimation, it is “the system” and the DA as the physical
representation of that.
High stakes: Life and (lots) of death. Clyde is going to kill
everyone who represents the broken system.
Life and death situations:
This movie is thrilling because? I think the BIG MYSTERY helps to
make it thrilling. All these crazy things are happening and we know it’s
Clyde, but we don’t know HOW. The INTRIGUE of what Clyde is going to do
next, how far he is going to take it (if you consider him the villain) in
fact, there is even a moment when you wonder if he is going to blow up the
DA’s daughter (which he wouldn’t do, because he is getting “revenge” and
she didn’t do anything).3. What is the BIG Mystery, Intrigue, and Suspense of this story?
Big Mystery: How is Clyde killing people? He is in prison…does he
have an accomplice?
Big Intrigue: How far is he going to go? What he is going to do next
(because each thing he does is bigger than the last
Big Suspense: Since the hero is not clear, this one is hard. Clyde’s
danger is that he is going to get caught. The danger for the DA is that he
is going to get killed by Clyde.4. Anything else you’d like to say about what made this movie a great thriller? This is one of my favorite movies because of the emotional roller coaster and the whole thing I spoke of above – the hero becomes the villain (??) The movie also packs a punch in the area of a “moral dilemma” for the characters, the audience. I first saw this several years ago and still wonder WHY I root for Clyde!
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