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Day 1 Assignments
Please post your Day 1 Assignments here!
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19 Replies
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Subject Line: Shutter Island Thriller Conventions
Unwitting but resourceful hero: Teddy Daniels, U.S. Marshall, is sent to Ashecliff Hospital for the criminally insane to find missing patient Rachel Solando.
Dangerous villain: The “U.S. Government” represented by Ashecliffe staff Dr. Cawley, Dr. Naehring, and The Warden.
High Stakes: The only way Teddy can get off the island is by ferry, which Ashecliffe controls. Teddy is secretly medicated at Ashecliffe to be turned into a “ghost” for covert operations by the U.S. Government. Teddy’s mind is playing tricks on him, causing him to question his sanity.
Life and Death Situations: The storm knocks out the power to the patients’ cells, potentially allowing them to escape. Teddy and Chuck are held on the island against their will. Dangerous experimentation on the patients (Teddy too) with neuroleptic medication, brainwashing, and lobotomies. Teddy climbs the rocks to find Rachel Solando. He swims the dangerous waters to get to Ward C (the Lighthouse). Armed guards at Ward C. The brutal encounter with George Noyce in Ward C. Partner Chuck’s disappearance.
This movie is thrilling because we believe Teddy’s suspenseful delusions and hallucinations are woven into the plot are the actual story.
3) The Big Mystery: Where is escaped patient Rachel Solando?
The Big Intrigue: Is the Hospital secretly engaged in covert “government ops” to create “ghosts” via the brainwashing and other treatments they use on the patients?
The Big Suspense: Will Teddy and Chuck find Rachel and get off the Island, or will they wind up hostages of the Hospital because they know too much about the hospital’s covert activities? Is Teddy being turned into a brainwashed “ghost” via the aspirin, coffee, and cigarettes he receives at Ashecliffe.
4/5) The misdirection is woven so tightly and well into the story that the viewer believes (or is willing to believe) the entire ruse. I wanted to believe even though I’d seen the movie before and knew the resolution.
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Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Thriller Conventions
- Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: Former MI6 Deputy / George Smiley
- Dangerous Villain: The traitor / Bill Hayden
- High stakes: The fate of the entire MI6 organization is at stake
- Life and death situations: Potential death of agents, including Jim Prideaux, Istanbul Station Chief, Ricki Tarr and the Russian agents/source, Irina and Boris
- This movie is thrilling because? The audience doesn’t know the identity of the traitor until the end.
- Big Mystery: Who is the traitor?
- Big Intrigue: The traitor’s boss in Moscow, Karla, seems to be one step ahead of the investigation
- Big Suspense: Will the traitor evade detection
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<div>Double Jeopardy Thriller Conventions </div>
What I learned doing this assignment is that no matter what genre thriller it is… The thriller has some undeniable structure points.
Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: Libby
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Dangerous Villain:Nick (her husband)
High stakes: Libby goes to prison for Nick’s murder…only he’s not dead.
Life and death situations: When she skips parole and finds Nick, he tries to kill her before she exposes him.
This movie is thrilling because? We really want the parole officer to find out she is innocent before Nick kills her, or parole officer catches her.
3. What is the BIG Mystery, Intrigue, and Suspense of this story?
Big Mystery: Where is Libby’s son?</div><div>
Big Intrigue: Can she prove she is innocent ?
Big Suspense: Will she kill Nick for real?
4. Anything else you’d like to say about what made this movie a great thriller?
I saw this one a long time ago, but looking at it with new eyes, I see all the signposts of the Thriller.
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“THE DEPARTED” THRILLER CONVENTIONS
The Set up:
Villain: Boston Gangster Costello (Jack Nicholson) who is shown executing a couple, right at the start of the movie. Costello has stolen some top secret digital cards which he is attempting to sell to the Chinese
Unwitting Hero: Billy (Leo de Caprio) is a newbie cop in a elite police unit that is investigating Costello. Billy is persuaded to go undercover and get himself recruited into Costello’s organization (there are ties between Billy’s family and Costello). His situation is known only to his two bosses and Billy is forced to rely on his wits and deviousness.
High Stakes: Billy’s situation is mirrored by a mole, Colin (Matt Damon) that Costello has managed to plant in the same police unit that is running Billy, though the two men never meet (till the end). The two moles begin to suspect each other’s presence, and they each alert their bosses, which puts both of them at greater risk. A different high stake is that both men fall for the same woman, but none of the three knows the true nature or risk of the triangular relationship. There is also misdirection, e.g., Colin points the finger at the two bosses of the elite unit esp. Queenan (Martin Sheen).
What I learned from this assignment is how intricate a great thriller is. As this movie is based on a “mirror” situation (i.e., the opposing moles) it’s takes longer to set up and requires more back and forth between the two “moles.”
Big Mystery: Each of police
and the gangsters are trying to uncover the “rat” in their midst.Big Intrigue: Gangster Costigan
is trying to checkmate the police as he launches a crooked deal while the
police are trying to catch him red-handed.Big Suspense: Who will manage to protect their identity
while unmasking their opposite number first?This is a slow burn thriller because of the mirror plot. What carries it is a great villain, (Costigan played by Nicholson), and the similarity/contrast between Matt Damon and Leo De Caprio… Also, some great, funny dialogue. A lot of the events are triggered and information conveyed through texts and phone calls. It is a chess game on steroids…
The original is a Hong Kong policier, which is truly sensational. Here Scorsese relocates it within the larger social scene in Boston, and I believe changes the ending (in the HK film if I recall, the Matt Damon character gets away with it). The Departed is a great thriller but I think the stripped-down HK original is even greater though on a narrower canvas!
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KILLING OF A SACRED DEER THRILLER CONVENTIONS 5/4/2021
MICHAEL GRECO Mastering THRILLER DAY 1 5 4 2021
WILDTAI POOR DESIGN and EXECUTION can deflate a Thriller despite mysterious, intriguing characters.
I viewed and evaluated ‘Killing Of A Sacred Deer’ (Germany or France?). Though marketed as a Thriller, and reminiscent of past, stronger thrillers, this movie took a nose-dive for the worse after the mid-point or so, design-wise and crappy execution too.
ASSIGNMENT
Unwitting but Resourceful Hero:
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>STEVEN – weak, liar, some resources
Dangerous Villain:<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”> MARTIN – unexplained supernatural
powers
High stakes:<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”> Life / Death; marital
infidelity.
Life and death situations:<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”> Yes
This movie is thrilling
because?<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”> Uncertain for first
half why Martin has such a grip on Steven. Intriguing characters and situation.3. What is the BIG Mystery, Intrigue, and Suspense of this story?
Big Mystery: Why does Steven make time to see
Martin, entertain him, answer his summons. (What is Steven’s sexual hangup
or hitch?)
Big Intrigue: What is Martin’s gift or value that
makes him enjoy dominion over Steven
Big Suspense: How will Steven and wife react to
Martin’s mid-point call for death of one of family.4. Anything else you’d like to say about what made this movie a great thriller? Terrific setup. Poor execution and choices in second and third act. Also, stakes and goals were flaccid – no information was given as to why Martin had been visiting Steven for six months preceding time of film, yet now he reveals revenge animus.
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Subject line: TENET – Thriller Conventions
Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: We meet the Protagonist, who is a CIA operative, on a falsified mission who ends up tortured and seemingly dead. He is then repaired, recovered and recruited by an unknown organization call Tenet. The Protagonist builds a team to assist him on his mission. He continues on the known mission from Tenet and learns of time inversion, practices the art of the heist, deception and blackmail. The Protagonist then ‘John McClane’s’ his way through events with time inversion and temporal pincer to prevent World War III.
Dangerous Villain: Sator is a rouge Russian czar with working foresight. He wants to end all life on the planet, including his own diseased life, with the influence and help of people in the future. He intends to eliminate anyone that gets in his way. Through his future resources and his men, he wants to start World War III by putting together a physical algorithm starting reverse entropy to end all life on the planet.
High stakes: Survival of the entire world, Protagonist life, Neil’s life, Kat’s life, Max’s life along with his influence and safety, getting close to Sator without being found out, using time inversion and temporal pincer without getting killed.
Life and death situations: Protagonist life in balance at the opera. Protagonist tortured on the tracks. Kat in the car out of control on the freeway and the Protagonist and Neil trying to save her. Protagonist being beat up in hotel kitchen. Protagonist and Neil in the Freeport and in the parking lot. Protagonist and Neil infiltrating Priya and Sanjay’s Apartment to question them about buyer. Sator being thrown off the sailboat. Protagonist’s freeway heist of the package. Saving Kat in the time inversion cargo ship. Warehouse interrogation in front of the proving window by the revolving, inversion door for Protagonist and Kat. Kat pulling a gun on Sator in warehouse by the gun table. Kat being beat up by Sator by the gun table. Protagonist crashing on freeway and almost dying from hypothermia by gasoline explosion in freeway accident area. Kat on the super yacht about to kill Sator. Sator’s death on the super yacht. The Stalsk-12 hypocenter battle for Protagonist, Neil, Ives and their units. Protagonist and Ives fighting Volkov in the dead drop. Neil’s death on Dead drop platform. Protagonist and Ives almost getting killed or buried alive with the algorithm. At the end, Ives grabs the algorithm and pulls a gun on Protagonist and Neil. Kat picking up Max from school.
This movie is thrilling because:… It Almost immediately starts action packed. We want to understand and see the inversion time sequences, temporal pincer and how they end up successful or tragic. We worry for the survival of the Protagonist, Neil, Kat, and worry for Max’s future way of learning and safety in life. There is immediate danger flowing throughout and keeps you alert on the time process of the story unfolding, refolding, replaying and reverse playing from another perspective. The intense, angry character of Sator. We have never seen a film like this before.
What is the BIG Mystery, Intrigue, and Suspense of this story?
Big Mystery: What or who is
Tenet? Time Inversion? Temporal
Pincer? A Physical Algorithm that starts reverse entropy? How to
successfully learn the time Inversion model. How to Survive and endure the time
Inversion model? How is the
Protagonist going to get close to Sator without getting killed? How will
the Protagonist and Neil have the ability to stop the physical algorithm device
from being assembled, planted and activated? How will Kat be able to get Max safe?Big Intrigue: Sator plans to eliminate all life, including his own,
on earth with help of the future by assembling a physical algorithm that starts
reverse entropy and bury it at the dead drop
of the hypocenter at Stalsk-12 and kill anyone that gets in the way.Big Suspense: Will the
Protagonist successfully get close to Sator without being killed, master
the time Inversion and temporal pincer world and stop the physical algorithm
device from being assembled for activation while keeping Kat alive and Max
safe.4. Anything else you’d like to say about what made this movie a great thriller?
The use of time inversion and temporal pincer doubles the thrill! Intellectual theft of the last part of the physical algorithm. Immediate action first couple of minutes. The intense, tiger like, angry character of Sator.
5. Answer the question “What I learned doing this assignment is…?”
Super focus, precise detail and thriller conventions.
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Panic Room: Thriller Conventions
What I learned: Less is more. This was a great, contained movie. Small cast. One main location.
2. Watch the movie and as you do, note the conventions of THIS story.
• Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: Mother fights to keep her daughter, herself, and her ex-husband alive when her home is broken into by three men.
• Dangerous Villain: The three men. Two were more dangerous than the one who just wanted the money.
• High stakes: Try to stay alive in the panic room after three men break into your home. Each time they refuse, the men up the ante. Gas, cut the phone line, threaten to kill the daughter if she tells the cops what is happening, etc.
• Life and death situations: Yes. The men are dangerous and two of them will stop at nothing to get their money. The stakes grow higher in each scene.
• This movie is thrilling because? The suspense keeps you hanging, wondering if they will make it out alive.
3. What is the BIG Mystery, Intrigue, and Suspense of this story?
• Big Mystery: Why did these men break into her home and what do they want?
• Big Intrigue: What is in the panic room that the robbers want?
• Big Suspense: Will they make it out alive?
4. Anything else you’d like to say about what made this movie a great thriller? Each scene built on the next. The suspense/dramatic tension kept building with each scene. You were vested in the story and rooting for them to get out alive.
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Subject line: THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO Thriller Conventions
Swedish Version (2009) – IMDb 7.8/10
Logline: A journalist is aided by a young female hacker in his search for the killer of a woman who has been dead for forty years.
What I learned doing this assignment: I listened to your Friday thriller webcast recapping THE BOURNE IDENTITY, so this lesson seemed mostly like review.
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</div>Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: Mikael Blomkvist loses a libel
case, tanking his journalism career. Disgraced, he accepts the offer to
work for Henrik Vanger, seeking to find the killer of his favorite niece,
Harriet Vanger. Aided by computer hacker, Lisbeth Salander, their combined
talents lead them to uncover a string of five gruesome murders of women in
the 1960s that tie back to Harriet, putting them both in even greater
danger.<div>
Dangerous Villain: Martin
Vanger, Harriet’s brother, is the most unlikely killer. Now the head
of the massive family corporation, by all outside appearances, he leads an
exemplary life. But as the body count piles up, we learn that he’s an
utterly ruthless sadistic serial killer.High stakes: The killer may still be alive and living
on the same island as Mikael and Lisbeth. They’re in constant danger.Life and death situations: The
murder of Harriet Vanger, the five other women murdered in the 1960s,
Martin tortures Mikael in his basement, Lisbeth hits Martin with a golf
club and chases Martin to his car crash, where he burns alive.This movie is thrilling
because? There’s the constant threat of Harriet’s unknown killer, which
grows more dangerous as we learn he’s a serial killer. The sexual assaults
of Lisbeth by Bjurman add to the danger. And the prestigious Vanger family
wants to continue to hide their perversions.Big Mystery: Who killed (what happened) to Harriet
Vanger forty years ago?Big Intrigue: (“Who do you suspect?” Henrik Vanger, “None
of them…and all of them.”) Many of the secretive Vanger family have shady dealings,
were/are Nazis, and could be the killer.Big Suspense: Will Martin Vanger kill Mikael and Lisbeth?
Anything else you’d like to say about what made this movie a great thriller?
The title character, Lisbeth Salander, drives a lot of the action. Her ongoing battle with Bjurman is dramatic, thrilling and in the end, extremely clever. Her kick-ass take-no-prisoners style and personal strengths and vulnerabilities draw the viewer into the story. The film is nowhere near as good without Lisbeth.
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I love that each writer has used a different movie so far. My watch list just got a little longer.
Great job everyone!
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Thriller I Watched: Enemy of the State (1998)
What I Learned Doing This Assignment Is: To pay attention to how the beginning scene(s) set up the story and get you into the action immediately. In medias res. This is a thriller where the villain is known to the audience from the outset, but not to the hero. The assignment also gets you to think about the sequence of life and death scenes that provide the motive plot force for the movie. Good people (the congressman, the taper, the person the taper informed about the video, Rachel – Dean’s ex-girlfriend) have to die along the way to make the villain a true villain. There were also the plot twist mechanics to prevent a straight line plot development: the son takes the video out of Dean’s shopping bag but we don’t know this until later, although we suspect it, Brill (Gabriel Byrne) tries to gain Dean’s confidence and get him to talk and then is exposed as a fake; the real Brill (gene Hackman), a man of mystery doesn’t appear until later in the story which adds suspense; Brill and Dean use NSA techniques to turn the tables (this required a character – Brill – who has those skills; the video of the congressman’s murder is destroyed by fire; Dean’s quick thinking puts the NSA and the mob on a collision course at the restaurant over incriminating videos at the violent end of the story. And, it’s also OK to inject some humor into a thriller – it is entertainment after all. Finally, and very important, a great thriller needs a great theme – in this case the evils and perils weighed against the benefits of a surveillance society.
Thriller Conventions
1 Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: Robert Dean, Washington law firm attorney, must rely on his wits to survive after a man on the run drops an encrypted video of a congressman’s murder into Dean’s shopping bag.
2 Dangerous Villain: Thomas Reynolds, an NSA executive who wants a Patriot-act type bill passed in Congress, uses every eavesdropping technology available to hunt down Dean and the video.
3 High Stakes: It’s life or death for Dean. It’s prison for Reynolds if the video goes public. And the loss of privacy is at stake for Americans.
4 Life and Death Situations: The mob don threatens Dean’s life after Dean offers to trade a videotape that shows the don breaking parole for the don agreeing to let the union have a fair election. Earlier that day, a powerful Congressman who opposes passage of the Patriot-act-like surveillance bill is murdered by Thomas Reynolds, an NSA executive. Later that day it turns out that a remote wildlife video-camera recorded the Congressman’s murder. Reynolds learns of this when one of his men who is at the crime scene observes the taper retrieving the tape from the camera. An NSA team tracks down the taper to his apartment but he runs. NSA surveillance technology shows, minutes before the taper’s death, he’s running through a lingerie shop and places something in Dean’s shopping bag. Dean is there to buy something for his wife’s birthday. Dean is unaware of the tape – it won’t be until much later that he’ll learn that his son took the device out of the shopping bag. Suddenly, his life is upended for no apparent reason: he’s publicly smeared in the press, loses his job, his wife kicks him out, his credit cards are frozen, his house is ransacked. He now goes on the run, with no idea why he’s targeted. He thinks the mob don might be behind it. Dean meets with his ex-girlfriend who gave him the mob tape and who acts as a go-between for Dean and an ex-intelligence communications expert named Brill who does high-tech snooping for Dean’s legal cases. Dean thinks she might be targeted and goes to her apartment to warn her where he finds her body – her death has been staged to frame him. Brill hunts down Dean, but he’s NSA posing as Brill to have Dean confide the whereabouts of the video. They have a harrowing car chase. Dean might have confided but he honestly doesn’t know. He smells a rat and escapes the fake Brill. Rachel, Dean’s ex-girlfriend, had told Dean about a dead-drop she used to communicate with the real Brill. Dean uses it to meet the real Brill who blames Dean for Rachel’s death. NSA has tracked Dean to the building he’s in. Brill wands Dean for listening devices in the building elevator, removes several and tells Dean he’s being tracked by professionals, probably NSA, and says he’s out. But Brill doesn’t get all the devices. An NSA helicopter closes in on Dean and Brill on the rooftop as NSA agents search the building. Dean rids himself of the remaining tracking devices and escapes the building. Dean sneaks home to see his wife, but in the shed, not the main house to avoid detection: she’s wearing the lingerie he bought her for her birthday – something dawns on him – maybe their son had found what the taper had put in the shopping bag. He gets the device back from his son – he doesn’t know what to do with it. He contacts Brill via the dead drop. Brill decrypts it and they see the video of the Congressman’s murder. They decide to go on offense. They lock out Reynolds credit cards, etc. They poke the bear. Brill calls Reynolds an offers a deal. He’s wearing a wire and Dean is remote recording the conversation, hopefully a confession. But, the conversation lasts too long, Dean is located and both are taken hostage. Dean tells them that the person who has the video is at a restaurant – they drive to the restaurant – it’s the don’s restaurant. NSA agents go in with guns showing. The don’s people have their guns drawn. It’s a Mexican standoff. Then, someone fires and it’s bedlam. In the aftermath, Dean is fully exonerated.
5 The Movie is Thrilling Because: It grabs you right from the start with the Congressman’s murder and then segues to Dean negotiating with the mob over an incriminating video of the don. Both situations place Dean in danger and, with regard to the Congressman’s murder, Dean is totally unaware of the danger that poses to him. How these two very different predicaments will ultimately intertwine we don’t know, but both involve a video. The tension ratchets up and Dean’s predicament gets worse and worse as the story unfolds at breakneck speed.
What is the Big Mystery, Intrigue and Suspense of this Story?
1 Mystery: We know the big mystery (why Reynolds and the NSA are targeting Dean but he is unaware. The other mystery is how the NSA danger and the mob danger will intersect. And Brill is a mystery man – he doesn’t appear until midway through the film. How will he help Dean or not? What happened to the video?
2 Intrigue: We don’t know if Dean still has feelings for Rachel, his ex-girlfriend. But we know the main intrigue – we know that Reynolds is doing everything in his power to get the video and eliminate anyone who knows about it.
3 Suspense: The main suspense is how will Dean survive and bring down Reynolds? And how will he bring down the mobsters before getting killed? Will Dean and his wife reconcile?
Anything Else that Made this Movie a Great Thriller?
As entertainment, it was fantastic. The Will Smith comedic touch also made it entertaining. It’s a thriller but it’s not a totally taut thriller. The cast was strong: Will Smith, Gene Hackman, Jon Voight.
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You nailed what makes this a great thriller! And you’re right; the touches of humor make it a fun watch! One of my favorite “go to” movies.
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ASSIGNMENT #1 for Catherine Johnson
Subject line: HARD CANDY (Drama, Thriller) This is an older film but it was a fairly contained movie.
What I learned from this assignment is that I should pay attention to the beats in my story.
This movie repeats the beats a lot. I found it annoying. It made me realize that a serial killer movie needs to have deeper meaning in each victim scene; move the story fwd, reveal character, etc. Not just rack up victims.
I chose to watch a movie I had not seen before. Hard Candy, a drama thriller (2004) was written by Brian Nelson and directed by David Slade.
· Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: This is a kind of a buddy film, with the protagonist and antagonist going on the journey together. From imdb.com we get this summary: “A 32 yr old man meets up with a 14 yr old girl in a Candy shop. She talks him into taking her back to his place. Hayley’s a smart, charming teenage girl. Jeff’s a handsome, smooth fashion photographer. An Internet chat, a coffee/candy shop meet-up, an impromptu fashion shoot back at Jeff’s place. Jeff thinks it’s his lucky night. He’s in for a surprise.”
· Dangerous Villain: Our first impression is that Jeff is the villain (a pedophile trying to hook up with a girl he met online. They reverse rolls (like the characters in Mississippi Burning did) at the start of act 2 and we learn the dangerous villain is Haley (with shades of Monster (2003) in her spirit).
· High stakes: It is truly life or death for each of them.
· Life and death situations: Numerous instances in Act 2 & Act 3.
· This movie is thrilling because? You don’t know what’s going to be the outcome and the plot has many twists and turns.
· 3. What is the BIG Mystery, Intrigue, and Suspense of this story?
· Big Mystery: Is Jeff going to try to seduce Hayley? Or kill her? Or keep her? or is Hayley going to seduce Jeff? Hold him prisoner? Kill him? Expose him? Drive him mad? Is she really crazy?
· Big Intrigue: Haley is far more prepared for this day than Jeff is.
· Big Suspense: What’s going to happen to Jeff? To Hayley?
4. Anything else you’d like to say about what made this movie a great thriller? I wouldn’t say great but it fit the criteria. Also, good acting. Bad make-up.
5. Answer the question “What I learned doing this assignment is…?” and
put it at the top of your work.
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This reply was modified 4 years ago by Catherine Johnson Johnson.
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This reply was modified 4 years ago by
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What I learned – How to view thrillers from the perspective of this model and the conventions being presented.
1. THE FUGITIVE
2. Unwitting but Resourceful Hero – Dr Richard Kimble a highly intelligent doctor who escapes from jail and now must find the one armed man who murdered his wife to prove his innocence.
Dangerous villain – Dr. Charles Nichols, who hired the one arm man to kill both Dr Kimble and his wife to prevent Kimble from exposing the harm that his new pharmaceutical causes to people who take it. If this comes to light he will lose millions.
High Stakes: Kimble’s life – the exposure of the drug cover up and loss of millions of dollars.
Life and death situation – Kimble is convicted and sentenced to death. When he escapes he faces the US marshal (who think he is guilty), the Chicago PD (who believe he harmed one of their own) and the men who murdered his wife.
3. BIG MYSTERY – Who is the one armed man who killed Dr Kimble’s wife and tried to kill him?
BIG INTRIGUE – Why did the one armed man try to kill Dr Kimble? What is he connection to the new miracle drug Provasic and what is the drug company trying to hide?
BIG SUSPENSE – Will Dr Kimble survive and prove his innocence by catching the one armed man?
4. Anything else you’d like to say about what made this movie a great thriller?
Dr Kimble is constantly in life and death situation, he has no one to turn to. Not even the right side of the law – the US Marshall who is relentless and refuses to negotiate.
The also set up set up clues early on that seem like innocent chatter but pay off later on. For example: In the first scene we meet our villain who is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He borrowed Dr Kimble’s car since there was a problem with his but later on we find out that a phone call was made from Kimble’s car phone to the killer which seems to further incriminate the innocent Kimble.
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Ron Johnson
Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: Nick Cassidy.
Villain: Billionaire David Englander.
High stakes: Nick’s life or he will go back to prison.
Life and death situations: Nick could fall or be killed by police or dirty cops under England’s orders.
This movie is thrilling because? The audience doesn’t know the identity of the traitor until the end.
Big Mystery: Why is Nick on the ledge, what’s he really up to?
Big Intrigue: We wonder if Nick is innocent or guilty, and if so, who framed him?
Big Suspense: Will Nick survive the ledge and will he clear his name of the crime?
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Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Conventions
<b data-pm-slice=”1 1 ["ul",{"style":null,"backgroundColor":null,"color":null,"lineHeight":null,"listStyleType":null},"li",{"style":null,"checked":null,"value":null,"displayValue":null,"backgroundColor":null,"color":null,"listStyleType":null}]” data-en-clipboard=”true”>1) Unwitting but Resourceful Hero:
We have a great investigative reporter who is broken after recently being framed by a rich billionaire. After a lifetime of great detective work, he made one mistake and it has cost him greatly. He is forced into the journey when the court case has nearly bankrupt him and he has no choice but to take the gig.
2) Dangerous Villain:
Who makes a great villain? Someone powerful with lots of money, from a family of generations of power and manipulation. Money power and corruption.
<b data-pm-slice=”1 1 ["ul",{"style":null,"backgroundColor":null,"color":null,"lineHeight":null,"listStyleType":null},"li",{"style":null,"checked":null,"value":null,"displayValue":null,"backgroundColor":null,"color":null,"listStyleType":null}]” data-en-clipboard=”true”>3) High Stakes:
A detective who never loses but is coming off his first failure and has had his reputation damaged. He must prove himself all over again or his career as an investigative journalist will be over.
<b data-pm-slice=”1 1 ["ul",{"style":null,"backgroundColor":null,"color":null,"lineHeight":null,"listStyleType":null},"li",{"style":null,"checked":null,"value":null,"displayValue":null,"backgroundColor":null,"color":null,"listStyleType":null}]” data-en-clipboard=”true”>4) Life and Death Situation:
He takes the gig and must stay on the deserted family island to be close enough to the family to investigate. Then a rogue bullet almost hits him but was it an accident or does someone want him dead. Is he a threat to uncover the murder? Or are there other more serious things at risk. Who wants him dead? In the end, he will come face to face with the killer and come close to death himself.
<b data-pm-slice=”1 1 ["ul",{"style":null,"backgroundColor":null,"color":null,"lineHeight":null,"listStyleType":null},"li",{"style":null,"checked":null,"value":null,"displayValue":null,"backgroundColor":null,"color":null,"listStyleType":null}]” data-en-clipboard=”true”>5) The movie is thrilling because?
It’s a classic story of good vs evil. The rich and powerful versus the weak and broken who must overcome.
MIS:
1) Big Mystery
Who killed the niece a generation ago.
2) Big Intrigue
Can an investigative journalist defeat a rich billionaire family and solve the murder that no one has been able to solve for a generation. The patriarch wants closure and he’s running out of time. A journalist with the assistance of a young bisexual mentally disturbed computer hacker can beat the family.
3) Big Suspense
Is the mystery what is seems and is she really dead? If she was killed why did no one ever find her body? Will this rich powerful family allow the mystery to be solved and why are they hiding from the truth?
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“The Maltese Falcon” thriller conventions.
Private detective Mr. Spade is involved in a criminal scheme to find a precious thing.
Dangerous villain: uncovered during his investigation. Several people were killed by him (or her!) and it’s continued.
High stakes: New suspects appear and the price of the find increases. The hero can be stripped of his license and put in jail.
Life and death situations: The hero’s partner is killed. The hero is rewarded with weapons. He is poisoned once.
M. I. S.
Big mystery: Who killed the partner and why the hero was involved in these cases?
Intrigue: Will Mr. Spade be able to find the main enemy and will he stay alive?
Suspence: The hero is hunted by the police and he constantly has to solve complex tasks and get out of dangerous situations.
This movie is a great thriller because of very mysterious situation gathered all the heroes and pushed them together. Bright subtle dialogues, strong-willed pressure of the hero, rapid rhythm. And a very dangerous hidden villain ms. O’shonnasy
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WAIT UNTIL DARK Thriller Conventions
When Suzy lost her sight in a horrific, fiery car accident two years ago, she was saved by Sam Hendrix, a commercial photographer who later becomes her husband. The film opens in Canada with a woman, Lisa, watching a man sew packets of what looks like heroin inside a doll. She takes the doll and heads to the airport boarding the same flight as Sam who is returning from business trip. When they leave the plane, the woman sees a man watching her. Sensing danger, she asks Sam to hold on to the doll for her so she can later surprise her daughter.
Two criminals, Talman and Carlino, enter their empty apartment to be greeted by a sinister psychopath, Roat, who cons them into looking for the doll in the apartment and leaving fingerprints all over. Carlino finds Lisa’s body hanging in a closet. Roat convinces them to dispose of the body then return the next day, telling Suzy that Talman is Sam’s old Marine buddy, and Carlino is a police officer investigating the murder of the woman whose body they found that morning and find the doll.
Sam returns to their apartment but has to leave right away for another work assignment. Although Suzy is smart and resourceful, she still needs the help of the troubled teenage girl, Gloria, who lives upstairs, and who comes to help her with chores and shopping.
Over the next several hours, the two men along with Roat disguised as the dead woman’s father and then her husband, convince Suzy that she has to find the doll. But it’s simply nowhere in the apartment.
The men leave and then return over and over again to intimidate Suzy. After receiving several “convenient” phone calls from the fake police (really from a nearby phone booth), and because of her acutely tuned hearing, Suzy begins to see this all as an elaborate ruse. She asks Gloria, who sets the doll she swiped earlier under the couch, to run to Sam’s studio to get help. Suzy breaks the light bulbs in the apartment to make it difficult for the men to see her and hides the doll in the trash.
Roat murders Carlino while Talman is inside trying to convince Suzy that all they want is the doll. Roat lets himself into the apartment and murders Talman. He then begins a terrifying assault on Suzy threatening her with gasoline and matches, with the only light coming from the refrigerator which Roat props opens. Suzy finally manages to stab him as he attacks her. As she steps back into the kitchen, in one of cinema’s most terrifying moments, bloodied and injured, he leaps out at her and grabs her knocking her to the floor. She manages to hide behind the refrigerator door as he comes after her. Finally the police arrive accompanied by Sam and Gloria.
2. THRILLER CONVENTIONS IN THIS MOVIE
a. Suzy, played by Audrey Hepburn, is learning to become “the world’s champion blind lady.” Though intelligent and resourceful, she is still vulnerable and a bit too trusting.
b. Roat, played by Alan Arkin, is a master of disguise and enjoys making his victims squirm by striking terror into them with the thing they fear most. In Suzy’s case, it’s fire.
Talman, played by Richard Crenna, and Carlino, played by Jack Weston, pull off their pretend roles as Sam’s friend and police officer perfectly.
c. The stakes in the film are not only life and death. They include Suzy’s fragile sense of self-reliance and trust in her ability to live as a blind woman.
d. In the beginning, it seems as though all Roat wants is the doll and his drugs, but as he gets frustrated with their inability- and his – to convince or scare Suzy into revealing where they are, it’s clear that Roat is a psychopathic killer.
e. What‘s thrilling about this movie is watching Suzy see through the deceptions, not literally, but figuratively. Using her trained hearing and innate intelligence, she realizes she’s in danger and finally finds the strength to overcome her fear and use everything she has to strike out at Roat. The entire movie is a rollercoaster ride of doubt and fear, deception and finally brutal attacks, both psychological and physical.
3. THE BIG MYSTERY, INTRIGUE, AND SUSPENSE IN THIS MOVIE
a. The Big Mystery is how Suzy is going to see through the deceptions being perpetrated against her and, once she does, how she’s going to survive. She doesn’t know the “WHY” behind the deception and the attacks. All she knows is that Roat wants the doll and that he’s willing to kill for it.
b. The Big Intrigue is watching Suzy figure out that this is all an elaborate ruse and then realizing that her life is in danger.
c. The Big Suspense is the increasing depth of deception, the escalating psychological pressure on Suzy, and whether she will survive the violence.
4. In large part what made this movie such a great thriller were the performances and that one very shocking moment when we think Roat is dead but he leaps out at Suzy. What also makes this a great thriller is how different the bad guys are. Carlino is a corrupt former cop. Talman actually tries to help Suzy hoping she’ll give him the doll and that Roat will leave her alone once he gets it. And Roat is a psychopathic killer who enjoys torturing and murdering people when they won’t give him what he wants or when he doesn’t need them any longer.
The other aspect of the film that makes it so scary are the sets. The apartment is tiny and almost claustrophobic. There’s no way for Suzy to escape that Roat doesn’t block. She’s always tripping over things that Roat puts in her way (Talman’s body, chairs, etc.), and he chains the one door closed so she can’t leave.
5. What I learned from this film was how to create a character who learns to deal with her own insecurities and vulnerabilities and yet finds the strength to overcome her fears and survive. She’s a little too trusting but smart enough to see through the deceptions. I also saw how to build a crescendo of terror as the movie progresses.
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This reply was modified 4 years ago by Karen Grube.
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This reply was modified 4 years ago by
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The Gift – Thriller Conventions
What I learned doing this assignment is that thrillers are full of layers of mystery and intrigue.
Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: Simon
Villain: Gordo
High stakes: Simon’s wife is pregnant with their first child and the villain is obsessed with her.
Life and death situations: Gordo is highly unpredictable, has a huge chip on his shoulder so to speak, and wants to get revenge against Simon from a slight when he was in high school.
Big Mystery: Why is Gordo obsessed with Simon and his wife?
Big Intrigue: How is Gordo going to play out his obsession for revenge against the couple?
Big Suspense: Will the escalating violence end up taking one or both lives?
This movie is thrilling because? The movie is thrilling because Gordo is so unpredictable and strange. His actions are completely unpredictable and we don’t know what he will do next. We fear for the safety and well-being of Simon and his wife, even though Simon did Gordo harm years ago.
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Subject line: DON’T BREATHE
What I learned doing this assignment is that the hero isn’t always a good guy.
Crime Thriller convention
Unwitting but Resourceful Hero:
Rocky is an anti hero – a criminal who robs houses and overcomes the obstacles the Villian places before her.
Dangerous Villain:
The War Vet who owns the house that Rocky and her two compatriots rob.
High stakes:
Stealing the money and getting away with the crime
Life and death situations:
The war vet fighting them in multiple scenes. He has them trapped in various places in the house.
This movie is thrilling because?
It’s a unique set up – our robbers have to be quiet to try to evade the war vet because he is blind. But he can hear them move. There are a whole host of twist and turns and reveals that make their journey really thrilling. At times you think they might escape but the never do, until the end, when Rocky battles the war vet and is able to finally escape.
What is the BIG Mystery, Intrigue, and Suspense of this story?
Big Mystery: How will Rocky get out of the house?
Big Intrigue: How will the War Vet get his money back and protect his secret in the basement from being revealed?
Big Suspense: How will Rocky stay alive and escape with the moeny?
Anything else you’d like to say about what made this movie a great thriller?
This is a great thriller because of all the different scenarios the protagonist encounters along her journey. First she has to remain quiet so she isn’t discovered by a blind man who just killed her lover. Then she has to help a kidnapped woman get free from the basement. Then she has to free herself from the pitch black basement with a killer shooting at her. Then once she is escapes from the house, she has to free herself from the jaws of a malevolent dog inside a car. And finally she has to try and kill the war vet after he drags her back into the house and escape before the police arrive. WOW!!!
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This reply was modified 3 years, 12 months ago by Aaron weisblatt.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 12 months ago by
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