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Day 1 Assignments
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UNLAWFUL ENTRY’s THRILLER CONVENTIONS
What I learned doing this assignment is the movie I decided to watch, “Unlawful Entry” had the thriller conventions. I’d seen this movie before and wasn’t sure they were there. However, watching this time and looking for the conventions, they were there!
JUDITH’S LESSON 1 – THRILLER CONVENTIONS
Unwitting but resourceful HERO: Michael Carr is a hardworking husband. When a thief breaks into his house two police officers answer the call. One becomes obsessed with Carr’s wife. At first, he makes friend with the officer even asking him to work as a security guard at his new adventure while off duty. However, he soon discovers that Officer Pete Davis wants him out of the way so he can be with Carr’s wife.
Dangerous Villain: Officer Pete Davis seems like a dedicated cop but he has a ruthless side to him. When becoming obsessed with Carr’s wife, he proceeds to destroy Carr’s life by taking away his credit card, threatening to kill him, and getting him jailed on false drug charges so he can move in on Carr’s wife.
High Stakes: Carr’s life, being threatened by a police officer, his wife being pursued, his business being destroyed, and losing everything in his life.
Life and Death Situations: Carr looking bad in front of potential business partners and losing all his money, his life being threatened by Davis, framed for drug possession and put in jail and having no bail money, his wife having to deal with a maniac cop and pretending she cares for him to survive, and finally confronting Davis at their home and having to kill him or be killed.
Big Mystery: Who is Officer Davis and what is he up to with Carr’s wife?
Big Intrigue: Police Officer Davis that is covertly up to something that turns out to be the destruction of Carr and the possession of his wife.
Big Suspense: Will Officer Davis eliminate Carr either by having him jailed for a long time or by killing him and force Carr’s wife to be his woman.
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Mastering the Thriller Genre, Day 1, The Conventions of Thrillers
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Michael Clayton – Analyzing the conventions of a thriller.
What I learned doing this assignment is – I learned to critically analyze how a film develops situations and characters that continually and increasingly creates suspense and intrigue throughout.
• Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: Michael Clayton, a ‘fixer’ lawyer whose debt to a loan shark tests his moral courage as he tries to help his good friend and fellow lawyer, Arthur.
• Dangerous Villain: U-north – Karen and Don Jeffries who are willing to kill in order to keep their secret that they knew their weed killer was dangerous and responsible for 468 deaths so they can win the multimillion dollar class action law suit against them.
• High stakes: Michael Clayton’s financial well-being, his job, his life; Arthur’s mental health and life; a multimillion dollar class action law suit against U-North; the law firm’s merger and future will be threatened if they blow the law suit for U-North.
• Life and death situations: Michael Clayton’s car blows up in an attempt to kill him; Michael Clayton owing a loan shark money, contract killers bugging Arthur’s apartment and following, then killing Arthur; U-North covering up and possibly getting away with the deaths of 468 people.
• This movie is thrilling because? We are continually worried for Arthur and Michael’s safety; further we are worried whether Michael will uncover the truth, whether he will have the moral courage to do the right thing, and then whether he can actually expose what the huge and powerful conglomerate of U-North has done.
What is the BIG Mystery, Intrigue, and Suspense of this story?
• Big Mystery: What is U-North covering up that contributed to Arthur having a mental breakdown over the case?
• Big Intrigue: The U-North/Karen cover-up and what they are willing to do to keep the secret that they knew for years that their weed killer was dangerous and responsible for 468 deaths including, hiring contract killers to kill Arthur and then doing what they need to do to keep that death a secret as well, in order to win the class action lawsuit.
• Big Suspense: Will Michael Clayton uncover the U-North secret that Arthur had managed to uncover? Further, will he do the right thing and expose the truth about the coverup and about Arthur’s death before the contract killers kill him.
Anything else you’d like to say about what made this movie a great thriller? While the movie was nonstop with reveals and mysteries to be answered, even more, I liked that I became invested in these characters that were realistically flawed and facing moral dilemmas which left us wondering whether they would do the right thing and whether ‘good’ would trump ‘evil’.
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The Pelican Brief’s Thriller Conventions
Unwitting but resourceful Hero: Darby Shaw, a mild-mannered law student who is forced into hiding when she writes a legal brief successfully speculating on why two supreme court justices were assassinated. As she works with investigative reporter Gray Grantham, she becomes a dogged investigator herself, eventually uncovering the smoking gun that allows Grantham to blow the lid off the case.
Dangerous Villain: Mattiece, the wealthy oil baron who wants to drill on protected wetlands and isn’t afraid to use assassins and political favors from the White House to get what he wants.
High Stakes: Shaw’s life, Grantham’s life, the ability to preserve (or drill on) the wetlands, survival of a Presidential administration
Life and Death Situations: the initial assassinations, the car bombing of Shaw’s professor/lover (and but for a lucky break, Shaw), the fake cop at the car bombing, repeated chase scenes with thugs through New Orleans, Khamel the assassin disguised as the professor’s FBI contact, the attempted car bombing and shooting when they’re leaving the safe deposit box.
The moving is thrilling because?: We know there are forces out to kill or capture Darby throughout the movie, and there are a lot of players on the political side where we don’t know which side they’re ultimately on.
Big Mystery: Why were the Supreme Court Justices killed?
Big Intrigue: The conspiracy between Mattiece and the White House. For most of the film, it’s also unknown what agenda (other than protecting their own turf) the FBI and CIA have with respect to this.
Big Suspense: Will the conspiracy kill Shaw before she can uncover them?
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Rick chose ARGO (2012) film
TONY MENDEZ is the hero….his mission, is ‘extract’ 6 Americans who are hiding out in Canadian ambassador to Iran’s home in Tehran, during 1979 Revolution.
VILLAIN? Hard to pin down to just one character. The nemesis are the Revolutionary Guard who want to put Americans on trial for supporting the Shah since 1953 coup.
SUSPENSE BUILDS throughout the film. MENDEZ comes up with a scheme from a production company in HOLLYWOOD…to use a ‘fake’ film…ARGO….a supposed sci-fi fare…and have the 6 Americans ‘pose’ as members of a preliminary scene crew surveying Tehran.
And, one thing after another, goes wrong. The best Farsi language (Iran speak) of the 6, don’t even want to participate…too ‘hair brained’ for him, initially. Another tense moment, in a bazaar they almost start a riot and are nearly ‘discovered’.
Worse, is the Carter Administration, at last moment, decides to CANCEL the project.
TONY MENDEZ, disobeys orders, and continues on with plan, NOT letting the 6 even know they might NOT get the airline tickets to ‘get outta Dodge City’.
I won’t be a SPOILER and divulge more….
BUT the ‘wheels up’ scene really engages the audience in a sigh of relief.
THINGS I LEARNED….keep throwing OBSTACLES in the way of Protagonist. Can be humans, monsters, bad weather, a credit card foul-up so something isn’t purchased at right moment…but, keep the suspense level up….stay on the Roller Coaster Ride and engage the audience. Keep surprising them….or they’ll leave. MOVIES are a BUSINESS….Netflix went to the whipping post last week because of OVER SPENDING on mostly….bombs.
Writers beware.
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SEVEN – Thriller Conventions
What i learn doing this assignment…
Define the Mystery/Intrigue/Suspense BEFORE starting to write the story.
Movie Chose: SEVEN
Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: Mills, new detective that not control his emotions.
Dangerous Villain: John doe, cunning religious zealot killing sinners.
High stakes: Villain is murdering sinners.
Life and death situations: The serial murder tries to kill them when they get close. He makes Mills the seventh sin.
This movie is thrilling because? The creative murders
3. What is the BIG Mystery, Intrigue, and Suspense of this story?
Big Mystery: Who is murdering? Can they find the serial murderer?
Big Intrigue: Seven deadly sins
Big Suspense: Who is the last victim?
4. Anything else you’d like to say about what made this movie a great thriller?
Tie the main character into the villain’s plans. Make the villain’s plan INTERESTING and visually appealing.
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This reply was modified 3 years ago by Jeff Hall.
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This reply was modified 3 years ago by
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Subject line: (39 Steps) Thriller Conventions – Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Warren Dan Goldstein
702-271-2123
What I learned: That this was not as “slick” like the later Alfred Hitchcock thrillers. Hitchcock allegedly was the master. Hitchcock later declared “you only get the suspense element by giving the viewer information”. So,… I felt that the plan of this thriller was a bit pretentious because there was not enough suspenseful information given to the viewer to build initially enough intrigue or suspense. This seemed weak.
Hitch said, “In mysteries you are holding back information, but this does not guarantee an emotional engagement with the viewer. But we “must” “give” information in order to get that emotional response to build suspense. That’s what was confirmed to me by watching this older film. Simply having the movie’s theme about some “unknown” information with consequences which was never revealed what it was. This “alone” was not strong enough to get me on the edge of my seat. This information was “that information” which had to be stopped from leaving the country, (England), but seemed a relatively uninteresting thing but not maybe for that era. This was written just prior to WWII when spying was the big faux pas as compared to the high tech stuff of today and with nuclear consequences etc.
The consequences of this film were “not” great enough for me anyway. If it were a bomb to go off, etc., we as an audience would have been more engaged with more emotional leverage at stake, not knowing where and who would be killed with “life and death consequences”. Instead, as it turns out in the end, it becomes just a supporting character who seemed relatively unimportant though in the opening scene. It was a theatrical mentalist showman who could memorize things and people could question him and he precisely would repeat what he knows verbatim. Only at the end of the film in the denouement we see this connection and this was the ultimate mystery unveiled, war weaponry secret formulas etc. which were being stolen in order for spies to get them out of the country, and most likely to the Germans at the time who were the bad guys but not precisely stated as such. The Germans as we know today were the ones with all the technology secrets including the A bomb.
ACT #1 – Doing – Events to establish the mystery by “actions taking place” – “characters doing things” (thank you Chris Soth and his 8 Minnie Movie structure based upon historically the original limitation of movie reels which at first ran only for 15 minutes each and had to be changed for the next reel. This concept conditioned audiences to experience sections of the story in parcels as structure each with a beginning middle and end, like beats for example)
#1 Minnie Movie – ACT I begins – the “doing perspective” for the viewer which begins with the “Status quo” – Mr. Memory, a mentalist performer, in a theater giving his mind memory performance whereas he is portrayed as having memorized everything in the world it seems and people would ask him questions he had to answer. Suddenly, a shooting takes place, shots fired. “Mysteriously”, an unknown woman, we learn later, Anabella, is frightened to be seen there as the protagonist Richard Henney takes her out of there and goes to an apartment I “assume” he has for rent. Frightened, she goes to close a drape, then goes with him back to “his” apartment. She says she fired the shots in the theater in order to create a “diversion”. This is a mystery as well as to why she needed a diversion. From what? To stop what?
She says two men there wanted to kill her. She says however it is “not” a “spy story”, but rather she is an “agent” of the government (England?), but she has no country. (Why?) Mystery is who she is and why? Intrigue – covert, underhanded, clandestine. Emotions are tension, anticipation, uncertainty. Don’t know who the villain is “exactly” yet. She must save a “secret” from being dug up and taken out of the country. This is a life and death situation because the two men will stop at nothing to stop her.
She warns Richard that now he is in trouble “as well” because he followed her. She makes him look out onto the street to see the two men outside on her corner to establish the intrigue. She mentions the “39 steps” but not “what” it means. She says she is the “only” person who can stop them, the unnamed villain leader that is. Intrigue, because there are only days and the secret information she must protect will be then out of the country, the suspense. She does give a clue that the leader, who has a dozen names, but has the top of his little finger missing. She says that there is a man in Scotland she must “visit” if anything is to be done to stop this from taking place, but not as to “who” that man is. Richard says, “Scotland Yard has “39 steps”.”
#2 Minnie Movie #2 15 minutes. Richard is now a reluctant hero not wanting to become involved, unwitting and not knowing what to do to help her get away from the two men. This woman stumbles back in to Richard’s apartment but with a knife in her back. He is now “more unwitting”, not knowing what to do. She’s now dead and the phone keeps ringing. Men are outside at the corner in a phone booth. In her hand is a map with a city circled. Why? Intrigue. Richard doesn’t want to be caught by the two men and needs to escape the building being resourceful. He believes the problem will just go away, however, but now the problem reasserts itself with him involved.
While the two men are outside, Richard shows further resourcefulness and exchanges his clothes for that of a milkman to get past the two men. Here is a “good man” doing a “bad thing” now, lying to trick the milkman, fabricating a story, telling the milkman he has been having an affair adulterously with the woman on the third floor and the two men outside are her brother and her husband after him, though he knows she’s rather actually been murdered but the milkman does not and exchanges clothing with him.
#3 Minnie Movie #3 – approximately at 20 minutes. Richard’s attempting to resolve the problem at hand and “possibly” to take over for Anabella to find out what the woman wanted to avert. However, at this suspenseful moment, it’s “primarily” to escape the authorities about the dead woman and or the police as his immediate goal is so not to be killed now himself. Escaping the two men he takes a train to Scotland after seeing a map with something circled that was in Anabella’s hand after she died.
The two men see him at the train station and persist to catch that train themselves, but we don’t know any “information” how they would know Richard would be going there and if they also made it onto the train. Cut into a scene I suppose where a landlady discovers the dead Anabella in Richard’s apartment, and she screams (Hitchcock style) shockingly.
The action becomes suspenseful for Richard to continue to get away and “intriguing” as to why the two men now want to catch Richard particularly, still unknown. Perhaps they believe Richard knows something told to him by the murdered woman agent. Will they get to him before the train gets away?; no, to keep us hanging on. The hero is now locked into the adventure. All the ordinary things won’t work it seems to just get away from this and he now is involved, so he continues to head to Scotland.
Now there are a different two men who share a private train seating room with Richard and he reads their newspaper about the woman who was murdered which has Richard’s picture in the paper as a suspect for her murder. Authorities now on the train are searching the train for him. He however escapes police by going into a stranger’s private train car seating room, a beautiful woman (Hitchcock as a philanderer always made sure of this) to avoid the authorities finding him. He starts madly kissing her, but hiding that it’s against her will but charades as lovers in order to feign off authorities.
But after he leaves her without respectable apology, she tells the authorities that he’s the man they’re looking for by her knowing his publicized name. He escapes them on the train when it stops to search for him but strangely right on top of a bridge and he hangs outside onto the bridge to hide from them. This builds intrigue as he faces death of falling off. The train pulls away. A news radio report broadcasts publicizing his description on the radio as well and his name. His picture is already shown to be in the newspapers.
This ACT II continues after this PLOT POINT 1 He’s now resourceful by walking on foot and stops at a farmhouse and rents a room for the night. This would be until he can get to the city that was circled on the map. Again he lies, “a good man doing a bad thing”, saying he’s rather looking for a job. The owner of the house has a wife who appears unhappy with her over zealous religious husband having her live out in the country and forms an immediate liking to Richard because of his metropolitan pizazz, but this makes her husband jealous. Richard probably discloses to the wife the truth about himself and his predicament, but we can’t hear dialogue, only see him speaking to her through a window (Hitchcock style), building intrigue and mystery “not knowing information” and we as the viewer must “imagine” that he’s telling her the truth about himself. He trusts her.
The wife at night awakens and hears cars coming, supposedly the police looking for him. Richard pays her “bible toting” (planting a future event to be related to this personality) jealous husband to hide him as police arrive, but instead the husband reveals to the police he was there. His wife quickly gives Richard her husband’s heavy jacket to wear in the cold as Richard continues to flee. Richard is attempting to resolve the problem at hand concerning his innocence but isn’t doing well because no one believes him so far except for the jealous husband’s wife.
This personifies that we are indeed in ACT II which is the “observing perspective” for the viewer as to story structure and as Richard unwittingly attempts to solve his problem, his obstacle, while he escapes police again, but they remain on his trail to catch him escaping through the countryside. This is the first of the big chase scenes. Suspense builds that the police are going to get him. The consequence to this will be then he won’t be able to stop the mysterious plot which he doesn’t “understand” exactly what it is yet, but in order to do this.
This “understanding” must happen in the upcoming ACT III (of four acts which I follow and make more sense to me instead of just one, one hour act II which needs to be divided into two with each one having a definitive different viewer perspective, FYI) which is the forthcoming need for viewer “understanding” of what’s happening on the screen. This anticipation to “know something” not yet known builds up intrigue for us. All Richard knows at this time is that he’s trying to stop “information” getting out of the country for the dead woman agent. The mystery, which is lack of information, persists to us as viewer and to our hero getting us emotionally connected to Richard making us continue to want to watch the film.
#4 Minnie Movie #4 around 45 minutes-ish, halfway in ACT II – Richard must take on a “more grandiose plan”. This begins at 38:44 when Richard reaches the house of a professor which address was on the map in the dead woman agent’s hand, not knowing as to “why” he must go there except the agent woman mentioned she must go there but didn’t, of course, or who the real villain is as well. A party is going on and he asks if this professor knows the murdered woman by name, which he does. Police arrive but the maid at the front door lies to protect Richard from them. Something’s going on “why” she wouldlie to hide him from the police. Hint… Intrigue
Then the professor lies to police as well as they leave. More intrigue. Richard notices that the Professor has his little fingertip missing, a big clue to confirm the identity of the villain. The professor is the real villain and we are now knowing the more grandiose plan Richard must go forward to put into action. But this villain exposes to Richard his goal concerning that there is simply “information”, mysteriously not saying what that is, though he must get out of the country. He’s the main villain, now revealed. Richard “understands” now who he is against which is rather to become ACT III’s “perspective of understanding”.
The mystery continues but is still not clear “how” that professor is to convey the supposed unknown important information out of the country but still not knowing what that information “is” or “how” he is to do this, get it “out” of the country. Intrigue. The professor suggests Richard to take his own life, suspense, but then as Richard looks to escape, instead the Professor shoots Richard in the chest; though we assume this is the location of the shot because we don’t see any blood. This is a “red herring” in our story, needed, which we will disseminate in ACT III. We are led to rather “believe” Richard is dead and the villain now can continue in his goal suspense, but…
#5 Minnie Movie #5 and beginning ACT III (of 4 acts) at 55 minutes. This is the “understanding perspective” for the hero and the viewers. Back at the country house the overzealous religious jealous husband states he left something in his jacket pocket and learns that was the outer coat which his wife gave Richard to wear in the cold. We joltingly “cut to” Richard now seated before a sheriff in Scotland that he apparently “trusts”, and shouldn’t have, mistakenly, showing the sheriff a hymn book that was in the pocket of the jacket he wore which stopped the villain’s bullet and saved his life and allowed him to escape the professor, the villain. This trust has been betrayed and the sheriff turns him over to the local police as a murderer. However, Richard escapes from the police through a window he breaks and runs off.
Richard stops in, accidentally it appears, at a political rally meeting, whereas the people believe he is one of the speakers at the meeting. The two villainous men show up there. Richard speaks b.s. political rhetoric and wins over the crowd at the meeting, b.s.ing everyone in his political speech. This is as the still angry distrusting woman he kissed on the train who told the police he was there in the train is now in the wings of the hall standing with police and the two men masquerading as authorities,(bad guys) so we are led to believe them to be.
Unfortunately, Richard is trapped. The two men take him away in their car but along with the woman he kissed who turned him into the police, with the woman not understanding why she must go with them as well at this point. They aren’t being taken to where the two men said they were going. She is being kidnapped by them and still is angry at Richard, not believing him and thinks he is the murderer of the woman in his apartment and was appalled at his affronting her back in the train. He trusted her mistakenly.
It is eye openers for Richard and he decides to change his character, his personality as he starts to examine his own character as he becomes aggressively mean to the woman he kissed while she is being kidnapped with him and handcuffed to him resisting him all the way. Sheep block the highway and the two men exit the car to remove the sheep out of the way of their vehicle, leaving Richard and the woman handcuffed together assuming now they won’t escape. However, they run off and through chase action through the woods and a waterfall being closely pursued by the two men.
Still in ACT III, we as viewers “understand” they are not just police but are the villain’s agents. Suspense is resolved “temporarily” as Richard and the woman have escaped and get into a hotel. One room left with one bed, so they must sleep together, hiding their adjoining handcuffs to each other while the woman persists fighting with him while Richard tries to hide this with his new forceful aggressive actions hiding their confrontational interactions. This is especially from the Inn keeper’s wife who rather wants to “believe” they are lovers instead and favors helping them by not telling anyone they’re there for a rendezvous and to thwart anyone who may come after them and to let them have their night of romance, so she wants to believe.
1:13 The woman gets out of her side of the handcuff while Richard is asleep and is about to escape from Richard. She overhears the two men on the phone in the hotel lobby talking about their plot and realizes Richard’s innocent of the murder of the woman. The Inn keeper’s wife gets rid of the two men believing Richard and the woman are lovers trying to get away from something not realizing who the two men are. So, the woman goes back to the room with a new attitude knowing Richard is innocent, her eye opener.
This clearly appears to bring us to Minnie Movie #6 still in ACT III, where we “understand” the villain is much more dangerous and conniving than we had believed. 1:10 The professor leaves his house headed for the Palladium, but we are not knowing the reason, building intrigue as to “why” and for what reason – going to the theater? For what purpose?
The final ACT IV begins with Minnie Movie #7. This is the battle of words, deeds, and actions between the hero and the villain. 1:16 Richard wakes up and the woman tells Richard what the two men, having come to the Inn, and having used the phone there with the call mentioning the Palladium show where the Professor had gone. This is while supposedly we assume the professor is on his way there, building intrigue as to the unknown as to “why”. The couple hurries to get there because Richard knows he “must” in order to clear himself of the murder and hoping to find out how the information is to be taken out of the country and to confront the villain, he assumes, secondary to proving his innosense of the murder.
The hero goes right against the antagonist who has the secret plan to get the secret information out of the country, but still the viewer and Richard not knowing exactly how. The hero realizes he can be destroyed but still needs to prevent the secret information from getting out but not knowing what that information is. He must put his plan to do that into effect.
1:19 Now inside, seated in the Palladium for the show, more police arrive as the show is going on, blocking everyone from exiting the theater. Richard sees the Professor, the villain, in a balcony box seat and looks through a borrowed pair of binoculars that the Professor’s little fingertip is missing, the second time noticing this. (I personally would have waited to reveal this now instead of at the Professors’ house, BTW, because it would have more intrigue)
1:22 Richard hears the same song being played as in the initial musical theater where Anabella, the Woman agent fired the two shots. The same Memory man is there performing. Richard has a catharsis and figures it out that the information which needs to be stopped from leaving the country is inside Mr. Memory’s head! (How trite, especially for Hitchcock) Richard has solved the mystery as to where and how the information was to leave the country. The professor, the villain, is there to take Mr. Memory out of the country to get the information to the enemy.
Now only one will be successful. When the police are about to remove Richard, he yells out to Mr. Memory, “What are the 39 steps?” He can’t help but answer this question on stage, so he conforms to the requirements of his act to answer all questions posed by the audience. He says the 39 steps are technical questions about some sort of weaponry. The viewer is sure now that these people are foreign spies collecting that information on behalf of the foreign office of,… but cut off as he is shot by the villain. Mr. Memory might live but we’re not shown that precisely as the authorities hear Mr. Memory blurt out what he memorized as he lies dying on the floor of the stage. We assume the hero has prevented the spies from getting that information out to the enemy. I assume that Hitchcock was prevented from making it known the enemy was Germany.
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What I learned: it’s helpful to look at the main components and learn from them.
Movie: Lavender
Unwitting but resourceful hero: photographer with amnesia about what happened the day her family was murdered.
Dangerous Villain: unknown through most of the movie, seems to be a malevolent force in the family home.
High Stakes: threats to the hero’s sanity and well-being, threats to her daughter and husband
Life and Death: something is stalking hero and there’s the clear feeling she’s in danger
Thrilling because: we don’t know who the villain is and suspect it could be the hero herself.
Big mystery: what happened the night the hero’s family was murdered, and she was badly injured
Big intrigue: Is the hero also the villain?
Big Suspense: danger to hero and her family, will they survive
Barbara
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Tinker Tailor Solider Spy
Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: George Smiley
Dangerous <div>Villain: Bill Haydon
High stakes: Life and death stakes, Smiley must discover the identity of the mole inside his own government office.
Life and death situations: Yes and yes.
This movie is thrilling because? There are five suspects operating at the highest level of intelligence and one is a mole. And one of the five is the hero, yet you never know who to trust. They all have secrets.What is the BIG Mystery, Intrigue, and Suspense of this story?
Big Mystery: Who is the mole?
Big Intrigue: Which one of the five top intelligence officers that worked with Smiley is the mole? Can Smiley be trusted to find the mole? Is he the mole?
Big Suspense: Will Smiley find and stop the double agent in time to stop the leaks, win the Cold War, and save Irina? Stop more bloodshed? Prevent WWIII?Anything else you’d like to say about what made this movie a great thriller? It is a slow burn, but it moves and plays like speed chess. Everyone is well set up as a possible double agent, there are lots of secrets, and there is always a question.
Answer the question “What I learned doing this assignment is…?”
I learned that TTSS is incredibly layered and complex. It’s filled with intrigue, red herrings, and secrets. I also learned from the MIS question above that even with a large cast and a complex story that the story can still be simply explained in a few sentences – Smiley, who is also a suspect, is tasked to discover who out of five possible agents working in British Intelligence is a Russian double-agent.
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What I learned doing this assignment is to acknowledge the need for all of the following elements to keep the viewer engaged
SICARIO Thriller Conventions
Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: FBI agent Kate Macer
Dangerous Villains: Drug cartel leader Manuel Diaz and his boss Fausto Alarcon. Also the anti-hero CIA agents who recruit Kate
High stakes: The continued smuggling of drugs into the U.S. and the murders of those who try to stop it
Life and death situations: Kate’s kidnap response team raid an Arizona tract house to investigate; she’s shot at and almost killed.
A booby trapped storage hut explodes, killing two officers
She’s recruited by D.O.D. and CIA agents to bring Diaz’ brother to the U.S. to question him about his brother’s whereabouts; an ambush at the U.S. point of entry leads to a shoot-out
A decision is made to enter Mexico through a smuggling tunnel and take the fight directly to the cartel members
A shoot-out in the tunnel ensues; CIA member Alejandro shoots Kate in her Kevlar vest to stop her from impeding his kidnapping of a corrupt Mexican police officer with a squad car full of drugs
Alejandro sneaks onto the grounds of the cartel leader Alarcon to take revenge for his having killed Alejandro’s family earlier
Alejandro later puts a gun to Kate’s head to sign a document saying everything was done legally
This movie is thrilling because? Both the American CIA agents and cartel members are killers and Kate is caught in the middle
Big mystery: How can they stop the flow of drugs?
Big Intrigue: The power of the cartel’s use of bribery, trafficking and murder
Big Suspense: Will they succeed in their illegal cross-border raid?
Anything else you’d like to say about what made this movie a great thriller?
Action combined with moral ambiguity
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Subject line: HEADHUNTERS Thriller Conventions
What I learned doing this assignment is the magical effect a few GREAT twists can have.
Unwitting
but Resourceful Hero: Roger BrownDangerous
Villain: Clas GreveHigh
stakes: Death or imprisonment, Wealth if successfulLife
and death situations: Roger finds a dead man in his car; then as he tries to dispose of the body, the man is
actually alive; then the man tries to kill him when he won’t call 911;
then he kills the man. Running from a man trying to kill him, running from
the police. Almost getting stabbed to death.
Huge car crash.This
movie is thrilling because? No one is who you might think. A protagonist
is fighting for his life against an antagonist who remains mysterious
almost till the end.3. What is the BIG Mystery, Intrigue, and Suspense of this story?
Big
Mystery: Who is Clas Greve and what does he want?Big
Intrigue: Who can Roger trust?Big
Suspense: Will Roger survive?4. Anything else you’d like to say about what made this movie a great thriller? Several excellent twists; well-executed humor, set-ups and pay-offs expertly woven into the script. An extremely satisfying ironic ending.
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This reply was modified 3 years ago by Patricia Milton.
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This reply was modified 3 years ago by
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Wait Until Dark Thriller Conventions
What I learned doing this assignment is…These conventions have stood the test of time! Also, this thriller worked in a small space with limited cast and locations, making it a perfect contained script in 1967!
Unwitting
but Resourceful Hero: Mrs. Suzie HendrixDangerous
Villain: Mr. Harry Roat, Jr.High
stakes: Lisa was killed over what Roat calls “going into business for
herself,” which likely means not giving the doll to Roat quickly enough. Suzie has to figure out the con in time
to protect herself, or Roat will kill Suzie.Life
and death situations: Roat kills Lisa in an unknown manner. Roat posts Carlino outside Suzie’s
apartment so she can’t leave and cuts her phone line. Later, Roat kills Carlino with a car,
and Talman with an ice pick. Roat locks
Suzie in her apartment, threatens to strangle her with a scarf, pours
gasoline over Suzie’s apartment and threatens to light it, grabs her
around the neck with her own cane crook and yanks her down the stairs, and
finally, tries to stab her.This
movie is thrilling because? Suzie is blind, and is being duped by a gang
of professional criminals who enter her apartment multiple times. Sometimes they are present with her in
the apartment without her knowledge.
She must give the gang the doll they want, but she neither has the
doll, nor knows how to find the doll for most of the movie. Even after she finally finds the doll
and gives the doll to Roat under threat of her life, he still means to
kill her to cover his tracks.What is the BIG Mystery, Intrigue, and Suspense of this story?
Big
Mystery: Who is/are the villain(s)? (smaller mysteries: Who REALLY killed Lisa? Who can Suzie trust? Where is the doll?)Big
Intrigue: Roat hires two professional
con men, Talman and Carlino, to fool Suzie Hendrix into thinking her
husband, Sam Hendrix, killed Lisa, so that Suzie will give the cons the
doll, thinking it will help hide Sam’s guilt.Big
Suspense: Roat will kill everyone,
including Suzie, to get the doll, and to cover his tracks. Will Suzie figure out the con before Roat
kills her?Anything else you’d like to say about what made this movie a great thriller?
There is a late plot twist when Suzie realizes she can’t trust Talman. Also, Wait Until Dark had a great hope/fear sequence in the final minutes, with Roat and Suzie alternating control of the fight for their lives.
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DAY 1 – THRILLER CONVENTIONS
“KIMI” THRILLER CONVENTIONS
What I learned doing this assignment is: That the basic conventions of the thriller show through on stories that are complex and even on low-budget films. KIMI is a very low-budget contained thriller that nonetheless delivers on all of these conventions very strongly. Once I knew what to do look for, I was able to easily identify the conventions even when the plot become complex or deliberately misleading. I’m excited to learn the process to use the conventions to plot out a thriller of my own and hopefully craft it to be as satisfying a journey as KIMI was.
Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: Angela, an agoraphobic data stream analyzer, unknowing of the crime she’s about to accidentally overhear through the “Kimi” system as part of her job. But she is resourceful in that she knows enough about tech and tracking to hack into the admin data in order to see the crime take place through a supposedly unhackable product, to question the company that seems to have her retinal ID even though she didn’t consent to give it, to dump her cell phone when she suspects she’s being tracked, to use the Kimi device to control her apartment lights and sound system to turn the tables on her attackers, and knowledgeable of the carpentry tools from her father to use them as weapons.
Dangerous Villain: Antonio Rivas, a smooth hit man whose squad has killed the woman whose audio Angela overheard. He has operators everywhere to pull his hits, and tech-savvy trackers to find his targets from their home computers in real time. He has exceeded his employer’s wishes to track and kill Angela and will stop at nothing – including killing others as collateral damage – in order to contain the data for his employer, the powerful CEO of the Kimi device.
High stakes: One woman has been raped and murdered already, and now the hit men are after Angela to stop her from getting the audio to the FBI.
Life and death situations: The woman Angela overheard has been killed. The Kimi device is listening and observing her every move. The hit men who killed the first woman are now after Angela, chasing her through the corporate office, grabbing her into a van on the street during a protest rally. They stab the neighbor who offers help, torture her in her apartment, and pursue her once she escapes to the upstairs apartment.
This movie is thrilling because? The tension builds over whether or not Angela will be able to get the data to the FBI. The hit men are dangerous and relentless. Angela’s paranoia becomes actualized when she is actually chased. The final act is a life-or-death cat-and-mouse chase throughout her apartment, resulting in Angela alive and three hit men dead.
Big Mystery: What happened to the woman on the audio recording? Who killed her and why?
Big Intrigue: The CEO of KIMI is trying to cover up that he raped a woman by hiring Antonio and his men to kill her, but now the audio and video of the crime is in Angela’s hands, so he has to dispatch Antonio to kill her and anyone else she might try to tell.
Big Suspense: The CEO owns the company and all its upper-level employees answer to him – all of whom are ordered to silence Angela. Antonio and his men are trying to kill her and are using her phone and KIMI device to track her every move.
4. Anything else you’d like to say about what made this movie a great thriller?
This was a great low-budget, largely contained thriller. The depth of character and rising suspense were very impressive on such a small budget and scale, which is the kind of project I’m interested in writing during this class.
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Eric
I haven’t seen this film but I’m now enticed to see it.
Warren
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Assignment 1 – Conventions of Thrillers
What I learned doing this assignment:
Movie Chosen: The Woman in the Window
Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: Anna Fox: on constant alert, but plagued with guilt and grief about the past and addicted to pills and alcohol so her perspective and convictions about what she is seeing and hearing are constantly questionable. She is agoraphobic, which further traps her in her ability to seek help from the outer world.
Dangerous Villain: Alistair Russell, who dominates and gas-lights Anna; has the police on his side in proving she is a delusional, crazy cat lady.
High stakes: Several questionable and creepy characters surround her in the covering up of murder; her own life is in danger, as she tries to rescue Alistair’s son from his father
Life and death situations: She witnesses the murder of a woman and believes the son is also in danger, but the son is a deceptive, murderous figure who pretends to be vulnerable.
This movie is thrilling because? The audience is constantly grasping at the truth of what is happening behind layers of deception – there are no “good” characters except for a policeman who is being deceived at every turn.
3. What is the BIG Mystery, Intrigue, and Suspense of this story?
Big Mystery: Is Anna delusional or is her perspective valid?
Big Intrigue: Who is the woman who was murdered?
Big Suspense: Will Anna be vindicated?
4. Anything else you’d like to say about what made this movie a great thriller? Midway through we see the car accident that Anna caused that killed her husband and child (an argument that indicates she was cheating on her husband) – the smashed car appears in her living room as she awakens to her own nightmare, while the police and neighbors stand there witnessing her in this traumatic unfolding. It presents right in the middle so that the audience is questioning the truth as her perspective about the murder collapses. Twists and turns in perspective – there are no innocent players and the truth is constantly hidden until the end.
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Intrusion – Thriller Conventions
<div>Jack’s Lesson 1</div>
Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: Mira
<div>
Dangerous Villain: Henry
High stakes: Life and Death
Life and death situations: Initial Intrusion – 4 are
killed. In the end, Henry stalks the missing girlThis movie is thrilling because? Suspense, mystery and
intrigue.Big Mystery: What happened to missing girl
</div><div>
Big Intrigue: How is Henry involved
Big Suspense: Mira uncovers fact after fact and is
almost caught each time5. Answer the question “What I learned doing this assignment is… A thriller has Mystery, Intrigue and Suspense
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Sherri D. Coffee – Thriller Conventions
What I learned doing this assignment was to identify the key elements and key characters in a thriller.
I chose Miss Sloane – political thriller.
Unwitting but resourceful hero: Elizabeth Sloane cutthroat lobbyist
Dangerous Villain: Bill Sanford – gun manufacturer and her old firm Cole, Kravitz and Waterman. Senator is dangerous but the insight comes at the end with a twist to the story.
High stakes: Elizabeth is under a congressional investigation for an ethic violation that could end her career and send her to jail.
Life and Death situations: Elizabeth hires an advocate at her new firm to lobby gun control legislation. She was in a school shooting and is targeted on the street. The firm Elizabeth leaves tries to discredit her as she makes progress on the gun control legislation.
This movie is thrilling because – you do not know the outcome. Tension, suspense and intrigue are demonstrated in scenes and characters.
Big Mystery: Will she pass the gun control legislation, and will she survive the hearing?
Big Intrigue: Who to trust? What has she done to warrant the ethics investigation? What does her old firm have on her?
Big Suspense: Who is driving the congressional investigation? What role does the congressman play?
This movie also had several twists. When Elizabeth leaves her old firm, she takes most of the people with her except her closest ally refuses to leave. (setup) The payoff is the big reveal at the hearing. Jane was wiretapping the firm to reveal the congressman had taken bribes. Elizabeth seems to be one step ahead but does not reveal what she knows until the end of the movie.
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Thriller Conventions: ” Fortress “
What I learned doing this assignment – Some movies at first appear to be thrillers, however after applying the conventions of a thriller story, some are more dramas than thrillers.
* Unwitting but resourceful hero: the son of Bill, who was naive and quickly became aware of the evil people involved, and he fought them to the end.
* Dangerous Villain: Frederick, a malevolent, revengeful and greedy former so-called “good guy,” who hunted down Bruce Willis character, Bill, without regard for anyone’s life that was in his way.
* High Stakes: Prevent Frederick from accessing and acquiring the 600M, plus stop the continuous slaughter of anyone in his way – dozens and dozens of people.
* Life and Death situations: Frederick and his hired assassins’ continuous slaughter of gov’t agents/protectors living and working inside the Forge Mt. Retreat for retired CIA agents, as well as Bill/Bruce and his son and girl friend protecting each other from death/murder.
* This movie is thrilling because: it has layers of mystery, intrigue and suspense that are presented in good fashion.
* Big Mystery: What is this highly protected compound and what/whom does the “Fortress” protect and why? What do the bad guys want to achieve through their invasion?
* Big Intrigue: Who has sold out to Frederick and what does he want from Bill/Bruce? Will Freddie succeed with his greedy, revenging game plan. Will Bill and his son repair their neglected relationship after finding out Bill’s REAL occupation – being a CIA hero for the U.S. and the world’s safety.
* Big Suspense: Will Bill, his son and close friends survive the attack against the Fortress.
* Added thoughts: I have a new respect for the profound complexity involved in writing a superb thriller movie. I will be better, more involved and more aware of the needed depth in writing my excellent thriller script.
Thank you, Hal and Cheryl, for the depth of your research and presenting these concepts.
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Day 1 Assignment
Subject line: All the Old Knives
“What I learned doing this assignment is that if you confuse your audience, and set up things that don’t make sense, the movie will not work. Also, if I don’t really care very much about what happens to the characters, because I’m not interested in the characters, I won’t want to watch the movie.
Here’s the IMDB summary: Two CIA agents and ex-lovers (Chris Pine and Thandiwe Newton) are brought back together years after a failed rescue attempt and forced to blur the lines between profession and passion in this deeply riveting tale of global espionage, moral dilemma and deadly betrayal.
Unwitting
but Resourceful Hero: Following a botched hostage crisis on a plane, where
an undercover agent on board was killed and thrown off the plane, and all
passengers, crew and hijackers died, 8 years later the CIA re-opens a
review of what happened, because of concern that there was a mole in the
agency who contributed to this dreadful outcome. Chris Pine’s character, who was already
cleared in the initial post-incident investigation, is charged by the head of the office (Laurence
Fishburn) with determining whether his ex-lover and fellow agent, who left the CIA (played
by Thandiwe Newton), was the reason for the failure. He is supposed to kill her if he
determines she is the “mole.” She
ran away from him after the hijacking ended and all the passengers died,
and never explained why. There is a
telephone call to Iran during the middle of the crisis on the Station Head’s
[Jonathan Pryce] call log that is very suspicious. The Station Head denies
making the call. We find out deep
into the movie that the Station Head called Thandiwe Newton to warn her he
was raked over the coals and she should be prepared for the same
treatment. <div>Dangerous
Villain: Who the “villains” are is
unclear, but they are certainly dangerous.High
stakes: Yes, life and death. Finding a mole in the CIA.Life
and death situations: Yes.This
movie is thrilling because? The
premise was exciting, but this movie was confusing, boring, and did not
always make sense. It was a chore
to get through it. I didn’t care
about the characters. The ending,
however, was extremely surprising and dramatic, and sort of made
sense.3. What is the BIG Mystery, Intrigue, and Suspense of this story?
Big
Mystery: Who is the mole? Will Chris Pine actually go ahead and
cause the death of this woman he truly loved if she turns out to be the
mole? She now has a normal life, with a husband and young children. Will he actually cause her to lose her life? [Subsidiary mystery: Back at the time of the crisis, 8 years before, are the messages coming
from the undercover agent on the plane real? The two messages are totally different
in style. Was the first message his
message, and the second message sent by someone purporting to be him?] [It turns out that Chris Pine was the
mole, but he only betrayed the agency in order to save Thandiwe Newton.] </div><div>Big
Intrigue: What was the role of the Station Head [Jonathan Pryce]? Who is betraying whom? Seems like everyone has something to
hide.Big
Suspense: What will happen at the
dinner/interrogation between Chris Pine and Thandiwe Newton? Will Chris
Pine tell his assassin (on standby at the restaurant) to kill Thandiwe
Newton if he feels she is lying to him? The long scene in the restaurant didn’t work and didn’t keep me on the edge of my seat.4. Anything else you’d like to say about what made this movie a great thriller? It was NOT a great thriller.
</div>
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What I learned is how easy it is to make one fatal error writing a thriller that makes the difference between a great thriller and one that fails.
I decided to watch “How It Ends,” the #1 film on Netflix in the U.S. this week, last week in April, 2022.
This movie has almost all the elements of a great thriller but with one main fatal flaw.
Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: Will is the Hero as he travels 2,000 miles across the country from Chicago to Seattle to find his pregnant girlfriend after a possible end of the world event.
Dangerous Villain: There are multiple villains our hero must face, from people trying to stop his journey, people robbing and stealing from him, shooting and chasing him, to the environment itself with storms, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions.
High stakes: His girlfriend is missing and he doesn’t know what happened to her and his journey is long and perilous.
Life and death situations: Will faces constant life and death situations as mentioned above, and must find food, gas, supplies, transportation, on his trip while avoiding, or fighting robbers, lightning storms, traffic, etc.
This movie is thrilling because? We are rooting for our hero to find his girlfriend as he tries to survive his journey.
3. What is the BIG Mystery, Intrigue, and Suspense of this story?
<div>Big Mystery: Is Sam, Will’s pregnant girlfriend still alive and what happened to cause power, Internet, and cell service to end across the country?
</div><div>Big Intrigue: What happened out West and was it a natural disaster or a human-created one?
Big Suspense: Will faces constant danger during his six-day trip as he makes his way from Chicago to Seattle. Will he survive the trip? Will he find his girlfriend?
</div>
The main reason this movie fails to please the audience is the ending.
Yes, our hero finds his girlfriend after a perilous journey, but the movie never really explains or answers the big mystery of the movie to our satisfaction.
What potentially world-ending event happened in the Western part of the U.S.?
We find out there was a tidal wave that destroyed Seattle, and volcano eruptions. Maybe a massive earthquake triggered it all or was it man-made with nuclear weapons?
The movie does not explain or tell us and we are left at the end asking, “That’s it?”
“How it Ends” doesn’t show how it ends, and leaves us hanging with our protagonists trying to outrace a volcanic explosion. It appears they will make it safe, but we do not know for sure, and we never learn what happened to cause this all.
The movie feels like the first half of a two-part movie, where we only get half the story, and the second part will delve into the cause of what happened and answer our big questions.
Did Netflix plan to have a sequel?
As it stands now, the movie leaves us hanging and wondering, which is very unsatisfying to the audience. If the point is to show we might not ever know or find out what happened (the cause) in a real-life disaster, then it might make some sense, but this isn’t real-life; it’s a movie, and audiences want answers to huge mysteries that you set-up.
Watching a bad thriller still has lessons to teach us; here is what not to do.
Never set-up a huge mystery for the audience without revealing the answer by the end!
The ending of a movie can make or break the entire experience for an audience.
Why this 2018 movie is #1 on Netflix in late April, 2022 is the real mystery.
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Rear Window
Jeff is an unwitting hero because he is injured and essentially reliant on others for even the simplest things such as meals, bathing, etc. But as a professional photographer, he has at his disposal tools of his trade which he uses to turn his boring existence into a mystery-solving opportunity as he entertains himself with the private lives of his neighbors through his telephoto lenses and binoculars, even using flashbulbs to
Mr. Thorwald is a dangerous villain in that he seems to have orchestrated a very intricate plan to murder and dispose of his wife that he has carried out without being caught. Jeff and his ragtag team of sleuths don’t seem to measure up to the callousness of the villain.
The stakes of the film continually rise, and Jeff’s entertainment turns to solving the mysteries of his neighbors, then a potential murder and further still when his girlfriend puts herself in harm’s way before inadvertently tipping off the villain as to Jeff’s identity and location, thus putting his life in danger.
The movie is thrilling because we have become invested in the lives of these neighbors through Jeff and Lisa’s spying, so that when the stakes rise, the audience goes along for the ride. Due to Jeff’s vulnerable physical state, we are especially aware of the danger once the Thorwald is on to him.
The Big Mystery of this film is whether Thorwald really killed his wife or if Jeff’s imagination just gotten the best of him in his current state?
The Big Intrigue is what has happened to the body of the wife.
The Big Suspense is how Thorwald reacts when Jeff sends the anonymous note and Lisa ends up breaking into the apartment all leading to her getting caught and ultimately putting Jeff’s life in danger.
I love this film and like the fact that an intriguing world was created using very everyday characters and situations. The setups and payoffs of the other neighbors gives it a charming, return to normal life, ending as well as a satisfying resolution to Jeff’s hesitancy to get married as he now sees Lisa as much more of an equal after her adventurous foray into detective work.
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Watched Three Days of the Condor again. Still one of the greatest thrillers of all time. I never get tired of watching the the layers unfold. However, I watched it through the class formula and saw the movie in a completely different way.
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The Lady Vanishes (1939) Thriller Conventions
I re-watched the 1939 Alfred Hitchcock version of The Lady Vanishes.
Unwitting but resourceful Hero: Iris Henderson befriends the MacGuffin, Miss Fhoy, is hit on the head just prior to boarding the train and becomes the only person who believes that Miss Fhoy existed after Miss Fhoy vanishes. Iris ultimately teams with Gilbert Redman to discover Miss Fhoy has been marked for murder to prevent her from bringing information to the British Foreign Office.
Dangerous Villain: Dr. Egon Hartz, head of the conspiracy on board the train. He befriends Iris and Gilbert. He first offers medical advice to convince Iris that Miss Fhoy didn’t exist. Once he understands Iris and Gilbert have discovered the plot, he pretends to help them locate Miss Fhoy. Throughout all of this, he is the one planning to kill Miss Fhoy and anyone who gets in his way.
High Stakes: Miss Fhoy’s life. Iris’ and Gilbert’s lives. Ultimately the lives of all passengers remaining on the train. Potential failure to get Miss Fhoy’s information to the British Foreign Office.
Life and death situations: Miss Fhoy’s disappearance. Apparent poisoning of Iris and Gilbert by Dr. Hartz. Final shootout with enemy soldiers.
This movie is thrilling because?: Constantly worried about Iris as she tries to convince others she is not suffering from being hit on the head and Miss Fhoy does exist. Each time she appears to be able to prove Miss Fhoy’s existence, there is a reversal that sets her back. As she makes headway into solving the mystery, her life becomes more endangered.
Big Mystery: Who is Miss Fhoy and why was she abducted?
Big Intrigue: The conspirators and innocent participants denying Miss Fhoy’s existence.
Big Suspense: Will Miss Fhoy be found and rescued or will the conspirators kill her, Iris, Gilbert and the others?
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Blade Runner 1982:
I’ve never broken down a film before, and the thriller format made me view blade runner, a sci-fi, noir thriller, in a completely different way. I’ve seen this movie twenty times but I’ve never viewed it like this before.
Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: Rick Deckard, a former Blade Runner is threatened out of retirement.
Dangerous Villain: Batty, leader of the four escaped Nexus six replicants.
High Stakes. Deckard needs to kill, retire, all four replicants. However, they are all physically stronger and faster than Deckard and will try kill him first.
Life and Death situations: Every replicant almost kills Deckard in every fight scene.
This movie is thrilling because? The four replicants he’s assigned to kill come at Deckard in a variety of ways in a polluted, urban, decaying city in the future.
Big Mystery: Why would six escaped replicants come back to earth?
Big Intrigue: How will Deckard kill, retire, and out maneuver the remaining four killer replicants and also be able to protect Rachel, a specially created replicant he’s falling in love with.
Big Suspense: Can Deckard successfully retire four replicants and protect Rachel, who is slated for retirement, from Gaff and other blade runners.
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Subject line: (Dangerous Lies) Thriller Conventions (Psychological Thriller)
What I learned during this assignment: How to weave a story that has many layers, if you look closely and they all are connected, even if not obvious at first. Also, the story was 100% plausible – it could happen in everyday life.
Wanda’s Day 1 Assignment:
Unwitting but resourceful Hero: Detective Chessler, through following various leads, is able to uncover the truth at the eleventh hour and save Katie.
Dangerous Villain: When Julia Byron-Kin (estate lawyer) says to Katie, in reference to Mickey Hadden (supposed real estate agent/ex-con): “Because he wasn’t half as smart as he wanted you to think” the viewer realizes that Julia is not only involved but the mastermind behind everything that had recently happened.
High stakes: Katie’s life, Adam’s life, Leonard’s life, and the discovery of mounds of cash/stolen diamonds.
Life and death situations: At the beginning of the movie, Leonard thinks he hears someone in the house – he tells Katie. Towards the end of the movie, there is an intruder who shoots Adam and knocks Katie unconscious. The intruder is then shot dead by Adam. As Katie cradles Adam as he dies, the real villain shows up to ‘console Katie’ and to help her before revealing wh they truly are.
This movie is thrilling because: You think know who the villain is, you think you know what is going to happen and yet, you remain surprised by what transpires. Anticipation and intrigue are intertwined and used as the singular vehicle that propels you forward through the story as it unfolds.
Big Mystery: Did Leonard know about the diamonds and where did the trunk full of over $100K in cash come from?
Big Intrigue: How is the death of Leonard, missing diamonds and the robbery at the Smile’s Diner all connected?
Big Suspense: What is Adam’s end game? Is he involved in everything that is going on and how? What is Katie going to do?
Anything else that made this a great thriller?: The ending wasn’t evident until the final seven minutes of the movie – I personally love a movie that keeps me guessing until the end and is able to do so with a fluid, cohesive story that is completely plausible.
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Blade Runner 1982:
Stephen J. Plotkin: I’ve never broken down a film before, and the thriller format made me view Blade Runner, a sci-fi, noir thriller, in a completely different way. I’ve seen this movie twenty times but I’ve never viewed it like this.
Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: Rick Deckard, a former Blade Runner, is forced out of retirement.
Dangerous Villain: Roy Batty, leader of the four escaped Nexus six replicants.
High Stakes: Deckard needs to kill, retire, all four replicants. However, they are all physically stronger and faster than Deckard and will try to kill him first.
Life and Death situations: In their struggle to survive, every replicant fight scene, four, had Deckard physically beaten down and about to die.
This movie is thrilling because? The four replicants Deckard’s assigned to kill, retire, use their own unique and special skills to try and eliminate Deckard in an urban, decaying city in the future.
Big Mystery: Why would escaped replicants come back to earth?
Big Intrigue: Roy Batty, an escaped replicant and his three unique replicants relentless pursuit of their creator, Eldon Tyrell and Rick Deckard, a blade runner forced into retiring them.
Big Suspense: Can Deckard successfully retire four replicants and protect Rachel, a specially designed replicant he’s fallen in love with and designated for retirement too, from Gaff and other blade runners.
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basic instinct.
a great movie with great suspense and dialogue and MIS.
mystery.
Marlene a great writer was suspected of killing john last seen with him.
intrigue.
who killed john if Marlene didn’t kill john., Karan the investigator suspected Marlene because she explains exactly the murderer happen in her book. Karan wants to reach to depth of case. he falls in love with MARLENE. Roxy tries to kill Karan it was a suspense for a while. Roxy the girlfriend of Marlene is lesbian. she killed in while Karan chasing her. Marlene is sad one after another whom she loves dying. Marlene tells Karan about her writing instigation from his collage friend Lisa who tries to imitate her. Karan looking for Lisa Haberman.
suspense
<font face=”inherit”>. </font>A black<font face=”inherit”> cover person </font>killed josh.<font face=”inherit”> </font>Karan<font face=”inherit”> chasing hidden person and come across. dr </font>Gondran. Karan, what are you doing here? dr. gordian to protect you. Karan didn’t believe dr gordian. She asked her to drop the gun she has in pocket. Karan wanted to know what’s is in her pocket.she refuse to take out. Karan chasing dr. gordian and shoot her. in her pocket was screwdriver. Karan regrets. but later karan new who killed all these people when he found Lisa gordian is dr. gordian she gone to same collage where MARLENE GONE. and she hates her. t
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“Phone Booth” Thriller Conventions Nancy Kates
What I learned doing this assignment: the details of the thriller situation change, but the tropes are fairly consistent, which is why the genre is satisfying.
Unwitting but
Resourceful Hero: Stu Shepard
Dangerous
Villain: unnamed psychopath played by Kiefer Sutherland
High stakes: two
men are dead, several others threatened with death
Life and death
situations: yes, sniper is willing to kill anyone
This movie is
thrilling because? You don’t know how he’s going to get out of this
alive.3. What is the BIG Mystery, Intrigue, and Suspense of this story?
Big Mystery: who
is the guy torturing Stu, and why?
Big Intrigue: Same
thing, no clue as to why he is doing this.
Big Suspense: will
he make it out alive? Will the sniper kill Stu’s wife?4. Anything else you’d like to say about what made this movie a great thriller? It’s truly suspenseful, even though it all takes place in the same location.
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analysis of basic instinct. I Sunil Batra done lesson 1
question 1
dr. Beth seems like helping team to solve the problem. no one clue she is the actual culprit.
nick investigating the case. Everyone believes Cathryne is the real culprit as her book narrate everything what’s happening with victim one after another.
dr. Beth removed and killed everybody who so ever know about the file and suspicious about her.
this movie thrilling because the writer of the book Cathryne seems to be the culprit as her book explain everything which is happening and will happen in future.
QUESTION 2.
whole movie we cross-examined Cathryne without paying attention to dr. Beth since she seems to be a helping to solve the case. its big mystery and intrigue and big suspense
what I learned from this movie that case can be hard to solve if Cathryne plays trick with nick. so, dialogues are superb it conveyed the personality of the person.
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SE7EN Thriller Conventions
What I learned doing this assignment is the key to a successful Thriller is a story with a compelling history, defined imperfect characters and an unexpected future.
Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: William Somerset | Dangerous Villain: Jonathan Doe | High stakes: brutal murders of 7 people | Life and death situations: Tracy’s head is delivered in a box and also the knowledge of her pregnancy | This movie is thrilling because of it’s sheer unknown.
What is the BIG Mystery of this story? How John Doe brutally murders w/o leaving evidence/trace of his ID
What is the BIG Intrigue of this story? Poetry, literature and theological study is critical to finding the why and the villain.
What is the BIG Suspense of this story? John Doe turns himself in and manages to resourcefully get to David Mills’ life.
Anything else you’d like to say about what made this movie a great thriller? The character work done by the cast is formidable.
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I learned that I am writing something with intrigue, but that is possibly not a classical thriller, in that it doesn’t have a single villain…though it does have many of the other elements, including life and death stakes, at times.
I cheated a bit by watching Three Days of the Condor, which is one of the example films, but I thought it was worth taking a look at it as the class begins.
Redford’s character (Joe Turner) is unwitting—he just happens to be out at lunch when the entire office is murdered, for reasons that are not clear at the beginning of the film. He is resourceful because he reads everything, and also because he has military training, plus knows a lot about phone systems.
The dangerous villains are a subsection of the CIA, where he works. They have functionaries who carry out killings for them, but the villains are powerful men behind the scenes.
Stakes are very high: they killed seven people, and are trying to kill him. they keep trying, even as he outwits them (or shoots before he is killed, in the first attempt).
Big Mystery: who is hiding what, and why? What is worth killing all these people for?
Big Intrigue: a lot of what is going on is baffling to Turner. Why would a group within the CIA start murdering their own?
Big Suspense: is he going to be able to turn the tables on whoever is hunting him, before they kill him?
You really don’t know why things are happening for much of the film, and it is a bit surprising that things change, in the end, so that he doesn’t get killed, Atwood does.
The film seems extremely questionable now in its sexual politics, ie his liaison with the woman he kidnaps is a bit rapey, though she seems to initiate it.
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