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Lesson 1
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SPEED – THRILLER CONVENTIONS
What I learned doing this assignment is the basics of what a thriller is. Deep-down I knew what it was, but this stated it very cleanly.
Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: Jack is an LAPD officer, who stops a criminal and believes him dead. The villain is back, and had rigged a bus to blow up with it slows down.
Dangerous Villain: A former cop who’s initial plans at extortion failed, has an even more dangerous plan.
High stakes: Jack first saves an evelator full of people. Then, a bus full of people. Then a train full of people!
Life and death situations: Jack has to protect civilians even if it costs him his life.
This movie is thrilling because? The problems get more complicated and the loss of life could get bigger with each event.
Big Mystery: How does he stop each of these dangerous situations?
Big Intrigue: Why is the madman doing this?
Big Suspense: Each time, Jack is in enormous danger that he could avoid, but innocents would die.
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Insomnia – Thriller Conventions
What I learned: How to view a film by prescription, not for entertainment value.
· Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: Will Dormer, a decorated LA homicide detective approaching retirement, assigns guilt to murders. While IAB investigates his department’s rampant corruption and evidence tampering, they send him to Alaska to lead an investigation. In pursuit of a suspect, he kills his partner then reverts to illegal tactics to cover it up and catch a murderer while acute insomnia impairs him.
· Dangerous Villain: Walter Finch, Alaskan transplant detective novelist and wannabe cop, evades capture. He cleverly leverages Dormer tactics to frame someone else for murder. As a witness to Dormer’s crime, he blackmails Dormer to conceal the truth.
· High stakes: Dormer’s professional record and reputation. His partner’s. A lifetime of convicted cases overturned. Criminals will be set free, specifically, Dobbs, a child killer. People who depend on detectives/police/him will no longer be able to.
· Life and death situations: Finch chase: Finch shoots Alaskan detective, Finch tries to kill Dormer, Dormer kills his partner. Finch and Dormer rolling logs: Dormer falls under water nearly drowning. Lake house: Finch tries to kill Detective Burr, Detective Burr wants to kill Dormer, Finch tries to kill Burr and Dormer and finally, simultaneously, Dormer kills Finch and Finch kills(?) Dormer.
· This movie is thrilling because: As Dormer’s insomnia progresses, we wonder if and how it will impair his actions/judgement as Detective Burr uncovers evidence about him being his partner’s killer. We want the villain to get caught but his uncertain actions and need to identify with and befriend Dormer put capture at risk.
· Big Mystery: Who is the killer? (Alaskan victim and Dormer’s partner)
· Big Intrigue: A Villain whose actions/intellect/trickery mirror the Hero.
· Big Suspense: Will the killer be caught? (Finch and Dormer)
· Other: Moral of the story: Stay true to your values. Do the right thing even though justice may not prevail.
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Tenet Thriller Conventions
What I learned from doing this assignment is how these conventions appeared in the movie and made each scene thrilling. I also learned that a script can start out great but go downhill when over done and confusing during the last half hour. The should have been shorter and better written. The interesting thing, thanks to Hal’s teaching, I think I could rewrite the ending to be more intriguing.
Tenet – written and directed by Christopher Nolan. Genre sci-fi action thriller.
Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: The Protagonist (not named) We thought he had died when he took the cyanide pill but he was revived and recruited to Tenet because he was the only one who passed the test. The pill was a fake. His only instruction to find leads to the villain was the word Tenet. Set up: When caught by the attackers at the opera house, they pulled all his teeth to get him to talk. After he was revived, they told him that they did surgery and replaced his teeth when he was in a coma from the fake cyanide pill. Later in the movie we learn about the ability to go forward or backward in time.
Dangerous Villain: Sator with precognition skills, wants to start WW3 to end the world.
High stakes: The Protagonist must prevent Sator from ending the present world. During his search, he learns about time inversion.
Life and death situations: Starts with him taking a cyanide pill, but revived. He escapes death in several situations but because of inverse future realities manages to stay alive. He is saved by Neil who joins him in the search for Sator.
This movie is thrilling because? Because there are numerous setups, payoffs, mysteries, added intrigue not only in real time but also in the inverse realities from the future.
3. What is the BIG Mystery, Intrigue, and Suspense of this story?
Big Mystery: What is Tenet, time inversion? Who in the future is attacking the past? How? Why?
Big Intrigue: How does the time travel and inversions work? How to stop Sator who has the ability and army who can transcend the two realities of time inversion.
Big Suspense: Will the Protagonist be able to master time inversion to stop Sator. Will the Protagonist recover the Algorithm’s final piece to stop the end of the world?4. Anything else you’d like to say about what made this movie a great thriller? There was more action than dialog. The Protagonist faced many challenges in both realities of time inversion. They crashed a jumbo jet and revisited the event in time travel. Many Intriguing solutions and stunts, pincer movements, a Time Machine, and taking us into the world of time inversion. Using the palindrome of Tenet a symbols of time inversion that moves backwards and forwards. I liked that Priya was the brains behind her husband’s arms dealership and knowledgeable about the potential of time inversion. On the negative side, I found the movie overdone and confusing. Despite thought provoking on the aspect of time travel, I thought the backwards and forwards in time during the last thirty five minutes to be overdone and the inaudible dialog provided a confusing and boring ending.
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What I learned doing this assignment is that the hero can be an ordinary person (as opposed to someone with special or extraordinary skills) as long as they are persistent and resourceful enough to get to the bottom of the mystery.
For this assignment I watched ‘The Girl in the Spider’s Web’ (which turned out to be the origin story for Swedish hacker Lisbeth Salander), and the Lawrence Kasdan film ‘Body Heat’ starring Kathleen Turner and William Hurt. But in the end I chose an old favourite of mine as the best fit for this assignment: ‘Frantic’ starring Harrison Ford.
Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: Dr. Richard Walker, San Francisco surgeon in Paris with his wife Sondra to present at a medical conference.
Dangerous Villain: A Middle-Eastern terrorist who hired a young Parisian woman – Michelle – to bring a nuclear detonator device from the US to Paris, hidden in a Statue of Liberty souvenir in her luggage. She thinks she’s muling drugs for him.
High Stakes: Sondra’s life is at stake; Walker is obliged to find her himself after the Paris police and US Embassy prove virtually useless; Michelle’s life is in danger; Walker under the threat of a deadly foe; the threat to the world posed by the device falling into the hands of a terrorist.
Life and Death Situations: Walker discovers the first lead on the trail to finding Sondra has had his throat slit, causing him to realize he’s up against a ruthless foe; he narrowly escapes falling from the steep roof of a six-storey apartment building; he gets beaten up by two Israeli agents interrogating Michelle in her apartment; Walker, Sondra and Michelle are all caught in a final shootout between the terrorist’s men, the two Israeli agents and Paris police on the bank of the Seine as Sondra is being exchanged for the device. Michelle is shot by the terrorist and dies.
This movie is thrilling because we sympathize every step of the way with the fish-out-of-water situation Walker is in – a foreign city in which he has to solve the mystery of his wife’s disappearance virtually alone.
The Big Mystery: Who kidnapped Dr. Richard Walker’s wife Sondra from their Paris hotel and why?
Big Intrigue: Due to a luggage mix-up at the airport, a terrorist expecting to take delivery of a nuclear detonator device believes Sondra is in possession of it and kidnaps her, holding her hostage until he gets it.
Big Suspense: Will Walker be able to get his hands on the device and trade it for Sondra?
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Rebecca gets extra points for being able to understand Tenet.
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What I learned doing this assignment is that each time I watch the film for specific details, I get more information with each viewing. Watching a film only once never allows me to see all the details and action going on behind the scenes.
Subject Line: Wrath of Man (Action thriller)
Conventions noted:
•Unwitting but resourceful hero: “H”
•Dangerous villain(s):
Difficult to tell for a while as to who the villains actually are.
•High stakes: Armoured trucks moving large sums of money being robbed by very resourceful criminals.
•Life and Death: Good and bad people keep getting killed despite not being sure who the good or bad guys actually are right from the start to the very end of this film.
•This movie is thrilling because: you never really find out who “H” the hero, really is or who he works for, but he has many professional skills, connections and his own army of mercenaries.
The big mystery: who is “H” /Mason and who is he connected to.
The big intrigue: who are these well organized robbers of heavily armed trucks that are transporting millions of dollars and how do they know which trucks to hit.
Big Suspense: will these villains get away with their final large heist with all the money and can the hero stop them.
The hero’s personal connection to these criminals.
It makes it a great thriller when we realize the hero is well-connected and has his own army. Also, when we discover who the villains actually are. Why the hero is there in the first place to get these criminals.
Biggest mystery is that we never really learn who the hero actually is or who he works for. But that he will not be stopped before completing his mission to take down all of the mystery villains no matter what it takes.
I found the film thrilling from the very start to the very last frame. The time just flew by. There are several red herrings throughout and you have a very hard time trying to discover who these villains are. But more importantly, who the hero is.
The music is thundering and suspenseful from the very start.
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What I learned is that each scene has to build to the next scene. Movie I chose is Psycho. Hero: is the sister and her sister’s boyfriend who team up to find her sister, who stole the money. Villain: Norman who runs the old motel with his aging “mother”. High Stakes: Will the sister and boyfriend find the lost money and her lost sister. Life and death: A detective senses there is more to Norman’s mother and puts his life at risk. He tells the sister he plans to go back to the motel. The sister and boyfriend team up and go to the motel to find the detective. They sense Norman is hiding something and put their lives at risk to uncover the truth. This movie is thrilling because you know there is a killer at the motel, but who is it? Big mystery: where is the sister with the money? Big intrigue: Will the sister and boyfriend discover the killer? Big suspense: What is Norman hiding? What happened to his mother?
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… and here I am … catching my breath 😉
Karen Christine´s Assignment: The Postcard Killings: Thriller Conventions
What I learned doing this assignment is that watching a thriller with this clear mission helped me to stay clear in what I am looking for. Now and in future stories. Very helpful.
Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: Jacob Kanon, former US detective for more than 30 years, his married daughter and her husband were killed, they were the second couple within few days, all arranged in poses copied from famous paintings. Jacob in his despair feels the need to be part of the international teams investigating the murders.
Dangerous Villain: Surprisingly it is not the murder we think it is. It turns out to be a couple (with a secret that is being revealed later).
High stakes: If Jacob and the international police don´t find the murder(s) they will continue killing.
Life and death situations: The victims are all carved up, so we know that the murder will not hesitate to kill Jacob, too. A threatening situation evolves when they hit the car of Jacob and of Dessie, a Swedish journalist helping him. Dessie is in danger and the murders want her to be their final masterpiece.
This movie is thrilling because the killings take place throughout Europe in a very short time span. Jacob and his team have to react fast and be in town in time. And it is intriguing to watch because we feel Jacob´s pain and his desperate need to catch the person who did this to his daughter. In the last 45 minutes it is revealed who the killers are, and from there on the “whodunnit” becomes a “will we get them in time”, which kept my attention until the last minute. This movie is not a loud movie with a lot of action, but told quite quietly and at the same time compelling.
Big Mystery: Who killed Jacob´s daughter, her husband and all the other couples?
Big Intrigue: Why is the murder committing the killings in such a cruel and at the same time aesthetic way? What´s the message behind this?
Big Suspense: Will Jacob and his team be fast enough? Will Jacob find out who killed his daughter? Will they try to kill him?
Anything else you’d like to say about what made this movie a great thriller: The characters and their journey were very convincing. I liked the different chemistry and atmosphere the three police teams in England, Sweden and Germany created.
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Charade – thriller assignment
Unwitting hero: Regina – a truthful woman is thrown into a hunt for stolen money when her lying husband is murdered
Dangerous villain: A veteran who doesn’t mind killing whoever he has go to get his hands on a quarter million dollars
High stakes: If Regina doesn’t find the money her murdered husband must have hidden, she’ll die
Life and death situations: Regina is warned: Hand over the money or else … Another of her husband’s war pals breaks into her hotel room and assaults her
Her best friend’s little son is kidnapped
The killer chases her into an old theatre, intent on shooting her, once she’s found the treasure
This movie is thrilling because we have a heroine unequipped to deal with violent men, she has no idea where the money is, and the only man she’s trusted turns out to be a liar and murder suspect. The danger piles up.
Big mystery: Where is the money?
Big intrigue: Who can Regina trust? Is there anyone not manipulating her?
Big suspense: How can Regina survive a group of ex-soldiers used to killing in cold blood? And will her love interest save her or kill her?
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The Sixth Sense – Thriller Conventions – Michael L Harris
What I learned doing this assignment is presenting a movie to an audience as a Thriller and not giving them thriller conventions will keep the movie from achieving its full protentional. All great thrillers follow thriller conventions.
Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: 9-year-old, Cole
Sear
Dangerous Villain: Fear
High stakes: Cole’s sanity, will he end up like
Dr. Crowe’s former patient: Vincent Gray.
Life and death situations: Cole I surrounded by
death the whole movie is a life and death situation.
This movie is thrilling because? Shyamalan builds
on our own fears, making subtitle reveals along the way to reach the
shocking yet evident conclusion.3. What is the BIG Mystery, Intrigue, and Suspense of this story?
Big Mystery: Why do dead people keep appearing to Cole
and how can he get rid of them.
Big Intrigue: Are Cole’s visions real or is he
simply delusional.
Big Suspense: Will Cole overcome the apparently
evil forces around him.4. Anything else you’d like to say about what made this movie a great thriller? Like all great thrillers The Sixth Sense keeps you guessing all the way through climaxing with the big twist. Malcolm is dead.
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