The Recruit- Analysing Crime & Convention

The conventions that make up a crime thriller, the film are usually confusing and have two main characters, one being the more official and well behaved role, sometimes the detective; in this case, the recruiter. Then the other is usually played by a less serious role. There is always a lot of twists and turns to confuse the viewer.
The charter James is introduced as someone who has lots of potential to succeed in life but doesn't entirely realise it at the start. His character starts of as normal as a bar worker and a part time inventor. The invention that he creates then leads to the next step in his life when he realises he is CIA material once he has been recruited by Walter Burke who is a very shifty man himself although it is technically part of his job. What is clear about James even in the early minuets is that he has a big chip on his shoulder about what really happened in his dad in his life and he knows that Walter knows the truth.

The film effects and filming techniques  are a key part in making the film as good as it is. The lighting in the film was alway very dark, which gives a serious and exciting effect; for example, when the recruits were giving the task over breeching a building with out being caught, the lighting made this scene feeling more like it as an actual break in. The types of close ups also have an effect on how good this film is. For example when recruiting, there was a close up of Walters face and this showed us as the audience how serious he was about recruiting james.

Action Conventions:
The fact that in action thrillers there is a lot of different filming in other countries which is very conventional. This often happens in action thrillers because there is a higher budget. action thrillers tend to be more fast paced. They also portray the main character as a tough guy, good looking and high skilled in combat. Weapons, Money and explosions are often related to Action films also.

The Recruit- Analysing Crime & Convention

The conventions that make up a crime thriller, the film are usually confusing and have two main characters, one being the more official and well behaved role, sometimes the detective; in this case, the recruiter. Then the other is usually played by a less serious role. There is always a lot of twists and turns to confuse the viewer.
The charter James is introduced as someone who has lots of potential to succeed in life but doesn't entirely realise it at the start. His character starts of as normal as a bar worker and a part time inventor. The invention that he creates then leads to the next step in his life when he realises he is CIA material once he has been recruited by Walter Burke who is a very shifty man himself although it is technically part of his job. What is clear about James even in the early minuets is that he has a big chip on his shoulder about what really happened in his dad in his life and he knows that Walter knows the truth.

The film effects and filming techniques  are a key part in making the film as good as it is. The lighting in the film was alway very dark, which gives a serious and exciting effect; for example, when the recruits were giving the task over breeching a building with out being caught, the lighting made this scene feeling more like it as an actual break in. The types of close ups also have an effect on how good this film is. For example when recruiting, there was a close up of Walters face and this showed us as the audience how serious he was about recruiting james.

Psychological thriller example analysis

Flight Plan (2005)

Flight plan is a simple psychological thriller compared to others as it is easier to understand, throughout the film the location stays the same (the air plane) and we are introduced to the main character right away.
 We know something is wrong with Kyle at the beginning as she is shown taking pills, we also see her identifying a dead body in a hospital, this sets the scene but doesn't give away any of the storyline. We are then introduced to her daughter (Julia), we are aware these are the main characters as the plot follows them throughout. Kyle and her daughter Julia then go to the airport, we know something is wrong when Julia wonders off, her mum panics and the music gets faster and more suspicious, this gives us the idea that the film could be based around the daughter going missing. The colours are very dull and dark, this is a main convention of a thriller.

There was no film clips we could find on the internet but this is the trailer :

Political thriller example analysis

Blood Diamond (2006):
in the film Blood diamond there is a big threat against the safety and well being of all the people who come in contact or are caught up in anything or anyone who possesses an extremely rare diamond. Innocent people are shot dead due to a mass shoot out as some fellow south Africans desire to posses the famous diamond. For example when the two characters are running away from the people who are shooting at them, hundreds of south Africans are caught in the cross fire and lose there life's and this is without mentioning the vast amount of people who become captured. innocent or not they are caught up in "blood bath" as people become fixated with the diamond. The location of this film is in africa and where the shooting takes place is in a very run down part, this increases the viewrs sympathey towards the young chilldren who lose there life's or who are fighting to keep them, as it is clear to the audience that they all are very scared.

Momento Conventions

From the beginning of memento you can tell they are trying to confuse the audience as there is a lot of twists in the timeline, the main character is isolated as he has a memory condition, this gives lots of scope to the director to make it confusing, yet it looks as if it is trying to hard to be about the psychological aspect. There is use of black and white flashback to reassure the audience but is still probably another twist in the tale. When viewing it is inviting you to watch on as you feel like you want to find out what the mystery is, even though you don't even know the cause of his anguish. The way it is filmed and edited really keeps you thinking and this takes quite clever writing as generally you like to have some base knowldege to guess from.

Psychological Thriller Example Analysis

Psychological Thriller:
Fight Club:

Fight club is a psychological thriller that takes a different take on the concept as you only get hints that something is wrong and hints to the finale, however it still conforms to the conventions of a psychological thriller with a twist in time at the very beginning, this hints toward the twist at the end. The hero is a very ordinary civilian that gets chucked into a world that he doesn't really know what is going on.
The camerawork and lighting is all kept very low-key and this creates a feeling of gloom and brings you down to the characters level. The film explains itself very slowly and you begin to settle into the wrong idea, this help when revealing the big twist at the end as it seems so unexpected.
The feeling of time is very much lost and this helps you feel as the main character does as he is an insomniac and has no real aspect of time.
The main character feels isolated as he has a problem and this keeps in from partaking in normal society, the editing is very subtle and keeps its main focus on the antagonists struggle.
The film starts in a broken equilibrium and is sorted and then broken by the protagonist, yet the protagonist, Marla Stringer, never does anything truly wrong but is made into the bad character as you see things from the antagonists point of view. There is also use of flashbacks to disturb the flow of time.
Fight Club is a very deep psychological film and has to                         break some of the conventions to be as effective as it is.

Political of thriller conventions

Examples of political thriller conventions are JFK, Blood diamond and last king of scotland.

- threat against a back drop of political struggle.
 - Plot is designed to give a political power to someone while the opponent tries to prevent it.
- innocent people drawn into the political world.
- proving innocence
- different locations
- different cultures and countries
- Deceit and false hero's
- "helper" charter

Psychological thriller conventions

Examples: Inception
                  Donnie Darko
                  The Game
                  Sixth Sense

- Confusing and clever plot
- Mind games
- Possible twist/cliffhanger?
- Questioning reality
- Parallel editing is usually used
- Flashbacks/conflict
- Unpredictable (many possible endings)
- Fake equilibrium 
- Themes are dark and dull
- Unusual heroes (unexpected)
- Big finale
- Build up of tension

Thriller Conventions

Thriller films stick to several conventions that define the genre. These make it easy to tell that it is a thriller, these often get confused with horrors but there are a few main differences.

Conventions of a thriller:
Music:
The soundtrack is usually quite subtle but constantly tense and keeps the mood of the film serious and keeps the audience engaged.
The instruments used are usually orchestral and are kept to a minimal score.

Lighting/Camerawork
The sets are usually very dimly lit and this is because of the use of low-key lighting and dingy locations.
The camerawork is all low level and kept below or at eye hight this gives a effect of being there or on the same level as the main characters, this keeps you involved on the characters level.

The Set
Thrillers are usually set in a city or urban location this also gives the effect of a never sleeping set where anything can happen at any time.  The grungy location also ad to the sad or depressing feeling of the film. The sets are usually very dark and dusty, this helps you feel for the characters as you would not like to be there yourself.

Narrative
The narrative in thrillers usually slowly builds tension and creates an air of discontent that make you want to know what happens at the end, and this gives time for the characters to grow on you and by the end you feel strongly for the characters and this creates a better feel when, eventually, the film comes to a happy (or sad) conclusion.

Characters
In thrillers there is always a antagonist and a protagonist, the antagonist usually has a weakness that is exploited by the protagonist, this is often hinted at by the title. 

Conventions of Seven

Seven includes many of the stereotypical conventions of thriller movies. The opening sequence is made up of a montage of clips in which relate to crime and possibly police work, the clips are extremely short and flash up quickly. The colours are very dull and dark, this shows the film to be tense and makes it suspicious. The location is set in the city and we are introduced to the villain, this is a convention as the scene is set. Despite this, because it is a thriller not much information is given away.
 Also, there is a certain prop used, in this case it is a ticking metronome, when this is shown all other sound is turned off, it zooms into the metronome and then goes to a cut, this builds up tension and confusion, the audience feels like something is going to make them jump.
 Another convention of Seven are the actors included, Morgan Freemon and Brad Pitt are binary opposites and they are all big name actors, this draws attention to the film and persuades people to watch it.