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Period: to
Thriller Genre Research
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The Lodger
NARRATIVE: The key theme is murder in this Alfred Hitchcock film. It is about the hunt for 'Jack the Ripper' a lodger that is suspected of being him the famous murderer.
ICONOGRAPHY: The photo on the film poster is the main character, the lodger, who is accused of being the murderer. He is looking away which makes him look more suspicious, and the image is black and white, which doesn't give much away to the audiece. He is in the centre of the poster,showing he is the main protagonist. -
The Lodger
CHARACTERS; The main characters are a man,Jonathan Drew, and a vulnerable young woman, Daisy. This is stereotypical of thriller films, to have a dominant male and a vulnerable female. Mr and Mrs Bunting are stereotypical parents, caring and worried about their daughter's safety with the lodger.
SETTING: The film is set in London, and mainly in Mr and Mrs Bunting's house. -
The Lodger
STYLE: The film is a silent film as the creators didn't have the technology to put dialogue and moving image together. The editing is mainly straight cuts, and the camera shots are mainly mid-shots, and closeups of important things. -
The Killer That Stalked New York
NARRATIVE: Sheila robs $50,000 worth of diamonds and tries to smuggle them into New York. Unaware that she has smallpox, she spreads it around the city and nearly causes an epidemic whilst she is on the run. She shoots her doctor so she doesn't have to turn herself in.
ICONOGRAPHY: The poster shows a woman in the middle of the page. She looks like she is hiding, and therefore goes against the stereotype of a main male character in a thriller. -
The Killer that Stalked New York
CHARACTERS: The main character, the killer, is a woman. This goes against the stereotype of the usual male killer in thriller films, and the usual innocent vulnerable woman.
SETTING: The film is set in New York City. It is based in the whole of the city, rather than just in one house in 'The Lodger'.
STYLE: The film is in black and white, and is similarly mainly midshots. The editing is straight cuts. -
Bad Timing
SETTING: Most of the film is set in Vienna.
STYLE: The film is made up of flashbacks, and also uses mainly mid-shots. This seems to be typical of thrillers, from my research. The editing is mainly straight cuts.
CHARACTER: She is a young, distressed woman. -
Bad Timing
NARRATIVE: After the main female character is rushed to hospital after an overdose, the story depicts the story of her romance with an American psychiatrist, which has horrifying results.
ICONOGRAPHY: In the poster, there is a young woman sitting down looking distressed. She is stereotypical of a thriller character - a vulnerable woman.
CHARACTER: The main character is a vulnerable woman, like 'The Lodger' -
Martha Marcy May Marlene
NARRATIVE: A girl escapes from an abusive cult, and struggles to get back into her family life as she is haunted by memories and paranoia.
ICONOGRAPHY: The poster has the face of the main character, the vulnerable girl, looking straight into the camera. She looks scared.
CHARACTER: She is an innocent young girl, that has been disturbed by being in an abusive cult. -
Martha Marcy May Marlene
SETTING: The film starts in the Catskill Mountains, then in Conneticut in her hometown.
STYLE: The editing is more up to date here, and more technically advanced. The camerashots are mid shots.
