Psycho

Psycho

Psycho (1960) is a thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, John Gavin, and Janet Leigh.The screen play is written by Joseph Stefano, which is based on a book with the same name by Robert Boch.

The story starts with Janet Leigh's character stealing £40,000 from her work place. She decides to stay at a small motel far from the road. When she decides to give the money back however, she is killed killed by a mysterious killer at the motel. The audience are tricked into a false sense of security, thinking that Janet Leigh's character will be the main character in the film, however, she is quickly killed. This shocks the audience because she is such a big name, its unlikely that she would be killed off so early. The rest of the film focus' on trying to find out who the killer is, we soon find out that it is actually the motel keeper, Norman Bates, played by Anthony Hopkins. He turns out to be psychotic and has a split personality split between himself and his mother's personality, who he had previously killed.

One element of suspense in this film is the shower scene in which Janet Leigh is murdered, we can see the shadow of the killer in the curtains and the 'screeching violins' play as the shadow gets closer, and closer...then he kills her. Then her eye morphs into the shower plug. This is a graphic match.

However, this film breaks the conventions of a thriller. Typically, in a thriller film a less equipped hero has to defeat the antagonist/villain by outwitting or outsmartting him/her. However, this doesn't really happen as the main character gets killed off rather early in the film. There are a variety of characters that are introduced into the film which eventually cause the villain, Norman Bates to get caught. 

Daniel Craig's View on a Thriller Protagonist

"The worst situation you can have in a thriller is a lead who looks like he can handle himself."-Daniel Craig.

Here, Daniel Craig explains that in a thriller, the protagonist is supposed to be less competent than his nemesis. 

North by Northwest

North by NorthWest

North by Northwest (1959) is a thriller film, directed by Alfred Hitchock; featuring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason. The story was written by Ernest Lehman. 

The tale is a story of mistaken identity, in which our innocent protagonist, Cary Grant, is believed to be an American secret-agent called Kaplan, and he is pursued by a mysterious organisation as they believe he is trying to thwart their progress to smuggle out micro-film. (The micro film is the movie's MacGuffin)

There are many examples of suspense in this film, for example, when Cary Grant is being chases through the train station. As the audience, we are on the edge of our seat, hoping that he can out-run the guards! Here, we can also see him out-witting his assailants when he goes into the bathroom. He gets out of his stolen guard uniform and changes himself to look like an average man just shaving in the train station's bathroom.

Another example of him outwitting his enemies is when he is hiding in the villains house, and trying to catch the attention of the double agent Eva Marie Saint. He manages to write a message on a matchbox for her to read, without exposing himself to the rest of the villains in the house.

Also, there are so many elements of frequent action. One example is when he is being chased and shot out by the crop-duster plane. He manages to run, dive and hide, however they keep finding him. He manages to outwit his enemy and force the plane to crash into an oil truck, in which it explodes, killing his enemy.

What Is A Thriller?

What Is A Thriller?

A 'thriller' is a film, literature and television genre which involves lots of fast, frequent, action; plot twists and suspense.

It usually involves:

• a protagonist who has to outwit or overcome a much stronger or more advanced villain. 
• the main storyline is a quest or mission that the protagonist has to pass.
• fast paced, frequent action.
• suspense for the audience.
• the protagonist is dragged into a web of violence and action
• the protagonist and villain have a dramatic final battle.

An example of a famous thriller director, and 'father of modern thrillers', is Alfred Hitchcock. He is famous for making such films as: North by Northwest, Psycho, The Birds and many, many more.

Coursework Brief

Course Outline AS
Media Studies AS

 -Assessed by coursework

-50% of AS level

-Two pieces of coursework

-Preliminary Exercise - short filmed sequence demonstrating basic understanding of film language.

-The titles and opening of a new fiction film in the thriller genre.

Key Media Concepts

 -Written Examination

-Two hours

-50% of AS Level

Section A-Textual analysis and represent
unseen extract of a television drama program.

Section B

 -Institutions and Audiences

-A case study of the British and US film industries

-Looking at films such as; avatar, shifty, The kings speech and looking for Eric

AS Coursework

 Marks are awarded for demonstrating excellence in the following criteria:

-Holding a shot steady

-Framing a shot

-Using a variety of shot distances

-Shooting material appropriate to the task set

Maguffin

Maguffin

A MacGuffin or Maguffin is a plot device which drives the film.

For many films the Maguffin is not explained in depth. For some films it is simply just money, but it is what drives the characters to do what they do in the film.

Examples of a Maguffin:

• the 'Micro-Film' in North-By-NorthWest - which the antagonists are trying to smuggle out of the country, and the CIA are trying to retrieve.
• The 'Micro-Processors' in The Departed - which Mob Boss Costello is going to sell to the chinese, which the police believe they will use to build missiles.
• The money in No Country For Old Men - which leads to many shootouts and deaths through-out the film.

About Me & This Blog

About me & my blog!

Hello, I'm Leon Lindsay-Ayres, and welcome to my blog. I am a 17 year old Sixth Form student at Robert Clack, studying Media, English Literature and Philosophy & Ethics. I will be using this blog to keep up to date with my class work in Media as well as take notes on films and techniques I can use for my coursework. This particular blog is going to be based around Thriller films.