Collateral

The location of the film is in a down town taxi and the setting throughout is quite dark, with a hint of green.


Collateral starts off by playing loud music over a black and white screen. The music then gets louder and faster, until all of a sudden it comes to a stop. By starting the film this way, it makes everything look more dramatic and adds a sense of expectation to the film.

The close ups of the characters, dark glasses and of their hands adds a sense of mystery to the characters, which makes the audience wander what relevance he or she has to the plot.

Although parts of the film are filmed during the day, these tend to be slightly dark!  A little way in to the film the music changes from loud and fast to quite relaxing, this gives the audience the feeling that nothing is going to happen, but could it be something major or unexpected that is going to happen?

The 39 steps

The 39 steps 

This modern adaptation of John Buchan’s classic novel The 39 Steps was released on 28th December 2008 starring  Rupert Penry-Jones, Lydia Leonard, Alex Jennings, David Haig, Patrick Malahide and Eddie Marson. 

The 39 steps is an action thriller containing adventure, drama, danger, fun and romance. The film begins in London in 1914 before the start of World War I, with one of the characters running through the streets of London to escape from German spies. This automatically sets the pace of the film. The film is an action packed, fast moving film that is easy to follow but has a sense of mystery about it, this is due to the fact that you don’t see the faces of the German spies until one of the characters gets shot.

When Richard Hannay (Rupert Penry-Jones)  makes his speech about the German’s, the camera zooms in on one man from the audience, a bit later on in the film when Richard and Victoria are on the run again, the camera zooms in on a hand with a green ring on one of the fingers, without showing the identity of the person, giving a real sense of mystery about this character and leaving the audience wandering what significance he has to the plot. Through out the film there are several similar scenes that add to the suspense of the film, enticing the audience to carry on watching it. 

The film is a gripping, fast moving adventure that is guaranteed to have you on the edge of your seat.

The 39 Steps is a thriller rather than a horror film due to it’s fast moving pace, the anticipation of more excitement and the lack of blood and gore. The film also has a happy ending.. Which you do not get in horror films!

Kill bill.

Kill bill was released in 2003 and is an action thriller.

The thriller starts off with heavy breathing against a black screen, this is effective because it adds a sense of mystery to the film. Kill Bill involves quite alot of violence with a small amount of gore, this is how we can tell it is a thriller and not a horror. The music that plays over the begining of the film sets the mood for the film, the words of the song relate to all the action and fights within the film, if you listen to the words of the song they describe what happens during parts of the film. 

The setting of the film is realistic with parts of the film being based in a house in a normal, safe neighbourhood.

At the start of the second chapter of the film the words; Chapter two - The blood splattered bride comes up, this is effective because it makes the audience want to carry on watching the film to see what the sub heading was about. The writing was red against a black screen, this follows on with the thriller theme as red and black are associated with dark situations.