Why do people watch thrillers?

Uses and gratifications


People may watch thrillers for a number of different reasons. One of these could be to zone out of their own personal life and involve them-self completely in another world, this is called escapism. As well as this it could just be mainly because they have spare time and feel like watching a film.


I also feel that watching thrillers can also play a big part in the understanding of the world regardless of their genre. As there are so many different sub-genres of thrillers to pick from they all act as learning sources in different ways.

Who watches a thriller film?

Thriller films can be broken up into many different sub-genres, each of which have a different audience to play too. A few examples of these different types of thrillers are; action, disaster, religious, historical, medical and serial. 


The main target age range for thrillers are 18-25 male and female.


Action thrillers are most likely to attract young teens and may be some younger children depending on their age. At that age in my opinion the action is exciting to them and it's something other that the norm to them. i also think that disaster thrillers and also historical thrillers may be beneficial to them as they can both learn something and be entertained at the same time. Action thrillers are mainly directed to male audiences.


In contrast to this i feel that religious, medical and serial thrillers would be more suited to adults as they all naturally have adult themes and may be found disturbing and have lack of censoring. 


In terms of the film 'Casino Royale' starring James Bond and other James Bond films although they have mainly adult themes, strangely they are for the whole family apart from young children. In my opinion it is still mainly aimed at men but also aimed at females as there is a lot of flirtatious behaviour between Bond and women which may not just be appealing to men. I feel that Bond films are for a wide target audience as although they include mainly adult themes there are still a lot of aspects of the film that can include children. Bond films are usually popular in children and families as they has been and people have grown up around Bond and his films.

Preliminary (Practical Lesson)

My group consisted of myself, Deniz and Hilda. Our initial idea was to have a scene in the library where Deniz is watching a film and i enter the room sit down and an argument breaks out about the fact that Deniz was supposed to meet me. However, when we asked the library for permission to use they’re room, they reluctantly gave us a yes so therefore we picked a different location. 

Our next scene and setting was the canteen. Our storyline was that Deniz would be in the canteen eating and i would storm through the door and then the argument would break out.

All of our shots were filmed from lots of different angles and were filmed more than once so we could then pick to best shots when we come to edit. The first shot we used was of me walking towards the door. This was a long shot as we wanted to get a big bit of the scenery in and show the audience my surroundings. We then moved on to an extreme close up shot of my hand pushing the door open. At this point we were just experimenting with shots and testing them out. These shots were all taken from the outside of the canteen door. Hilda then took the camera through the door and then filmed me walking through the door from the inside angle, this was also a long shot. After this was a shot of Deniz stuffing her face with food, this was done from a mid-shot. Next we added in our shot- reverse- shot. Hilda filmed my face horrified that Deniz was eating. Then Deniz’ face as she was shocked that i had caught her out and then lastly my face again still horrified.

Our dialogue followed closely after this as i said ‘What are you doing, you were supposed to be on a diet’ and Deniz replies ‘what are you talking about i wasn’t doing anything i was just here on my phone?’ i then reply ‘I’ve had enough of this I’m going’ whilst a begging Deniz chases behind me out of the canteen. This is all used from a mixture of mid-shots and long shots and also from a variety of angles.

I feel that our filming of the preliminary went very well as it was our first time working together  and we all communicated really well and were able to use a variety of everyone’s ideas. Using the camera was a really useful experience because none of us had ever used cameras like this before and to get an insight into the sort of camera’s that are used in the business was very helpful.  I feel that everything went well in our group both the filming and the planning as we all open minded and worked really well together.

The only thing that ‘didn’t go well’ or we had to change was the location, but this was done swiftly in the planning mode so made no impact to our final product.  

Analysis of Sleepy Hollow a Tim Burton Film.

The first setting in the film is a dark eerie street. Ichabod Crane appears on screen and a dead body is being pulled out of a nearby lake. At this point in the film everything is black as it is night time and it gives the audience a bigger feel a tragic, scary death if it all takes place on a dark night. 

By this point it is semi clear that Ichabod is some sort of detectives. Ichabod believes that there may have been another cause of death other than drowning. However his colleague says that if he was found in a lake he must of drown and then gives orders for the body to be cut up. This shows the audience at that this time period post mortems and trying to get to the bottom of a death was very rare. 

When people commit crimes and people perish, the town have no real way of settling this and therefore Ichabod tries to do something about this by protesting. The setting has changed to a Court room and still the setting is black and white. I feel that this is to emphasise the melancholy in everyone's lives and the routine of they're monotonous lives. 

To put him to the test the judge sends him away to the town of Sleepy Hollow to solve the mystery of the murders. Ichabod accepts this job and goes home and free's his bird from its cage. the bird is red and is the only thing in the scene that is of colour. This could be to represent the bird is in colour as it has freedom whilst everybody else is chained down to they're regular enjoyable lives. 

The characters all operate in a rather blunt fashion. They all speak to each other in a way that could give the audience the impression that there's almost no time for them to make friends with each other they're all nothing but acquaintances. 

Editing was all kept very plain and simple. Everything is in black and white. All of the sound that was in the first 3 minutes of the film was diegetic.  

Lastly the camera angles were mainly mid shots but also the odd few birds eye view shots. The mid shots were used to show the audience the immediate action and let them watch the storyline and give them a greater understanding of what was going on. in comparison to this I feel that the birds eye view camera angles were to keep the audience in suspense, because as most of the scene was quite dark, the audience wouldn't know what they are looking at until the camera zooms in. 

Analysis of SE7EV.

My immediate reaction to Se7ev was a sense of anxiety as I was anxious to understand what was going on and i desperately wanted to understand the sinister goings on and the plot. The clip opens with a middle aged actor in his bed and lots of background noise although his room is completely silent. This immediately stuck me as his inner thoughts as there was no other explanation for the sound. The character comes across to the audience as mysterious, strange and unusual but could infact just be misinterpreted. Next he reached out and tapped his metronome which gave him a continuous, monotonous, steady beat until he fell asleep. Next the scene switched into lots of short different quick scenes which contained written credits and different hand movements such a cutting of film, razorblades scratching off skin and other crude images.  


I instantly thought that the metronome that he touches puts him into some of of weird dream. This could be the thoughts that he doesn't let out and could may be thoughts that are in his sub-conscious. Without delay my attention was then drawn to the white credits on the black background. The words were distorted but in a contradictory way as you could see the names clearer although the effect of distortion is to make something unrecognisable.  


The music kept a steady pace for the first half of the 3 minutes it gradually builds up and then completely changes to music that almost sounds reckless and out of control. It is left unexplained why the music just takes a dramatic build but in my opinion it could be explained sometime later in the film. The mood for all of the film was spooky, eerie and all quite perverted in a way as the man who was being shown in the clips was looking at sick things e.g. pictures of dead people who died in gruesome ways.


In terms of scenery the room that the character is staying in is very dark and uses a lot of plain colours like brown and white and black. This could mirror and set out to emphasise his dull personality. 


Lastly the camera angles are mainly mid shots and there are a few reflective shots used. The editing is kept very plain, using colours such as black and white with a hint of red every so often. 

I am legend analysis.

The first thing that catches my eye in this scene is a run down America. From being such a civilised state and suddenly in one shot its all taken away from the country and it suddenly just devastation. The camera then does a few establishing shots to different parts of the city which all have one thing in common, they're all empty. Moving on from this the camera does a birds eye view moving shot and mainly focuses on the emptiness of the city but also in contrast to this focuses on the diegetic sounds of Will Smith speeding in his sports car  . This is to show the quietness in the city and how they're is nothing left but ruin. 

The car takes a lot of sharp turns and carries on driving whereas the camera stops that little while longer to show the different settings. This is to help the viewers to realise that the country is suffering from decay and they're in nothing left. 

Ever so often you hear a few bird sounds. In my opinion is to help viewers remember that this was once a country that was very well established with a very high population and a high status. It could also be a ray of hope that one day the country could be back to how it was.

When the Deer suddenly break across the scene it gives you the feeling of freedom but not freedom used for good, freedom taken advantage of. As the viewer you immediately relate back to what America was like before this terrible, population wiping dilemma and the fact that it did not have animals running into the road.

In the beginning of the film Will is driving for a very long time. This could portray his want to run away and to just leave this place as quickly as he can, to get out and not look back. Will keeps the acting quick plain for the beginning of the film. He comes across as unresponsive and inattentive. However in the split second that the deer start to run in front of his car, in which he has to make several swerves, you see the fear in him. This could be an emotion that he only feels when he has to think fast or an emotion that he is not familiar with and also tries to stay away from. 

Lastly, the editing and the lighting is all very clear as if the editors want you to see everything. The streets are very well lit and nothing can really be missed in broad daylight. These first 3 minutes of I am legend are crucial as they pinpoint what the film will be about. 

Codes and conventions of thriller films.

Thriller films have a lot of conventions and codes. Most of them use suspense and tension to draw you in. Often they start with a dark setting which is used to set the scene and make the viewer suspicious and curious as to what will happen next. Normally the directors are very skilful when presenting an enigma; this helps to build even more tension and in some cases confusion in the viewers mind. This can involve the viewer in the film as they are always questioning what they see. Dark colours and an eerie mood are often both used as scene setters, this is almost sometimes a tease for viewers as they get lured into a false build up. Unexpected plot twists and cliffhangers are also another common convention as its a way of always leaving your viewers wanting more. Sound effects including heartbeats, and music and also other conventions such as murder, violence, paranoia, kidnapping and many more all add to catch out and confuse the viewer and help make thrillers scary and enjoyable.