Thriller films research

One  of the films that I will be researching is the film ‘unstoppable’ in this film I will be looking at the different techniques used as well as any analysis of representation and as well as the target audience.

Throughout the film there is several technical codes used in an effective manner so in the use of editing through the use of jump shot to fit in the quick paced action. For one of the scenes when there is a use of a helicopter there is a use of a tracking shot, this involves the audience more and engages them more into the action and gives us a different perspective. The use of the music depends on the mood and the emotion, so the music helps represent the emotion so for the dangerous and unpredictable scenes in the films there is tense quick paced music which makes the film more engaging and attractive to watch. This would fit to the targeted audience as they would be expecting these technical codes to be used. Throughout the film there is also several different uses of the camera shots/angles, these all help represent sometimes the point of view from a character etc e.g. a long shot to show the setting as well as the character doing the dangerous scene of jumping across the train so this helps emphasis the danger, bravery and stupidity of what he is doing.

There is also the use of zooming in and out, this helps represent the dramatic effect in the film which would stereotype the typical and conventional thriller film, so when the train driver is having the conversation with his boss and he is refusing to obey his orders, along with the music it makes it very dramatic and effective.

For a thriller film packed with action like this the use of editing is very important and at times in scenes the use of cross cutting from scene to scene is used effectively, at times to show the different points of views e.g. people working in the office, to the people on the trains risking their lives, this helps show contrast and builds the narrative and also helps represent who is leading the narrative.

In the film there is also the use of large amount cutaways this is used the majority of the time to represent the different points of view or role in the film or in a conversion there opinions and what they are trying to get across.

The use of the muse-en-scene helps create the narrative effectively and stereotype the characters so the middle aged man in the office is dressed up in a suit which shows his role straight away to the audience where as the other middle aged man is taking the heroic status by being the worker trying stop the train. Throughout the film the use of iconography is not used as in thriller films the narrative is usually quite straight forward, but the suspicion in can lead to it being used so certain use of technology like phones etc that could be delivering messages etc.

Throughout the film the use of diegetic sound and sound effects are used well together as in thriller films with the action films these are very important to work together to fit the dominant ideology. So the natural sounds of the phones ringing and then the tense soundtrack used in the background helps to represent the importance, suspicion and danger ahead.

All of the techniques help build the expectations for the target audience and if they are met the n this will satisfy and gratify their expectations so for the unstoppable film the target audience would be a person interested in fast paced action with moderate violence with a simple narrative to understand.

By Eduardo