Research into Thriller Conventions

1a) The hero:  Often involved with law enforcement, perhaps working as a detective, like Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt in Se7en; or possibly working at a higher level than the police, in large government organisations like the CIA or FBI, like John Travolta in Face/Off who is a special agent in the FBI. Even if they are not involved with law, they are often successful in their jobs and intelligent, like Bruce Willis in The Sixth Sense who is a child psychologist. Heroes are mostly male and in their forties, as it makes sense for them to be very intelligent and still physically able at this age. Men are stereotypically stronger than women. Whilst this is not always the case, it means that more heroes in thrillers are male than female.

The villain(s): Villains are often very similar to the hero they are up against, meaning they are commonly male and in their forties as well. These similarities are illustrated by Morgan Freeman’s hero and the villain’s obsessive and organised behaviour in Se7en. This makes the battle between the hero and villain seem even, and anyone could win. Despite their similarities, heroes and villain want opposing things, making them binary opposites. Another example of a binary opposing villain is Nicolas Cage in Face/Off, who, like hero John Travolta, is male and in his forties.

The princess: Most often a damsel in distress with a close relationship to the hero, giving him a motive to help her. This can be romantic, like many bond girls in the James Bond series of thrillers, or in some cases familial, like Liam Neeson’s daughter in the film Taken.

1b) The dispatcher: Most often a figure senior in occupation to the hero, especially in law enforcement, who will give the hero an objective to complete which will be the focus of the film. This occurs often in James Bond films, with Q being the dispatcher.

The false hero: False heroes are occasionally found in the form of antiheroes, whom are the protagonist of the film, but it is ambiguous as to whether they are good or bad. Occasionally, false villains may also feature in thrillers, especially if there is a detective trying to solve the case, who wrongly accuses someone other than the culprit. The viewer may not now he is wrong, to surprise them and keep them guessing, or know he is wrong through dramatic irony.

The helper: Whilst traditional Proppian helpers provide the hero with a helpful object, heroes in thrillers will most often be provided with helpful information and intelligence, as heroes are often detectives or spies. Gadgets in the James Bond series of thrillers are like helpers, despite not being characters. 

2) Good and evil - John Travolta and Nicolas Cage in Face/Off.

Law and criminal activity - Morgan Freeman & Brad Pitt and Kevin Spacey in                                          Se7en.

Ordinary surroundings and extraordinary events - The normal surroundings and                                                                      location in The Sixth Sense                                                                        and the supernatural events                                                                      that occur.

Insane and sane - Nicolas Cage and John Travolta in Face/Off.

3) Most of the thriller openings we have watched conform to Todorov’s theory as they start with a normal equilibrium which is then disrupted. Often, the equilibrium is a happy familial or romantic relationship the Proppian hero has, such as John Travolta’s characters relationship with his son in Face/Off, and Bruce Willis’ characters relationship with his wife in The Sixth Sense; and in both these openings, the disruption of the equilibrium takes place through violence, common in the thrillers we have watched. Frequently it is the Proppian villain who causes this violence, for example Nicolas Cage’s character in Face/Off disrupts the equilibrium by murdering Travolta’s son. This is not always the case, as the character who shoots Bruce Willis in the opening of The Sixth Sense kills himself immediately after, indicating to the viewer that he cannot be the main villain of the piece, as he dies within the first few minutes of the film. This also shows the viewer that this is not a thriller where a character searches for vengeance, like Face/Off.

Not all equilibriums in thriller openings are familial relationships, for example, in the opening of Seven, the equilibrium shown is the life of a homicide detective in an American city, which cannot be disrupted by violence as it already contains it. The opening to this film does not show a disruption of this equilibrium, but the viewer can assume it will involve an unusual or interesting series of crimes that the Proppian hero; Morgan Freeman’s detective character, has to solve. However, it could be argued that the arrival of Brad Pitt's character is a disruption to Freeman's working life. Whilst it is not explicitly said that Freeman’s character is the hero, the viewer can assume this also, as it is conventional in thrillers for the hero to be a law enforcer, either working for the police or government.

The hero shown in the opening of Orson Welles’ Touch of Evil is also a detective, however, in this film; the disruption of the equilibrium is shown before the equilibrium is made clear, through the planting of a bomb in the boot of a car. Although a detective would be used to crimes taking place around him, the explosion interrupts a kiss between the detective and his wife, showing that the disruption may be of his romantic life and not his job. Perhaps his wife will fill the Proppian role of the princess and be taken hostage. threatened, or put in danger.

The thriller openings we have watched mostly conform to Todorov’s theory as they all feature equilibriums, which are often disrupted. The new equilibrium in Todorov’s theory is not shown, as this is only the opening of the film. The disruptions and enigmas present in thriller openings hook viewers in and make them want to keep watching.

4) Face/Off uses overlay titles to allow the viewer to focus on the action, reflecting its less serious tone and more action orientated content, as opposed to the titles for The Usual Suspects and The Sixth Sense, which are white text on a black background and last a few minutes each, demanding the viewers attention, and building up a sense of anticipation and perhaps suspense for the events of the opening scene. The titles for The Sixth Sense are in a serif font, further emphasising the serious tone of the film. All these films titles are made up of black and white, reflecting the binary opposites of good and evil, which are commonplace in thrillers. The titles of Face/Off are also made up of both black and white text, for example, John Travolta's first name in black and second name in white. The black and white texts grow and shrink alternately, symbolising the struggle between good and evil that will occur in the film. These changes in size reflect the change that occurs to the equilibrium defined in Todorov’s theory of narrative structure in the opening scene. These titles connote the major theme of good and evil in the film and the plot device of identity swapping.

The titles in Seven are also overlay titles, but this time they accompany a montage which is not directly part of the films narrative. The killer is shown but their actions are not explicitly revealed; and this montage does not directly link to the scenes surrounding it. This montage and its accompanying music create a mysterious, eerie tone which puts the viewer on edge. The montages content, consisting mostly of close ups and extreme close ups of what looks like murder evidence being analysed, the writings of a psychopathic character, sharp implements and blacked out faces; is associated with a more horror type thriller, as opposed to Face/Off, an action thriller. The content of the montage also connotes violence and death.

All these titles feature the name of the production company(s) first, and all contain the names of producers and executive producers, casting directors, leading actors and directors. Editors and writers often feature, as well as those who composed or sourced the music and directors of photography. Costume and set design may also feature in the titles, but most of the small individual roles will be mentioned in the end credits, rather than the opening sequence. Some titles may be present more than once, most commonly directors and production companies. Many of these titles are not very relevant to the viewer and, as a result, titles often occur as overlays in parts of the film without important developments occurring.