What to include in a Thriller

There are some elements that need to be in a thriller film to make it exciting throughout.
Firstly the protagonist needs to be ordinary like the audience members so that they can relate to the character but they also need to be heroic, where a regular person who's thrown into a stressful situation must summon all of their courage, strength and inner resources to overcome odds to save themselves and others too. The protagonist also needs to be likeable so that the audience can identify with him/her so that they care what happens to the character.

The antagonist needs to be as clever, strong and determined just like the protagonist so that the story is more entertaining rather than the antagonist being weak meaning the struggle between the two characters would be one sided, thus making the audience know who will win whereas if throughout the film the antagonist and protagonist are equally matched it will make for more suspense during the movie with no-one knowing who will win, if either do. The most important characteristic of the antagonist is that they are truly nasty, immoral and frightening.

The plot of a thriller film needs to have on going conflict and tension throughout and an inciting incident where something happens to the main character which leads to the story of events in the thriller. To keep the audience involved in the film keep putting the protagonist in danger to let him/her show their courage, determination and physical abilities which increases the audiences admiration and emotional investment in them, making them root for them to win. Add obstacles in the way for the heroine for example the 'bad guy' is in her home she goes to ring the police but her mobile battery is dead to keep it dramatic.

Towards the ending of the film, put the protagonist at a disadvantage in the final conflict with the antagonist, to heighten the stakes, so that there is more adversity for the hero to overcome at the end.

Treatment - 5 Minute Film

Treatment - Full Film

Title - Low Profile

Duration - 5 Minutes

Audience - 12 - 17 year old students and parents and teachers

Distributor - Future Shorts

Summary - A student called Hollie is a socially awkward girl who is alone at home on her laptop on a social network site, she is seen getting cyber bullied by her peers. She then receives a random friend request from a boy called Ethan, with few mutual friends, she accepts straight away to which he pops up on chat and they begin a conversation which goes on for weeks via texts and phone calls. Her father questions why she has been so reclusive lately to which Hollie reacts negatively as a typical teen. Ethan asks Hollie to meet up in a quiet location like his house however Hollie wants it to be in a public place like town. After a while Ethan reluctantly agrees to meet up in town. Hollie waits for Ethan at the arranged meeting place, after a long period of time with Ethan having not shown up she decides to call him which he rejects and puts Hollie through to his voice mail. As Hollie sits there, sad the world passes by as she waits a little longer. When she finally realises Ethan is not turning up she sets off walking home. Meanwhile her father is at home worrying where Hollie has gone to, trying to contact her. Whilst he is in her room he goes to put Hollies laptop away but it turns on showing Hollie's Facebook page where he reads her last messages revealing the meeting point and time. The shot goes back to Hollie as she is still on her way home, where a car is seen pulling up quietly behind her. Then Hollie is snatched by an unknown tall male and bundled violently into the boot of the car which then screeches and drives off. The final clip is of 'Ethan' changing his Facebook name, profile picture, deleting Hollie as a friend and adding a different girl...

Suggested Elements - The girl doesn't have many friends which is usually the case for a thriller film as she doesn't have anyone to confide in about the boy meaning he is only known by Hollie herself making it much easier for him to kidnap her.

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Audience Profile

Age range 12 - 17 mainly because it's an educational short film creating awareness of the negatives of the internet to students and the dangers of meeting up with strangers who you have never seen before. We will have some violence that will make it a 12A as one of the final scenes is of a kidnapping.
It will also be aimed at adults, in particular parents and teachers who need to be aware of what their children and students can get up to on the internet.
The main character is a teenager who gets bullied over a social network site which will attract school teachers wanting to show it to their pupils to try to stop cyber bullying. The little hint of a love story will be enjoyed by typical teenage girls who enjoy the romance of films with the girl trying to find their 'prince charming' and the ending of the film with the violence will be most enjoyed by males.
Although it will be shot in yorkshire we will try to lose the yorkshire accent allowing us to expand our audience to the whole of the UK.

Conventions of Thriller films

It is common for thriller films to have their starting credits with some sort of eerie non-diegtic music that somehow relates to the film. Another element often seen in the opening credits in Thriller films are incorporating some sort of aspect of the film into the titling, for example Kill Bill with the blood spatter that suggests in some way blood will be involved and more than likely someone will die. Another example of this is the Saw film series, that use the production company Twisted Pictures using barbed wire and blood that you'd expect to find in the Saw films.








The basic narrative of a Thriller film usually follows a simple convention. They have a clear beginning, start and end. The beginning usually begins by showing you a summary of the whole situation, or introduction to the main character, whether they be the bad guy or the good. The narrative often includes a murder or mystery in the middle, and the end shows the man character resolving a problem or solving something that bring the story to a close. Often, thrillers also end on a cliffhanger.

Ellie's Film Idea

A girl is a loner in life. Everything she does goes wrong. Sick of this, she makes a wish to change it, and in return she gets the gift of time travel. She first discovers this gift when she gets made fun of by a group of people so she shuts her eyes tightly shut, and she changes location. She recognises it to be a place where she was earlier in the day, and soon realises what skill she's acquired.  She uses this to her advantage, making situations that are embarrassing turn out the way she wants, and this greatly improves her life and makes her more happy. She soon realises near the end the only reason she's happy is because she's manipulating how other people live, and decide its unethical and swears to only use the gift one more time, and everything turns out wrong and she goes to the beginning of the earth and dies.

Shannon's Film Idea

A quiet student girl with no friends is sat alone at home on her laptop, she is sat on her bed thinking about life on a social network site. The girl is shown to be not so popular with her peers as she is shown to be getting cyber bullied. The girl then spontaneously receives a random friend request from a person with a few mutual friends. Her face lights up with excitement and she immediately accepts...The boy pops up and says 'hi :)' the girl replies and the conversation continues for a while and they begin to talk everyday via text, phone call etc. Her father questions why she is so withdrawn and reclusive latetly, and she reacts negatively and as a typical teen. Ethan and Hollie They arrange to meet up after a month of speaking to one another. The girl insists on a busy location (the local town) however the boy reluctantly agrees. Hollie waits for Ethan in the arranged meeting spot, after waiting a considerable amount of time Hollie decides to call Ethan, which is rejected and goes through to voice mail. As the world passes by Hollie sits and continues to wait until dusk when she realises Ethan isn't turning up. Hollie sets of walking home. Meanwhile her father at home is worried of the whereabouts of Hollie and  tries ringing her, after a significant number of calls her father is frantic, he exhausts all options of contacting her when he sees her laptop which he opens and finds Hollies Facebook page still logged in where he reads the last messages revealing the meeting point and time. The shot then goes back to Hollie who is still on her way home... A car is seen and Hollie is snatched by unknown tall male and bundled violently into the boot of the car which then screeches and drives off. The last clip is of the 'Ethan' changing his Facebook name and profile picture, deleting Hollie and adding someone else...

Megan's Film Idea

The character is walking to the shop and on the way she finds a stray dog. The dog greets her warmly and jumps up at her. She looks for the dogs collar but can't find it anywhere so she decides to take it home. She allows the dog to sleep on her bed, as she is sleeping the dog turns into a wolf and sneaks around the house. Through the night the dog kills her family except her. She wakes up the next day to see that her bed is covered in blood and the dog still laid at the bottom of the bed. She panics and starts to see where the blood comes from. When she realises the blood isn't hers, she begins to get ready like a normal day, normally her parents are in the kitchen cooking breakfast but today they aren't as she doesn't know the dog killed them. She just thinks they are still in bed. When she is ready to leave the house she shouts up to her parents telling them she is going. She waits for a reply, a couple of moments go by and still no reply. She walks up the stairs to see blood splattered along the carpet leading up to the bed, where she sees her mum and dad slaughtered to death. She rings the police who arrive and come to the conclusion that the girl had killed her family, as she is taken away in a police car the dog walks off looking behind him with a smug smile on his face.