Research: The lighting of Thrillers

 Intro

The other day while I was watching a thriller movie to better understand  the genre that we are making out film from , I noticed how almost at all times this type of movies have a low-key type of lighting that contributes in helping the suspense and create an unsafe setting. Thrillers use a lot of silhouettes and backlighting to create an uncertainty of what is really happening in the dark

Research

As I was doing my research I tried to do my research on two examples of movies that have great lighting for the thriller genre. 

I found two examples:

• Long legs 
• The Running man 

Firstly, we have Longlegs, which was a movie from 2024 that steps away from traditional thriller lighting conventions.  Due to the setting of the movie being in the snow, this movie relies on high key lighting that creates the feeling of exposure not like a typical thriller where you can at least hide in the shadows and be "safe".  

 

 

Not having the conventional lighting that thrillers have Long Legs conveys the feeling of how evil is always present, not like a ghost or creature that disappears when the sun comes up. 

 

Long Legs also uses negative spaces and open frames to keep lighting levels relatively close throughout the whole movie, one example is that instead of lighting only the main characters face the movie lights up the whole room making edges of the frame visible lacking that shadowy feeling that the viewers are accustomed to. What this does is that we as the audience look more at the background instead of paying attention to the characters, and it turns us into paranoid lookers. 

Another interesting feature that this movie does extremely good is color grading between inside and outside; it works like a transitional phase that helps differentiate between the cold dark blueish-hued outside to orange waves in the inside. This is meant to mess with the viewers head by giving two worlds, on the inside it feels like a lifeless setting where everything is decaying and it lacks color, and on the outside, it gives how there is no escape for any of the characters. 

 

As is finished reading the review, I understood why the author used the type of lighting that they chose to use to transmit the message of the movie. 

 

 

For my second example I chose The Running man which is considered a dystopian action-thriller, that works well with a world that runs and is controlled by media. This movie uses lighting to create a world that feels hyper-surveilled and clinically cold, for example the overexposure with extremely bright, white-washed backgrounds in the upper-class areas of the city. 

 

what this does is that it give the message that the superficial world is doing well and that we can say is almost "clean" ;however, the character brings us to reality showing how the poor people suffer beneath all the propaganda that high levels present to the public, hiding what is really happening with the people in the movie. 

 

Another feature that this movie has is how they use LED colors to convey a different message to the viewers that are watching the main character gets hunted and almost killed. Small LED lights of handheld cameras or the blue-Ish "screen glow" of recording devices, what i believe this conveys is the feeling of realism between the viewers and main character. For the viewers is not a dangerous game and that can be seen because there is a lot of color when the show is presented 

Overview

Lighting is the " storyteller" of cinema that controls every scene of a movie; by controlling the intensity, direction, and color of light, filmmakers can physically guide a viewer's eye to crucial details, visually externalize a character's internal psychology. This helps the movie with mood, depth, and narrative intent. It is like the rules or guidelines that a movie follows to help achieve the purpose .

The running man

Long legs Review

Research: The Steps for a Good Gcript

Intro 

As I was finishing my last blogs about genres and sub-genres research, I wondered what key points make a good movie? We already have the thriller genre, and we have not picked between which sub-genre to do; however, I saw a video about how the script is fundamental in a movie. Creating a good movie script is a blend of step-by-step planning and an artistic mind. It is less about "writing a book" and more about creating instructions for a visual experience. 
 

Research 

When writing a script, there are some elements that should be considered like purpose, concept, and logline. 

At first I didn't know what log lines were but when I did my research I found out that they were  a concise, one-to-two-sentence summary of a story  that captures its central conflict, main character, goal, and stakes, acting as an enticing hook to generate interest for pitching or promotion 

 

So, here are some examples I took the time to look up 

Since our genre for the film is thriller, there are specific ways that scripts for this genre are made, thriller scripts focus on high stakes, escalating tension, suspense, and plot twist. 

 

On my research I discovered that making scripts take multiple steps that ensure a good final product  

      1.The Foundation: Concept and Logline 

2. 2.The Skeleton: Three act structure 
   

3. 3.The Blueprint: Outlining and Treatments 

4. 4.The Craft: Writing for the Screen 

5. 5.The Polish: Formatting and Rewriting 

Or here where we have another way of seeing the steps that are taken 

Each of these steps are done with detail due to it being what builds up the script that is going to carry the movie to success. Within these steps we found things like acts, dialogues, and timing of the film. Interesting things about time and how the script is seen on paper, are that roughly 1 page of script there is equal to 1 minute in the movie. and there is something called the "White Space" Rule. This rule means that a script is better when there are less dense text and more white spaces on the page. 

 

Overview

After doing all this reading I feel I have  learned a lot about the writing part of movies and I hope to gain more experience on how to write a good script that is going to help me a lot for my film or other project I would like to make in the future. 

 

https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/screenplay-structure-examples/

Youtube video about scripts

https://deadline.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/parasite-script.pdf

Sub-Genres research

 Intro 

After finishing my last blog, I jumped to research sub-genres because they are way more specific than genres. I feel that a genre is too broad and hard to categorize a film or movie into it , and when writing a blog about the process of making the film , and explaining our camera work , theme, tone, mise-en-scene and style of our film it can be easier, and more helpful to have a genre tied to a sub-genre for the final analysis. 

Research

Because with my group we are doing thriller genre, I took the time to look at some examples of subgenres for this parent genre. 

Some examples: 

•       Psychological thriller 

• Crime thriller 

• Action thriller 

Per example psychological thriller is when it focuses on the disturbed mental and emotional states of characters, one movie that does this very well is the Joker 2019. The whole plot of this movie is about a mentally broken man that keeps getting hit by life, many people were expecting a superhero movie that has action and impressive stunts. However, this movie takes the audience through the life of a guy that is tremendously damaged. This movie works so well because it breaks the stereotypical superhero movie for a more realistic way of showing the life of a normal person that is driven into madness in a world where nothing is normal.

I like this example because its a movie that allows you to reflect on what is the plot and what is the real message that the director is trying to give to the audience. Per example in the picture we can see the Joker putting up a fake smile while a tear runs down his face, this can mean that how the character is trying to put up my forcing himself to believe that everything is okay ;however, the tear can mean that in the inside he's breaking down in the inside.

This movie won two awards in the Oscars and I believe that is a great example to look to when creating my film.

Another example that I would like to look at is John Wick: Chapter 4 , going over this movie can bring great benefit to the group because of its great visuals. This can be a great example of how we can film and color our scenes for our film.

This movie is categorized as an Action thriller that was very well received due to its previous movies which make names for them self. This movie works excellently with props and clothing, it tells you how the world of assassins work not through explanations and long dialogues, but though visual language. Per example we see John Wick wears a sharp suit that any formal person can wear, this can mean that in this world where the hotel server can be a secret assassin. 

Another example is the use of cons as a way of payment in the assassin world, and its a concept that can be easy o understand too people that get confused on how money works. The coins help the assassins have a safe way of buying and selling in a world where no one can be trusted, but coins can also show loyalty and membership.

 Its good  looking at this movie because of all the good elements that make it a good movie .

Overview

I believe in my researching this information I am enhancing the chances of getting an A on my 2-minute film, because when creating a film there's a lot of elements that you should keep in mind when filming, directing, editing and even acting in a movie. Now that I have more knowledge about genres and subgenres, I am starting to imagine ideas for our film, and I like some of the picturing I am doing.  

https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/film-subgenres-explained-77789/

https://www.maketheswitch.com.au/article/review-john-wick-chapter-4-all-hail-the-king-of-action-movies