Film Genre - Thrillers

Stephen Hill 2010 1

Michael Caine in Get Carter and Cary Grant in North by Northwest: two classics of the
thriller genre.

Genre and Film: Thillers






In this unit of work we focus on the generic conventions of thriller films, considering
what makes a thriller, why audiences like thrillers and their generic pleasures. In
addition to this we focus on the technical construction of thrillers including aspects of
camerawork, editing and sound. Each section is accompanied by a variety of student
tasks, screen shots and suggestions for further investigation.

Thriller films are one of the most popular film genres. Unlike science fiction or action and
adventure, thrillers tend to be taken more seriously by filmgoers and critics alike. In part this
can be attributed to the powerful psychological experience of watching an intense thriller.
These are films designed to have the audience on the edge of the seat: the jeopardy of the
protagonist keeping the viewer in suspense. Alfred Hitchocks films are of course
synonymous with the genre. In North by Northwest (1959), for example, the character of
Roger Thornhill (played by Cary Grant) is kidnapped when he is mistaken for a government
agent George Kaplan. The ensuing action sees the tension build as Thornhill tries to escape
from his entrappers. And, indeed North by Northwest conform to one of the key conventions
of the genre in that not only is Thornhill involved in series of potentially deadly situations, but
it is definitional of the genre that as the key character is very often unsuspecting of the
danger he is in. Indeed, the notion that danger is abstract and unknown is a key motif of the
genre.



















Dr Stephen Hill is Head of Media at The Burgate School and Sixth Form Centre in Fordingbridge,
Hampshire; he also teaches Media Theory and Popular Music at Bournemouth Media School. His
PhD focused on the British music press in the 1980s and he is a regular contributor to Media Edu
and Media Magazine. He is also the author of Media and Cultural Theory and his latest academic
publication is a chapter on Smash Hits in British Culture and Society in the 1970s.
Student tasks

In pairs write down a list of as many films as you can think of in 60 seconds. Now got
through that list and highlight all the titles you think might be thrillers. Share you answers
with the group.

Watch a thriller from the BFI list of top ten thrillers. What makes it a thriller?

1. The Third Man (1949) 2. Brief Encounter (1945) 3. Lawrence of Arabia (1962) 4. The
39 Steps (1935) 5. Great Expectations (1946) 6. Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) 7. Kes
(1969)8. Don't Look Now (1973) 9. The Red Shoes (1948)10. Trainspotting (1996)

Extension task
Complete your own independent research into the thriller genre. What are the most
famous thrillers? What do critics regard as the best? What thriller made the most at the
box office? Record you answers in the form of a timeline.

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Carol Reeds The Third Man and Alfred Hitchcocks The 39 Steps are both classic
thrillers that utilise black and white cinematography to full effect.

Perhaps one of the reasons thrillers are so highly regarded by film buffs is that they give
director the opportunity to show off their control of the production: all aspects of which
conspire to keep the audience on the edge of their seat. For example, in the opening
sequence to Mike Hodges Get Carter (1971) the audience is beguiled by the soundtrack,
which mixes the diegetic noise of a train at speed with a staccato rhythm played on a
double bass. Likewise, the editing of the camerawork, which focuses on the detailed action
of Jack Carter (played by Michael Caine) as he moves about the train during the journey.
Exemplary of this is the section in which he is seen taking an undisclosed prescription of
tablets: the close-up on his hands holds the viewers gaze for just longer than is
comfortable, while simultaneously eliciting curiosity and fascination. It is this mastery of the
craft of filmmaking that good thrillers demand that so often places them ahead of other genres
in the eyes aficionados. Carol Reeds The Third Man (1949), which often tops polls to find
the greatest British film of all time, was well-regarded by critics like Francois Truffaut, and
other directors who wrote for the influential French periodical Cahiers du Cinema. Indeed, in
many ways Reeds film, which is set in seedy underworld of post-War Vienna, exemplified the
Cahier critics belief in the director as the author (or auteur as it became known) of the text.
Anglo-American directors we might consider to be auteurs and who have made a
considerable numbers of thriller films include Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, Alfred
Hitchcock and Steven Spielberg.


























Auteur Theory and Cahier du Cinema
First published in 1951, the French journal Cahier du Cinema (roughly translated as
Notebooks on Cinema) was extremely influential on the development of film criticism in
the second half of the 20
th
Century. Cohered around the screening of two Parisian film
clubs, Objectif 49 and Cine-Club, the magazine was founded Andr Bazin, Jacques
Doniol-Valcroze and Joseph-Marie Lo Duca. However, it was an article published in 1954
by Francois Truffaut that attacked what he termed the French quality of certain films was
to be most influential. Emanating from this article, a manifesto was born for the la
politique du Auters ( the politics of authors) the resulted in a re-evaluation of Hollywood
and European cinema alike. Auteur Theory, as it became known, was centred on the
belief that the director is the primary author/creator of the text. Though this personal vision
could be manifest in all aspects of the production, critics at Cahier du Cinema were wont
to emphasise the importance of the mise-en-scene. Though Auteur Theory can be applied
to any film including mainstream Hollywood productions it is often associated with French
New Wave cinema of the 1950s and 60s.
Student Activity
Choose a film from the French New Wave. Watch the film in its entirety and then choose a
five-minute sequence. Perform a detailed textual analysis using the deconstructive tool kit
on the next page.



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The films of Jean-Luc Goddard are synonymous with the French New Wave
















































Media Language the deconstructive toolkit

Camera Shots, Angle, Movement and Composition
Shots: establishing shot, master shot, close-up, mid-shot, long shot, wide shot, two-
shot, aerial shot, point of view shot, over the shoulder shot, and variations of these.
Angle: high angle, low angle, canted angle. Movement: pan, tilt, track, dolly, crane,
steadicam, hand-held, zoom, reverse zoom. Composition: framing, rule of thirds, depth
of field deep and shallow focus, focus pulls.

Editing
Includes transition of image and sound continuity and non-continuity systems.
Cutting: shot/reverse shot, eye line match, graphic match, action match, jump cut,
crosscutting, parallel editing, cutaway; insert. Other transitions, dissolve, fade-in, fade-
out, wipe, superimposition, long take, short take, slow motion, ellipsis and expansion of
time, post-production, visual effects.

Sound
Diegetic and non-diegetic sound; synchronous/asynchronous sound; sound effects;
sound motif, sound bridge, dialogue, voiceover, mode of address/direct address, sound
mixing, sound perspective. Soundtrack: score, incidental music, themes and stings,
ambient sound.

Mise-en-Scne
Production design: location, studio, set design, costume and make-up, properties.
Lighting; colour design.
Chronology of French New Wave Cinema

es Quatre Cents Coups (The 400 Blows, 1959) Francois Truffaut
Bout De Souffle (Breathless, 1960) Jean-Luc Godard
Tirez Sur Le Pianiste (Shoot the Pianist, 1960) Francois Truffaut
Les Bonnes Femmes (The Good Girls, 1960) Claude Chabrol
Jules et Jim (Jules and Jim, 1962) Francois Truffaut
Vivre Sa Vie (My Life to Live, 1962) Jean-Luc Godard
Le Mpris (Contempt, 1963) Jean-Luc Godard
Bande Part (Band of Outlaws, 1964) Jean-Luc Godard
Alphaville (1965) Jean-Luc Godard
Pierrot le Fou (The 400 Blows, 1965) Jean-Luc Godard
Week-End (1967) Jean-Luc Godard
Ma Nuit Chez Maud (My Night With Maud, 1969) Eric Rohmer
Le Boucher (The Butcher, 1970) Claude Chabrol
Celine & Julie Vont En Bateau (Celine & Julie Go Boating, 1974) Jacques Rivette
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Though Steven Spielberg is synonymous with big-budget Hollywood epics like
Schindlers List and Saving Private Ryan, in heir own way both films are thrillers:
utilising techniques learnt making earlier films like Jaws and Duel.


Having said all of that many thrillers are hybrids and, indeed, one of the most popular cross-
breads is that of thrillers and action and adventure. Steven Spielberg, for example, has made
his name with a series of high budget productions that include E.T (1982), Schindlers List
(1993), Saving Private Ryan (1998). However, one of his earliest production, a made for
television movie called Duel (1971), utilised the conventions of thriller to over-come the
limitations of producing an action thriller on a more modest budget. The action follows the
experiences of David Mann who is pursued by Peterbilt tanker truck whilst driving his 1971
Plymouth across the desert. The film takes the form of a series of cat and mouse like car
chases as the tanker at first tail-gates Mann before trying to drive him off the road and into the
path of speeding train. The film features very little dialogue and most of the action is on the
highway: indeed, the identity of the truck diver is never revealed. However, Spielberg makes
the film memorable by deploying many of the conventions of a thriller: the menace is
unknown, the use of diegetic sound emphasises jeopardy and the camerawork holds the
shot for just longer than is comfortable. Though Jaws (1975) is much higher budget
production, indeed it broke new ground for the way in which films are marketed and
distributed, pioneering the concept of the summer blockbuster, it draws upon many of the
skills Spielberg honed with Duel. In particular the film, which details a series of shark attacks
at an American seaside resort, relies heavily upon soundtrack to create a sense of
foreboding and menace. Ingenious use of props, in particular the trailing of a model sharks
fin through the water, creates some extremely memorable scenes. Though this is augmented
by shots of mechanical shark filmed in a specially constructed tank in the film studio, overall
the films relies heavily upon the power of suggestion.





















Student Task

Watch one of the Steven Spielberg films below. Consider the extent do these epic
blockbusters adhere to the recipe for thrillers?

Duel (1971)
Jaws (1975)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Raiders of the Lost Arc (1981)
E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (1982)
The Color Purple (1985)
Jurassic Park (1993)
Schindlers List (1993)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Minority Report (2002)
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The latter half of the 20th Century saw a profusion of thrillers like David Lynchs Blue
Velvet and Quentin Tarantinos Pulp Fiction that explored the medium in more reflexive
and self-conscious way: borrowing and reworking elements of film history, particularly
the conventions of film noir.

There are also examples of sub-genres within the broader category of thriller films. Film noir
for example is perhaps the most well known. The sub-genre adheres to all the usual
conventions of the thriller genre, however, is often draws upon dark crime-fiction stories. Its
sinister subject matter is not, however, where the film noir genre gets its name from but rather
the shadowy nature of the cinematography, which tends to emphasise black and white
contrast. Though classic of the genre were mostly made in the 1940s and include Billy
Wilders Double Indemnity (1944) and Tay Garnetts The Postman Always Rings Twice
(1946), contemporary audiences are perhaps more familiar the highly stylised and self-
referential conventions of neo-Noirs like David Lynchs Blue Velvet (1986) and Quentin
Tarantinos Pulp Fiction (1994). Likewise horror films are closely linked to thrillers:
Hitchcocks Psycho, for example, walks the line between the two genres. Though the horror
is implied, there is a genuine sense of menace. Likewise, William Friedkins The Exorcist
(1973) utilises the special effects with which horror is synonymous while teasing the audience
with camerawork that foregrounds a sense of mystery and foreboding. The proliferation of
videotapes in the 1980s saw a rise in the popularity of horror genre with the market for 18
certificate movies expanding considerable. However, as audience taste became more tolerant
of explicit gore and violence the horror genre arguably moved away from the implied brutality
that characterises thrillers. Indeed, recent years have seen a rise in the number of horror
parodies: films like Scary Movie (2000) and Shaun of the Dead (2004), which self-
consciously spoof the generic conventions of horror.



















Student tasks

Starter
Brainstorm as many films that fit the conventions of more than one genre .

Discussion
What are hybrid films?
Why are they popular?
What genres go well together? What hybrids work?

Paired activity
Pick a thriller you know well that you think might be a hybrid. List ways in which it fit the
conventions of thriller and then list the conventions that fit with the other genre.

Extension Task
Put together a treatment for a hybrid thriller. Storyboard eight shots from the film.
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Kirk Douglas in Out of the Past (1947) is classic noir, while Marlene Dietrichs roles in
Josef Von Sternbergs films of the 1930s set the template for the femme fatale.












































Focus on Film Noir
Though film noir is a distinct sub-genre of thriller it is perhaps one of the most well known.
In the popular imagination the conventions of film noir are often interchangeable with
those of thriller films in general. In particular the genre is synonymous with low-key, back
and white cinematography and in this sense it has it origins in the visual style of early
German Expressionist films. However, film noir is in fact a mainstream Hollywood format
that was particularly popular during the 1940s and 50s. From a thematic perspective film
noir tends to focus on the seedier side of like, which is part a reflection Depression era
America. Crime is central plot device and cynical attitudes towards sex and female
characters permeate the genre. A typical film noir is often centred on the investigations of
a private detective or and isolated everyman figure lured into extraordinary and dangerous
circumstances. In this respect the influence of noir can be felt on more mainstream
thrillers like Hitchcocks North by Northwest and even Spielbergs Duel. However, as
modern American cinema developed noir evolved into a more reflexive self-conscious
genre with films like David Lynchs Blue Velvet and Tarantinos Pulp Fiction playing with
the genre conventions in a more reflexive and thoroughly post-modern manner.
Focus on postmodernism
Postmodernism can be defined as the collapse of distinction between the real and
simulated and the blurring of boundaries between the physical world and its signification
in society and culture. In a simplistic sense we could argue that early mans use of smoke
signals was a form of post-modernism. The relationship between what is being signified
and what is actually meant is in this sense arbitrary i.e. only understood because of a
common consensus on what symbols means not because there is any connection the
form or pattern and meaning. In a more contemporary context post-modernism can be
seen in the way in which media texts play with their own status and conventions. In this
sense, they acknowledge the arbitrary nature of the meaning that is being communicated.
Another key convention is that of intertextuality: the way in which post-modern texts
have the tendency to borrow, re-work and parody the conventions of other texts.
Watch Pulp Fiction (1994) by Quentin Tarantino. Discuss the way in which the films plays
with its own status and makes self conscious reference to film history.

In your discussion you might wish to use the following terms

Intertextuality
Parody/Pastiche
Homage
Hybridity

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Gloria Swanson plays Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, which tops the IMDB Top
Ten Film Noirs.















































Student Tasks
As a class watch one of the film noirs from the IMDB top ten film noir list. Make notes on
what makes film noir a dictinct sub genre of thriller.

Plan film and edit your own thirty second film noir. Someone enters a room and
three lines of dialogue are exchanged. Include match-on-match action and observe
the 180s degree rule.




IMDB Top Ten Film Noir

1. Sunset Boulevard directed by Billy Wilder (1950)
A hack screenwriter writes a screenplay for a former silent-film star who has faded into
Hollywood obscurity.
2. Key Largo directed by John Huston (1948)
A man visits his old friend's hotel and finds a gangster running things. As a hurricane
approaches, the two end up confronting each other.
3. The Third Man directed by Carol Reed (1949)
Arriving in Vienna, Holly Martins learns that his friend Harry Lime, who has invited him,
recently died in a car accident.
4. Double Indemnity directed by Billy Wilder (1944)
An insurance rep lets himself be talked into a murder/insurance fraud scheme that
arouses an insurance investigator's suspicions.
5. Notorious directed by Alfred Hitchcock (1946)
A woman is asked to spy on a group of Nazi friends in South America. How far will she
have to go to ingratiate herself with them?
6. The Maltese Falcon directed by John Huston (1941)
A private detective takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a
gorgeous liar, and their quest for a priceless statuette.
7. Touch of Evil directed by Orson Welles (1958)
Stark, perverse story of murder, kidnapping, and police corruption in Mexican border
town.
8. Strangers on a Train directed by Alfred Hitchcock (1951)
A psychotic socialite confronts a pro tennis star with a theory on how two complete
strangers can get away with murder...a theory that he plans to implement.
9. The Night of the Hunter directed by Charles Laughton (1955)
A religious fanatic marries a gullible widow whose young children are reluctant to tell him
where their real daddy hid $10,000 he'd stolen in a robbery.
10. The Big Sleep directed by Howard Hawks (1946)
Private detective Philip Marlowe is hired by a rich family. Before the complex case is over,
he's seen murder, blackmail, and what might be love.
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Progressive, Regressive and Mavericks are the signs of life in any film genre:
Spielbergs Duel, Lynchs Blue Velvet and Tarantinos Pulp Fiction arguable fit these
descriptions.














































Progressives
Stephen Spielbergs first feature film Duel combines the generic conventions of thriller with
action and adventure to create a film that keeps the audience on the edge of their seat. The
bright mise-en-scene and the use of cameras mounted on vehicles are a far cry from the dark
and mysterious surroundings of 1940s Film Noir.

Regressive
Though produced in the 1980s David Lynchs Blue Velvet (1986) is set in the 1950s and
reinvokes many of the visual codes of classic film noir. In particular, the film explores the role of
the voyeur: a classic genre motif. Likewise, both mise en scene and soundtrack are meticulous
in their attention to period detail.

Maverick
Perhaps one of the most popular examples of thrillers that have made an impression on the
mainstream is Quentin Tarantinos Pulp Fiction (1994). The film is, on the one hand, a homage
to film noir and the trashy fiction novels of the 1950s. On the other hand, it also an incredible
self-reflexive film, which makes reference to its own constructed nature throughout.
Link to OCR AS G321: Foundation Portfolio in Media

Video
Preliminary exercise: Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door,
crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he
then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action,
shot/reverse shot, and the 180-degree rule.

Main task: the titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes.

All video and audio material must be original, produced by the candidate(s), with the
exception of music or audio effects from a copyright-free source.

A promotion package for a new film, to include a teaser trailer, together with two of the
following three options: A website homepage for the film; A film magazine front cover,
featuring the film; A poster for the film.

The presentation of the research, planning and evaluation may take the form of any one, or
combination of two or more, of the following: a presentation using slideshow software such as
Powerpoint; a blog or website; a podcast; a DVD with extras.
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Film Censorship and Classification

The censorship of film is about a complex network of social values that categorise one
thing as Art and another as obscenity. Consequently, the arguments for and against
stricter censorship of film change over time and have to be considered within the
cultural and social contexts specific to the film. For example, Ben Hur (1959) was
banned in China for the "propaganda of superstitious beliefs namely Christianity.
Likewise, the Charlie Chaplin film The Great Dictator (1940), which satirised the
leadership of Adolph Hitler was banned in Nazi Germany. Yet, neither of these films
was considered controversial in either the UK or the US at the time their release.

From an institutional perspective it is important to note the difference between
censorship and classification. While censorship implies state intervention to prevent the
public exhibition of a cinematic work, classification is about empowering the audience to
make appropriate consumer choice. Consequently, while the British Board of Film
Classification has clear guidelines that denote the content of forthcoming releases the
power to ban the screening of a film in cinema rests with individual town councils. The
duality of this system has resulted in some notable inconsistencies. For example David
Cronenburgs Crash (1996) was banned in some metropolitan areas and not in others.
However, the advantage of this system is that it distances central government from
issues of censorship. For example, when a minister from the home office wished to
attend a screening of Clockwork Orange in 1971 the BBFC arranged for it to take place
off the premises; the organisation wished to protect its integrity as an independent
operation whose guidelines have been developed in consultation with the public. The
positive benefits of this dialogue were demonstrated in the appeal to lower the
classification of Platoon from an 18 to a 15 on the grounds that the film was of
educational significance to audience members in that age bracket.

While film classification in the UK has a history of pragmatism, in the US there has
been a tendency towards ideological intervention. For example, from the early 1930s
the Hayes Code offered Hollywood studios advice on how to ensure their films
promotes positive moral values. Influenced by the Catholic controlled Legion of
Decency in retrospect it is uncertain to what extent adherence to the code was a
product of ideological conviction or financial expedience; the Legion had the power to
call for nationwide boycotts if films threatened Christian values. Nearly eighty years on,
the reasons for the controversy surrounding MGMs Freaks seem confusing. From a
contemporary perspective the representation of physical disfigurement seems an
obvious point of debate. However, as the revisions to the films ending demonstrate, it
was actually the audiences sympathy for the perpetrators of crime that is problematic.
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BFIs Top Ten Best Thriller Films

1. The Third Man (1949)
Directed by Carol Reed
Cast: Joseph Cotten, Trevor Howard, Alida Valli, Orson Welles, Bernard Lee, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Ernst Deutsch, Siegfried Breuer, Erich
Ponto, Paul Hoerbiger
After half a century, The Third Man remains a bona fide British classic: rich on atmosphere, strong on suspense and blessed with quite
wonderful performances. A true collaboration between director Carol Reed and screenwriter Graham Greene, it is the story of a simple
American (Cotten) who arrives in post-war Vienna to meet his old friend Harry Lime (Welles, evil and extraordinary), only to learn that Lime
has been killed in an accident.

2. Brief Encounter (1945)
Directed by David Lean
Cast: Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway, Joyce Carey, Cyril Raymond, Valentine Dyall
A rightly celebrated tear-jerker which movingly recreates a little England on a northern railway platform (location: Carnforth, Lancashire). It
shows that even the repressed British can display emotion (in a very understated manner, of course) when true love comes along. David
Lean directed this expansion of Noel Coward's one-act play Still Life.

3. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Directed by David Lean
Cast: Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif, Arthur Kennedy, Jack Hawkins, Donald Wolfit, Claude Rains, Anthony Quayle, Alec Guinness, Anthony
Quinn, Jose Ferrer, Michel Ray, Zia Mohyeddin
A truly epic film which won the Best Picture Oscar and BAFTA awards. Staggering in its scope, execution and impact, it remains a moving
and memorable film-going experience. Director David Lean and screenwriters Robert Bolt and (originally uncredited) Michael Wilson
combined to craft a story that seems to have two central characters - Lawrence himself (played with charismatic brilliance by 30 year-old
Peter O'Toole) and the shifting desert so superbly photographed in glorious 70mm by Freddie Young.

4. The 39 Steps (1935)
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Robert Donat, Madeleine Carroll, Godfrey Tearle, Lucie Mannheim, Peggy Ashcroft, John Laurie, Wylie Watson, Helen Haye, Frank
Cellier
One of the greatest Hitchcock films and by far the best of the three big-screen versions of John Buchan's romping adventure novel, written in
1915. The excellent Robert Donat is the innocent engineer caught up in a web of intrigue when a female spy is killed in his apartment.

5. Great Expectations (1946)
Directed by David Lean
Cast: John Mills, Bernard Miles, Finlay Currie, Martita Hunt, Valerie Hobson, Jean Simmons, Alec Guinness, Francis L. Sullivan, Anthony
Wager, Ivor Barnard, Freda Jackson, Hay Petrie, O.B. Clarence, George Hayes, Torin Thatcher, Eileen Erskine
A masterly adaptation of Dickens' much-loved story, which fluently blends excitement, suspense and emotion. The memorable opening
sequence of young Pip meeting Magwitch in the graveyard brilliantly sets the film in motion, and director David Lean handles the transitions
from fear to drama and on to comedy with extraordinary ease.

6. Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
Directed by Robert Hamer
Cast: Dennis Price, Alec Guinness, Valerie Hobson, Joan Greenwood, Miles Malleson, Arthur Lowe
A deliciously dark Ealing comedy that elegantly allows the audience to side with the killer as he sets about his task. Dennis Price plays the
penniless young hero, ninth in line to inherit the D'Ascoyne dukedom, who systematically sets about murdering the eight in the way to his
title.

7. Kes (1969)
Directed by Ken Loach
Cast: David Bradley, Lynne Perrie, Colin Welland, Freddie Fletcher, Brian Glover
Ken Loach's engagingly unsentimental story of a working-class boy who manages to find a rare release from his drab life training and caring
for a kestrel. Much-loved and well remembered, the film is regarded as a classic of its time, with Loach commenting poignantly on the lack of
opportunities for the working classes.

8. Don't Look Now (1973)
Directed by Nic Roeg
Cast: Donald Sutherland, Julie Christie, Hilary Mason, Clelia Matania, Massimo Serrato
Stunningly assembled by Nic Roeg, this remains one of the most disturbing of films, with the hint of terror lurking in almost every scene. Julie
Christie and Donald Sutherland are the parents whose drowned daughter may be sending them messages, leading them into the gothic
labyrinthine of a deserted Venice.

9. The Red Shoes (1948)
Directed by Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
Cast: Anton Walbrook, Moira Shearer, Marius Goring, Robert Helpmann, Albert Basserman, Frederick Ashton, Leonide Massine, Ludmilla
Tcherina, Esmond Knight
An extraordinarily imaginative film which has quietly established itself as a classic and has the ability to affect some viewers deeply. At its
heart is a 14-minute ballet - also called The Red Shoes - based on a Hans Christian Andersen story of a wicked shoe-maker who makes
slippers for a young woman who finds they won't let her stop dancing until she dies, exhausted.

10. Trainspotting (1996)
Directed by Danny Boyle
Cast: Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Robert Carlyle, Kelly Macdonald, Kevin McKidd, Peter Mullan, Irvine Welsh
Dark, ironic and made with such style and power, Trainspotting arrived in cinema's centenary year as a much-needed push for British film.
Brilliantly marketed and with a pulsating soundtrack, it put Scottish and British talent in the spotlight, and showed that the awful truth of drug-
taking could be handled in a clever, witty but still disturbing way
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Basic Media Studies Glossary

Aerial shot - a shot from a crane, plane, or helicopter.

Bias - a preference that interferes with objective judgements.

Camera angle - the position of the camera relative to the horizontal plane of the subject. In a high-
angle shot, the camera is above the subject; in an eye-level or flat shot, the camera is on the
same plane as the subject; in a low-angle shot, the camera is below the subject. Camera angles
should make sense within the context of the shot.

Camera distance - the apparent distance of the camera from the subject (extreme close (XCU),
close-up (CU), medium shot (MS), long shot (LS)).

Code - a system of signs--verbal, aural or visual--used to convey meaning.

Composition (visual media) - the placement and use of all the various elements in the frame of a
movie, television show, or photograph in order to achieve maximum impact.

Continuity - the scripted part of a documentary program that introduces the topic, connects the
various components (usually recorded interviews), and concludes the program; provides
coherence to the disparate components of these programs.

Convention - a generally accepted custom or an established rule.

Crosscutting - intermingling shots of different events, used to suggest parallels or to create
suspense.

Dissolve - the superimposition of one shot, which is fading out, on the next shot that is fading in.

Editing - a process of selecting, arranging, and combining shots.

Episode - one show of a television series.

Establishing shot (ES) - generally a long shot or extreme long shot used to show the setting.

Extreme close up (ECU) - a close up in which a small detail fills the entire screen.

Extreme long shot (ELS) - a very wide shot, often a panoramic view.

Fade-in - a shot that begins totally over or under exposed (white or black) and gradually becomes
properly exposed.

Fade-out - a shot that ends by changing from the proper exposure to an extreme under or over
exposure.

Fast motion - the opposite of slow motion (i.e., filmed at fewer than 24 frames per second).

Frame - a single, still image from a film or video.

Freeze frame - an effect in which a single frame is held on screen for an indefinite time.


Genre - a way to classify prose, poetry, drama, and other media.

High angle shot - a shot in which the camera looks down upon the subject from a higher vantage
point.


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Jump cut - an abrupt and jarring change from shot to shot or scene to scene.

Juxtaposition - the positioning of items side by side or close together.

Long shot (LS) - a wide shot or a scene, which relates the subject to the background or setting.

Low angle shot - a shot in which the camera looks up at the subject from a lower vantage point.

Media effects - a general term that refers to the consequences or impacts of media use on
individuals, society, and culture.

Medium shot (MS) - a medium close shot in which the head, shoulders, and chest are normally
included in the frame.

Montage - a sequence of shots cut together often in a stylized way, to suggest a theme or idea
rather than a continuous event.

Narration - a scripted voice-over commentary, read by a narrator or participant in a film.

Pan - short for "panoramic" shot; a horizontal movement in which the camera is turned from the
left to right or right to left to follow a moving subject or give a sweeping view across a scene.

Patch - the process of connecting audio devices so that the sound, in the form of electrical
energy, is transferred from one to the other.

Point of view (POV) - a subjective shot that shows the point of view of a particular character.

Scene - a clearly identifiable part of an event, usually in a single location and in a single time
span; it generally consists of several shots.

Sound editing - stage in which sound effects and music are added to program.

Sound effects (SFX, FX) - sound from any source other than voice-over narration, lip-sync, or
music.

Stereotype - a highly opinionated, predictable, biased, and simplistic view.

Storyboard - a "short shot" script which includes drawings of each shot for a movie or for some
television shows.

Synchronized sound - the matching of sound to action on the screen.

Text - anything that is read, listened to, or viewed.

Tilt - the vertical equivalent of a pan, in which the camera is titled up or down.

Tracking shot (dolly shot) - a shot in which the camera is mounted on a wheeled platform or
dolly to create smooth, steady movements.

Travelling shot - a shot taken from a moving vehicle.

Zoom shot - camera shot that creates the illusion of moving toward or away from a subject
simply by changing the focal length of the lens. A Zoom In magnifies objects to make them
appear close; a Zoom Out widens the angle view, making objects appear to move farther away.