Action Thrillers

The definition of a thriller is this:

• Thriller is a genre of film that uses suspense, tension and excitement as the main elements. Thrillers heavily stimulate the viewer's moods giving them a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, surprise, anxiety and/or terror. Thriller films tend to be adrenaline-rushing, gritty, rousing and fast-paced.

When combining a thriller with an action film you substitute some of the suspense creating elements with more violence and fight scenes thus combining the two genres to create one combination. Such films that have done this very effectively is The Dark Knight. 
The threat is constantly visible in the form of the villain, The Joker, which takes the element of implied danger out of the equation. Instead an "adrenaline-rush" mood is created through this seen threat rather than through suspense and tension.
However this is not to say that there aren't scenes where it is extremely tense which is why i feel The Dark Knight is one of the best action-thrillers to take influence from.







Another fantastic film that is an excellent example of an action thriller is Looper. The plot is about hitmen that are hired by mob bosses from the future. These mob bosses send anyone they don't want in their coorporation to the past where they are assassinated. This seems like a perfect plan as the bodies are undetectable in the past. However there is a catch; when you become a hitman or "looper", you assign yourself to a contract meaning that you yourself may be sent back from the future and you have to kill yourself.
Already you can tell from the plot that this is going to be an action packed film with the connotations of gunfights between hitmen and mob bosses. Yet there is also a factor of uncertainty as the loopers are always on edge, not knowing if they'll kill themselves that waking day.
The complex plot allows these factors to blend seemlessly into one another.

Finally, the last film i will be taking influence from is the "Jason Bourne" series. Within this series, ex agent is being constantly hunted from place to place by the company who used to work for. However he has no recollection of why he is trying to be killed when all he wants is answers.
The use of well choreographed fight scenes, and suspenseful situations such as "a phone call while in the crosshairs" cause this film to be a gem of an action thriller. Overall what the director has achieved is a dark nightmarish world for the main character "Jason Bourne" filled with army issue snipers and pistols, heists and a riveting plot line that causes the audience to grip their seats. The threat is mystertious as it seems that everyone wants to kill Jason, creating a huge amount of tension right from the start, 
The main lesson i will take from this film are to really put thought into choreographing fight scenes; it adds another level of drama and when a brawl doesn't look like its been obviously choreographed,

Shot list of Reckoning

Number	Cut	Shot Type	Visual Content	Sound	Lighting	Actors on screen
1	Fade to black	-	Ident	-	-	-
2	Fade in	ECU	Radriar’s hands caressing a locket/ picture	Sound of wind blowing, slow sombre music used	Natural lighting- shot in the middle of the day	Tristan
3	Straight cut	LS	Girl walking down a dark street	Sound of her footsteps heard, diegetic sound of cars.	Battery lights used just to brighten the surroundings	Francesca
4	Straight cut	ECU	Hands continue to caress the locket.	Music getting louder	Natural	Tristan
5	Straight cut	MS, tracking shot	Flashbacks of girl walking down the street getting darker	Diegetic sound slightly muted, only her footsteps and breathing heard	Low key lighting	Francesca
6	Straight cut	LS	Girl walks past an alleyway, two hands grab her into the alleyway out of shot	Music stops, all sound is dimmed and a slight ringing is heard before she is grabbed.	Battery lights used to light her from down the street	Francesca
7	Straight cut	ECU	Hands clench over the locket	The sound of screams and punches being thrown are heard.	Natural	Tristan
8	Straight cut	CU	A struggle that is difficult to see	Sound of punches and muffled screams	Natural, very dark lighting	Francesca, Joe
9	Straight cut	CU	A hand flopping to the floor while two out of focus people run off	Sound of a knife unsheathing, screams stop.	Low key lighting,	Francesca, Joe
10	Fade to black	LS slowly zooming in	Our hooded main character looking out over a city	Narration begins, music of heavy booming drums used at the start of every fade	Natural lighting, filter used for brightness.	Tristan
11	Fade to black	MS to over shoulder shot	Main character closer looking out over the city	Narration continues, music grows louder	Natural lighting, filter used…	Tristan
12	Fade to black	LS	Man in a glass box on the side of a building	Narration continues; talking about the “scum of the earth”	Upward lighting in box to create shadows	Tristan
13	Fade to black	LS	Man in glass box grabbed from behind and dragged out of view of the camera	Narration temporarily stops after “it is my quest to purge this earth…”	Upward lighting in box used	Tristan, joe
14	Straight cut	MS tracking shot	Main character walking down a darkened street, hood up	Faster paced and angry music kicks in.	Low key	Tristan
15	Straight cut	Long shot	Shows a well lit alleyway with three muggers smoking and drinking	Diegetic sounds of the muggers conversation and background noise	Low key	Joe+ extras

16	Straight cut	MS	Radriars torso is out of focus and the muggers are in focus. They stop and look at him.	Music starts to grow louder	Low key	Tristan and Joe
17	Straight cut	MS	The main mugger straightens his hood and approaches radriar	Small amount of dialogue, music continued	Low key	Tristan Joe
18	Straight cut	LS	Camera switches to the muggers POV, Radriar has his head lowered	Music dims slightly, diegetic noise is dimmed	Low key	Tristan Joe
19	Straight cut	LS	Camera angle moves behind the muggers as they approach Radriar asking for his wallet	Dialogue from the muggers	Low key	Tristan, Joe
20	Straight cut	CU	Radriar raises his hand, the muggers are still in shot but out of focus	Music dims further	Low key	Tristan, Joe
21	Straight cut	MS	Muggers look confused, stop briefly then go towards him again	Music is gone now and background noise is drowned out	Low key	Tristan Joe
22	Straight cut	CU	Radriars hand flickers and two of the three muggers fall to the floor unconscious	SFX of a bass 'pulse' used. Muggers grunt in pain	Low key	Tristan joe
23	Straight cut	MS	The third mugger backs away on his knees as Radriar approaches him	Epic and dramatic music kicks in as the mugger backs away	Low key	Tristan joe
24	Straight cut	MS	Camera switches to the back of radriar approaching as the mugger begs for his life	Musiic grows louder as the mugger begs for his life	Low key	Tristan joe
25	Straight cut	CU	The mugger stops backing away and asks “who are you?”	Music reaches a climax then dies down very suddenly before the question	Low key	Tristan joe
26	Straight cut	ECU	Camera focuses on Radriars eyes which are red and demonic	Music goes very quiet for the final scene	Low key	Tristan joe
27	Straight cut	CU	Radriars hand produces a flick knife	SFX of a knife unsheathing used	Low key	Tristan joe
28	Fade to black		Black screen with the words “I am Radriar” on it.	-	-	-

Ident Research

Optimum Releasing
This is the ident for optimum releasing. I like this ident as its very stylish and modern, this is shown through the use of bright "electric"-style colours and the use of editing. Initially you don't see the ident, you only catch flashes of it which grabs the audiences attention. Then as the effects fade out, the full ident is shown in bold. The use of bold white text on a black background also emphasises the company's name, as does the layering of the words with "optimum" being on top of "releasing". I would like to create something like this for my ident however i think this may be quite difficult as there are many effects used in the sequence to make it look technical and modern.




Freemantle Media
Freemantle media is another ident that i like a lot. It is simplistic yet eye-catching with the use of an insignia that is unique to the company. The style of this ident is very artistic which gives insight to the type of company Freemantle media is. The use of bold, white text on a dark blue background emphasises the ident itself making it even more memorable. As well as this the word "Freemantle" is in bold emphasising the company's name so people will remember them in the future. I would like to create an ident like this; simplistic yet stylish and very unique.




Pathé
I feel that Pathé's ident is very eyecatching and i of similar style to Optimum Releasing's; Initially you can't see what the ident is causing the viewer to focus on the images unfolding in front of them. Then as the letters fall into place the word "Pathé" is seen and the audience now knows who is producing this film. The use of shadows in this ident is very intriguing as it makes the shot seem "full"  rather than bare with a word on the screen.
 I like the style of this ident as well as it is very artistic with its use of colours and imagery. It looks like an ident that did not need a huge amount of editing, just some interesting lighting, filters and effects.

My favourite of the three is Pathé; it is stylish, interesting and most of all, simple. For this reason i will take influence from these styles of idents, mainly Pathé, in trying to create my own, unique and individual ident.