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We chose to study the genre of suspense/thriller. These types of
movies are characterized by fast pacing, frequent action, and resourceful
heroes who have to work against and defeat an often more-powerful and
more well- equipped villain. Thrillers often take place in exotic settings
such as foreign cities, desert, polar regions, or high seas, and the
characters are often already accustomed to danger, though this is not
always true as they are also ordinary citizens drawn into danger by
accident. The lead character is often male, though recently there have
been more women playing this role.
In a thriller, the hero must thwart the plans of an enemy, rather
than uncover a crime that has already happened. In a thriller the identity
of a murderer or other villain in typically known all along. Jeopardy and
violent confrontations are standard plot elements. While a mystery
climaxes when it is solved, a thriller climaxes when the hero finally
defeats the villain, saving his own life and often the lives of others.
In recent years, when thrillers have been increasingly influenced
by horror or psychological-horror exposure in pop culture, an ominous or
monstrous element has become common to heighten tension.
The term mis-en-scene originated in French theater. In
cinematography today, it means “placing an angle,” and refers to
everything that appears before the camera and its arrangement. It
encapsulates four formal elements: the physical setting, the staging of
action, the manners in which these elements are framed, and the
manner in which they are photographed.
North by Northwest (1959)
Crop Duster Sequence: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6gm5n5WmxY
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Cary Grant is the leading man playing Roger Thornhill, and advertising executive who is mistaken for a government agent. This the classic ordinary citizen drawn into danger theme. In the classic crop-duster scene Hitchcock uses some common elements of the mis-en-scene of Suspense/Thriller Movies. First off, Cary Grant is alone in the middle of a desolate flat, where he believes he will be meeting the man that he is mistaken for. The images of Grant alone are largely wide angled, giving the shots great depth and emphasizing Grant’s utter solitude. The theme of the movie is one man versus the world, and this scene is microcosm of that. Grant is powerless against every element he faces; the empty flat, the plane. There is no music in the entire sequence unitl the final explosion of the plane crashing into the gas truck, but the noise of the plane engines fading in and out is menacing and builds tension within the viewers. The explosion can be seen as the culmination of this tension and nervousness, thus the appropriate time to resume the music. The entire seen is takes place in the middle of the day, at shadowless dead noon, adding to the intensity of the scene all together. The viewer might feel tense, suppressed, nervous, uncomfortable watching Grant make sense of his surroundings, of the plane that is chasing him, of the dead heat the envelopes him. Though there is little dialogue, one can sense the depravity of Thornhill’s situation.
