Film Opening Analysis - Leon

The film opens with credits as it introduces the audience to the setting of the film. It looks as if we are travelling very fast through an urban city. This connotes how busy the city actually is. The setting is also typical of a thriller as this is where we usually expect a thriller to be taken place. We then are introduced to where this urban city is as we see a sign of two Italian flags in-between two buildings saying “Welcome to Little Italy”. When the audience see's this, we automatically think "Mafia" because this is what we associate thrillers with in Italy. The urban city is typical iconography as this is mainly where thrillers are set, in the cities where it is very busy, a lot of business involved, and the use of high technology.

We then are shown a small restaurant and we are entered into it. The audience then are introduced to the professional Leon, but we cannot see all of him, we can only see his eyes but with glasses on. This is typical of a thriller as we want to see Leon and we wonder why he is not shown to us yet, this also connotes how important he is. We are then introduced to Leon’s boss, using typical thriller iconography smoking a cigarette. We are only shown parts of both Leon and his Boss’s face as it reflects how they are very secretive and serious they are. We then hear Leon’s boss say “Let’s talk business” and shows Leon a picture of the "fat bastard" he wants to be killed. We are now introduced to what Leon’s character is, a hit man.

The characters in Leon are very typical of a thriller as they are all middle aged men between 30-50’s. This is typical of a thriller because we usually expect more mature men in this genre as it usually reflects power and business. Another character that we are shown and is also typical of a thriller is the prostitute. This is typical within a thriller because the male characters that play the role of hit men etc do not have time for girlfriends/wives because of the dangerous career that they do. The young innocent victim in the film (Matilda) is also typical of a thriller as we always get a character caught up in a situation that they cannot control and they loose everybody close to them. The corrupt cops, Detectives, Gangs, Drug dealers are also typical of  a thriller as the audience always expect the characters that are seen as the "Low lives" and try their best to make other peoples lives messed up.

After the meeting between Leon and his Boss, we then meet the man that is going to be killed. This is dramatic irony as the man thinks it is a normal day, doing business, hiring a prostitute and having several body guards with him. We are then shown more typical thriller iconography as we see his body guards opening a suitcase full of packages of cocaine, connoting the wealth and danger of this man by the amount of drugs, the luxury hotel room and the pretty prostitute.

We then experience dramatic irony again as we see the receptionist downstairs overlooked by a dark shadow, which we know that it is Leon going to kill, however nor the man or his body guards know what is going to happen. We then see the man receiving a phone call while he is in bed by one of his body guards holding typical thriller iconography (a gun) to his face. The man then speaks to his body guard on the phone asking why he wanted to speak to him and what did he look like. His bodyguard replies "Serious". Leon then tells the body guard to say he is coming up, and then shoots him. This builds up tension for the audience as we know that something bad is about to happen.The man automatically gets his men to go and check for the stranger with their guns, we experience tension again as Leon is nowhere to be seen, the lift then starts to travel upstairs and we can see the numbers going up and up, changing as we think Leon is travelling up the lift. We then are left on a cliff-hanger as we see something popping out from the lift, the body guards start to shoot, however we see that it was a false alarm, and it was not a real person who the men shot. Suspense then builds up as we have been set on a false alarm ans nor us as the audience or the men where Leon is and where he is going to come out from.


As the body guards are trying to find Leon, non diegetic sound is played to get the audience on the edge of their seats and to build up suspense. Leon then appears from underneath the stairs as he kills the body guards one by one. As soon as the action takes place, especially when the bad guy is on his own now, audio visual style is used, it is very fast pace edited and a lot of noisy shootouts till the moment that the Leon meets the bad guy. This is typical of a thriller as both the characters and the audience are anxious to what is going to happen next, therefore it builds up more tension and suspense. 


This is a typical thriller opening as right from the start the audience experience violence and danger. This keeps the audience hanging on and wanting to watch more of the film as the opening to the thriller can leave a lot of unanswered questions. In Leon, the audience mainly want to meet Leon as we can see that Leon has a soft side to him too. The Narrative to "Leon" is that an innocent victims life is shattered, she wants revenge and hires an expert(Leon) to help her. This is a typical thriller narrative as we usually see that somebody gets caught up in a situation which they cannot control and it is a struggle to manage and get out of it. "Leon" does follow a typical thriller narrative, however there are two different themes of Revenge and Love. Despite the action and danger we see an insuperable relationship between Matilda and Leon and how they work together, stand by and sacrifice things for each other.

Thriller poster

The American


The character George Clooney is playing in 'The American' is very typical of a thriller. This is because in the thriller genre we usually see a more older, mature man (between 40's-50's) to be taking full control and playing an important role. As we can see, this is what George Clooney is doing. We can notice that George Clooney is a more mature man because of the clothes he is wearing. He is wearing a suit, which symbolises that he is an important man who holds a lot of power and is quite wealthy. However, in his right hand he is holding a gun which is a typical use of iconography within a thriller. This is because we expect guns, knifes etc. Showing a weapon that is going to be involved throughout the film on the poster is also typical of a thriller because it builds the audience up to expect that there is going to be a lot of shootouts and violence and seperates the film from different genres. Straight away in the poster, George Clooney is seen to be in the middle of chasing somebody or getting away from something. This follows the typical narrative of a thriller as the audience can already expect the action they are going to be experiencing throughout the film.

The woman in the background of the poster behind George Clooney is also very typical of a thriller. This is because George Clooney plays the part of an Assasin(Jack), and we always expect a character like him to have a sexual love life(like Daniel Craig in the Bond films) with conventionally beautiful women. These women are usually strangers or prostitutes that they have met within a journey or a mission. This is because Jack(and other similar thriller characters) do not have the opportunity to have their own girlfriends or wifes because of the career they have chosen as it is too dangerous. The prostitute in the background(Carla) that Jack pays for, grows into more and they fall in love with eachother. Jack decides to give up his job as an Assasin and too run away with Carla. However, when he tells his boss, he sents assasins to kill Jack in Italy and then finally comes himself to kill him.  This is a typical thriller narrative as it is a love story but it is complicated as it faces consequences and danger within it.

The character that Liam Neeson plays in "Taken" is a middle aged man and also father who is between his 40's-50's. This is typical of a thriller as we expect male characters his age within the genre to play the main roles as they are more mature, they hold a lot of power, they have the weapons etc. The audience can also tell that Liam Neeson is a more mature serious character by the clothes that he is wearing. He is dressed all in black with a long black leather coat holding typical thriller iconography of a gun. The look on the characters face is determined and serious like he is in the middle of a crisis, his connotes that there is going to be a lot of action and revenge within the film. His daughter who gets taken is also typical of a thriller as we expect the victim abducted usually young girls who are vulnerable and have no control on what is happening to them. Typical thriller iconography is shown on the poster (a gun) in the hands of Liam Neeson. This is also typical for the poster to show a part of thriller iconography as it separates the film from any other genres. The gun also symbolizes that the film is going to be action packed with a lot of shootouts etc. There is not much audio-visual style shown within the poster, however the colours used are very dark and dull, this reflects on the seriousness and significance of the story line within the film. The colours are also typical of a thriller as very dark colours are usually used: such as grey, black and blues.

The Narrative of the film is that Bryan's daughter(Kim) gets abducted by Albanian sex traders while travelling in France, meanwhile her father(Bryan) tracks down his daughter straight after she phones him that she is about to be taken. However, Bryan has an advantage on tracking Kim down as he is a former CIA colleague. The whole chase is a race against time as on the poster it shows a timer and above it says "Time is running out". Bryan is told that he only has 96 hours to find her, otherwise he never will. This is a typical thriller narrative as it ticks all the boxes for thrill and suspense, we don't know what is going to happen next and if her father is going to get to her in time. We as the audience sympathize with Kim as she is a young vulnerable teenager, who we want to be safe and back home. The theme of this thriller is revenge. On the poster it says "They have taken his daughter, he will hunt them, he will find them, and he will kill theme" The words hunt, find and kill are written in bold writing to show the process of what he is going to do to find these men.

Forms and Conventions of a Thriller

Characters
Typically, in the thriller genre we have a range of characters that we expect to be shown. Some of these characters that we expect are criminals, stalkers, assassins, innocent victims and women. Women can be seen in thrillers in many different ways. Women can be seen as helping the hero along the way(typically a man who have a sexual relationship together) or a woman stopping the man from being a hero, by using him along the way and paying him with sex. We could also see the woman to be the hero and taking full control, this is anti-sterotypical as usually for a thriller as we usually see mature men taking the role as the hero. For example, Daniel Craig in the Bond films. One example of a thriller where the woman is taking control is Uma Thurman, acting in the film "Kill Bill". Uma is conveyed to be a tough woman and is able to take on men that are seen sterotypically to be stronger than her. In thriller, we also expect the corrupt characters, these tend to be the criminals. We also expect in thrillers the victims, that we tend to feel sorry for, that get caught up into a situation that they cant handle.We tend to relate to these characters and want them to succeed and survive. Other characters that we tend to see within thrillers are politicians, cops, gangs, detectives, drug dealers, hitmen, serial killers, FBI agents, terrorists, obsessed individuals, lonely outsiders, innocent people and stalkers.

        

Themes
Thriller has a wide range of themes that could be used within the genre. This usually includes, terrorism, jelousy, political conspiracy, romantic triangles, paranoia, obsession, allientation, deception, revenge, power struggles, betryal, espionage,breakdown of society and many more. Within a film, there doesnt have to be one theme, there can be several of them. One example is 'Silence of the lambs' the themes that are included in this film are madness, obsession, Allientation and Battle of minds(between Hecter and the FBI) Thrillers tend to follow the same sorts of themes, however within a thriller there must be a story based around these themes to seperate the film from any other genres and make it a thriller.

                   

Narrative

The Narrative is the story that the film is based around. Most thrillers have similar narratives, usually at the start of the film we disover quite early that something has gone completley wrong and a character is caught up in a big situation that they cant handle, a race against time, or on the look for a criminal that is always a step ahead the police. Throughout the film we expect a lot of shooutouts, murders, explosions, loud noises etc, which is also followed by jumps and twists that we dont expect to happen. This is typical of a thriller because we always expect to expect what we dont think is going to happen, to build up suspense and tention. We also tend to get a scene in thrillers towards the end where we think that everything has been sorted and life is back to normal, however we get back to reality and something bad happens again. At the end of the film, we usually expect the criminal to be caught or killed and the innocent people are now noticed to be innocent. An example of a different ending to a thriller is 'Se7en' where the criminal gets what he wants in the end of the film to be killed by the man who he envies by being happy in a relationship and completing his seven deadly sins by killing the detectors wife.

          

Iconography

Iconography in thriller is the visual elements that we can see. Typical igonography of a thriller usually includes guns, bombs, fast cars, cigarettes, cigars, urban clothing etc. This is typical of thriller because these visual elements we do not tend to see in any other genres, therefore we can seperate and distinguish that its a thriller by the iconography. All thrillers tend to use the same iconography. The gadgets that are always very high tech and advanced which also relates to characters and why you see more older and mature men in thrillers.

              

Audio-Visual Style
Audo-Visual Style is elements such as camera work, editing, lighting and sound. In a thriller we expect up tempo, fast editing to build up suspense and tension to create the thrill that the audience is expecting. When we as the audience are feeling for the victims within the thriller we expect a lot of close ups to be in  the characters personal space and to experience mainly how they are feeling, so we can feel scared for them. One character that we feel the most sympathy for is Matilda in the thriller "Leon". This is because she is a young, innocent child placed in a dangerous world and the camerawork used, places us as the audience in her shoes. Within thrillers, we always expect a lot of low key lighting especially in a lot of suspense moments to create the audience to feel that something bad is going to happen, such as an attack or a murder. Sound that is used in thrillers can be both non-diegetic and diegetic sound.

                    

Target audience of Thrillers

The target audience for thrillers vary depending on the sub-genres. This is because thrillers can go from comedy to horror thrillers. Typically, thrillers that are more sophisticated and are starring more older strong male characters such as "George Clooney" in "The American" are usually targeted at older males. This is because most of these films are rated as an 18, which is more suitable for older people because the shooutouts, murders and gore is shown in a more explicit way. Psychological thrillers are also usally rated as an 18 because it is quite disturbing and this could affect younger people watching it, such as American Psycho, Se7en and The Silence of the Lambs. A good example of a thriller that is targeted for children rather than older people is "Twilight", this is because the film uses Vampires and Wolves, which we would associate as horror/thriller characters. However, this is targeted to younger people because the film doesnt show too much gore, even though the vampires and wolves have a conflict, and there are killings in the film, the twilight films are based around love but they still have the elements of suspense that makes the film a thriller.

                  

Thriller Sub-Genres

Physiological thriller
The definiton of a physiological thriller is related to the mind or the process of the mind. We then relate to these people as "phycos". These people then tend to end up as the character of the criminal and they usually do corrupt things to people. We could also bring obsession into this sub genre. Some of the films that would be placed in this genre is, Silence of the lambs, Black Swan, Se7en, The shining and the resident.

                

Action thriller

I think that action thrillers are the most popular and well known. Action thrillers include films such as Kill Bill, Sherlock Holmes, Salt & Knight and Day. These include a lot of technical weapons, usually a race against time and an unexpected twist at some stage of the film. We expect a lot of loud music, noisy shootouts and flashing images, usually a very fast edited film.

              

Spy thriller
A spy thriller involves high technology weapons such as trackers, mobile phones, fast cars, bugging devices, cameras etc. Spy thrillers are usually also set in a high tech world, and are also usually in an urban setting. Films that would fit into this sub-genre would be Casino Royale,The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum. Spy thrillers also include chases, races against time, noisy shootouts and espionage.

              

Supernatural thriller
A supernatural thriller tends to be a spine tingling film which gets you on the edge of your seat and also makes you question things, it tends to also be known as a cliff-hanger. Some of the films that fit into this sub-genre is White noise, The ring and The Sixth Sense.

            

Revenge thriller
Revenge thrillers always follow the structure of something going wrong, and throughout the film the main character has to fight for the person or object back. Revenge in thrillers isnt shown in a nice way, it involves a lot of shooutouts. Films that would fit into this sub genre are Taken, Harry Brown and The American.

          

Definition of a thriller

The definition of a thriller relates to the key elements that are involved to make the film a thriller. Such as suspense, setting, weapons, camera shots, angles etc. All of these elements work together in certain ways, which makes it clear to the audience to distinguish that they are watching a thriller by giving the audience the thrill and suspense that they are waiting for, as this is always expected in a thriller film. Thriller is a wide sub-based genre and can be split into many categories, such as action thrillers, physiological thrillers, supernatural thrillers, spy thriller, etc. However, all of these sub-genres use the same key elements to relate to the "typical thriller film". What i expect from a thriller is somebody who gets themselves into a situation and cannot control it, this is then followed by shootouts, murders, revenge etc. This also includes flashing lights, dark scenes, quiet suspense music, and then loud heavy shootouts. I also think that it is easy to separate thrillers from any other film genre because of the key elements. For example, in a horror we expect a lot of fast music and a lot of blood and gore, differently to a thriller, we expect a lot of suspense and we have to wait until any real action happens, its almost like teasing. Whereas to a horror, its very quick and over with.