Opening Scenes of No Country For Old Men

In the opening scene to this thriller, the film already causes suspence for the viewer. The killer has killed two innocent people in the space of about 5 minutes, we start to think why is he killing these people we want to know whats in his mind. It keeps your attention to the film. The place looks very desolate and earie like if you screamed no one would hear you, it makes the perfect place for a killer to be on the loose. The murderer is seen in the opening scenes walking up to a sheriff who is on the fone, we wonder what he is doing and you want to shout out quick he's behind you, by then it's too late he has the sheriff on the floor and kills him. Three words that came to my mind were weird, physco and brutal. The killer is so laid back about killing people it makes him seem professional like he has done it before which is worrying. When he murders he has a physcotic look on his face asif he is enjoying the feeling of power he has over the people he kills. The visual of the killer automatically lets you know he is the villain, dark clothes, strange hair cut, pale skin and yet his eyes are bright red. The only downfall to the film so far is it takes too long to get to the point and has alot of action to start with but then trails off and the action dies down.

The Manchurian Candidate

There are two different versions of 'The Manchurian Candidate' the film made in 1962 and the film made in 2004. Personally i prefer the 2004 film as it doesn't take as long to start getting inside your mind and making you think about how it is a phycological film in how it affects you and what you think is going on.

A main character is Major Ben Marco, he is a man trying to regain his sanity. Representation of a 'hard man' who is accustomed to danger as he has a history with the Army. The film utilizes a range of genres: paranoid thriller, political thriller, Greek tragedy and refers to the social context and tensions. Part of the film makes us think of something we call Oedipus complex, this is because of the inapropriate relationship with mother (Eleanor Shaw).
We start to think hat is the purpose of the film, was it made to entertain? I think it has an idea of mind control and how it can effect people and what they do. The director elaborates and makes the film alot bigger, darker, stronger and twisted than real life. He exaggerates the film and what happens to the characters, this helps to keep you viewing the film. When you ask yourself who has the power and who is the enemy, the Manchurian Company, Eleanor Shaw (the mother)?  The film brings to mind the question of how far the manipulation of the human mind can go in reality.

There are two main scenes in The Manchurian Candidate; 1) The murder of Senator Jordan and 2) When Major Marco shoots Raymond & Eleanor Shaw: The final scene.
1) This scene is different from the original murder of Senator Jordan in the 1962 film. In the 2004 film Senator Jordan is murdered by Raymond Shaw, he drowns him in the remote lake. The drowning creates a dream like state by the lake. Once Senator Jordan was drown his daughter (Jocelyne Jordan) runs into the water to see what is happening and Raymond turns on her asif he is under someone elses control and drowns her too. The director wanted the scene to symbolise the fact that the main characters were drowning in all of these brainwashing they dont know who they are truely anymore. The fog on the lake represents the look of clarity within the characters minds, they cannot think clearly from all of the unanswered questions floating in their minds. Their minds are overloaded with information and their dreams are ambivalent. The music is non-diegetic and it enhances the tension as Raymond approaches the lake to kill Senator Jordan; this is a key to thrillers. The simplicity in editing and making the chots close ups reflect how Raymond is at that time brainwashed almost in a hypnotic state.

2) The films climax comes to a head when Raymond realises his soul is corrupted by the implants and stories that have been planted in his mind, therefore he decides to sacrifice his life and his mothers to eliminate any possibility of being controlled, owned and operated. There is an Undercurrent of Greek myth because there is a myth about a Greek whos relationship with his mother was inapropriate just like the relationship between Raymond and his mother. There is also a Prominent picture of Mount Rushmore on the backdrop in the final scene. It invites the viewer to ask questions about past and present leaders and the thought of corruption.

Key Elements of a Thriller

Once we watched North by Northwest, we spoke about some of the elements that were in the film that are key elements of a thriller. One of these things was MacGuffin's. A Macguffin is a plot element that catches a viewers attention, and even though we dont know what the object is the characters are willing to do almost anything to obtain it. Commonly the MacGuffin is just an object most of the time we dont know what the object is, such as in North by Northwest. Common examples are money, victory, glory, a source of power, threat and even sometimes is forgotten about in the end. Another key element is a Red Herring. A Red Herring is an element of a film/plot that diverts attention away from something that may be obvious towards something else that will lead the viewer onto another trail (the wrong one). At the end of the film it will be revealed that it was just a red herring and the correct trail would be revealed. Suspense is a big key part is a thriller. Thrillers use suspense to make it thrilling, not ordinary and boring it adds excitement, thrill and a sense of wanting to know more. This is how most thrillers keep the viewer entertained and involved in the film. One last element is that a thriller always has a Villain. The villain is the 'bad guy' the 'evil one', some say that it is a 'cruelly malicious person who is devoted to being wicked or to crime'. They mainly have a bad influence on other characters in the film.

North by Northwest

North by Northwest is a American suspence film created by Alfred Hitchcock in 1959. It stars two popular stars in his film, Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint. The film is about a mistaken identity which leads  Roger Thornhill across the United States by mysterious agents that want to stop him interfering in their plans to smuggle a microfilm containing government secrets (a MacGuffin) by killing him. Everything is revealed in the end all apart from why Roger Thornhill was thought to be Mr. Kaplan.

Lesson 1 - What a thriller is?

This is the research i have done into thrillers and what they are. A is thriller is a broad genre of literature, film and television that includes numerous and often overlapping sub-genres. Thrillers are characterized by fast pacing, frequent action, and resourceful heroes who must thwart the plans of more powerful and better equipped villains.
Devices such as suspence, red herrings and cliffhangers are used extensively. A thriller is a villain driven plot, whereby he presents obstacles the hero must overcome. The genre is flexible and can engage the audience through dramatic rendering of psychological social and political tensions. Hitchcock's said thrillers allow the audience, "to put their toe in cold water of fear to see what it's like."