Case Study

Research in aspects of the Thriller Genre

i) Institutions

Name of film: The Usual Suspects

Director: Brian Singer

Production Company: PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, Spelling Films International

Starring:  Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Bryne, Benicio Del Toro, Kevin Pollak.

Filming Dates:  19 June 1994 – 29 July 1994

Release Date: 16 August 1995 (USA)

                          25 August 1995 (UK)

Box Office Returns: Budget: $6,000,000

                                    Gross:    $23,272,306 (USA)

                                                   £  2, 503,343 (UK) (12 September 1995)

ii) Audience

Target Audience:  This film is a thriller with Crime and Mystery; this also has action and drugs involved. It is certificated as an 18 so therefore it has restricted the viewing group from the start.  This is a film which is easy to hook on to if you enjoy films with crime and questions that need answering. The wanting to know who is actually involved in this murder. Although the rating is an 18, the highest rating of views is males under 18. on the other hand all the ratings on this graph are at a very high level male and female.

Users Ratings:  Looking at the ratings on IMDB it is rated at 8.7 average out of 273,795. One User quotes the film with not enough good things to say. He rated it at 10/10. Another rated it as 5/10 with It loves itself too much.

iii) Technology

This film was made in 1995, the same time as Se7en. They therefore advertised and promoted similar ways. For example TV advertisement was used to promote the film as well as news paper and internet. How ever there was also another was technology advertised the films. And that was when people went to see other films it was tradition to see adverts for upcoming films in the cinema whilst you were seeing one already. This was a good way to advertise new films as you never forget what’s new and it tempts you to come back to that cinema and watch that film.

IV) Codes/forms and Conventions of the Thriller Genre

This is from a scene in The Usual Suspect. This is when the five usual suspects are pinned up against the wall to have their photos taken on file for the police. This is when the main characters, or known as the usual suspects, are taken in by the detectives and police for photo’s as they are questioned about a boat being blown up with several killings. This is very different to my other thriller case study as I wanted to cover other areas of the thriller genre. Firstly looking at the lighting and shading in this picture. The white background brings you main attention on the five characters more than anything else. As your focus is on the characters you notice their different height and clothing. This is key for this shot as it brings in variation. The way they are standing also reveals their characteristics as well as their surety they haven’t done anything wrong. The shot is positioned as if you were looking through a camera. This is a shot which doesn’t feed off many concepts of a Thriller, however through this film there are certain elements which keep popping up. Examples of these are the street lamps and the running water. The music plays a role in this thriller as well. The use of diegetic sound makes the thriller more tense and enduring with the sound of gunfire and pressure in certain characters voices. Also the sound of explosions and mysterious creaks work for this thriller as it makes the audience think what’s happening now and what is going to happen next, almost like being on the edge of your seat in suspense, keeping the audience guessing. Non Diegetic music helps the audience feel the suspense and mystery within the thriller. Camera Angles play a key part for this film as when you watching the thriller the change of POV make the storyline alter each time when a suspect tells of their version of this explosion / killing.