Film spoiler: The Recruit.

The Recruit.

Released in 2007, 'The Recruit' is a gripping thriller film. Filled with twists and turns and full of suspence.

James Clayton, (played by Colin Farrell), is a local bar tender. A job well beneath what he is worth, concedering he is one of the highest/skilled graduates in the state. But this does not go un-noticed when one evening Walter Burke, (played by Al Pacino), walks into the bar and offers the job of a life time to Clayton, to work for the CIA. At first Clayton thought Burke was bluffing, didnt know anyone from the CIA let alone be giving out jobs for them. But when he realises its the truth, Clayton jumps at the chance and goes to a training camp, known as 'The Farm'. While there Clayton meets a girl, Layla (played by Bridget Moynahan) and they undergo a series or training exercises.

All the boys then go to a bar one night, with strict instructions from Burke, that their mission was to 'pick up a chick'. So they all go and fulfill their mission, but Clayton sees Layla sitting at the bar, looking upset. He goes over to talk, and finds out she has been kicked out of the program (The Farm). While she is staggering round the place drunk, Clayton calls her a cab and takes her outside to wait. Only to find out, when he gets outside, that this whole thing is a set up, Layla has not been kicked out of the program. She was sent to the bar for a mission, to stop Clayton completing his. This is the first twist in the story, it has the audience question what is going on now, it creates an intense atmosphere and leave us sitting on the edge of our seats.

The next main event in this film, is Clayton and Layla are sent out on another training exercise, only to walk round a corner and get kidnapped. The kidnappers are demanding information from Clayton about 'The Farm' program, Clayton does not give in and does not give anything away. When the kidnappers talk to him and torment him about things they are doing to Layla, cracks start to appear in Clayton, but still he does not give in. They torture him for a while until he can take no more and gives up. Only to then find out this was all a training exercise. Layla was in no danger, everyone of the recruits watched him as he suffered.

Clayton was then kicked out of the program.

Or so we think.

Walter broke into Clayton's hotel room, and told him they needed to go for a drive. We then discover that Clayton has not been discharged, but picked especially for the program. To be-friend Layla, who the CIA think is a mole. Walter also tells Clayton about a computer program called Ice 9, and if this falls into Layla's hands, the world could be destroyed and sent back to the stone ages. Its his mission to find out who Layla is working for, why, what she knows, and to stop her from giving out anymore information.
To go under cover, Clayton gets a job at the CIA offices.
One night after work, he sees Layla in a coffee shop, they start talking, he bugs her coat. That proves unsuccessful and he finds nothing out, apart from the fact that Layla works in science and tech area in the CIA.
Clayton gets hold of some ID, that will give him access to Layla's working area, he finds that is unsuccessful as well.
Clayton and Layla then have sex, this is a trap, when Layla is asleep Clayton goes on her computer and finds some of the Ice 9 program on it. But Layla wakes up and See's Clayton doing this, she puts a bug on him.
They are now both against each other.
In the morning, Clayton leaves, or so Layla thinks. He follows her to a train station, and sees her giving information to someone else. Clayton is in pursuit of this person. It ends up in a chase/gun fight where Clayton kills this mysterious person, only to find out it was his friend Zack from 'The Farm'.
With nothing making sense at the moment, Clayton tries to figure out how Layla is managing to get information out of the CIA offices, only to find out she has been storing it all on a pen drive hidden in her coffee cup.
He then chases after Layla, in a very dramatic car Chase scene. When he finally gets hold of her, she tells him that she is not a mole. Burke gave her this mission, to get the Ice 9 program out of the CIA building to test there security. He gave her the coffee mug.
Clayton now doesn't know what to believe.
When Clayton confronts Burke about this, he tells him it was all a mission. Again, this is another turning point in the film, full of suspense and mystery.

Mood Board.

What a thriller title sequence normally looks like, small of set writing.

Another title sequence from a thriller film, with the same small off center writing. 

The title from the film Se7en. This distorting image  is normally used in thriller film title sequences.    

Another place to set a thriller, in an 'adult world'.

This could be seen as a place to set a thriller, because it is an 'adult world'.

A prop normally used in thriller films.

All these pictures link to thriller films. It could be to do with props/set design, locations/settings, lighting/colors, characters and typical scenes. 

The colours mainly used in thriller films is grey. 

Thriller Work

I have been tasked as to chose 3 thriller films and to explain why they are thrillers. The films I have chosen are; The Woman in Black, Joy Ride and Phone Booth. The reason I have chose these films is because of they are in my opinion the best thriller films I have ever seen, and I will explain in more detail.

The Woman In Black
The Woman in Black is well known for making even the most hardest of men pee in their pants. The film is riddled with tense moments and scenes that will make you jump out of your skin.

The start of the film instantly gives you chills. It starts of with 3 Victorian-era children having a pretend tea party in their room, and while they have that, carnival - like music plays already giving the sense of chills. But when the children look towards the door (camera) you can see that someone or something is there. The music gets louder as the turn to look towards the windows and you start to think "is there something out there?". So as the children stand up, dropping their cups and stamping on their dolls, they move towards the window where I expected something to be there. But I found out I was wrong as they all stood up against the window, opened it and jumped out to their deaths. When the music stops, you can hear a woman's scream which turns out to be the mother. The camera pans back to a figure looking at the window which appears to be the woman in black.

This is only one example of the many chilling scenes in the Woman in Black. The reason why this is a thriller film is because of the tension that it gives to the viewer. The music, the creepy dolls and sounds in the old house really make the viewer know that somethings coming, but gives them the fear of the unknown. The setting of the old mansion is a real classic in terms of thrillers, and an old woman can be quite scary.

Joy Ride
Joy Ride (AKA Road Kill) is a film about 3 youngsters who talk to a truck driver and take the mick out of him. Turns out the truck driver is a psychotic killer who did not like what he heard and started to try and kill the teenagers. The movie makes the viewer ask "who is Rusty Nail (the truck driver)?" as you never see him during the film.

At the start of the film one of the teenagers (Lewis) arranges to take his girlfriend (Venna) on a road trip. He gets his best mate (Fuller) out of prison and brings him on the journey. When Lewis bought his new car, it came with a radio in which Lewis and Fuller was pretending to be a prostitute to a truck driver. They tell him, to go to the next hotel and meet him at room 17. They arrive and the boys stay in room 16, so the joke becomes clear to the driver when he opens the door to 17 that the prostitute isn't there. When the driver arrives, the boors look out the keyhole of the door and see a figure walk past and open the door to 17, where a man was staying. The next thing you hear are screams and crashing noises in the room and then the figure walks past the door again. The joke is now on Lewis and Fuller when later they are contacted by the driver and are now being hunted by him.

The reason why this film is a thriller is because it is making the viewer sit at the edge of their seat for the whole film. Rusty nail is always on the trail on the teenagers and he knows exactly what they are doing. The film gives you the sense of tension as you are not sure who Rusty Nail is going to kill next and how.

Phone Booth
This film is about a man (Stu) who is a very cocky and arrogant publicist in New York City who is also having an affair with his wife for another woman. He makes a call to his wife in a phone booth but is interrupted by a pizza boy who tries to offer him free pizza. When he finishes his call, the phone rings so he picks it up and finds a strange voice on the other end saying he has a 50.Cal sniper rifle aiming at him. Stu thinks the man is bluffing but the voice proves him wrong when he shoots a random man in the head. From there on out, people think Stu was the killer but if he leaves the phone booth, the shooter will kill him.

The suspense at which the shooter is telling Stu what to do and Stu can't do anything but do what the shooter says. One of the scenes in the film shows just how emotional things can get, the police have surrounded Stu who is still in the phone booth and the shooter tells him that he must make a choice between his wife, the the woman he is having an affair with. Stu breaks in to tears knowing that he can't go through with that but if he doesn't he will be shot. So Stu tells his wife, who has arrived at the scene, that he has had an affair with her but also explains that he is a bad person and wishes to change his ways, and then breaks down to crying again.

This scene is an emotional scene, however there are other scenes where the shooter tells Stu to do other things to get him in to trouble. You work out in the film that the shooter is only doing that to make Stu become a good person, but it is a more psychotic way of doing it. This is a thriller film because you are not sure as to what the shooter is going to come up with next.

Time Line For Title Sequence- Sweeney Todd.

00:01-00:04

00:12-00:15

00:21-00:25

00:35-00:38

00:40-00:42

00:43-00:46

00:47-00:51

01:11-01:12

01:13-01:17

01:20-01:22

01:25-01:28

01:32-01:36

01:38-01:41

01:43-01:46

01:46-46-01:48

01:49-01:52

01:53-01:55

02:00-02:03

02:04-02:06

02:09-02:12

02:14-02:17

02:20-02:23

02:24-02:26

02:29-02:32

02:33-02:37

02:38-02:47

02:42-02:45

From doing this task, I have learnt a number of different things. How many slates it takes to create a title sequence. It is law to have a title sequence because of copy write, the big production name is always at the beginning of the sequence, sometimes it gives a rough idea of what the film is about and it sets the tone and mood for the film.

Art Of The Title. 9 Frame Analysis.

With this image, the first thing that catches your eye is who produced this film. The lettering is in bold capitals, and with the choice of colour it could represent the 'Hulk' later in the film.

This image shows the iconic inventors of the 'Hulk'. The red and white background, contrast in colours with the rest of the title sequence. Again, having the bold capital letters it could show the strength of the characters in the film.

In this image we as the audience now know what the film is called.

The theme running through this image is that this film has something to do with a medical experiment. With the use of the colour green, it shows that something is in-human.

Again in this image, it shows something to do with a medical experiment.  But this time, we can clearly see who the main character is, and we as the audience can put ideas together in our heads of what is going on. With the repeated use of green (a tint of colour) it gives and UN-earthly feel to this sequence. It also sets the scene that this is talking place in a lab of some sort.

This image shows destruction, and sets up a mood for the rest of the film. The audience now expect more distruction. Also the colours used create a creepy atmospher, and we can tell that this part of the film is set in a lab.

The main thing that stands out in this image in the 'Danger' sign. But if you look closely  it has the slight green to it to give it that uneasy feel still. This one image sets the audience up for the hole film, so they know that dangers things are going to happen. This gives a sudden shock factor as well.

This is the first time, we as the audience get to see the 'Hulk'. Not properly though, so it still lets the audience use there imagination a bit. But this now ties in the green theme and its now clear why green is the main color used in this title sequence. It gives the audience a sense of fear.

This image also has the green tint to it, which again fits in with the green theme.  But also by having the word 'monster' in big, bold lettering (like the rest of font used in the title sequence) it is a clear indication to the audience of what is going to happen in the film.