Research into crime thrillers and preparation for beginning work on my story board

Sherlock Holmes opening scene
The opening scene of Sherlock Holmes does use some expected crime thriller conventions for example it uses quite dramatic and tense music to make the reader instantly hooked and on the edge of their seat. Its also very dark, gloomy and shadowy right from the beginning which is also a factor of most crime thrillers. It uses sound effects of horses as you see them go past the camera and the noises are quite loud and sudden which may make the audience quite anxious, just as a thriller should do. The camera technique also changes as it goes from quite a smooth panning technique to speeding up and getting quite shaky which again adds to the tension. You are also introduced to a few characters but at this early stage you cant be certain whether they are protagonists or antagonists for example. In general its a very tense and mysterious opening and does use quite a lot of the usual crime thriller conventions.

James Bond- Skyfall
The opening scene shows James Bond (the protagonist and main character) in a car chase. Its not particularly like a usual thriller film as there are no shadows or dark images at first, but once the characters get into the car and they are filmed from behind silhouettes are used to create a specific tense mood. The music starts off seeming quite happy but it slowly gets faster and a lot more tense as the scene goes on. You can also tell straight away the genre of the film and specific iconography is used that you can immediately identity, for example the gun in his hand makes it quite obvious it will be a thriller, and although the gun means it may be a horror you don't get that kind impression as it is quite bright and fast paced.


The target audience for our own product would probably be the age of 15 and above. This is because a lot more action could be involved to make it a lot more exciting if its just aimed at teenagers and adults and not young children.

I asked 5 people from this social group what they most enjoy about crime thrillers and the answers were

• How exciting and tense they can be
• How they build up suspense
• How action packed and thrilling they can be
• The way the characters usually very different and contrast a lot compared to each other
• How good the story lines usually are and how interesting they can be  

Ideas for opening sequence:

• Somebody (probably a teenage girl) has vanished
• The opening sequence would be lots of different images flashing up, such as an empty bed, a full wardrobe (to show she hadn't run away), a glass on the table next to her bed that had been knocked over and maybe the water still dripping off the side and the sound of the drops of water on the floor?(to show it had recently been knocked) etc
• While these images are flashing up there is voices over the top of a detective interviewing her parents about when she was last scene and if there was a good explanation to why she was missing etc
• The titles will be shown whilst the pictures are flashing up
• The girls room may give the audience a image of the girl and the voices over the top will introduce them to the detective (who will be a main character) and the girls parents/mum. 
• Mysterious sounding music playing in the background quietly?
• Maybe some slow panning shots of the bedroom

Anna May Duddridge