Red Road

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The Codes and Convections of the Thriller Genre in 'Leon'

Luc Besson's 'Leon' has many of the codes and conventions of the thriller genre to build tension and to create suspense.

Throughout 'Leon' there is a use of extreme, the opening shot in 'Leon' is a wide landscape shot of the city which then changes to a tracking shot following the car. It leads the camera into a small shop where we see a close up of Leon's eye. The change from a wide landscape shot to an extreme close up disorientates the audience and excites them. We are introduced to mafioso, Tony and the professional hit man, Leon through extreme close ups. This makes the audience unaware of who they are and creates suspense. One of the men is a typical thriller character, smoking and hiring a hit man to kill someone who is involved with drugs, where as Leon himself is unlike the typical thriller character. We see this in the second scene when he saves the femme fatale from having the same fate as the rest of her family and giving her a place to stay.

 Another code and convention of the thriller genre in 'Leon' the disorientates the audience is the use of the spiral staircase. This is at the part where Leon has to kill the fat man and all of the other men protecting him because of the drugs. This makes the audience confused as to where Leon is, it makes it seem that he can be anywhere and on any level. In the scene where the fat man gets killed there is alot of high angle shots which represent the fat man as Leon's prey and shows him as vunerable.

Another code and convention of the thriller genre that is in 'Leon' is the use of the femme fatale. Unlike other thrillers the femme fatale in 'Leon' is just a 13 year old girl. However, although she is so young she is an ambiguous character. She has a seductive look and the bruises show how vunerable she is. When the audience first meets the audience she is wearing boots, leggings, a see through jumper and a choker and she is smoking. This gives the impression that she is a sexually attractive character even though she is only 13. This creates a contrast between the typical view of a young child and the girl in 'Leon'.

In 'Leon' there is a typical crime for a thriller genre - drugs. In the second scene while Leon shows kindness to the young girl, her family has been brutally murdered by a group of gansters who want the drugs. The high angle shots show the vunerability of the family and the control that the gangsters have on the family. The codes and conventions of the thriller genre in 'Leon' create tension and suspense. However, although these codes and conventions are apparent in 'Leon' Luc Besson has changed them slightly so that 'Leon' is not exactly the same as every thriller that has been made.

At the beginning of the film, Leon is made out to be a heartless character who has no emotion. He can kill anybody that he is asked to without feeling a thing. However, our view of Leon changes when we then see his first meeting with Mathilda. He seems to be kind and understanding and in the scene where her family is brutally murdered and he saves her by letting her stay with him.

Thriller Openings

Film	Average shot length	Number of shots	Use of titles
Taxi Driver dir. Martin Scorsese (1976)	4-20 seconds	9	Blood red on a black background.
Nikita dir. Luc Besson (1990)	5 Seconds	20	Blood red on a black background
Leon dir. Luc Besson (1994)	2 – 14 seconds	28	White on a black background.
Momento dir. Christopher Nolan	1-2 seconds	17
London To Brighton dir. Paul Andrew Williams (2006)	2-3 seconds	31	White on a black background. Shows the time.
Red Road dir. Andrea Arnold (2006)	1-10 seconds	32	Blue and white on a black background

How does Hitchcock use binary opposites to create suspense in Psycho?

In the thriller 'Psycho' Alfred Hitchcock uses binary oppositions to create suspense. The film starts with a binary opposite - wide open spaces versus claustrophobic confined spaces. There is a wide aerial shot of Phoenix, Arizona and then there is a crane shot which moves in through Venetian blinds into a small, dark, confined hotel room. When there is a wide panning shot of the city it gives the feeling of freedom but as soon as the shot changes it makes the audience feel trapped and claustrophobic in a room that is barely the size of a cupboard. It creates suspense because whilst we know the rest of the city is going along with their everyday business, there are people such as Marion and Sam who are doing things that we know they shouldn't be doing. Tension is caused because we know that something is bound to happen to one of them because of the feeling of being trapped.

In Psycho another binary opposite is wedded bliss versus extramarital misery. Marion wants security and a respectable marriage to Sam instead of what she has now and she is unhappy with the situation that her and Sam are in. Unfortunately because Sam is still married he can't have any of that and the couple in love have to sneak around behind peoples backs and it's not what she wants to do anymore. This creates suspense because they talk about needing money for the divorce and so that they can have a life together and then ironically when Marion gets back to her office there is a man with £40,000 cash and Marion has the opportunity to take it and we are made to question whether she takes it for the right reasons but it is obvious she still in the wrong. The audience feel tense because they want to know whether she gets caught and what will happen.  

The next obvious binary opposite that we see is Marion's underwear. Before the money was stolen she was wearing white underwear, this connotes the innocence and purity she has. Although what she is doing with Sam is wrong she knows that and wants to have dinner with him and her sister, with a photo of her mum on the mantle piece so that they are no longer doing wrong. This all changes after she takes the money, her underwear is now black and as she looks longingly at the money she knows she is wrong to take it but doesn't care. The black underwear connotes the wrong she is doing and that she has gone over to the dark side by committing this crime. There is two binary opposites within this because although there is the obvious one of black underwear versus white underwear, there is also good versus evil. This creates suspense because we want to know whether she ever gets caught or whether she lives happily ever after. The genre of the film makes it a little more obvious that she will get caught, but it creates suspense because we want to know who by and what could happen to her in the meantime.

A well known binary opposite in Psycho is the predator versus its prey. When Marion pulls up at Bates motel she is greeted by Norman, the owner of the motel and by what the audience can see he is also the carer for his mother. To Marion he just seems like a very normal man, but from what the audience watches they can tell that Norman is stalking Marion when we see him watch her getting changed for a shower, just before the very famous shower scene. It builds suspense because the audience don't know if he is planning to kill her for his prey or if he is just simply watching her - we want to know what he has planned for her fate! Also it builds tension because the audience can see that if Marion was in danger, she would be helpless because she is on her own in the middle of nowhere without anyone she knows.

Norman Bates is a binary opposite in himself, his internal personality versus his external personality. On the outside he seems like a very charming man who wants to help a woman who has been travelling a long way and is hungry and tired. But juxtaposed with this on the inside he is evil, it is as though he is stalking his prey ready to kill which is what he does in the very famous shower scene. Norman has dual personalities. He was abused by his mother and never got on with her, but once she had died he couldn't bare to be alone so one of is his personalities is the real Norman Bates and the other is that of his mother. This create suspense because to start with we think that Norman is a very nice character and we feel sorry for him because of the way his 'mother' shouts at him when he hasn't done anything wrong but really it isn't his mother at all. We think throughout the film that it is his mother who is the murderer and he is trying to protect her, but it is him all along and this creates tension because when we find out that it is him who is the murder Marion's sister and Sam are with Norman.

All these binary opposites fill Psycho with suspense and leave the audience on the edge of their seats.

How does 'The Third Man' use film noir conventions?

Film Noir was discovered by French film critics who noticed the trend of how 'dark', downbeat and black the looks and themes were of many American  thrillers following the war, such as  The Maltese Falcon. It is a term to describe the 'bleak' American films produced after the war.  A wide range of the films reflected the tension, bleakness and insecurities of the time period or post war. Bleakness, loss of innocence, despair and isolation are evident in the film noir thrillers, reflecting the war period. The criminal, violent or greedy perspectives of anti-heroes in film noir were a metaphors of society's evils, with a strong undercurrent of moral conflict, purposelessness and sense of injustice. There were rarely happy or optimistic endings in noirs.

'The Third Man' is a very good example of the film noir conventions. The lighting and sound, mise en scene, shots and angles, the characters and the corruption of the city all represent the tension and isolation that the city of Vienna has post war. The montage at the start of the film reflects the mood of bleakness, fear and destruction that has happened throughout the war. The image to the left is from the montage and it shows the distruction of the city.The cobblestone street setting which is constantly wet and the lighting shines on them and the British officers seeking to create law and order in a city which is divided where the British Americans and Russians are in charge which contrasts with the characters and the underworld that is below the city are all features of film noir. The setting of the film usually has either bombed out buildings and a lot of rubble around, it shows the corruption of the city and symbolises right from wrong. The same as the world on the surface of Vienna where Holly is contrasting with the underworld underneath the surface were Harry is.

When Holly Martins is running away from the police he runs up a spiral staircase. This convention is used in alot of films that use film noir such as 'M' by Fritz Lang. This is because it creates a distance for the chase and makes the audience feel disorientated and it also creates mystery.  Aswell as the spiral staircase causing disorientation, the sewers in the big chase at the end also do. It is such a complex structure with barely any light and so many exits and entrances that it causes confusion as to what way to go. The sewers also shows the other side of the city, it contrasts to what people can see. There islolation in the sewers and for Harry Lime, also known as a rat, there is no escape. The water down there can infect the whole city, so Harry being down there and using it as a way of getting around, is infecting the good side of the city and it symbolises the corruption.

The lighting used in 'The Third Man' creates a lot of tension, especially when Harry Lime is revealed for the first time. It is night time so there is complete darkness, the only light source is from a street lamp, and all you can see from that is a cat. Holly Martins starts shouting at someone he thinks is following him when suddenly a women opens a window. This reveals Harry because there is strong key lighting shining straight onto his face. The lighting highlights the shadows on the walls which creates tension as we know something is always coming, especially when Holly is waiting for Harry to arrive at the cafe and the way we are expecting Harry to arrive comes a shadow of a man. This leads the audience to believe it is Harry but instead it is a man selling balloons who blows Calloways cover. Throughout the film there is barely any natural light which creates mystery and also shows the despair of the city after the war because of the darkness.

The characters in 'The Third Man' face a moral conflict, involved in crime and they have an ambiguous side to their character. Harry Lime is like a rat infecting the whole city with his medicine that made people ill and we know all this because of the evidence that Calloway shows Holly. Although Holly and Harry are best friends and have been for a long while, Holly feels that morally he has to do right and the only way he can do that is by turning him into the police. All these evidence shows that there is no escape for Harry and at some point he is bound to get caught. The signs of no escape such as the evidence and Harrys fingers through the grills in the drain when he is trying to get out of the sewers link to the Film Noir convention of there never being a happy ending because even if Harry is caught or killed then his love or best friend will not be happy.

A convention of film noir that is in 'The Third Man' but slightly different is the use of the femme fatale. The femme fatale is a women who presents ambiguity in their character, they are usually always attractive which mans they lead the men to act against their better judgement and they are usually deceptive. They represent a threat and are often seem as much a victim as they are a villan. In 'The Third Man' Anna is the femme fatale, she is beautiful, Holly falls in love with her and she has moral ambiguity. Anna challenges the values of right and wrong. After what she has learnt about Harry she 'feels sorry for Harry' and instead of them hunting him down she wishes 'he were dead'. With the corruption of the city, Anna is seen as a victim feeling uncertain about her life saying 'I don't know anything anymore'. She is adrift and only has Holly Martins to protect her against the corruption that is happening, she rejects help from anyone and she is admired by Calloway for her bravery.

Overall 'The third man' is a good demonstration of the conventions of film noir which brings us a fantastic thriller with all the elements needed to build suspense and tension.

Analysis of Identity

The opening scene opens with a voice over over black starting before a picture is shown. This creates suspense for the audience. This then cuts to a close up of the psychiatrist. The voice is of a man, Malcolm Rivers, who the psychiatrist if listening to on an examination tape. Whilst the tape is playing there are quick jump cuts to each piece of evidence, files of the murder case and old newspaper clippings revealing that there was a young boy abandoned at a hotel by his prostitute mother and how Rivers was caught, trialed and sentenced to execution. There is a sound effect of the tape being rewound whilst the pictures also change. In this scene there is a mid shot of the psychiatrist looking extremely confused by the case. Over the opening scene there is a voice over of Malcolm Rivers being questioned, throughout the interview Malcolm Rivers talks in an extremely childlike way. This gives the impression that he never had the stabilization of a childhood so he doesn't know what it is like to be an adult.


To break the interview it suddenly cuts to a phone ringing and a man who is asleep, the voice on the phone sounds very nervous and informs the man asleep and the audience that Malcolm Rivers has been let out for a re hearing the night before his execution. This makes the audience extremely nervous and the audience know that something is bound to happen which includes Malcolm Rivers. It cuts from a close up of the man asleep to a wide shot of the other man walking down a corridor.


It then cuts to an interior roadside motel and there is a lot of rain. This is pathetic fallacy, the bad weather creates the tension for the audience because usually when there is heavy rain etc. then something bad is going to happen. The manager is drinking a lot of alcohol and he is shouting at a version of countdown when a car pulls up and crashes into the motel. A man comes running in, dripping wet, carrying a women who is bleeding. This causes the audience to panic because they automatically think that Malcolm Rivers has got something to do with it.

Analysis of Pulp Fiction

Pulp Fiction

The scene opens with a mid shot of a couple sitting in a cafe having breakfast/lunch. They are having a conversation about something being too risky. This makes the audience suspicious of the people and very wary of them. But our immediate reaction is that nothing will happen because it is complete daylight.

The shot then changes to a close up of the waitress asking the couple if they want more coffee. The audience become less suspicious of the couple because they speak with a gentle tone to the waitress. the shot then cuts to the women thanking the waitress.

Once again it is a mid shot of the couple but this time they are having a conversation about robberies. The tone in their voices has changed to a much harsher tone and there is in an increased amount of swearing. this makes the audience uneasy because they can guess that they are planning a robbery.

The shot then cuts to a close up of the women and this gives the effect that she is having a conversation with the audience. It then  does the same to the man as though he is talking to us. It repeats this and now the audience are anxious because they know the couple are going to rob the cafe that they are sat in.

The man then gets a gun out of his pocket and the shot inter cuts with a close up of the gun laying on the table. this gives the audience knowledge of what these people are really like, and that they are willing to kill anyone who gets in their way. there is then a close up of the couple kissing which contrasts the view the audience already have on the couple who are about to rob the cafe. He then jumps on the seat and yells at the customers and then there is a mid shot of both people with guns before music plays cutting to the opening credits.

Analysis of Face/off

Face/off

The scene starts with the opening credits on a black background with white wording. The sound starts playing. It is very calm and happy music and it makes the audience feel relaxed and as though the start of the film isn’t going to have something bad happen. It then cuts to something spinning extremely fast past the camera and at first the audience doesn’t know what it is. It then slows down gradually and the audience can then see that it is a merry go round and the focus is a long shot of a man and a little boy smiling. The music symbolises the innocence that the man and boy have. The audience are made to assume that this is a father and his son. The music is then inter cut with a small boy giggling, this makes the film seem as though it is something it isn’t. Whilst we hear the small boy laughing the merry go round suddenly spins fast again. The music is still being played in the background whilst all this is happening. You can’t really tell what time of day it is because the lighting is very dim which doesn’t fit the scene people are watching. Whilst the man and the boy are on the merry go round, you also can see other people on it which shows they are not alone.

The shot then changes to a mid shot of the man and a boy on the merry go round and the man is holding the boys back, showing the audience that he is very protective of the boy and doesn’t want him to fall and get hurt. This is ironic because of what actually happens in the scene. The music plays continuously throughout and there is intermittent sounds of a boy giggling. Between each shot the merry go round suddenly spins fast, this time it stops on a close up of the man kissing the little boy on the cheek, which clarifies that it is a father with his son. The picture then fades away blending with the next shot which is a long shot of the merry go round, being framed by trees and a lot of people walking towards and around it. It is as though the audience is standing on a grass bank looking down onto the merry go round. Suddenly something lifts from the bottom of the screen, filling it and it appears to be a blanket. The blanket is then pulled away, revealing a telescopic sight which the audience naturally assumes to be that of a gun. This creates tension for the audience and this is a total contrast to the earlier shots in the scene which was that of total innocence.

The shot then suddenly cuts to a long shot of a man lifting what the audience were assuming was a blanket uncovering the telescopic sight and throwing it away from him. The man is almost a silhouette whilst the rest of the shot is almost has a sepia effect. There is change in the sound and it is now more sinister. The shot continues with the man then kneeling down behind the gun and then fades and blends into an extreme close up of his mouth with a moustache with a straw in his mouth. The camera then gradually moves up to reveal his eye, moving across to view through the telescope. It shows him looking through the telescope, his other eye closed as though he is looking at the audience. His face is in focus, whilst the end of the telescope is not in focus. The shot is a mid shot of the man and the boy on the merry go round, but it is through the telescope which seems as though the audience has changed their character to that of the gunman. The shot then returns to an extreme close up of the face of the gunman but this time he is moving away from the telescope so the audience can see both his eyes. Again, the face is in focus whilst the telescope is yet again out of focus. It zooms out, and shows the man looking down as though he is in deep thought, which gives the audience the impression that perhaps he is having second thoughts on what the audience expects him to do.

The sound becomes the gentle and calm music that it was before. The shot then cuts again to a close up of the man and boy, the man is holding the boy, but the boys mind is elsewhere interested in his balloons. The man then lifts the boy towards him. It then cuts suddenly to a close up of the gunman with a straw in his mouth then back to the man and boy of the merry go round, this time the boy has his back to the audience and the man is smiling whilst looking at him and holding him. It the moves to an over the shoulder shot of the man. It is as though the audience is there also looking at the boy. It then changes to the over the shoulder shot from the man to the boy. And back again, the man then lifts his hand and runs it down the boys face. We assume this is a sign of love, because of the boys big smile once the audience sees his face again. There is then a mid shot from the side, showing the man holding the boys head and kissing his forehead. The boy is cuddling his father. The father pulls his son towards him which shows how much he loves him and wants to protect him.

It then cuts to the gunman once more looking through the telescope as though he is looking at the audience. The audiences character changes once more to that of the gunman and the shot shows, through the telescope, the mans back. The shot then cuts suddenly to an extreme close up of the gun mans finger pulling the trigger. There is faded out bang and then the shot cuts to the end of the barrel of the gun with smoke and a bullet speeding out, straight towards the audience. The bullet comes straight into the camera until that is all the audience can see. It then cuts to the back of the father, with a ripped coat where he has been shot in the back. The colours are sepia like, therefore you cannot see blood but there is a wet effect near the rip in the coat which the audience would assume to be blood. The man jerks and cuts to a side angle of him falling backwards and he falls off the merry go round, whilst still holding his son. As the man falls the music stops and the audience hears what appears to be a horses whinny as if he has been thrown from a real horse. The shot then zooms in to the merry go round horse, sepia in colour, but the blood on the horses neck is deep red. This shows the audience that the bullet went right through both the man and his son. There is then a shot of part of the top of the merry go round and the balloons the boy was holding are floating upwards.

The shot then cuts to the man quivering on the floor looking up and struggling to crawl and then the camera pans to show his son laying on the floor on his back. It appears to the audience that he is dead. Tense music then starts to play when you suddenly realised that the boy has been killed. The shot cuts to a close up of the gunman opening his eye and zooming in. it appears that he is horrified for what he has just done. The shot then cuts to the man almost at his son, and the camera pans round them as he reaches for his son. He lifts his son and holding realising he is dead and cries whilst the merry go round is still spinning in the background.

The shot then seems like the audience is stepping on to the merry go round where all this has just happened. The music has changed yet again and it is now very loud evil sounding music. Everything is now black and white and in slow motion as it then cuts to a black background with white writing saying ‘six years later’.