Brick (Johnson,2005,US)

- The bulk of the sequence was filmed in close-up and extreme close-ups; this is to hide information from the audience which is used by thrillers to create a sense of unknowing.
- It doesn’t start at the beginning; the first thing that’s shown is 2 days after the events shown in the film. This fits the non-linear/chronological storyline that a typical thriller follows.
- The audience are only given hints and clues that they have to piece together themselves; this is shown in Brick by the girl’s wristbands and the boy’s shoes letting the audience know that they were linked before the scene shown.
- Questions are generated by the opening scene; such as, “what happened?” “Who are they?” “Did he kill her?” “How do they know each other” and “Why didn’t he approach her?” Thrillers are designed to make the audience continuously ask questions.
- There is a barrier between the character and the audience; we never see the whole of the boy in one shot, he’s always partly hidden; this also causes questions.
- The location of the start of the film is very dirty; the girl was lying on the ground with her hair in the water. The mise-en-scene of thrillers can be quite dirty and horrible to make the audience feel uncomfortable.
- The titles are white and on a black background; the lack of colour creates eeriness which thriller genres like to invoke.