Codes and Conventions of Action Thrillers

The Action genre is regularly used with Thrillers to create an very exciting, dramatic and heart racing film. The fact that there is a story line with twists and thrills throughout along with action packed fights, car chases and explosions seems to create the perfect "thrill".

One example of a Action Thriller is James Bond: Quantum of Solace. Being a Bond film, viewers are expected to see car chases, explosions and fights from the first minute of the scene, however the fact that the storyline is put together with such precision that the final piece of the puzzle is only placed and understood right at the very end.

The Opening sequence begins with an immediate establishment of the scene and location. The establishing shot then zooms in to the land where the action commences straight away. The fact that no titles or credits are shown straight away helps portay the action well as it shows it is suddenly getting straight into the plot and action sequence. After the shot is zoomed in enough, sound can be heard of the cars. This shows that it is an action genre as the cars come zooming past and the film begins quickly. The car chase begins, with us rarely seeing anyone driving other than James Bond who is the main character. The quick succession of shots with short shot duration tells us this is an action movie and the explosions and gun shots also add to the effect. Once Bond has escaped and stops, we find a man in the boot of the car. This is showing the Thriller side to the film at the end of the opening scene. We see the man, raise questions then the credits and titles begin. The way this is done entices us into the film well with a balance of action and questions thought about by the audience.

Another good example of a Action Thriller is Green Zone. This war based film begins fairly differently from that of Quantum of Solace. The credits begin immediately and the sound played over the top is that of air raid siren. This siren is used to create a sense of action and the radio played with it shows emergency and panic of troops. We then hear crashes and explosions in the background and reporters  commenting on how war has begun. Still at this point no location, characters or scene has been established until suddenly an explosion is heard and the film begins. From then on the audience will begin to ask questions of what is happening during the action packed sequence. The characters are seen trying to collect, what seems as important documents while others are panicking around them. What they are doing is not found out yet and this is what creates the "thriller" genre. The characters then flee and another big explosion is seen before the title is flashed on the screen. The film then fast forwards 4 weeks and other characters are brought into the film. The audience now has raised questions about these characters and will begin to wonder how they are connected to the characters seen right at the beginning of the film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Qsfi8FbePU

Overall both of these Action/Thriller opening sequences start off immediately with lots of action, including explosions, car chases and fight scenes. Both also cause the audience to ask questions of the narrative and what is happening, however Green Zone definitely causes the audience to ask questions when the action is happening. Compared to Quantum of Solace where before the credits roll onto the screen a big question is raised. This is clever as it lets the audience have time to think throughout the title sequence, before revealing the answers after.