Joe Coquet Thriller films “There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.” – Alfred Hitchcock

What is a Thriller? A Thriller is a genre of film where the plot is forever building to a climax, and wants to keep tensions high and audiences on the edge of their seats. Modern thrillers are often mixed with other genres, also known as hybrids. Some examples of well know hybrids are: Action- or adventure- thrillers e.g. The Bourne Ultimatum Sci-fi thrillers e.g. Alien Crime-caper thrillers e.g. The Silence of the lambs Western-thrillers e.g. No Country for Old Men Film-noir thriller e.g. The Third Man The narrative expectations of a thriller is a story with a feeling of tension throughout, but also worry and a feeling of ‘impending doom’. The narrative always keeps the audience alert and almost makes them expect a plot twist. These films also often give the audience information that the characters aren’t aware of, and gives the audience a feeling of not being able to help the characters in the situation they find themselves in, which can also help raise suspense.

Thriller timeline Since way back in the early days of cinema, the intention of the director was to keep audiences interested using thrills to make sure cinema was here to stay. Producers did this by making weekly installments for long running franchises that would always end on a cliffhanger to bring the audience back the next week. A better known example of this would be the series from 1914 Perils of Pauline, famous for featuring a villain tying the heroine to a train track with as an oncoming train approached.

Thriller timeline 1922- Nosferatu, could be seen as horror-thriller, first of its kind 1923 – Safety at last, the first thriller ever made 1927 – The Lodger, first thriller film based on a true story ( Jack the Ripper) 1960 – Psycho, very well known thriller, falls into classical stage because of when it was made 1962 – Cape Fear, a psychological thriller, classical stage film, remade in 1991 1996 – The Sixth sense, deconstruction stage 1996 – Scream, also deconstruction stage, many sub genres 2000 – Scary Movie, first horror/thriller/comedy

Hitchcock influence A man who has helped shape the way we see the thriller genre today in Alfred Hitchcock, an English director/film maker. He made films such as The Lodger (1927), The Wrong Man (1956) and most famously, Psycho (1960). He was known as the ‘master of suspense’ and has had some sort of influence on lots of major blockbusters since his films.

Narrative The narrative of a typical thriller would feature lots of suspense. The viewer would be expected to feel excitement, tension, anxiety and pleasurable fascination. These are brought about by mysterious event that happen during the course of the film, and make the audience think about what cold happen next. As the suspense builds, the feeling of being on-edge builds with it. The story also often keeps the audience hooked to make them keep watching until the climax is reached. The main storyline for the protagonist is a sort of quest with a goal The plot will focus on a mystery that needs to be solved Will usually be from the protagonist’s POV like in Shutter Island where the action follows the Character Teddy.

Characters Characters in thrillers can vary to extremes, depending on the story line. In the film Se7en, there are two protagonist’s, a duo, and an antagonist. The protagonist is usually a normal person who is taken into a very extraordinary situation. In se7en, the protagonists are detectives investigating a string of strange murders. The protagonist is also usually male, but female leads in thriller films are becoming more common like in The Silence of The Lambs The antagonist will often have some sort of mental disorder or be carrying out their actions for reasons we see as not sufficient reasons, and have a strange skill or resource.

Mise-en-Scene Mise-en-Scene is a French term given to explain what is in the shot. It helps establish what is going on in the film by using different lighting, costumes, props, location/setting and character body language, facial expressions and their position in the shot. Costume is used in thriller films to show the audience who the characters are and this is through the clothes they wear. A protagonist might wear clean, light coloured clothes to show they are they are the good-guy, and an antagonist might wear dark, less normal clothes to bring across their personality and show the audience how he is going against the protagonist. Locations/setting adds a certain feeling to a film, because if a film were set in a nice, bright place, it wouldn’t come across as scary of mysterious, but if it were set on a stormy island with a mental asylum, it makes it much scarier. Character body language and facial expressions help show the audience what they are feeling/thinking, without having to say anything. This is a good thing to use because it makes the audience understand the characters actions more than if they were in the dark about their feelings.

Camera shots/angles Lots of different camera angles are used in thriller films to show a different perspective of what is going on in shot. Here are some examples: High angle – make the person in shot look vulnerable and small Low angle – helps emphasise power/hierarchy in a shot, could make a villain look big and scary Tilted angle – the image is at an angle creating a POV feeling, or showing things in a different light, make things look small or big Close up – show fine detail in object/ character, helps bring across emotion in more detail. In thrillers this helps paint a picture of what’s going on. Panning shot – shows movement, can help establish a setting or show a character is being followed/watched. This also helps reveal detail slowly, and restricts the narrative for the audience. Long shot – used to establish setting, help put characters into perspective POV shot – makes the audience feel more involved, feel more emotion and get more scared in these situations because it gives a closer bond between audience and characters, where they feel the emotions that they might be feeling.

Lighting Lighting can completely change the mood in a film, and there are different ways of lighting a scene to bring across different things. A scene might be filmed with little light, to make the audience feel more anxious about a situation, or it could be light to maybe show how the panic is over and the audience can relax. The lighting can also reflect a character’s feelings, with blue lighting used to maybe show sadness.

Sound In thriller films, sound is used to build up different feelings in an audience. Sound could be a voice over narration, a soundtrack or sounds added after filming. These all do different things. Voice over – help the audience understand what’s going on in a film as it’s explained to them, could also tell the audience character backgrounds and establish when the film is set. Soundtrack – this is different music added after filming to build up feelings the audience has. This could be fast paced music to show panic, or slow quite music to show anxiousness. Sounds added after filming – this is usually sounds that couldn’t be made during filming, such as explosions or gunshots, but they an be altered to make the scene more dramatic.

Sources used Websites used for research: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thriller_(genre)#History_in_film http://www.filmsite.org/thrillerfilms.html http://www.tiki-toki.com/timeline/entry/69797/History-of-the- Thriller-genre/#vars!panel=655698! Pictures: Slide 5 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Hitchcock Slide 8 - http://www.imdb.com/media/rm2992098304/tt0393109?ref_= tt_pv_md_2 Slide 9 - http://www.slideshare.net/billiewilson_/camera- shots-and-angles-for-a-horror-and-thriller-film