THRILLER

Thriller (GENRE) Thriller Film is a genre that revolves around anticipation and suspense. The aim for Thrillers is to keep the audience alert and on the edge of their seats. The protagonist in these films is set against a problem – an escape, a mission, or a mystery. No matter what sub-genre a Thriller film falls into, it will emphasize the danger that the protagonist faces. The tension with the main problem is built on throughout the film and leads to a highly stressful climax.

Hybrids & Sub Genres Science Fiction Thriller - Science Fiction Thriller incorporates hypothetical, science-based themes into the plot of the film.  Religious Thriller - Religious Thriller film incorporates religious themes, including religious questions, ceremonies, and objects. Psychological Thriller - In addition to the traits of a regular Thriller, a Psychological Thriller incorporates elements of drama and mystery film. 

Film-Noir - Film Noir is not simply a sub-genre, but rather a term for a distinct, stylistic type of crime-drama or thriller that was popular throughout the 1940s and 1950s. Film-Noir is characterized by a black-and-white style with stark lighting effects. Crime Thriller - Crime Thriller films are a sub-genre that incorporates the suspenseful aspects of a thriller with a crime film plot. Action Thriller - An Action Thriller uses physical action to create suspense within the film. 

HISTORY OF THRILLERS The Lodger is one of the first thrillers, made by Alfred Hitchcock in 1926. This is about a landlady who suspects her new lodger is the madman killing women in London. Alfred Hitchcock was one of the most famous and creative characters on the thriller genre in the 20th century and is just as significant now a days as well.

NARRATIVES & CONVENTIONS A narrative is defined as “a chain of events in a cause-effect relationship occurring in the time”. The narrative in a thriller is usually centred around a crime, most of the time the crime is murder, where the theme is revenge and the character who is murdered by the antagonist is normally close to the protagonist or the theme is about an ordinary citizen who is thrown in to a difficult situation which they must now escape or solve. However Thriller films narratives are often complex and they break away from a normal conventional thriller movie.

CHARACTERS Antagonist – The ‘bad’ person, could be a convict, criminal, stalker, assassin, they are often very psychopathic with selfish mind sets. Protagonist – The opposite to the antagonist and is either a ‘good’ person, an innocent victim, a cop, detective or a quiet citizen with a set of skills which will help them prevail, thrown into the plot who happened to be there the wrong time and place and we usually know only as much as this character does about the antagonist and his mission/accomplishments. In some Thrillers you may have a damsel in distress, she is usually a beautiful young woman placed in a dire predicament by a villain who requires a protagonist to achieve her rescue or requests.

MISE-EN-SCENE The definition of Mise-en-scene is everything you see in the set/scene; props, costumes, lighting, makeup, figure expression and body language. We expect to see certain objects that we associate with that genre that are iconic in the Mise-en-scene, this is called Iconography. i.e. In a thriller genre we would expect to see blood, knifes, guns, cars and more... The Setting/Location is unique in a thriller as it enhances the suspense creating an atmosphere which abducts and creates various emotions of the audience . Your usual setting for a thriller is a urban city, suburbs, underground tubes or even an obscured and exotic places such as deserts or a rain forest.

CINEMATOGRAPHY An establishing shot - Intends to show the audience where the action is taking place, usually the first shot, however in thrillers they want to give limited information so the audience keeps guessing about the characters and locations which help create a climax and suspension. Medium Close up – Shows the face and chest area. You see more detail in what the actors are wearing or what has happened to them in that area of their body. Close up – Used to show the intensity of emotions, and show the characters emotions up close & personal so you can see the pain or happiness they are embedded with.

Extreme Close up – Shows extreme detail Extreme Close up – Shows extreme detail. It is used to point out great detail which may give clues and suggestions to the audience’s feelings & thoughts. P.O.V shot – You see from the eyes of the character and there quality of vision. This is good in thriller as you experience the character from a first person view Associated P.O.V shot – You are more detached than the P.O.V shot, you see over their shoulder, but you still get to see what they see. High angle and Low angle shot– The high angle provides a view from above making the character look small, venerable and weak as you are towering over them. Which in Thriller is good as it can show the power and greatness of certain characters and how intimidated they feel. Pan – The camera moves horizontal on a tripod. In Thrillers it will be used to follow the characters actions/movements in certain areas.

SOUND In a film there a different types of sound: Diegetic – Is Sound that is naturally occurring in the scene e.g. Dialogue, Traffic... Non-Diegetic sound – Is Sound put in afterwards in the editing process e.g. Voiceover, Film Score, SFX and/or a soundtrack to create a mood and enhance the atmosphere. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pm32L_iy-f4 – Taken from Taken 2 this is a good scene which uses sound to heighten emotions and create a tense atmosphere.

EDITING Editing is an element of the post-production part of filmmaking and is the process of merging different shots together and adding SFX, Soundtracks and maybe Colour Corrections. Continuity editing is the predominant style of film editing and video editing in the post-production process of filmmaking of narrative films. The purpose of continuity editing is to smooth over the inherent discontinuity of the editing process and to establish a logical coherence between shots.

Audience expectations In Thrillers the audience expect to be obtaining an adrenaline rush, a suspense and to be on the edge of their seat taking in every single detail on certain scenes. Through out the film the expect to have a murder or mystery they can go along with to try and solve with the character without any interactions.

Target Audience The audience you want to target with the thriller will all depend on the certain decisions you make through out the filming and editing of the movie. The narrative theme and conventions will also come in to play when targeting an audience I personally think all thrillers have a target audience age range from 15-37. This is because the decisions and settings of the films. Certain thrillers may be more for younger generations where others... The older.