THRILLER RESEARCH VARNDEAN COLLEGE JAZMIN GREENFIELD

THRILLER GENRE Thrillers are film are full of suspense, tension and keep us on the edge of our seat. They’re fast paced, have lots of action and are adrenaline-inducing movies. They also act as a form of escapism and creates emotional reactions from the viewer such as fear, distress and dread. These are types of films known to promote intense excitement, suspense, a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, anxiety, and nerve-wracking tension. -

THRILLER HISTORY Alfred Hitchcock was an English film director and producer who invented many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. He is very famous for his successful films ‘Psyco’, ‘Birds’ and ‘Vertigo’. Some of the first ever thriller films include Blackmail, the man who knew too much and The Lodger all of which were made my Alfred Hitchcock.

THRILLER IS A HYBRID GENRE Thriller is a very broad genre which branches off into several different sub- genres. Conspiracy thrillers e.g JFK Crime thrillers e.g Seven Disaster thrillers e.g 2012 Religious thrillers e.g The Da Vinci Code Supernatural thrillers e.g The Thrillers Techno thrillers e.g Matrix Mystery thrillers e.g Shutter Island Political thrillers e.g State Of Play Physiological thrillers e.g Cape Fear

CONVENTIONS OF A THRILLER DARKNESS AND SHADOWS Brick Bullet Boy Darkness is used a lot in thriller films. It connotes the sense of danger, mystery and fear. Also the darkness makes the audience feel uneasy as you can’t see the whole surroundings. The Sixth Sense Shadows are used in Thriller films to make the audience feel scared and anxious because they know that something’s there but don’t know what it is.

CONVENTIONS OF A THRILLER CLOSE UPS Arlington Road The Sixth Sense Thrillers use lots of close ups in films to show characters emotions and gets an emotional reaction from the viewers which makes them feel more involved. Close ups are also used to show detail within a scene. Seven

TYPICAL CHARACTERS A typical thriller hero are normally ordinary people who come across danger accidentally or reluctantly. They are normally men of an age between 25 – 40 and smartly dressed. CollateralShutter Island

EXAMPLES OF MISE EN SCENE The mise en scene is a French phrase which means ‘put in the scene’. This refers to anything put in the scene and why it’s there. This includes props, costume, facial expressions etc. These objects are in the scene as it tells us more about the character. This connotes that he is a neat, organised person and he’s also a detective as he has a badge and a gun. The costumes can tell you more about the characters. This man is wearing a suit which connotes he may be high up in his profession. Also he’s wearing sunglasses inside which he could mean he’s trying and hide his identity connoting he could be a spy, hit man or detective. Again the costume tells us more about the character. He is wearing a tracksuit which is stereotypically linked to people who cause trouble which connotes he may be the troublemaker in the film.