Thriller Research Rivern Macpherson Varndean College

What is the genre ‘Thriller’ ? The genre Thriller is when a film creates a certain reaction from an audience. The reaction is often suspense, breathless and ‘sitting on the edge of your seat’. This is achieved in the film “Drive” in the Lift Scene. In this scene the main character realises that there is an assassin in the lift with him a has to kill him. While this is happening there is no sound just a fast past sound track which creates suspense very well.

Different levels of thriller Thrillers use ‘thrills’ at one level that simply danger and violence. For example the fight scene in Batman with him and the Joker. The second level is a psychological effect which provides the audience with anxieties that create an emotional and anxious response. This is used in the Sixth Sense when the boy discovers he can see dead people.

Setting and Location The location is often a ordinary town or city. The main characters are often normal people with nothing unordinary about them. Then it becomes dangerous and thrilling because they are filmed and used in such a way to create fear and suspense. This is shown in the film Drive’s opening scene as it is set in a large city.

Narrative Structure The narrative structure is complex with false paths, clues and resolutions. This will keep the audience in suspense and stop them from becoming bored. The narrative will also twist keeping the audience guessing about the outcome. This is used in “The Dark Night” when the audience are led to believe batman is dead.

Mise - En - Scene Mise-En-Scene is everything that is involved in a scene. Such as Setting / location / set design Props (& décor) Costumes &Makeup Figure expression / facial expression (acting) Lighting / colour. If all of these factors are used well then the scene will be successful. This is effectively used in the opening scene of The Sixth Sense when a woman goes into a dark cellar with high heels on. This was effective because it gives the viewer an insight into that the character has been out possibly celebrating and also that she is wealthy as not many houses have a cellar with a full wine rack.

Hitchcock Alfred Hitchcock pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. Hitchcock was a multiple nominee and winner of a number of prestigious awards, receiving two Golden Globes, eight Laurel Awards and five lifetime achievement awards, as well as being five times nominated for, albeit never winning, an Academy Award as Best Director.

Hybrid Genres An example of an hybrid genre is horror/thriller. One film containing this genre is ‘The Sixth Sense’. This genre is achieved by including elements of a thriller such as suspense and breathlessness, and elements of a horror such as scares and jumps. The horror parts in the film are the dead people the boy sees and the thriller parts are all the false clues that are given to the viewer.

Thriller Characters Antagonists are better known as Convicts, criminals, stalkers, assassins, serial killers, kidnappers, terrorists. An example of this is the joker from Batman. Protagonists are better known as Innocent victims, sometimes characters with dark pasts / Cops / Ex cops. An example of this would be batman.

Diegetic and Non-Diegetic Sound In a film sequence, there are two types of sound that make up the soundtrack of the piece, sound that is naturally occurring within the scene which can be used to add effect or to signify something to the viewer, and sound that has been artificially placed within the scene after the filming has taken place is used to help create the atmosphere of the scene.

Thriller films and audience Thriller films keep the audience on the ‘edge of their seats’ as the plot builds towards a climax. They create intense excitement, suspense, a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, breathlessness, anxiety and nerve-wracking tension. The viewer is drawn into dark spaces, reminiscent of Film Noir (shadows, low key lighting, dark areas within an urban setting). This is to exaggerate the situation of the film. An example is the Dark Night as dark and low key lighting is often used.