Thriller Research Victoria Howell Varndean College

- Thriller is a genre made to make their audience feel excited and uneasy. The thriller genre uses anticipation, suspense, tension and excitement as it’s main elements. The aim for Thrillers is to keep the audience alert and on the edge of their seats throughout the whole of the film. Some thrillers use psychological factors that keep the audience thinking and trying to work out what is happening, almost like a mystery but more thrilling and exciting. - In the thriller genre there are many sub genres. Sub genres are a mixture of genres, for example in thriller you can have romance, horror, sci-fi etc.

There are two types of Characters in Thrillers: Antagonists are kind of like the ‘baddies’ in the film, such as : Convicts, criminals, stalkers, assassins, serial killers, kidnappers or terrorists. This character’s identity is normally hidden from the other characters in the film and the audience watching for some of the film. This is a way the audience are always guessing and it adds an element of mystery. Some antagonists are often very intelligent and are seem to be invincible but they can also be miserable characters or psychotic. Protagonists are the ‘heroes’ of the film, such as: Innocent victims, sometimes characters with dark pasts, Cops or Ex cops. Protagonists are often an everyday person who is in the wrong place at the wrong time, this is a way to make the audience feel uneasy because it makes them think “that could be me”. This character could also be a cop, ex-cop or cop duos trying to solve a seemingly impossible case. Antagonists sometimes find out the protagonists ‘flaw’ or secret and use this against the character to make them even more vulnerable. ‘Thrills’ can be maintained when the Protagonist character(s) is placed in a dangerous or life threatening situation.

Examples of Hybrid Genres: Crime: Inception / The Usual Suspects Medical: Coma (1987) Eco/ Disaster Thriller: The Day After Tomorrow (2004) Romance ‘gone bad’/Stalker: Fatal Attraction (1987) Psychological: Jacobs Ladder Spy: The Bourne Identity / Mission Impossible Action: Die Hard A Hybrid Genre is a combination of two genres merge together to create a type of film. Thriller is a very open genre and can be used to describe lots of films even if the films are completely different in contrast. The thriller genre can be combined with many other genres such as: Crime, Medical, Eco/Disaster, Romance, Psychological, Spy and Action.

Mise-en-scene is an arrangement of scenery and properties to represent the place where a movie is set. When studying mise-en-scene you have to think about some key elements: 1- Setting / location / set design 2- Props (& décor) 3- Costumes &Makeup 4- Figure expression / facial expression (acting) 5- Lighting / Colour Iconography is an aspect of genre. We expect to see certain objects within the mise-en-scene of a particular genre

By using ordinary people, objects and place it makes the film become dangerous and thrilling because they are filmed and used in such a way to create fear and suspense. It also makes the film seem more real and makes the audience fear it could happen to them especially if its set in their city or country. Ordinary objects: Ordinary people: Ordinary places:

- The narrative structure is complex with false paths, clues and resolutions which are used to keep the audience in suspense. - A narrative pattern of establishing riddles / problems which the viewer expects to be resolved. - The narrative will twist and turn keeping the audience guessing about the outcome There is a theory from Todorov, he suggested that there were five stages to a narrative: - The film begins with an equilibrium, which is a state of balance and how everything should be. - The equilibrium is then disturbed by an action or crime or a dangerous/evil character is introduced. - The main character/hero or characters recognise there is a problem. - The main character/hero begin to try and over come the disruption with obstacles in the way. - The main character/hero solve the issue and equilibrium is restored.

Non-Diegetic: Non-diegetic sound is an artificially placed sound used to create dramatic effect. They are sounds added in when they are in the process of editing the film. It is usually a sound or noise which isn’t naturally in the clip, like in most thriller films music is added to create suspense or fear. For Example: Narration, Guns or explosions, Music. 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 and sound that has been artificially placed within the scene after the filming has taken place. Diegetic: Diegetic sound is sound that has a source within the shot, it’s a natural sound that makes the scene feel more real. For Example: Speech, Background sounds like birds, traffic, other people around, crowds.

The kind of audience that enjoy watching Thriller’s are thrill seekers who want to scare themselves and enjoy the excitement. Normally even if you are scared when you are watching you tend to laugh about it afterwards because some of the things that scare you are highly unrealistic. Thriller films keep the audience on the edge of their seats in suspense as the plot builds up and gets more complex and spooky as the film goes on. Thrillers create: - Intense excitement - Suspense - A high level of anticipation - Ultra-heightened expectation - Uncertainty - Anxiety -Nerve-wracking tension

1899–1980 Alfred Hitchcock is know as the master of the thriller genre and is seen as the main creator of the genre. Hitchcock was also seen as a clever technician who blended many types of genres into thriller, for example he blended romance, suspense and humor. He began his filmmaking career in 1919 illustrating title cards for silent films at Paramount's Famous Players-Lasky studio in London. There he learned scripting, editing and art direction, and became an assistant director in That year he directed an unfinished film, No. 13 or Mrs. Peabody. His first completed film as director was The Pleasure Garden (1925), an Anglo-German production filmed in Munich. This experience, plus working at Germany's UFA studios as an assistant director, help account for the special characteristics of his films. The Lodger (1926), his breakthrough film, was a prototypical example of the classic Hitchcock plot: an innocent protagonist is falsely accused of a crime and becomes involved in a web of intrigue. Alfred Hitchcock passed away in 1980, in Bel Air, California. His last film he made was called the Family Plot in Hitchcock directed more than fifty feature films in a career spanning six decades and even though he is dead his legacy continues and he continues to inspire new and up coming directors and writers not only in the thriller genre but in film making overall.