Thrillers
Genre What is film genre? Film genre refers to the similarities in a narrative structure. An example of this would be in romantic comedy, the ending is always happy after the couple has fallen out. What are thrillers? what are the key elements of thrillers? What should the audience expect? A thriller is difficult to define, there are many strands of thrillers including: psychological , crime, supernatural and many more. The general consensus is to do with trying to make a audience feel tense. The aim is to excite and induce adrenaline for the viewer. The key elements of thrillers are that they often include crime. There are constant twist and turns to keep the viewer guessing. The expectations for the viewer are to keep them on the edge of their seat. They expect evil thing popping out in the dark.
The timeline of thrillers Briefly describe the history of thrillers. When thrillers where first made they where called crime noir. 1922: The first thriller like film was a film about Dracula, called Nosferatu. This film was directed by F.W Murnau, it was considered a experimental film, and was considered a horror film with thriller elements. 1923: The first ever thriller film made was called ‘Safety last’, it was directed by Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor. This films was a sub genre called thriller, and every thriller made after this film must have a narrative structure similar to Safety last, inorder to be considered a thriller. 1927: The lodger: a story of the London fog: Alfred hitchcock. 1960: Psycho: Alfred Hitchcock The godfather of early thriller films sits with the famous man Alfred Hitchcock. He was most famous for the film ‘Psycho’, with the infamous scene in the shower. It was a revolutionary film, something that the public had never experienced. 1995: Se7en: David Fincher 1996: Scream: Wes Carvan 2013: The Purge: James DeMonaco
Hybrids and sub genres Define sub-genre and hybrid. Sub genre: A subcategory within a particular genre. Crime: Nearly all thriller films are crime related. Usual suspects. Psychological: Shutter island Serial killer: Se7en Action: Diehard Spy: The Bourne series Hybrid: The hybrid genre in the film industry refers to the aspect of blending several movie genres into one film such as comedy and horror. There are many movies that fall under this category such us the fight club
Characterization What are the narrative conventions to a thriller? The conventions that are similar across the board of thriller are that the narrative is complex. It requires a great deal of thinking and can be misleading. This keeps the viewers guessing and creates suspense. There is an expectation for the equilibrium to be restored and problems to be solved. However one may argue that in recent thriller films they are left on a cliff hanger, such as the ending of Inception and Shutter island. How are the characters represented? i.e. hero, anti hero There are 2 main strands of characters the antagonist and the protagonist Protagonist: is often a normal person that is in the wrong place at the wrong time, or a police officer trying to crack a seemingly impossible case. Their personality's often have a flaw that the antagonist often exploits. Antagonist: are often serial killers, stalkers or terrorist that seem to have psychopathic tendency's, they are more often than not very clever and are on the face of it invincible. Most if the time there antagonist identity is hidden. What is typical mise-en-scene in a thriller film. A lot of thriller films typically have low key lighting and an almost grey over colour. This creates tension, because as humans we are afraid of the dark because it dulls our senses. The settings are often in places where there is no hope for escape.