Genre Research: Thriller

Thriller: An Introduction A thriller is a wide-ranging genre that can be found amongst literature, film and along with television development and provides uncertainty, nervousness and exhilaration as the key focus within this genre. This genre is known to play around with emotions and stimulates a lot of excitement that helps the story line of the thriller become successful. A thriller will consist of several cuts, a climax and cliff-hangers to constantly keep the audience entertained and engaged with the storyline so that they are eager to find out what happens next. An overview of a thriller includes a criminal (or an antihero) who creates obstructions which the main character needs to resolve. There are many sub-genres within the thriller category and these include: psychological thrillers, erotic thrillers, crime thrillers and mystery thrillers. There is also the spy genre within the thriller category too. A successful director known as Alfred Hitchcock has produced many thriller movies. Thrillers can generally be joined with action and horror genres and may portray some elements within those genres. History of Thriller A director known as Alfred Hitchcock assisted in advertising the thriller genre whilst he was producing The Lodger which was produced in 1926 that portrayed the story of Jack the Ripper and was his third silent film. This movie had a big impact on the UK as the UK was presented to a new style of film. Hitchcock was convinced by expressionist skills whilst he was in Germany. Within the year 1944, George Cukor who was a director, made a psychological thriller known as Gaslight. This movie displayed several subgenres within the original thriller category and the main storyline was about a devious husband planning to make his wife go completely crazy just so that he could inherit her wealth. Within the 1950s, Technicolour was used within Hitchcocks films (thriller movies). This techniques was used within one of his films known as Strangers on a Train in the year of 1951- the storyline of this thriller consists of two passengers employed in a fight of intelligence and traded murders with each other. Hitchcock, after twenty years, released a new thriller that was known to portray explicit content due to containing scenes with R ratings. The film was called Frenzy (1972). In the 1980s, a film called Dead Calm (1989) was directed by Philip Noyce where the main characters felt imprisoned and cut off, there were features such as obsessive behaviour. In the 1990s, the main sub-genre of thrillers that were produced were psychological thrillers and the main focus around this genre was the characters mental getaway. In the 21st century, we can see that thrillers today have been influenced by thrillers in history but have started to move away from traditional key features and ideas to more gruesome themed

thrillers with more suspense and cliff-hangers. Examples of thrillers today would be The Dark Knight Rises and the Black Swan. Thriller: Codes and Conventions The codes and conventions of a thriller consist of several technical aspects and feature to create the genre of the thriller that is needed. Some of these include the setting, lighting and how the editing is done. The conventions of a thriller consists of: low-key lighting, mirrors, shadows, blatant/obtrusive editing, fast cuts, variation in camera angles, music that provides tension, stairs, flashback, photographs, montage editing, black and white and confusion of time and space. They also provide feelings and emotions of tension, exhilaration, panic and suspense and this is what keeps the audience engaged. For the conventions of a psychological thriller, techniques such as mind games are used so that the protagonists mentality if affected. Mirrors are used to portray the deeper reflection of a character and could represent their true characteristics, it can show the negative side to a character and may give off clues to the audience of what to expect. Shadows are generally used with the low key lighting to portray a dark, dangerous and mysterious atmosphere or even represent the personality of a character. The editing and the quick shots play an important part when putting the thriller together. The editing and the quick shots help to create pauses and cliff-hangers which provide tension and anxiety for the audience when watching. These techniques are generally used throughout the climax and scenes which contain the most action. This will keep the audience engaged and eager to learn more about what happens next. Having flashbacks in a thriller help to educate the audience about the characters past but also can be puzzling for the audience to understand due to the way it has been edited because of the quick shots. This also makes the content of the thriller interesting to watch as we are learning about some of the background history of the character. The use of black and white colour helps to make the shadows seem bolder and can make the footage within the thriller look more vintage, scary and mysterious rather than having the production in colour. This can help to make the thriller more dark, exciting, and intriguing. This technique was also used in Alfred Hitchcocks Psycho. The costumes within thrillers tend to be quite dark and dull in colour (usually dark blues, grey and black with a bolder colour coming in sometimes). The editing also has a tint to it as well to make the filming look dark and scary. The costumes for each character in a thriller tend to be similar to one another which could portray that the people and their surroundings look quite negative, pessimistic, scary and uncomfortable. Thriller: Sub-Genres Comedy Thriller: this genre puts together features of a comedy and thriller to create irony, tension and action. Some of the films that are under this sub-genre include Mr and Mrs Smith, Silver Streak and The Big Fix.

Conspiracy Thriller: this sub-genre consists of the protagonist going up against a strong group of antiheroes (villains) whose real potential he or she identifies. Some of the films that fall under this sub-genre include: The Da Vinci Code, Edge of Darkness and Capricorn One. Crime Thriller: this sub-genre is a mix between thrillers and crime films that portray a story of a successful or unsuccessful crime(s). Majority of the time, the main protagonist(s) in these films are the criminals(s) instead of the policeman. The main topics in these films are about chases, heists, double-crosses, murders and robberies. Films that fall under this category include: The Asphalt Jungle, Silence of the Lambs and Along Came a Spider. Erotic Thriller: this type of thriller mainly focuses on romance and sexual relationships that play a significant role in the storyline. This sub-genre has become popular since the 1980s. Films that fall under this category include: Eyes Wide Shut, Basic Instinct and Colour of Night. Legal Thriller: this type of genre creates tension and where the protagonists play lawyers along with employees. The system of justice plays a big part in this sub-genre and is almost like a protagonist itself. Films that fall under this category include: The Lincoln Lawyer, The Pelican Brief and Silent Witness. Political Thriller: this is where the protagonist (the hero/heroine) has to make sure of the solidity of the government that hires him or her. Films that fall under this category include: The Interpreter, The Man Who Knew Too Much and State of Play. Psychological Thriller: there is a fight between the main characters which is mentally and emotionally affected. The characters are intrigued by mistake into a harmful argument that they are not able to solve or overcome due to the villain character but they are dependent on their mentality. The characters are sometimes involved in a mystery and generally try to affect each others minds for example, by playing mind games on one another. Films that fall into this category include: Funny Games, Psycho and The Talented Mr Ripley. Spy Thriller: this is where the main character is employed by a government agent who has to confront the rival government (or terrorists in more modern films). Spy movies can mix in with action and science fiction genres, James Bond falls in the action genre rather that the thriller genre. Films that fall into this category include: Spy Game, The Tourist and The Parallax View. Supernatural Thriller: these types of films like to show features of illusion, fantasy, and vision and they are also combined with anxiety (tension), a twist in plot and uncertainty. The main character along with the antihero has special psychic qualities about them along with powers. Films that fall into this category include: Chronicle, Fallen and In Dreams. Techno Thriller: this type of genre uses tension and takes advantage of modern technology and plays an important part in this sub-genre. Films that fall under this category include: Jurassic Park, Hackers and Futureworld.

Top Ten Thriller Films 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. The Dark Knight Rises (2008) Pulp Fiction (1994) Inception (2010) Goodfellas (1990) Se7en (1995) The Silence of the Lambs (1991) The Usual Suspects (1995) Rear Window (1954) 9. Lon (1994) 10. Psycho (1960)