Thriller Genre

1. Thriller Genre Codes and conventions

2. Thriller Overview • A few Thriller sub genres are : • Science fiction • crime • Psychological • Action • Usually in a horror film there is a crime that needs to be resolved. • Often the antagonist is a psychopathic murderer, although very intelligent. • The protagonist may not have anything to do with the antagonist, but gets involved someway. Usually they have a flaw.

3. Thriller History • The first film that ‘thrilled’ people was made in 1859 by the Lumière brothers. It was called ‘Arrival Of A Train At La Ciotat’ . • Even though the film they showed on the big screen was just a train arriving at a station the viewers screamed in terror and thought that the train was going to hit them. • Although this was not a proper Thriller film this was the first time that people had been thrilled by something on the screen.

4. Early Thrillers. • The first thrillers were directed by Alfred Hitchcock and George Cukor who started of the proper thriller genre with films like Psycho, The Lodger and Gaslight. • Hitchcock's intention was to give the public a ‘mental shakeup.’ he liked to create suspension and create anticipation, making the viewers feel uncomfortable.

5. Narrative Themes & Conventions • Usually a thriller has twists and turns keeping the audience guessing, what is going to happen, and keep them in suspense. this may include false paths and red herrings. • There is usually restricted narrative, a minimal amount of information which is given about the storyline, and is only really used when explaining situations, past present and future. • The Film will keep on building to a gripping climax.

6. Characters Protagonist: • Could be a Innocent bystander or Detective (Morgan freeman in Seven) • The main person that gets involved in the crime/situation even if they had nothing to do with it. • The protagonist usually has a flaw, like the taxi driver in Collateral who could have OCD, or like Stu in Phonebooth who lies and cheats.

7. Antagonist: • The person committing the crime/creating a bad situation. • Usually a psychopath, but also clever and creative. • The antagonist may have watched people and chosen the protagonist because of their flaw (Phonebooth) • The antagonist may have a hidden identity like in Seven ‘John Doe’ chops of his fingertips and is given a fake name.

8. Mise-en-scene Mise-en scene is French for ‘planning on stage’. It is used to describe : • The costume/makeup- used to set a social status, time setting and shows a certain item/piece of clothing that is only for that character. In the OTS of ‘brick’ you can see that the dead character is a girl because of her blue bangle she is wearing. • The setting/location – shows you where the film is set e.g. New York. The setting casts an atmosphere so if the film is set in a remote location there is a dark atmosphere as this makes you feel alone. Also having a dark scene in a supposedly safe place like a school or church is common as it makes the viewer feel uncomfortable. • The props- used to indicate genre, a knife or gun could represent action or thriller. The props help you to gain information about the character and sometimes the décor around them offers even more. • Colour/lighting- the colour is usually saturated in thrillers as the storyline is dark and confusing. Sometimes the film has a blue hint to it which makes the viewer feel cold like in seven. The lighting creates a dark mood if used correctly, by casting shadows it can make the scene look creepy and cast suspense.

9. Iconography • In a thriller genre you would expect to see blood, knifes and police uniform. This is a feature of this certain genre and is called iconography. In other genres like a Sci-Fi you would expect to see space ships and so on. • In the film ‘psycho’ the knife is used viscously, and is now a well known thriller scene, this is a reason to why we relate knives to this genre.

10. Cinematography • Camera shots: • Point of view is used lots in thriller films, so the audience are in the characters shoes, it makes the character more personal as you are seeing it how they would. For example you see Brendan's POV in Brick when he is looking at the dead girl. • A Close up/Extreme Close up lets you see the emotion on the characters face. If the person is scared or angry it brings anxiety and suspense to the audience. In the OTS of ‘Vertigo’ there is an Extreme Close up of a girls wide scared eye, which shows fear.

11. Angle & movement • A high angle shot may be used to show a character looking weak and vulnerable, usually protagonist, whereas a low angle shows the character to be powerful and have high authority. • An establishing shot is not always used in thriller films, so that the audience is confused and makes them uncomfortable as they are not aware of the surroundings. In the OTS of ‘Seven’ you never see a establishing shot of the room.

12. Sound • In thriller the music make get faster and louder when building up to a tense moment. Usually there are piercing sudden sounds used in the music. • In Clockwork Orange contrapuntal sound (music that doesn't fit what is happening) is used when people are being killed. The music is classical which usually represents calmness. • Pleonastic Sound mimics the action (Psycho) • Natural ambient diegetic sounds reflects the location e.g. sirens, cars, people talking.

13. Editing • Continuity Editing is used to make the film flow and make sense, although sometimes parallel editing is used which shows flashes between two different places at the same time. By doing this it creates suspense and tension. This is used in ‘Silence of the lambs’. • Match On Action is a familiar link between two shots and when put together run smoothly. In ‘Brick’ you see the girls arm when she is dead and in the next shot the arm is posting a note. This is used to show that the OTS is in the future.

14. Audience Expectations • The Audience expect to be uncomfortable and have a high level of anxiety. Also they will be excited and on the edge of their seat. • They want to keep on guessing what will happen next and think that the film will have twists and turns. • The audience expect that the crime will be solved and antagonist will be it found out.

15. Target Audience • The target audience for Thriller genre is usually a 15 because the plot can be hard to follow and understand at a young age. Also they can sometimes be very dark with violent scenes. People aged 15 and above are less likely to get scared by the thriller film and enjoy it instead. • Thriller films are for both genders, although male may watch more action than female.