Research: What is a Thriller (Ms Begum)

What is a Thriller?

A thriller is a film that sends out a nerve-racking feeling amongst the audience. Unlike a horror movie a thriller always has you wondering what’s going to happen next as it is so unpredictable and it always has you on your toes. Thriller movies mostly build up tension through low key lighting and high pitch sound to create a dramatic scene where normally a loud sound is set to scare the audience. The narrative of thriller movies can also be hard to understand depending on what the sub-genre is.

All thriller films also has an antagonist and protagonist. Antagonists are villains who are often plotting something deadly or trying to kill the protagonist, who is either hero or a victim.

Notes

Codes and convention - The most common features that you'd expect to be in a thriller or any film in fact which is used solely to appeal to the target audience. For example lighting, sound, editing.

Typical Thrillers
These are films which follow the thriller conventional features such as cinematography, sound and editing, In order to make the film appeal to the audience. These features can be any from low key lighting to slow paced editing.

Target Audience - The group of people the film is aimed at for example, Paranormal activities is aimed at the much older and mature group of audience which is 18+. This is because much of the content of paranormal activities is seen as disturbing and harmful to younger viewers.

What is a Genre?

Genre is a category that certain films fall into, genre is important as it helps the audience get an idea of what there about to watch e.g. someone watching a film with a horror genre will expect to see scary/gruesome scenes. There are many different types of genre e.g. horror, thriller, Sci-Fi, Romance, comedy, fantasy and more.

Examples of a thriller film?

The Dark Knight is said to be an action-thriller simply because it is filled with gun and fighting scenes and it definitely keeps you on your toes not knowing what will happen next. The Dark Knight is In Gotham City, where Joker and his accomplices rob a mob-owned bank. After orchestrating their deaths, he escapes alone. Batman and Lieutenant Jim Gordon decide to include the new district attorney, Harvey Dent, who is dating Rachel Dawes, in their plan to take on the Mafia.

Orphan is another great thriller movie; it is an American psychological thriller. Where a couple who had just recently lost a child decided to adopt an innocent 9 yr old Russian orphan who turns out to be not so innocent after all.

Sub Genres of a thriller and Examples?

Sub-genres give you a better idea of what to expect from a film e.g. a thriller film could have the sub-genres of psychological thriller where in this film all conflict are more mental rather than physical.

Another example of a thriller sub-genre, Supernatural Thriller where in this sub-genre other world elements are introduced, usually as an Antagonist’s evil force. Some characters may also have physical abilities out of the ordinary compared to the protagonist and other supernatural elements may be present.

Common themes and Examples?

Movie themes are the story lines or subject that will be seen in the actual movie. There are many different themes however; common movie themes are the likes of revenge, sin, action, murder, serial killer, exorcism, jealousy and many more.

Response from the audience.

Most thriller films always gives you a chilling feeling amongst the audience and always has you on your feet.  Thrillers often leaves you wondering what’s going to happen next as they are all so unpredictable. Thriller films often have adrenaline pumping through your body from the tension that builds up within a scene using a fast soundtrack. In most thriller films when tension is at a certain level the movie will generally scare the audience using low key lighting and loud/sudden noises expecting noises.

Conclusion.

The introduction has given me a better understanding of how the course will work and also Watching different thriller movie clips has helped me understand the difference between a thriller and a horror. In addition I and others will soon be creating an opening trailer of a thriller is has helped us to start thinking of how we want our thriller to turn out, how we can make it the best it can be and also how to avoid the common mistakes we may encounter.