Paige Lewis

Media Studies

Thriller Research

Thriller Genre - Overview

• Thriller is a very broad genre and is known as a hybrid-genre

• Thrillers are made to make the audience feel excited or give them anxiety.

• A thriller film would usually be based around person with an ordinary life/a place that is ordinary but the events that happen are extraordinary and unexpected. This would usually be to keep the audience interested and constantly on the edge of their seats.

• There is usually an antagonist and a protagonist in a thriller film but these characters can be as complicated and have as many twists as the film itself.

• A thriller film would usually have a twist at the end of it, and the audience would most likely not expect it (an example can be sixth sense)

Definition of Thriller Films

• “Thriller and Suspense Films: These are types of films known to promote intense excitement, suspense, a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, anxiety, and nerve-wracking tension. Thriller and suspense films are virtually synonymous and interchangeable categorizations, with similar characteristics and features.” - http://www.filmsite.org/thrillerfilms.html (12/10/2012)

History of Thriller Films

• One of the first intended thriller film was Safety Last 1923 (Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor). It was most remembered for the stunt on the edge of a sky scraper which was filmed with shots that we use in thrillers today.

The first film to have ever produced a thrill was Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat (L'arrivée d'un train à La Ciotat) – Auguste Lumière & Louis Lumière (1896). This does not necessarily mean that it was a thriller, only that the audience was so scared of the moving train that they thoguht that it was going to come out and kill them.

History – Alfred Hitchcock

• Hitchcock was the inspiration for Phillip Noyce who also set the idea of the protagonist having to escape from the villains clutches in his film Dead Calm (1989)

• Alfred Hitchcock (also known as ‘the master of suspense’) was the reason why Thrillers are like this today.

• He set the scenes for Thrillers everywhere with his ways of manipulating the audience and adding sexually-related themes into most of his films

• Often he would place an innocent victim in a life threatening situation and other related problems (North by Northwest (1959))

• He was the first person in the British film industry to have a film with sound (Blackmail (1929)) and also set various cinematic techniques that we use today.

Hybrid/Sub Genre• A hybrid genre is when you have two (or more) genre’s

and merge them together (action-thriller, crime-thriller)• A sub genre however is when you have sub

categories within the genre.• An example can be Die Hard. It is known as an action-

thriller, however it has elements of crime within (figuring out what the antagonists real goal is). This means that Crime is the sub category, and action thriller is a Hybrid.

Mise - En - Scene

• Mise En Scene (In the scene) is a way of telling where a film is set, and the time it is set in. Films would usually use props, lighting/colour (flashback) and costumes/make up.

• Another way to use it is to find out certain characteristics of a protagonist/antagonist. They would mainly use props for this.

• The opening sequence of se7en is an example as it shows the protagonist getting ready for work, and the camera reveals little bits about the main character as it goes over props (police badge) and shows characteristics when he is getting ready like his neatness obsession.

Narrative Themes & Conventions

• Thriller films are usually restricted to a particular narration, meaning they want to give the audience as little as possible, so that they are constantly on the edge of their seat

• The film would also contain red herrings and false clues so that the audience stay interested

• To make the film thrilling, there would usually be an element of crime

• Most thriller films follow the path of the protagonist, however there are some where the antagonist is followed and the audience is supporting of them to not get caught (e.g. Fast and Furious)

• Thriller films usually build up to an eventual climax that the audience would most likely not see coming (e.g. The end of Sixth Sense or Se7en) The pace would usually follow the build up to the shocking twist. climax

Characters• A thriller film would usually involve a good guy (protagonist) and a bad guy

(antagonist)• The protagonist would most likely be a brave middle-aged male who is trying to

achieve a form of justice or who needs to save the helpless female• The antagonist is usually a criminal, spy, psychotic individual, terrorist or could even

be an ex-cop.• The antagonist is most likely very smart, and three-steps ahead of the protagonist• The characters would usually have some sort of background knowledge in physical

combat• Sometimes the protagonist has something the antagonist can exploit and use to ‘win’• Usually the antagonist would not give up easily and the only way to stop them is to kill

them, something that the protagonist would figure out early/half way through the film (The Dark Night).

• There would most likely be more than one meeting between the two, the first would most likely end with the antagonist coming out on top, and the protagonist loosing something (like his pride)

Diegetic & Non-Diegetic SoundsDiegetic sounds are sounds that present on screen, meaning sounds that fit into the scene being shown to the audience at that time. These can be various different things but are mainly voices, music (from a radio, record play etc.) and sounds made by certain objects. Diegetic sounds can be actual sounds that happened when filming that the director did not want to cut out.

Non-Diegetic sounds are sounds that don’t fit into the scene. Meaning there is no prop or character there to make the sounds that you can hear while the scene is being played out. Non-diegetic sounds can be things like, the narrators voice, music and or sound effects.

We, as an audience, know the difference between a Diegetic and Non-Diegetic sound as we can tell what belongs in the world of the story and what is being added in by the director/editor. The lines between the different sounds can however be blurred with different scenes as the editors make it look like it should be in the story world and the audience may become confused.

Target Audience

• There is a very wide range of Target Audiences in Thriller films.

• The rating of a Thriller film can range from 18 (Se7en) to PG (Coraline)

• A target audience would also change when there is a sub/hybrid genre

• There would also be a change in target audience when particular actors are in a certain film as people who like them would like to see it.