Research: What is Thriller? - Miss Begum

What is Thriller?

What are genres? Why is it important to know this?

Genres is what separates different categories of films and novels according to their plots, themes, conventions, filming techniques and more. Genres are usually dependent on factors such as story-lines and the director's choice of the target audience response.There are many genres in the media industry, from romance to adventure - horror, action, science-fiction and fantasy. It is important that we know this because a specific type of genre determines an individual's decision whether they want to watch the movie or not, depending on the plot style and how appropriate it is for their age, this is what makes the movie unique. If movies were all the same and shared exactly the same genre, this will result in similar plots and story-lines. Furthermore, the public would loose interest immediately and Hollywood would be dead cause.

What is a thriller?

The genre 'thriller' is commonly mistaken with 'horror' because of the similarities they share yet there are certain characteristics that separate the two. Themes such as suspense, crime, mystery and excitement are the key elements of the thriller genre and is what diverts it from being categorised as a 'horror'. Moreover a thriller is what keeps the audience engaged with an exciting plot twist keeping us on edge every second and leaving us craving for more.

Examples of thriller films - State why/brief description of narrative

There are many examples of thriller films, they are the most popular genre because it creates an exhilarating journey for the audience but my favorites are:

The Call (2013)

The Call - What would you do if you heard the noises of an intruder? The desperation of a young girl trying to escape? What would you do if you had the power to save this girl but you made an error that cost her life. 'The Call' is an action packed thriller that takes the audience on an emotional journey to saving a young girls life. When a 911 operator is in a life-alternating call from a call from a young teen who has been abducted, and a killer from her past returns - she is forced to confront this killer and squeeze every last drop of her power to find this girl and bring her back to safety. This spine-chilling thriller is so successful in encouraging the thriller theme because the particular plot twist and story line creates a huge amount of the stress that will make you go mad. It also encourages the idea of tension all the way through, maintaining the audience on the edge of their seats.

Black Swan (2010)

Black Swan - A young ballet dancer has been accepted the role of the infamous character 'Adete' from Swan Lake. Making her dreams come true, she is working in one of the most top, prestigest companies ever but a little competition drives her insane and the only person standing in her way is herself. This perfectly portrays the key elements of a fantastic thriller as it cleverly demonstrates her thrilling nightmares coming to life. This is so well done that the audience is able to understand the characters emotions and mentality that gives a hair raising standing performance. This is highly recommended film if you like thrillers that make you jump and little and keeping you thinking about the movie every second.

SAW IV (2007)

SAW IV - SAW is one of the most popular thriller franchises out there that tells a story of a serial killer... with good intentions? The man behind 'JIGSAW' has received unfortunate news, he is dying of cancer and he wants to spend every last breath doing something good, in fact, he wants the same for everyone. Although he has good intentions, he has a peculiar way of showing others how to cherish their lives. A life threatening puzzle must be solved within limited time before they die and only one can escape. A gory thriller but manages to keep the audience engaged, we want to know who 'JIGSAW' is and we want to know how he does this! This is why SAW is an amazing thriller that despite the gory scenes that make us want to puke, it keeps us staying and that's the beauty of a fantastic thriller.



X-MEN DOOFP (2014)

X-MEN: Days Of Our Future Past - X-MEN DOOFP is a confusing title but portrays a fun thrilling adventure. When we must change the past to save our future selves and the whole of humanity, the heroes of 'X-MEN' are forced to travel back in time and save the world. With special individuals with side kick powers, what is not there to love?! This is a perfect portrayal of a thriller because it manages to create the right amount of thrill to keep us entertained and engaged. It does this by cool, realistic CGI and incredible plot twists.

 

Taken - A self explanatory movie, the protagonist, former agent receives a call from his daughter across a country but something is not right. Intruders are there to capture her and he is makes the toughest decision a father can make to let her go but in order to find her afterwards. All the way through we are slapped repeatedly with suspense demonstrating how a great thriller is made.

 

Sub-Genres of thrillers - Example

Similarly to genres categorised in different types of style in content, they are also divided furthermore into what is called a sub-genre. This varies from:

Psychological thrillers - Psychological thrillers mainly focuses on the audiences mental and emotional states of the characters, furthermore it commonly plays on the individuals mind a little more which produces suspense in the film as it reflects the characters mentality. A great example is the 'Orphan' which stimulates and incorporates all these emotions into one giving it a chilling performance.

Action thrillers - Action thrillers are packed with plenty of action packed scenes such as; a car chase on New York's busiest road, a fight scene between the protagonist and antagonist, etc. It't what keeps us on edge of our seats with amazing story-lines and plot twists. Usually action thrillers deal with semi-realistic story-lines and is what mostly intrigues the audience because we can slyly relate to it. An example of an action thriller is 'Taken' that portrays a perfect combination of action and thriller keeping us on edge of our seats and engaged.

Adventure thrillers - Adventure thrillers is a mixture of adventure with a thrilling story-line that also keeps on changing to keep the audience engaged throughout the whole movie. Usually an adventure thriller takes us on a fun and exciting journey that is either relatable or out of this world. This makes us as the audience understand and enjoy the movie more. An example of a adventure thriller is 'The Hunger Games' which adopts key elements to an adventure thriller by including many running, fighting scenes out of this world!

Science-Fiction thrillers - Sci-Fi thrillers usually have a futuristic science and technology feel. Space travelling and time travelling are usually popular with the science-fiction fans. An example would be 'Star Wars' as it demonstrates to juggle a combination of science fiction and thriller action with amazing star-ships that travel all around the world in order to save their planet!

Paranormal/ Supernatural thrillers - These type of thrillers bring a mixture of elements such as horror to create suspense, tension resulting in a superb plot twist. Sometimes the protagonist or antagonist possess some type of supernatural power that gives us audience a creepy yet exciting feel. Movies such as 'The Conjuring' portray a perfect mixture of paranormal elements including a main character that has supernatural powers to sense nearby spirits.

Spy thrillers - Spy thrillers usually have key elements of action. Spy thrillers often use a government agency whether it's fictional or fantasy, it is used as the base of the film. Moreover it sometimes even includes some other elements of science fiction combined with action and crime. An example of this is the famous 'Mission Impossible' starring Tom Cruise that illustrates equal amounts of spy thriller, action, mystery and crime.

Common conventions of thrillers

Common conventions of thrillers might include:

A typical protagonist and antagonist

Run down on abandoned buildings as location

Usually filmed at night

Common themes of thrillers

Common themes in thrillers usually depend on the sub-genre in belongs to but they all might include at least one of these themes such as:

Kid-knapping, revenge, family, heists, obsession, death, violence, crime and religion.

Audience response to thrillers

The audience response to a thriller majority of the time depends on the age of the audience. Usually the younger aged audience would be more frightened whereas the older males would be less affected because of their dominant role of becoming the more aggressive and protective gender.

In general, thrillers usually create spine chilling response that keeps the audience on the edge of their seats. The audience is usually left in suspense as the tension is built up creating excitement and adrenaline. If the audience is watching a psychological thriller, then this would supposedly play on their minds more than the other sub-genre thrillers tend to do.

Why is it a popular genre? Personal opinion.

The thriller genre is so popular because it always leaves the audience wanting more, keeping us engaged at all times because we as the audience want to know what happens despite the fact it might even scare us a little... or a lot. People watch thrillers mainly to be entertained and thrilled, with almost every genre, it's a opportunity to escape reality, furthermore feeling the emotions expressed within a thriller and being involved makes us excited that we always come back for more.

Conclusion: How has this helped your understanding of thrillers and the coursework requirement?

This has made me understand that there are many requirements to make an impressive thriller trailer. To make a good trailer I need to take in account genres, sub-genres, the audience it's aimed at and specific conventions that should be followed in order for the viewers to clearly understand that what they're watching is a thriller. Moreover, this has taught me that I need to have some common conventional thriller characters to allow the movie trailer to adapt to its genre so its very clear to the audience. The antagonist should be something conventional such as a hideous and frightful appearance that frightens the audience, in addition, their behavior and attitudes also adds a sense of fear and suspicion. Whereas the protagonist (the hero) is seemed as dominant, inferior and heroic that gives the audience a sense of hope and sympathy mainly towards the victims of the movie. Finally, the location of the thriller is likely to be in run down areas like abandoned buildings and church yard to really give it that spooky and thrilling feel.