Thriller Research
DEFINING THRILLER
Thriller definition- Thriller is a vast genre of books music and film in which there are multiple subcultures. Thriller at its purest definition means a form of media with an exciting plot, typically involving crime or espionage. The primary mood in which they portray is a form of exciting fear. Creating tension and 'nail biting' moments experienced by the audience or individual. Thrillers tend to involve making the audience feel anxious, uncertainty, surprise and terror. A thriller tends to involve a villain-driven-plot where by the protagonist has to try and overcome the villains obstacles which they put in place.
MOOD BOARD
These images that i have grouped together i feel represent my own personal idea of the thriller genre. There are images of tense moments for example the man waiting for the arrival of the villain with his gun at the ready, a typical convention of this genre. There are images of predictable scenery, an image of an explosion, images of weaponry etc which is all very typical within the thriller genre.
TOP TEN THRILLER MOVIES
In my opinion these are the best top ten thriller movies:
I chose these films as my top ten favorite Thrillers for multiple reasons. I like the Godfather as I feel throughout I am constantly tense and amazed at what is occurring on screen even though its old. Inception I feel is so very cleverly filmed and has such a strong enigma code, I also feel the same about the film Shutter Island. I enjoy the film Taken as it is very Thrilling and again so cleverly executed. I love witnessing the main characters talents in terms of keeping himself safe and tracking down his daughter. I feel that all these films deserve to be on this list as some of the best Thriller movies released.
THRILLER SUB GENRES
Sub genre's are genres within a genre. This means that they lie under the same genre but have slightly different narratives. Within the genre Thriller there are numerous sub-genre's. These sub genre's are:
- Conspiracy thrillers
- Crime thrillers
- Disaster thriller
- Psychological thriller
- Mystery thriller
- Political thriller
- Religious thriller
- Supernatural thrillers
- Sci-fi thrillers
I am sure there are many more, these are just a select few. Below are brief explanations of some of these examples.
Conspiracy thrillers:
The conspiracy thriller is a sub-genre of thriller fiction. The protagonists of conspiracy thrillers are often journalists or amateur investigators who find themselves pulling on a small thread which unravels a vast conspiracy that ultimately goes "all the way to the top". The complexities of historical fact are recast as a morality play in which bad people cause bad events, and good people identify and defeat them. Conspiracies are often played out as "man-in-peril" (or "woman-in-peril") stories, or yield quest narratives.
A common theme in such works is that characters uncovering the conspiracy encounter difficulty ascertaining the truth amid the deceptions: rumors, lies, propaganda and build upon one another until what is conspiracy and what is coincidence become entangled. Many conspiracy fiction works also include the theme of secret history.
Disaster thriller:
This genre follows people around or groups who battle for survival against natural/caused disasters. These films are very Thrilling especially during the scenes of the disaster. Many disaster movies include disasters that are a cause of mankind.
Psychological Thriller:
Psychological aspects tend to appear in many movies. They work by playing with the audiences mind. In the Thriller genre they tend to show the mentality of a character and their way of thought. Psychological movies can lie within any sub genre. In the Thriller genre the psychological issues tend to be more eerie, we tend to witness characters in an unstable state of mind which creates tension as we remain on edge about what the character may do next.
THRILLER GENRE CONVENTIONS
CHARACTER
Within all Thriller movies regardless of which sub-genre the characters remain typical. There will always be a protagonist (the hero), for example 'James Bond', and the antagonist (villain). These characters tend to be male dominated and very macho. Furthermore there is usually a female character who plays the role of 'damsel in distress' as it were, for example 'Taken'. She remains vulnerable throughout the film. However as of late this is not always the case. More recently, within the thriller genre, females have undertaken the role of the protagonist for example 'Kill Bill' and 'Columbiana'. There is also another female role in thriller, the 'Femmes Fatales' these are the seductive women that would lure in the protagonist and then bring him them into some kind of danger. Commonly known as a 'Honey Chick'. Further characters commonly present in the Thriller Genre would be the police, detective, FBI, CIA, spies etc. These characters are very stereotypical of this genre as they help to unravel the situation and/or even make the situation more thrilling by creating tense scenes of near discovery/victory. These scenes usually result in some form of action and without these typical characters they would not occur.
THEMES
The term theme means the subject of talk, the ideas behind the story. There are multiple primary themes within the Thriller genre these being:
- The protagonist faces death and danger in some way, either their own or somebody else.
- The antagonist is always well equipped and one step ahead of the protagonist.
- The protagonist is faced with either a mission/ quest/ task that tends to result in finding one self as a person along the way.
- The narrative of the film is dominated by the protagonists point of view and opinion
- The antagonist and protagonist will battle each other both physically and mentally.
- The protagonist faces a dangerous conflict which is the be all and end all of the film.
ICONOGRAPHY
The term iconography means the visual elements within the scenes, for example props and costume, to be fair the whole shot, the setting lighting ect the 'mise en scene'. Typical iconography and settings within the Thriller genre would be places like New York or London, a busy scenery with sky scrapers and tall buildings, for example take a look at the cover of inception i have included above. Furthermore common iconography within Thrillers are weapons, guns and high tech equipment like computers. Also iconic of this genre are suits and smartly dressed characters. This costume makes it clear that the character is either of high importance eg a gangster or a very wealthy man who is likely to be the good looking protagonist.
NARRATIVE
The narrative is the story line that tends to be established within the first few minutes of the film. This is done to set the audience up and create a story/narrative, it allows the audience to comprehend the theme of the film and opportunity to guess the plot. Typical Thriller narratives could include conspiracy's, investigations, stand offs, black mails, surveillance, interrogation, stunts and so on. For example once again in the film Taken and Taken 2 the narratives involve investigation, stand offs, surveillance as well as explosions.
CINEMATIC STYLES
Cinematography basically means sound and camera work. Cinematic style means a particular style of camera work and music that is commonly found within particular genres. As an audience we do not really recognise cinematography however without these cinematic conventions a Thriller would not be a Thriller. The camera work within a Thriller is very fast pace editing with many jump cuts and shot-reverse-shots. The lighting tends to be very low key creating a mysterious setting. There is use of tense music and sounds of explosions and gun shots. Another cinematic style of Thrillers is the use of CGI for explosions and so on.
Here is a youtube clip from the film Taken. Notice the fast pace editing and the jump shots as well as the shot-reverse-shots. These elements of camerawork are used to speed up the pace of the scene and make the moment more Thrilling aand tense.
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