Media Studies: Genre Research (Thriller)

We decided as a group that our film mostly resembled that of a thriller, mostly based on it's storyline and how we plan to film it. A thriller film is a type of film genre and it revolves around anticipation, suspense and also twists within the story. The reason thrillers are so successful in cinema is because they keep the audience engaged throughout and usually don't reveal the main focal point of the story until the very end. This is done through the use of tension that builds up throughout the film right up until it's final suspense or climax is revealed.

The fact that thriller films derive our instinctual patterns of behaviour, such as the rush of adrenaline and other primal emotions may be what makes them so appealing today. The earliest evidence of this would be the ancient tale of "Homers Odyssey", which is considered to be one of the first forms of a "thriller" story.

One of the oldest texts of "Odyssey" 

It was not until the 20th century however when the first thriller movies began to be produced, the 1923 film "Safety Last" featured a man performing a stunt on the side of a skyscraper. However it was in fact well known director Alfred Hitchcock who helped to modernise the thriller into what it is today, even gaining him the nickname "The Master of Suspense". Films such as Rear Window and the well known film Psycho were the productions that solidified the thriller genre within film.

"Safety Last" had the first aspects of thriller in film.

Conventions of Thrillers

Themes

Thrillers in general have no common themes in terms of specific storyline, however they do all tend to follow a similar pattern with the fact that they are regarded as being fast paced. The narrative is usually centred around a wrongdoing, a mistake or a crime in which the theme is then often based around the character resolving this, which can be through revenge or a different emotion based motive. Thrillers also explore themes of identity, this in particular relates directly to our film based on the fact our character has to recall certain events he does not remember, as well as the fact that the centre of the narrative leads our character to derive away from his identity and act differently because of his motive for money and power. 

Storylines and Settings

Usually in thriller films, the storyline is based around a central event, which is often a mystery, a mission or some other type of problem and the film will often emphasize the negative effect this has on the character, therefore the protagonist must try to overcome or conclude this central event which may end positively or negatively, usually coming through the use of a last minute change of plot. Thrillers often present quite a dark, realistic side of film in which tension arises through the characters struggle to overcome the situation. Thrillers also focus on the "Mystery" aspect of the plot and it is a convention for the audience to be able to make predictions. Identity (2003) is an example of a Storyline based around Mystery. (CLICK HERE FOR TRAILER)

Identity (2003), Starring John Cusack.

These story lines can involve the character being "against the clock" which means he/she only has a certain amount of time to resolve the central event, which adds further pressure and intensity which can invigorate the audience. An example of this type of Thriller would be Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991), Which features an intense battle to prevent a robot killing a future war hero.

Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)

Gotham (Top) and Turkey (Bottom)

Thrillers can take place in a variety of locations which vary from exotic countries and areas to suburban streets, to even mental asylums and crime scenes. This is all down to the type of Thriller film, For example, films such as "Skyfall" takes place in various exotic locations including Turkey due to the fact that it is an action thrilelr. As well as this, "The Dark Knight", is a gritty superhero action film with aspects of crime and this takes place in the fictional suburban city streets of Gotham. The reasoning for these locations is to show the audience that these events are high profile and the thrilling aspects can be derived from this, the fact that civilians are present almost puts into perspective the potential realism of the film which can improve the way a viewer reacts to the scene.

Suspense

This can be seen as one of the most essential parts of the thriller genre, It is this aspect which leads to the focus on the audiences emotional and physical reaction to the film, The use of mysterious and unpredictable narrative leads to the audience coming up with a list of outcomes as the storyline unravels, this leads to that on edge feeling that develops when watching these films. This is done in order to make the experience memorable and to keep viewers alert until the final climax is reached, in which the audience gains their satisfaction from the movie. This amazing thing about thrillers is that this can be achieved regardless of the viewers prediction of the ending, it is either a serendipity (An unexpected surprise) or they guess the ending right which still gives them the same satisfaction. Hope and fear play a key role within Thrillers as audiences often hope that certain characters get their desired outcome as well as a fear of what may happen if they don't. An example of a film with this type of ending would be Fight Club (1999), which has an unpredictable ending (plot twist).

 Finally, Dramatic irony is also used a lot and is intertwined with suspense, for example, the audience may find something out that will be detrimental to one of the characters, but can do nothing about it to warn them. This is a key factor to building suspense in Thrillers.

Alfred Hitchcock said of dramatic irony:

“The audience is longing to warn the characters on the screen: 'You shouldn’t be talking about such trivial matters. There’s a bomb beneath you and it’s about to explode!'" 

However, these are merely Conventions, Which means that not all thriller films follow these and we do not have to imply every aspect of these conventions into our own film.

Changes to Thrillers


Overtime this genre has had to adapt and evolve in order to be able to keep up with the advancements of film moreover to keep the audience continually satisfied at these films. For example the technological progress in film such as the development of special effects and cameras that film with an extremely high quality means that thriller films have become all the more intense compared to older films from the 1950's However this is not to say those older films were not equally as terrifying at the time they were released, it is just that as time has gone on and the quality of these films are better, a higher standard is expected when these films are released. It is easy to see how much has changed when we compare two thriller films, One a classic by Hitchcock and a more modern thriller film:

Vertigo (1958):

No Country For Old Men (2007):