Research: What is a Thriller? - Miss Begum

What is a genre? Why is it important?

A genre is a style or type of film which involves themes, plot and location. Different genres contains different story lines. A genre is important because it allows the audience to define the movie and story line of the film, so they can decide if is appropriate to their age or type of favorite movie they like to watch.

What is a ‘Thriller’?

A Thriller is a genre of films that contain suspense and tension on the viewer. The thriller genre also play with the psychological side of the person which makes this genre unique and different of the others genres of movie. The audience can be affected from a psychological reaction or/and a physiological reaction.  The story line of a thriller is cleverly made which has a plot twist which makes the audience feel excited and thrilled.

Example of thriller films:

                                     BLACK SWAN:

Nina is a passionate ballerina, which she will be the first choice  of the company's director to replace his prima ballerina of the opening production of "Swan Lake". She will be in competition with the new artist Lily, however they will develop a twisted friendship which Nina's dark side begins to emerge.

SAW:

A serial killer punishing his victim for not appreciating their life as they waste their lifespan by playing with addictions and other beings. A detective and his team must apprehend the unconventional way of the murder killing his victim.

THE DARK KNIGHT:

Batman in his usual routine of saving the society from villains and their trouble. But this time he will face the psychopath mind of the insane Joker. The main villain will test Batman by his psychopath game and play with the Mafia's members.

SE7VEN:

A psychopathic murderer killing his victim according to the seven deadly sins. Both detective discover a number of elaborate and grizzly murders which will lead them to the killer.

Sub-Genre:

A sub-genre is a subdivision of smaller section of a genre. All main genre are classified into smaller groups which makes it easier to people to choose the different options of films available, which gives the spectators a rough ideas of the possible narrative and themes the movie is about. It also combine two genres which enhances the film by having a wider range of themes which will increase the level of excitement and it will intrigue the audience because of the genre combination.  The sub-genre that Thriller use are:

                                       ACTION THRILLER:

The action-thriller is mostly based on action and scenes like chases and escape. Here we can find the theme of revenge, death and mystery to make the audience fell excited and satisfied. The film ‘The Expendables’ is a good example because it’s based on action and chases which is appropriate for the audience who like this type of sub-genre.

                                   CRIME THRILLER:

The crime-thriller is based in action and crime that usually must be resolved. Here the theme of death and mystery makes the audience excited and involved as they try to resolve the mystery so therefore they keep watching because they want more. An example of this sub-genre is ‘The Bourne Identity’ which is about a man who doesn’t remember his past anymore which also involves action and crime.

                                      PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER:

The psychological-thriller is usually based around the mental mind of the protagonist or antagonist.  Here the themes that are used are death, and more important, mystery which makes the audience feel thrilled and anxious. A good example of movie is ‘Shutter Island’, here we can see that the protagonist need to solve a mystery which makes the audience feel involved.

                                    HORROR THRILLER:

The horror-thriller is mostly based in physiological reaction to scare the audience, but it also implies mystery on the story line. Here the theme of mystery is shown on how the paranormal or ghost has started. This makes the audience feel terrified. A good example is ‘Sinister’, here the plot is very intelligent as the protagonist find need to resolve a mystery and watch video about the paranormal ghost who killed children.

Codes and Conventions:

Every genre use codes and convention to make the movie have a clever story line and plot twist. The thriller genre use different codes and conventions to set up the scene and build tension to the audience. These are some of them:

Narrative:

The thriller genre usually have a clear structure of the movie. It start with an equilibrium, like in the movie ‘Panic Room’. The equilibrium start with a family who wants to start a new life in a new house. The disequilibrium start with a criminal who break in the house to try find a fortune. The new equilibrium starts when the father rescue the family and be a happy family again.

Themes:

The typical themes of thriller are: revenge, escape, mystery, kidnap, crime, death, rape, conspiracy and action. These themes makes the thriller genre unique and interesting as many of these are serious situation which people can relate on. For my opening thriller I plan to use the themes of mystery, death and action to make the spectators feels engage and excited.

Setting:

Thriller movie are usually set in isolated location such as abandoned house or hospital, graveyard, forest etc. this makes the viewers feel anxious and nervous because these are location that are easy to rely on so the audience will feel more scared and worried. The location that I look forward to use is a forest or a isolated warehouse as it conventional to the thriller genre and build tension and adrenaline to the audience.

Characters:

In thriller movie is more conventional to see a male protagonist and antagonist. The protagonist usually take the role of a secret agent, police detective or someone who can save the day. Whereas the antagonist usually take the role of a psychopath who will kill people in terrifying and intelligent way. My thriller opening will be based on a antagonist killing his victim strategically leaving the audience in doubt. 

Audience response: 

   

The audience responses will be different as people have different taste. For example the young generation will might be less reactive and scared, this is because today’s technology it’s so advanced that teenagers doesn’t need to use their imagination to fill in the gaps of the movie, whereas the old generation, cause of the lack of technology , visualize and picture the missing gaps of the movie. Therefore the old generation are more psychological effected because they are more likely to be relate into controversial situations. They might react psychologically with their minds or physiologically react by shivering, jumping or goose bumps.  

Why is thriller a popular genre?

Thriller is a very popular genre because of the intelligent story line which makes the audience see what they don’t expect. Thriller play on all of our minds and make our imagination wonder and intrigue which can makes us react in a psychological and physiological way which is often involuntary. Moreover, thriller genres gained popularity because the horror genre is dying away.

Conclusion:

In conclusion this research was beneficial to my understanding because I understand more the convention and narrative of a thriller genre. Also it help me to make decisions for my opening thriller which could be change later on. I’ve decide that my thriller sub- genre would be crime because it’s concentrated more in psychological but also in action and the theme of mystery and death which has a wide audience and makes them feel thrilled.