Aashna Jadeja THE THRILLER GENRE

Thriller movies are made to create tension and suspense towards the target audience.

They can cause extreme feelings of diff erent emotions such as: excitement, anxiety, shock, suspense and anticipation.

Thrillers can often get mixed up with the Horror genre, but they have some specific diff erences.

Thrillers have many diff erent subgenres within the whole genre. For example:

THRILLER MOVIES

The Dark Knight Action

Thriller

Mr & Mrs Smith Romantic Thriller

Panic Room Psychological

Thriller

Silence of the Lambs Crime

Thriller

SUSPENSE – This is the most important and signifi cant characteristic of the Thriller genre. This fascinates the audience. This creates a sense of the unknown and the unpredictable.

Thrillers keep the audience on edge at all times, they do this by shooting specifi c scenes in dark, eerie and creepy settings, this makes the audience brace themselves to prepare for shocks.

There is usually a problem that needs to be solved and so this leads to a hero and villain, solving and causing the problem.

The plot can often be designed so that the audience feel like something like this can happen to them which makes them feel more tension and suspense.

A lot of violence and fi ght scenes.Some scenes are very over the top the make the audience

think something bad is about to happen.

CODES & CONVENTIONS

THE PROTAGONIST- This is the main person, and is usually a male hero fi gure who helps solve the problem, they’re addressed at the beginning of the movie so everybody knows who they are. E.g. James Bond – Casino Royale.

THE ANTAGONIST – This is the villain, also referred to as ‘the bad guy’. They’re never revealed early on in the plot, but are revealed late on when mayhem has occurred so that the audience can fi gure out who has done it. This person could also have a hidden identity so it will be someone you don’t expect. E.g. Arthur – Kingsman: The secret service.

CHARACTERS

Cinematography is “the art of photography and camerawork in fi lm-making.”

Close up and extreme close up shots are used when fi lming the protagonist and antagonist, this is usually so that the audience is able to see their emotions.

When fi lming the protagonist, longer shots and full body shots will be used as the audience like them as they are ‘the good guy’. However when fi lming the antagonist, very short and quick cuts are used to hide their identity, and when they’re fi lmed its usually their silhouette or extremely dark so they don’t reveal them self.

CINEMATOGRAPHY

The music in thrillers is essential or the audience to understand the mood of the scene. In particular, the non-diegetic sound added into a thriller is there to create suspense and tension.

The music is likely to start off slowly and quietly and then get faster and louder in the action to add a more dramatic eff ect.

When fi lming a thriller, a lot of jump cuts are used this is because in order for the fi lm to make sense, these have to be included, however at the time the audience will not make sense of it, but it will become clear later on.

Cross cutting may also be used to add suspense towards the audience.

SOUND AND EDITING

Lighting – depending on the location and setting the lighting may be light or dark, this often fi ts the mood of the scene.

Costumes – each character will have diff erent outfi ts that bring out their individual personality and characteristics. E.g. There would not be a dark and evil villain wearing a pink dress.

Composition – Most directors use a few fi lming rules such as the 180 degree rule and the rule of thirds, this ensures that they get the most interesting shots that look best.

MISE EN SCENE