Conventions of the thriller genre

Conventions of the Thriller genre

There are many noticeable techniques used in the thriller genre, which are constantly used within most thriller films despite what kind of subgenre or genre hybrid they are.  They include similar characters, plots, themes and camera techniques. By definition the main aim of the Thriller film to create ‘thrills’ if this is not done, no matter what subgenre it is, then the job has not been done.

 

A thriller film includes...

Ø  Suspense

Ø  Tension

Ø  Anticipation

Ø  Plot twists

Ø  Enigma

Ø  Intense excitement

Ø  Uncertainty

Ø  Anxiety

Ø  Realism

Ø  Red herring

Ø  Cliff hangers

Almost all of these factors are

 taken into consideration when making every thriller film. 

These are extremely important as the aim of the thriller film to create a ‘thrilling’ sensation for the audience. Therefore by include factors such as suspense and enigmas create this kind of feeling, which overall would produce a successful thriller film.  Thriller also progress with danger and excitement. One of the most important factor to consider is realism, this is because a lot of the factor can also be used in other film genres.

 However using this factor along with realism is what a thriller film is, therefore it is very important to include when creating the opening scene of our thriller.  For instance, thriller often get confused with horror films, the two are closely related but are still quite distinct. However horror will be more graphic and the audience will feel more fear and disgust rather than tension. Which is why realism is important, as thrillers creates a more real life situation than a horror film would.

Plots...

Strictly, a thriller is a film where a single minded goal is relentlessly pursued. Such as flightplan (2006)

 where the main goal here was for ­protagonist to get her daughter back, no matter what it took.

Thrillers are essentially about the battle of Justice versus Injustice, good versus bad and protagonist versus antagonist.

Thriller films will also keep the audience on the edge of their seat as the plot builds towards an intense climax.  Plus they revolve around a hero thwarting an enemy rather than uncovering of solving an exciting crime, which thriller can often overlap with a mystery/ crime film.

Thrillers are often set in an exotic location such as in foreign cities, deserts, Polar Regions, or high seas.

Characters...

Main characters in thrillers are usually placed in menacing situations from which escape seems impossible. The protagonist is often an unsuspectingly placed in a dangerous situation. The menace is often abstract, uncertain or shadowy.

Therefore common character types include:

Ø  Criminals/ fugitives

Ø  Stalkers

Ø  Assassins

Ø  ‘innocent’ victims caught up in events

Ø  Police

Ø  ‘femme fatal’

This character types are used to create normality (which shows realism) therefore does not include characters such as zombies etc. Then these characters are placed in a situation for them to handle in which getting out of it would create tension.

Most protagonists tend to be ‘hard men’ accustomed to danger such as these spies and soldiers shown in the list. However they may also be ordinary citizens drawn into danger by accident. Traditionally, the protagonists have been male however female protagonists are becoming increasingly common, such as in Alien (1979) Sigourney Weaver’s character is the protagonist.

Themes...

There are many common themes used in thriller films as it is only certain themes that can give off the best suspense and anticipations. Themes are commonly based around society’s current fears and worries.

Therefore themes such as:

Ø  Terrorism

Ø  Political conspiracy

Ø  Espionage

Ø  Pursuits

Ø  Dangerous romantic liaisons

Ø  Psychological crime

Ø  Oppressive but unseen supernatural occurrences

These themes create a plot that exerts more tension in them for an overall tense film, as all of these themes already carry a lot of enigma with them, therefore expanding on these can become very useful in creating a thriller film. This would be a good consideration to uphold when making our thriller opening sequence.

Common camera and editing techniques...

The camera techniques used need again, need to create tensions and suspense, therefore techniques such as:

Ø  Extreme Zoom shots (forward or reverse)

Ø  Prolonged cross cutting : the longing wait would create more tension

Ø  Quick cut Montage: this would create confusion and therefore a tenser situation if the audience does not know what is happening, it would create a ‘grip’ feeling.

Ø  Use of profile or Silhouette: such as the ‘from Russia with love (1964)’ the antagonist was cast in a long shadow, which create are more mysterious feel.

Ø  Dolly zoom shot

Ø  Quick cutting: again this is similar to the quick cut montage, it would create confusing situation that build tension.

Ø  Use of ‘enigma code’ in the narrative: This is good techniques to use as the mystery would create anticipation which would leave the audience wanting answers. This need of ‘wanting answers’ is very good to build tension as the audience will long for the answer.

Sound and lighting...

The sound used plays a major role for creating suspense, or the absence of sound can also be effective. Both used in the correct way is perfect for building tension and anticipation of the scene. Such as when sounds is synchronised with an important action movements and when key changes occur. For example in psycho pleonastic sound was used for the shower scene to enhance the action, this would build more tension for the audience. Therefore dramatic, tense or foreboding scores are often used.

Lighting is also essential, especially with the use of shadows and silhouettes. This is used to give a ‘creepy’ feeling for the audience as they cannot uncover what is under the shadow for instance. Lighting tends to be dark and low key; however this is not often the case such as in Phone Booth (2003) where there are not shadows used to create this suspense.

Other...

Mirrors and stairs are also conventions of thriller movies, as again different images and close-ups in mirrors can create tension and illusions and also add suspense.

 

What are the common techniques and conventions?

 

The Thriller genre is unique in the way it is made. It has its own unique score made especially for the movie the level of lighting is varying to demonstrate the effects of something that has happened or someone who is in the film. The thriller is also unique in the way that it creates suspense and its use of enigma’s and mystery are what makes this genre one of the most watched worldwide.

The score of a thriller film is what makes it memorable because in a way it is synchronised with the movements of the people in the film, for instance in James Bond the score starts as the person gets beaten up and this dramatic score carries the scene through and helps the audience understand that this is a dramatic and important moment in the movie.

The level of lighting is extremely important because it varies in places and people. It is used in all the thrillers do determine whether a character is an antagonist or protagonist or whether the place is mysteriously evil or just another ordinary building.

In the thriller genre low level lighting is often used to show the antagonist characters as seen in Psycho where the man who stabs the woman in the shower seen is covered up and you can’t see his face.

The one rule a thriller can not avoid is the rule of creating suspense. It is the most vital technique that attracts audiences to this genre of film. It would not be a thriller without the suspense, for instance in 28 days later, the suspense caused when the man walks up the stairs whilst calling out to see if anyone is alive really keeps you on the edge of your seat.

The use of suspense is also helped with the use of enigma and mystery as to who the person is? Who killed him? Why did he kill him? What’s the object he was carrying in his hand?

The use of enigma is important because it keeps the audience interested, the movie with a lot of enigma was the copycat this movie kept the audience wandering as to who the killer was and how would he kill next or which famous murderer will he imitate next and how is he doing this.

A technique that was used and that created suspense was the technique of getting the audience to think that the wrong man was the killer as in psycho where the audience thinks the mother is the killer but actually it’s the man dressing up as his mother. In this sense Sir Alfred Hitchcock had many techniques that kept the suspense going throughout the movie and adding a shocking reality check to the audience each time.   

 

                        The audience

 

The thriller genre has one of the widest audiences in the film industry because of its many subgenres. In fact many who aren’t interested in thrillers in general could be interested in a comedy thriller or a horror thriller just because it will either make you laugh or scar your brain forever. The type of subgenre will also attract different age audiences such an action thriller is more entertaining for younger men than an espionage film because they like to be entertained and not muddled with a highly extensive plot.

The thriller genre is agreeable really to everyone in society its one of the few genres that actually reaches out to the whole of society. However audiences are more likely to be older than 14/15 to watch a good thriller because under that age they are more into comedy and animation films.The BBFC ratings are also usually rated at 15 + because of the content the thriller genre contains.

However it is hard to see a young man or teenager going top watch a political thriller because that also doesn’t appeal to that age group. It is necessary to realise that the type of thriller that is watched nowadays depends in what generation the audience was brought up in such as espionage thrillers were very popular, as well as psychological thrillers, back when television was still black and white. Today on the other hand people are brought up with fast pace action being the normality in everyday life so movies are pretty much the same in that aspect. The prime example is that a James bond today is hardly the same as the James Bond’s made in yesteryear. They had less action than today’s more appealing James Bond movies of fast, hard hitting action.

The audience has to finally enjoy having to sit on the edge of their seat to enjoy a good thriller or otherwise you won’t enjoy it.  

Analysis of Opening Sequences

‘From Russia with Love’ was the first film in the ‘James Bond’ franchise to have an opening sequence prior to the titles. The opening sequence for this film shows that an opening sequence can exist separately from the main part of the film and is an excellent example of an espionage thriller.

The beginning of the film, before any action takes place there is a title of a company involved in the film. ‘United Artists’ is the film studio that made the film, a branch of the main makers of the Bond films, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. This is followed by the infamous Bond motif known as the gun barrel sequence. The sequence starts in an unknown location and contains many enigmas. From the beginning, there is just ambient sound, this creates suspense. The suspense is created as Bond can hear footsteps behind him, which gives the idea of stalking. We are given this idea through the cross-cutting between Bond and the Blonde male. This leaves the enigmas, who is the man? Why is he following Bond? And where are they?

However, it is with these footsteps that non-diegetic score comes into the sequences. The pitch of the score changes with actions on screen and so is synchronous. The use of low-key lighting in the scene creates a more airy atmosphere and adds tension to the sequence as we can notice the characters shadows and they often appear to appear out of the darkness. As Bond is attacked and killed, there is clear violence, but not so much so that the film doesn’t loose its PG classification. The attack on bond creates anticipation as the audience is led to believe that the protagonist has just been killed in the first three minutes of the film. However, suspense is then created as the audience find out that the whole thing was some sort of training exercise and Bond is in fact, not dead. This epiphany creates even further effective enigmas such as, why was this training taking place? In conclusion, the opening sequence successes in making the viewer want to continue watching as it leads the audience with the thriller conventions of anticipation, tension and suspense.

Analyses of relevant key texts

The thriller genre is often associated with Alfred Hitchcock, 'The Master of Suspense' and so I find it fitting to analyse a scene of one of his most famous films in research of the genre of Thriller. I will be analysing the shower scene from his 1960 film, 'Psycho'.



Firstly, an obvious observation of the scene is that it contains no dialogue. This creates anticipation and tension as there is no explanation of what happens, a common convention of thriller films. The scene starts with the character, Marion Crane, flushes a piece of ripped-up paper down the toilet. This creates an enigma concerning what was it she flushed down the toilet? She is a young, attractive blonde woman; the audience does not expect her to die at this stage of the film as she is a protagonist. Her appearance also gives the idea of innocence and so there is shock and tension created when she is murdered. The setting of the scene, a shower is a realistic one that causes the audience to not expect an act of murder, as the shower is not a place you would associate with such an act. The silence of the scene is foreboding her murder as non-diegetic sound comes in as the killer does.

A common feature of the thriller genre, dramatic irony now takes place as the murder does. The audience can see the silhouette of the murderer as he enters the bathroom due to the low-key lighting which creates suspense as we can foresee the killing. Furthermore, the killer appears to be female, which we later find out to be male, this creates a red herring as it diverts the audience from the truth and plays with the hierarchy of knowledge. As the murder takes place, pleonastic sound enters to mimic the action of the knife; this creates suspense the sound can be confusing to what is happening. Furthermore, the use of the knife to commit the murder creates suspense as it leads to a slow death, not an instant one in the case of a weapon such as a gun, a common technique in thriller films. There is also quick edits between the killer and the victim during the murder, this creates anticipation and tension as we can see both views of what is happening.

The death of Marion Crane is slow and non-diegetic orchestral sound replaces the pleonastic sound. This orchestral score ranges in pitch as the character slumps to the floor during the slow death. This creates anticipation and tension as the audience is left in shock of what just happened, the protagonist dying. The camera then tilts down to the drain with the implementing of graphic match between the drain and the character’s eye to connote the life leaving her; this creates tension as she has now died. The scene then ends with the camera moving from bathroom to bedroom, which can be accepted as the killer’s movement from the murder scene. Also, the camera zooms into the money that Marion Crane stole. These two features create anticipation and suspense as we can see the killer has not taken the money, which suggests this was a random murder.