Reasearch (Thriller)

  Research Thriller

What is a Thriller

The coursework is about a thriller film and how the thriller film makes the audience feel also what response a thriller gets from the audience.

A thriller is a very exciting genre for the audience. The main elements in a thriller genre is suspense, tension, excitement and sudden frightening scenes. A thriller is a stimulus for the audience as it gives the audience a high level of anticipation. There is a lot of dramatic irony as the audience think they know what is about to happen but it is changed and the audience wait for the next shock. There is a lot of uncertainty, surprise, fear and anxiety. Thriller provide a massive adrenaline rush for the audience and the audience are aloud to recover from the first shock but then there are many more in the thriller narrative. Lastly a thriller is very slow paced which makes it very dramatic and there are many pauses which gives the audience a chilling experience.


Examples of  Thrillers:


Black Swan is an example of an Thriller.

Black swan is an example of psychological thriller is is one of the sub genres in thrillers, this because the main character who is a ballerina who wins the lead roll in swan lake however she slowly lose her mind and she slow becomes more and more like the black swan. Black swan is a thriller because it has the common convention in the film as black swan has a lot of close up shots in the film also there are a lot of dark locations in the film which shows a sense of isolation.

The narrative of black swan is that a ballerina who is perfect for the role takes the lead role for swan lake as the black swan. She does everything to get the role and to perfect the role. Slowly without her realising she loses her mind over the role and she slowly turns into the black swan.



Taken is another example of a thriller.

Taken is a action thriller. Taken has many common themes in the film which all thriller have the themes are death, friendship, vengeance and abduction. What makes taken a thriller

A retired CIA agent travels across Europe and relies on his old skills to save his estranged daughter, who has been kidnapped while on a trip to Paris

Genre: A genre is the category that a film falls into. There are many film genres and it is important to know what a genre is. This is because the audience looks at the genre when a film is release. This is the most important selling point for the film, the genre is what engages the target audience and also it is what makes the film a success. The audience need to know what the genre of the film is because then they can watch their preferred genre and enjoy the film. In addition the film genre gives the audience an idea, a feel of what the narrative of the film will be.

Examples of genres:

• Crime thriller

• Disaster thriller

• Mystery thriller

• Political thriller

• Religious thriller

• Techno thriller  

  


  







Horror-  A horror film/genre gives the audiences a very frightening experience. It is deliberately scary for the audience. Horror genres archive this frightening experience fro the audience by creating tension, suspense, violence and sudden shock.


Action- An action film/genre It is usually a very interesting film to watch as the audience love the fighting scenes that the protagonist takes part and and the explosions, desperate situations and usually there is a happy ending in action films.




Adventure- An adventure film/genre is mainly aimed at a younger audience from the age of 5 and above. Adventure films are set in exotic location and they include many things that many not exist in reality. Lastly in an adventure there is always a happy ending.

Sub Genres of thrillers:

As for all genres they are very broad genres. Thriller is a very broad genre and it has a lot of sub genres. The following sub genres are:

Psychological thrillers- Physiological thrillers are very scary as they show unstable characters with unstable emotions.

The Mechanist is an example of a physiological thriller as the character is very unusual and the character has very unstable emotion. This leads to him questioning his own sanity.

 
The silence of the lambs is another example of a physiological thriller as a young FBI cadet must confide and win the trust of a serial killer to catch another serial killer who skins his victims. This is a very unusual way of killing people and it is very disturbing this is what makes it a physiological thriller.

Crime thriller-Crime thrillers include a lot of crime or crimes committed which makes it a crime thriller. This genre focuses on the antagonist and it is very graphic as they commit murders, there are serial killers and many other nasty crimes.

 

The Bourne Identity is an example of a crime thriller as a man is a government assassin who kills people ruthlessly without second thoughts. He is very dangerous and skilled. This is crime thriller as it only focuses on the antagonist.




The Bourne supremacy is another example of of a crime thriller as a man is forced to go back to his old job which is to be an cold blooded assassin. 

There are many other thriller sub genres: they are the following

Religious thrillers this mainly involves religious objects and religious institutions such as a church. Action involves many elements such as suspense, tension and excitement. Also Mystery thrillers, Sci-Fi, Gangster and lastly Erotic thrillers which focuses on eroticism and sexual relationships.

Common themes

A theme is the story lines and the subjects that are present in the film.

The common themes that are in thriller films are death, friendship, vengeance, abduction and love.

 

Taken is an example of a thriller with common themes. Taken has the following themes death where the father(protagonist) kills the all the antagonists who have abducted his daughter. Also there is a strong element of revenge.

 

Final destination has very common themes in the film the themes are deaths where all the characters eventually meet there death. Also there are friendship and love involved.

Common conventions in thrillers

There are many common conventions in thriller and every thriller films consist in these conventions.

There is a protagonist who is the good character and the film mostly revolves round the main charterer.



This is an example of the common convention as batman is the main protagonist who fights all the antagonists.

When there is a protagonist there is always an antagonist. There always has to an antagonist in a thriller otherwise it would not be a thriller.

This is an example of a typical antagonist as the antagonist is scary. The antagonist is slim and has a black outfit with a facial defect this usual has a story to it and this is used to scar the audience.

Most thriller are set in the dark which shows isolation and it set the scene. With dark locations it also makes it allot scarier than in daylight.




This is an example of a typical convention in thrillers as there is always a dark location.







The other common convention in thrillers are:

The deaths are very gruesome and graphic.
Thriller are adult audience which is from the age of (15-18).

• Thrillers are for adult audience from 15-18 as in thrillers there are always deaths which are very gruesome.
• Also the plot in thrillers are very difficult to follow for children and the younger audience will be affected by a thriller due to the use of iconography such as a knife and blood and the antagonist. 
• Thrillers are set in dark location and have dark filters which set the mood for the thriller and also the audience has to be for 15-18 for a thriller as there are many interment scenes in thrillers.

There are many hidden motives.
Lastly thrillers are not set in places that the audience feel very safe in for example now the thrillers are based in houses where most people feel safe but after the thrillers people will feel a little scared in their houses.

How do thrillers make the audience feel?

Thriller is a genre that generally excites the audience and also puts fear into the audience. Also when the audience acknowledge that the film is a thriller the audience is instantly hooked and they dare to watch the latest thriller.Thrillers are are a great test of the audiences fear factor. Thrillers create a chilling response from the audience after the sudden shocks that the thriller provides.Thrillers typically makes the audience fear the antagonist by allowing the to take up most of the screen time which is really thrilling.There is also dramatic irony where the audience is made to fear for the protagonist. There is a lot of suspense and tension created to eat away at the audience this makes the audience nervous and frightened of what will happen next.With the dark locations it makes the audience feel very isolated scared as the audience gets lost in the dark locations. When the thriller is over the audience is left craving for more this is because of the chilling sensations that the audience felt. adrenaline rush,fear, suspense and tension they felt.

Conclusion

This has helped my understanding of thrillers as now I know what the definition of a thriller and that thriller genre is a very broad genre as it has many sub genres.

I have learnt all the different convention that a thriller film can have and I have learnt how to identify the conventions.

Also I have a better understanding of how thrillers make the audience feel and why thrillers make the audience the feel in a certain way.