THRILLER RESEARCH THRILLER RESEARCH

JACK MCFARLANEJACK MCFARLANE

VARNDEAN COLLEGEVARNDEAN COLLEGE

OVER VIEW OF THRILLER GENRE

Thriller genre is any film that generates suspense and excitement as a major part of its narrative. Thrillers tend to have a typical thriller hero who are ordinarily people that are drawn into danger unknowingly and are more often men with the normal plot being for thrillers consists of a hero who has to over come certain tasks set in his way by a villain, and this villain will normally have a plan on a great scale and will result in mass destruction.

THRILLERS WORK AT DIFFERENT LEVELS

SUSPENSE …

THRILLER HERO…

THRILLER VILLAIN

FAST PASTED…

PLOT TWIST …

EXTRAORDINARY EVENTS HAPPENING IN ORDINARY SITUATIONS

Thrillers tend to involve an ordinary person who lives an ordinary life to become endangered and thrilling because they are filmed in such a way that creates fear and suspense for example in the film one hour photo the family seem very normal who live a normal life but it gets completely changed when a certain character gets involved and puts a how new level of fear onto this family which would be very out of the ordinary in real life.

For example in the film Shrooms its based around a group of teens from America who go to Ireland but there surroundings turn from normal to terrifying because of the new thrilling character involved

Normal event -

-Changed by a thrilling character

ALFRED HITCHCOCK PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLERS …

Sir Alfred Hitchcock was an English film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, billed as England's best director.

Over a career of more than half a century, Hitchcock fashioned for himself a distinctive and recognisable directorial style. He pioneered the use of a camera made to move in a way that mimics a person's gaze. He framed shots to maximise anxiety, fear, or empathy, and used innovative film editing.

HYBRID GENRES IN MODERN FILMS…

Films today tend to involve a mix of genres to give a wider range in the different films out there, films used to just follow one genre but now they are given a hybrid of one main genre like action, thriller, comedy and another genre like romance or horror. Thrillers seem to have a lot of different mixes with genres for example

•Crime e.g. Inception / The Usual Suspects

•Medical e.g. Coma

•Eco/ Disaster Thriller e.g. The Day After Tomorrow

•Romance ‘gone bad’/Stalker Fatal Attraction

•Psychological e.g. Jacobs Ladder

•Spy e.g. The Bourne Identity / Mission Impossible

•Action e.g. Die Hard

HISTORY OF THRILLER GENRE

thriller genre has changed over the years with the rise of sub genres and twits in the plot and more complicated characters. One of the first thriller based story's was little red riding hood the story of the little girl stalked by the wolf then eventually try's to kill her but the wood cutter saves the day, this was a basic thriller lay out with bad character who try to kill someone innocent and is stopped buy the hero.

Alfred Hitchcock's first thriller first thriller was his third silent film The Lodger, a suspenseful Jack the Ripper story. His next thriller was Blackmail, his and Britain's first sound film. Of Hitchcock's fifteen major features made between 1925 and 1935, only six were suspense films. From 1935 on, however, most of his output was thrillers.

CAMERAWORK splitting the screen into thirds so the title can be placed correctly and you know what objects are in certain parts of the screen

Having a certain part of the shot with negative space so you include titles.

By having the shot out of focus makes it easier to read a title because it stands out clearer

Having the objects in the shot move across scree to cover up or go over text to give effect

CAMERA WORK

There are many different camera angle used when filming thrillers to create suspense and my the views feel uneasy for example a really long wide shot of someone on there own give use a sense that they’re alone. Another example is a extreme close up of a bad guy this makes us feel uneasy because we are so close to them.

EXAMPLE OF CAMERA WORK the negative space in this clip is perfect for a title because its makes the white text stand out. The clip was filmed and edited so that there would be an space for the text to go which is an example of the rule of thirds

This camera angle is used a lot in most films to show dominance for a character for example is this clip from seven this character has just done something that makes him a lot more feared and this is reinforced by the low camera angle to give him more power

EDITING

Editing is a major part of a film, most of what makes thrillers scary is how its edited. The editing need to be do so its seamless and not traced by the audience because it breaks concentration and suspense if the viewer notices a mistake, unless it was done on purpose to create effect.

Continuity editing is editing that is seamless, it supports the plot and gives the impression that the edits are motivated by the events in reality. Pretty much every film uses continuity editing this allows the audience to become apart of the action taking place.

The 180 degree rule is probably the most well know rules because its used so much when filming. The rule makes sure the camera stays behind an invisible line so the characters on the left stay on the left. Objects that would exit the screen from right should next enter from the left. The rule is sometimes broken on purpose by the director to confusion.

FOR EXAMPLE…

The camera has to stay on one side so it’s a smooth shot.

Between each persons sentence the camera switches to one of the angle show to show the other person so they can talk.

EDITING

Match on action is important when editing pretty much most cuts between scenes. When your matching on action its important to match the cut as close as you can to the other shot so it flows. The viewer don’t notice the cut because they are concentrating on the action.

Parallel editing is often used in thriller because it give a good contrast of what's going on for example in a crime thriller they might cut from a clip of the criminal doing the crime to the police trying to solve it. parallel editing works by cutting between two scenes happening at the same time but in different locations, in thrillers they often try to this and have the scenes very different to create tension anxiety and suspense. Often the two parallel scenes intersect in a climax

AUDIENCE EXPECTATIONS

When audience sit down to watch a thriller film they would expect it to not be funny or have a large amount of romance unless is mix of genres this is why they have become more popular because it invites a wider audience to come see the film. You wonted sit down to a thriller with expectation of it not being thrilling, thrillers tend to scary tense feel about the whole film, it wouldn’t be a relaxing film with no action and I think this is what audiences like so much about them.

The target audiences are often based on film classification for example a romance is more enjoyed by a couple or an action is seen as being more enjoyed by men. Some films are put in to groups for what they make the audience feel for example ‘on the edge of your set’ films and the film that make you cry.