Thriller Research

AS Media - George Freeman 12.1

Definitions of the genre• Thrillers are characterized and defined by the moods they elicit, giving

viewers heightened feelings of suspense, excitement, surprise, anticipation and anxiety. – Wikipedia.com

• The thriller genre is a category of fiction concerned with tales of excitement, suspense, and high melodrama. It often overlaps with other genres of literature and film, such as crime, adventure, and espionage – Wisegeek.com

• The thriller genre is one which draws the viewer into the diegetic world of the film they are watching to usually not immediately shock the viewer but build a sense of suspense over time to have a longer effect on the viewers emotions with a good storyline.

Thriller Sub-genresThere are so many different types of thriller sub-genres for example: Techno-Thriller, Supernatural Thriller, Spy Thriller, Romantic Thriller, Religious Thriller, Psychological Thriller, Political Thriller, Mystery Thriller, Action Thriller.

Mystery Thrillers – This is a combination of Mystery and thriller genres which usually tends to be fast paced and have a protagonist either running from a crime or chase to solve it.

Psychological Thriller – This sub-genre usually revolves around mental issues rather then physical such as Mental illness distorting the film or someone doing things due to a certain mental state/condition.

Spy Thrillers – This sub-genre is usually centred around the missions of a secret agent and some sort of high level mission(s).

Thriller vs HorrorMany people believe horror and thriller films are similar when this is not really the case, I see Thriller movies as movies which are designed to grab the audiences attention and manipulate their emotions using suspense and other techniques within a story or the plot.

However, Horror movies tend to be gory, senseless killings and can lack a story. The scenes in horror movies usually are brutal and almost aim to disgust and leave the audience in shock.

Key Thriller Films

Key Thriller Actors

Leonardo Dicaprio Mark Wahlberg Kevin Bacon Vin Diesel

Key Thriller Directors

Alfred Hitchcock Brian De Palma Quentin Tarantino

Typical Conventions of Thriller MoviesStoryline - A Typical Thriller movie has a storyline that leaves pieces of a puzzle for the audience to put together and leaves viewers on the edge of their seats with anticipating what will happen next. The story types vary between the different sub-genres.Themes – Thrillers aim to make audiences feel like the situations could apply to themselves and this leads to the viewer relate to protagonist more.Characters – There is usually a protagonist trying to solve a problem or escape impending danger. The antagonist is usually horrible and just causing problems for the protagonist but sometimes can be seen as a charming person who the viewer can relate to, leading to mixed emotions for the viewer.Settings – Low light locations, relatable places (houses, shopping centers, work, etc.)Props – object for inflicting plain, eg. Bomb, weapons.

Thriller Case Study – Shutter IslandShutter Island is classified under the sub-genre of psychological thriller as the theme is mental illness and centres around an asylum called "Shutter Island". In this movie the protagonist is Leonardo Dicaprio playing a character called "Teddy" who is a detective investigating the asylum. However, the antagonist is also Teddy as it is his own mental state which is the dilemma he is trapped in. The movie leaves viewers thinking throughout the film with the strange occurrences and how it feels like a mystery thriller but has a big twist as he is actually the one with the mental illness. The film is full of moments building suspense and the revealing moment of teddys mental illness leaves the audience in shock as this is a thought that not many people would have even considered. This film fits really well into the thriller genre and even more perfectly into its sub-genre of a psychological thriller.