Analysing Thrillers
What is a Thriller?
Thriller is a broad genre of literature, film, and television programming that uses suspense, tension and excitement as the main elements. Thrillers heavily stimulate the viewer's moods giving them a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, surprise, anxiety and/or terror. Thriller films tend to be adrenaline-rushing, gritty, rousing and fast-paced. Literary devices such as red herrings, plot twists and cliffhangers are used extensively. A thriller is villain-driven plot, whereby he or she presents obstacles that the hero must overcome. The aim for thrillers is to keep the audience alert and on the edge of their seats. The protagonist in these films is set against a problem – an escape, a mission, or a mystery.
There are many sub genre thrillers which could be used to influence the type of film Jack and myself decide to make, these are:
Conspircay thriller in which the hero/heroine confronts a large, powerful group of enemies whose true extent only s/he recognizes.
Crime thriller, this particular genre is a hybrid type of both crime films and thrillers that offers a suspenseful account of a successful or failed crime or crimes. These films often focus on the criminal rather than a policeman. Crime thrillers usually emphasise action over psychological aspects. Central topics of these films include serial killers/murders, robberies, chases, shootouts, heists and double-crosses.
Psychological thriller, in which until the often violent resolution the conflict between the main characters is mental and emotional, rather than physical. Characters, either by accident or their own curiousness, are dragged into a dangerous conflict or situation that they are not prepared to resolve. Characters are not reliant on physical strength to overcome their brutish enemies, but rather are reliant on their mental resources, whether it be by battling wits with a formidable opponent or by battling for equilibrium in the character's own mind. At times, the characters attempt solving, or are involved in, a mystery. The suspense created by psychological thrillers often comes from two or more characters preying upon one another's minds, either by playing deceptive games with the other or by merely trying to demolish the other's mental state.
Spy thriller, in which the hero is generally a government agent who must take violent action against agents of a rival government or in recent years terrorists. They often revolve spies who are involved in investigating various events, often on a global scale.
These are the main types of thrillers though there are others such as, eroitic, supernatural and techno.
For this part as a class we looked at the starting two minuets of three different thrillers, and looked at how each one made the audience ask questions, what questions these were and how each thriller captures the audiences attention and intrigues them into making more. We looked at Seven which created tension with the use of shadows and dark twisted images that engage the audience by making them ask questions such as: what is happening? Who is this? Why are we seeing these images? this is an occurring theme in all of the thrillers that we looked at in the first lesson as all of them created similar questions at the beginning of the films. Seven also used the music to create tension and mystery at the beginning with the use of loud percussive sounds with metallic screeches that gives the start of the film a mysterious and dark feeling to it. The other two films that we looked at were Fargo and Inception. These started differently to Seven and showed that interest from the audience can be captured without starting with something dark or or disturbing but needs to be mysterious which causes questions to be asked.
Thriller is a broad genre of literature, film, and television programming that uses suspense, tension and excitement as the main elements. Thrillers heavily stimulate the viewer's moods giving them a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, surprise, anxiety and/or terror. Thriller films tend to be adrenaline-rushing, gritty, rousing and fast-paced. Literary devices such as red herrings, plot twists and cliffhangers are used extensively. A thriller is villain-driven plot, whereby he or she presents obstacles that the hero must overcome. The aim for thrillers is to keep the audience alert and on the edge of their seats. The protagonist in these films is set against a problem – an escape, a mission, or a mystery.
There are many sub genre thrillers which could be used to influence the type of film Jack and myself decide to make, these are: Conspircay thriller in which the hero/heroine confronts a large, powerful group of enemies whose true extent only s/he recognizes.
Crime thriller, this particular genre is a hybrid type of both crime films and thrillers that offers a suspenseful account of a successful or failed crime or crimes. These films often focus on the criminal rather than a policeman. Crime thrillers usually emphasise action over psychological aspects. Central topics of these films include serial killers/murders, robberies, chases, shootouts, heists and double-crosses.
Psychological thriller, in which until the often violent resolution the conflict between the main characters is mental and emotional, rather than physical. Characters, either by accident or their own curiousness, are dragged into a dangerous conflict or situation that they are not prepared to resolve. Characters are not reliant on physical strength to overcome their brutish enemies, but rather are reliant on their mental resources, whether it be by battling wits with a formidable opponent or by battling for equilibrium in the character's own mind. At times, the characters attempt solving, or are involved in, a mystery. The suspense created by psychological thrillers often comes from two or more characters preying upon one another's minds, either by playing deceptive games with the other or by merely trying to demolish the other's mental state.
Spy thriller, in which the hero is generally a government agent who must take violent action against agents of a rival government or in recent years terrorists. They often revolve spies who are involved in investigating various events, often on a global scale.
These are the main types of thrillers though there are others such as, eroitic, supernatural and techno.
For this part as a class we looked at the starting two minuets of three different thrillers, and looked at how each one made the audience ask questions, what questions these were and how each thriller captures the audiences attention and intrigues them into making more. We looked at Seven which created tension with the use of shadows and dark twisted images that engage the audience by making them ask questions such as: what is happening? Who is this? Why are we seeing these images? this is an occurring theme in all of the thrillers that we looked at in the first lesson as all of them created similar questions at the beginning of the films. Seven also used the music to create tension and mystery at the beginning with the use of loud percussive sounds with metallic screeches that gives the start of the film a mysterious and dark feeling to it. The other two films that we looked at were Fargo and Inception. These started differently to Seven and showed that interest from the audience can be captured without starting with something dark or or disturbing but needs to be mysterious which causes questions to be asked.
Contributers to Thrillers
No comments:
Post a Comment