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Narrative The narrative idea of a thriller goes in the order of equilibrium, disruption of equilibrium, conflict ensues, then an eventual resolution and the equilibrium is restored. An example of this theory is phone booth, when the character is walking down the street that is order of equilibrium and the disruption is when he picks up the phone. The eventual resolution would be when everything is resolved and they know who the person behind the phone is. Genres in part can be defined by how disruption is presented, like a murderer on the loose in a horror/thriller film. Most genres offer a narrative of ‘reassurance’ such as the murderer being caught and punished. Narrative moments of set pieces are often the most easier recognizable so that people know they have things to look forward to In thriller films it would be car chases or fight scenes.
Characters The main features of a character for a thriller film are: A protagonist, they are usually an innocent bystander that gets caught up in the acts of the bad guy. A cop/ex cop, they can either be the hero instead of a protagonist or someone who is trying to stop the bad guy. A antagonist, at first this character could be a hidden evil guy and we could be unsure that they are the guy we are supposed to hate, they are also usually very intelligent.
History Alfred Hitchcock helped to shape the modern day thriller genre with his film about Jack the ripper. In the 1950’s he added colour to thriller films and used well known actors and actresses placing them in exotic places. Using these ideas drew people in to the genre as they wanted to see there favourite actors or actresses in action or the locations. Alfred created a film called ‘strangers on a train’ which left people scared, some even running out of the theater as they thought the train was coming towards him, this is when he was at the top of his career.
Mise-en-scene ‘mise-en-scene’ is French for ‘placing on set, it refers to mostly everything that goes into the composition of the shot. It is common in thriller films to see guns, cars and even brief cases, these are all seen in collateral and help the give the audience ideas that action scenes will be shown, de-staturated light is often used to set the mood and make the place look mysterious and that something bad is about to happen or has happened. Rain can be used as it helps give of a sad mood. Mise-en-scene that is typical for a thriller type film is big city location, locations like New York and London are big enough to keep the antagonist enough places to hide away and escape when nearly being caught. Also certain costumes are a big give away to what type of film it may be, most thriller films usually have cops and so when we see people dressed in smart suits like undercover cops or general cop uniforms we think a thriller whereas if we saw people that looked a bit disfigured and scary looking we may think more down the lines of a horror.
Cinematography Typical thriller camera shots would be close-ups. Extreme close ups, these kind of shots wouldn’t last long so that it keeps the audience interested and guessing. Establishing shots are usually used at the start of a new scene to sure the audience where the action is taking place, this can be a wide shot and an extreme wide shot or even a static shot which is used in shawshank redemption. Long shots are similar to wide shots and are used to show the subject and their surroundings, the subject is usually at a distance from the camera like in brick the character is in the furthest right hand corner with mostly the surrounding shown. Then there is mid shots which is when the subject are roughly shown in the same porportion, a mid close up, when it is just the head and shoulders and these are usually shown when they want to show the audience the characters emotions and then there is a close up in it is just the head in view.
Sound There are two types that a normally used when filming, these are non-diegetic and diegetic sound. It does not necessarily have to match with what is happening on screen, for example in the film ‘Clock Work Orange’ there is a fight scene, yet the music is some sort of happy classical music. Diegetic sound is all natural sound, this could be the traffic in the background, people talking or a door slamming. There is also ambient which is where people may go to a specific location to get natural sounds for example if they want the sound of a building site they may go to one of those for the sounds of machines and such. This is good for thrillers as everyday noises give of a feeling of characters being in everyday normal places like typical thriller film locations. Non-diegetic is sound that is placed in after, like a theme song, voice over such as when a character is maybe thinking or doing a narrative speech, but voice over can sometimes be tricky as people lips may not sink well with the speech being heard. Non-diegetic sound is used as an impact to the audience and to make them feel like they are part of the action. Using things like volume, pitch, timbre and pace are used to set the scene, for example a high volume, fast paced piece of music may give of the idea of a chase. Another use of sound is actually silence itself this can be powerful and give of a mood straight away.
Editing Obtrusive editing and quick shots are used frequently in thrillers as this creates the feeling of suspense and tension. Obtrusive editing is also used in important parts of thriller films to create disorientation and by using a montage of clips. Continuity is used a lot in thriller films as most shots have to be quite fluent to make it look realistic. One bad example of continuity would be if they were shooting a shot-reverse shot and at one point a Character had a jumper on and then next shot the jumper was suddenly Off. Parallel editing is when shots continually change from 2 or more scenes Often happening at the same time but in different places and example of This would be when the police think they have found the antagonist in Silence of the lambs and are planning to break in when in another scene they show the girl That has been captured having an argument with the killer as she has his dog and wont give it back till she is free.
Audience expectations When people go and see a thriller film they expect to feel excitement, adrenaline, fear. In thrillers the audience always expect to see some sort of violence, whether it’s a car chase or a general fight scene. People expect a rise in the level of tension throughout a thriller and to end with a dramatic ending, through out the film they usually expect a tension build-up where small situations happen and we start believing it’s going to be resolved only for more tension and such
Target audience Most thrillers are aimed more towards 12-15 and even the 18+ age this is because they include lots of violence and psychological issues that may disturb people of a younger age. Thrillers also seem aimed more towards males due to all the violence and thrilling scenes but also most thrillers use well known actors like tom cruise which some females may be interested in.
