Thriller research

1. Thriller research Jack Carter Varndean college

2. Thriller genre • The term ‘Thriller’ refers to the heart-pounding, adrenaline-inducing movies that keep us in a heightened state of suspense throughout the duration of the film. • A typical thriller ‘hero’ is usually someone that is placed into menacing situations that seem impossible to escape from. • The emotions that tend to be created by thrillers are apprehension and exhilaration, excitement and breathlessness. • The typical plot elements of a thriller are usually ones that involve the hero having to thwart the plan of a villain. The villain will present obstacles for the hero to overcome throughout the film. • I think that audiences love thrillers because they love the rush of adrenaline that they get when they are watching them, and all the emotions that are created by the film because it is different, there aren’t many alternatives to feeling the same emotions in their everyday lives that are as safe.

3. Alfred Hitchcock • Born August 13th 1899 – Died April 29th 1980 • Alfred Hitchcock was known as the master of psychological thrillers or ‘The master of suspense’. He became known as this because he used sound, lighting and camera angles to create suspense in ways that had never been seen before in thriller genre.

4. Types of Thriller Films • There are many hybrid’s of Thriller films, including things like Action Thrillers, Crime Thrillers etc. • Action thrillers are Thrillers that aren’t just full of suspense and making the audience anxious, they also have the injection of fast-paced action in there at the end of the suspense. An example of an Action Thriller is something like Die Hard. • Crime thrillers are thrillers that are full of suspense and mystery (like all thrillers are) but the mystery is of a crime that has happened and the suspense is within the build up to finding out who done what and where etc. An example of a crime thriller is something like The Usual Suspects.

5. Narrative themes and conventions • The narratives of Thriller films are usually very complicated with lots of false leads and clues as to what cold be happening but without actually telling the audience clearly, this keeps them in suspense, which is the main aim of a thriller film. • Also there are sometimes problems and/or riddles to get the audience thinking and then they are resolved throughout the film, usually with twists in the plot to lead the audience off track if it starts getting a bvit too obvious.

6. Typical characters • Protagonists: These are usually ordinary people that becomes an innocent victim placed in a dangerous situation because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. They tend to have some kind of flaw that the Antagonist can use against them to carry out whatever the bad thing is that they are trying to do. • Antagonists: These are the ‘Bad Guys’. They are usually a criminal/convict/killer of some kind that tend to be very intelligent and have a plan to carry out a big crime/terrorist attack or mass killing of some kind. Their identity is usually kept a secret for some of the film to keep the audience guessing and maintain the suspense that thriller films aim to keep.