Thriller definition
Thrillers is one of the biggest genres around because it can fit with so many other genres, especially horrors because both is based around the same conventions. The conventions of a thrillers are mostly based on suspense usually non stop action films and high stakes and the really good thrillers end the film on a plot twist. Thrillers usually revolves around some sort of crime or crimes and like action films there is usually "hero or heroin" and a "villain" and they both are trying to catch each other (or kill). Thrillers are visually "eye catching" and keeps the audience at the edge of their seats.
- Horror thrillers - are more aimed at teenagers and has more gore and blood in the film than a typical thriller and it is more focused on serial killer plots, that's why its more for the younger audience.This sometimes can include a supernatural element which could involve monsters or demons. For example, "Insidious" where a demon tries to get the soul of a boy who is trapped in a dream world. This is considered an horror thriller because it has suspense elements without all the blood and gore of a horror film but it has the supernatural horror element of scaring the audience.
Action Thrillers - With this sub genre, its hard to tell if it is action or thriller because it has all the conventions of action in the film (hero and villain , this is mostly aimed at men but can be for everyone.This involves lots of guns and pyrotechnics which creates explosions and shoot-outs that are action elements with the suspense elements of a thriller that put the audience at the edge of their seats. For example, in "Four Brothers" there are shoot-outs and car chases that you would expect to find in an action film with the enigma element of the thriller genre of who killed their mother.
Psychological Thrillers - This is usually based on a game of "cat and mouse" between the hero and villain The villain tries to mess with the hero using something personal against the hero in order to win. These type of thrillers are also aimed at older audiences because of the psychological "mind games" that the villain is playing with the hero. However, in "Shutter Island" there are no villains but the film itself makes the audience think about what is real and what isn't.
Revenge Thrillers - These types of thrillers involve either the villain getting even with the hero or in some cases involving the hero in some way or the hero getting even with the villain or villains like in Taken where the hero (Liam Neeson) going after traffickers to get his daughter back. Revenge thrillers sometimes blurs the line between the hero's and villains because the hero usually has to commit crimes in order to get revenge like in "Payback" where Mel Gibson shoots and kills people in order to get his money back from his partner who shot him and left him for dead.
- Conspiracy/Political thrillers - These usually involve the government keeping a secret from the public, and an innocent person gets involved in it which inevitably puts his/her life in danger and turns their life upside down. For example, in "Enemy of the State",Will Smith's life is turn upside down because he stumbled onto a tape that shows government officials killing a senator These types of thrillers are aimed at an older audience because this involves thinking in order to understand what is happening.
The forms and conventions of thrillers are divided into 5 category's -
The 2 main typical characters within thrillers usually involves heroes and villain's which is similar to action films. However, this varies within the sub genres of the film. For instance, the characters in "The Resident" is vary different to "Enemy of the State" because they are in different sub genres, "Enemy of the State" is an innocent lawyer (Will Smith) who gets caught up in a conspiracy where some members of the government (headed by Jon Voite) are trying to get back a tape that will expose them as murderer, whereas the characters in "The Resident" has an innocent victim (Hilary Swank) who moves into an apartment owned by someone who becomes obsessed with her. In "Enemy of the State", the villain is not a person but a part of the government is portrayed as the villain which is common in conspiracy and political thrillers but it is quite unusual for the government to be represented as the villain is other thrillers. However, it is expected to have an innocent victim in thrillers which is usually put into a unpredictable and uncontrollable situation. Also, in Thriller films, hero's and villains sometimes are hard to distinguish. For example, in "Taken", the main character (Liam Neeson) kills and tortures people while trying to get his daughter back. However, he is seen as a "good guy" who does bad things for a good reason.
Themes are the basic ideas that underlay the narrative of the film. For instance, "The Resident" theme is obsession and on some level love. The typical thriller themes are obsession because usually the hero and villain are "dead set" on catching each other. Revenge is mostly in revenge thrillers but can be in some other sub genres like in "Edge of Darkness" where Mel Gibson is a cop trying to find out who killed his daughter. "Edge of Darkness" can be considered a conspiracy thriller because the "bad guys" work for the government. There is a power struggle between the good guys and the bad guys which usually ends with the bad guys in prison or dead. However, in some films like "Death Sentence" where Kevin Bacon starts a war with the gang who killed his son and ultimately dies at the end, which is unusual because the good guys are the ones who usually survive against the odds. Some thriller films do "play it safe" by sticking to all the convention's of a thriller.
Narratives are the stories or the main plots of the film. Thrillers are usually based around a crime or crimes that happen at the start, something happens that will lead to a big climax, or it is a race against time to stop something big from happening, like in "Along came a Spider" when Morgan Freeman has to find a kidnapped child before it is too late. At the end of a typical thriller there is usually a big twists that can involve one of the "good guy" becoming bad or revealing that they were bad from the start. A typical thriller film involves law enforcement and criminals, and sometimes these are the main points of thrillers for example in "LA Confidential" where there isn't a lot a action scenes, the main narrative is about police officers and crimes and there is a plot twist at the end where a seemingly "good guy" turns out to be bad. In some thrillers, the audience does know who the "bad guy" or some of the "bad guys" are like in "The Silences of the Lambs" where we know who one of the bad characters are but "Hannibal Lecter" (the "bad guy") is in prison where the F.B.I asks for his help to catch another killer and then he escapes from custody and kills 2 F.B.I agents. However, some thrillers like "The Usual Suspects" start with the aftermath of a crime or disastrous and then explains how that happened. By starting at the end, the audience becomes intrigued and these films are usually the most popular.
Iconography is everything you see in the film, like the setting, the gadgets ect. In pretty much every thriller, there are always guns which could represent power. Most thrillers are set in a urban setting like in cities (New York, London, Miami ect) because usually involve law enforcement. In most thrillers in the past 10 years has include very high tech gadgets to keep up with the the 21st century like if it's conspiracy thrillers they will include bugging equipment and satellites, and most thrillers and other films types they always include the latest mobile phones and computers. For example, in "Enemy of the State" a shadowy government agency tracks the main character, Will Smith, who unintentionally gets his hands on a tape that shows some of the shadowy government agents killing a political figure and the agency uses bugs and trackers to watch and ultimately catch him. In a lot of thrillers, there is car chases so this includes fast cars for the chases and because most thrillers are set in a urban environment, the will be lots of cars to create this effect. For example, in "The Bone Collector", there are lots of ariel shots of New York at night usually in stormy weather to show that the film is set in an urban environment and the stormy night are used to emphasis the darkness of the film. In a lot of thrillers, mostly gangster and conspiracy thrillers there is a lot of good and bad guys wearing black suits to symbolise power, hence the power struggle between the good and bad guys. However, this is usually included in conspiracy thrillers which include shadowy government agencies such as the FBI or CIA.
Audio visual style is the editing, camera work and sound that you see and hear in the film, like the soundtrack which is everything you hear in the thriller. Most thrillers have quite a few scenes of fast editing when something big is happening like in "Leon" where there was fast editing when there was a shoot-out in the apartment. In some thrillers they have jerky hand held camera work to create an element of danger and to put the audience in the point of view with the character. Thrillers usually have fast pace editing to create suspence for the audience. This is also in action films because it creates a sense of urgency which puts the audience at the edge of their seats.
Characters
Themes
Narratives
Iconography
Audio visual style
Characters
The 2 main typical characters within thrillers usually involves heroes and villain's which is similar to action films. However, this varies within the sub genres of the film. For instance, the characters in "The Resident" is vary different to "Enemy of the State" because they are in different sub genres, "Enemy of the State" is an innocent lawyer (Will Smith) who gets caught up in a conspiracy where some members of the government (headed by Jon Voite) are trying to get back a tape that will expose them as murderer, whereas the characters in "The Resident" has an innocent victim (Hilary Swank) who moves into an apartment owned by someone who becomes obsessed with her. In "Enemy of the State", the villain is not a person but a part of the government is portrayed as the villain which is common in conspiracy and political thrillers but it is quite unusual for the government to be represented as the villain is other thrillers. However, it is expected to have an innocent victim in thrillers which is usually put into a unpredictable and uncontrollable situation. Also, in Thriller films, hero's and villains sometimes are hard to distinguish. For example, in "Taken", the main character (Liam Neeson) kills and tortures people while trying to get his daughter back. However, he is seen as a "good guy" who does bad things for a good reason.
Themes
Themes are the basic ideas that underlay the narrative of the film. For instance, "The Resident" theme is obsession and on some level love. The typical thriller themes are obsession because usually the hero and villain are "dead set" on catching each other. Revenge is mostly in revenge thrillers but can be in some other sub genres like in "Edge of Darkness" where Mel Gibson is a cop trying to find out who killed his daughter. "Edge of Darkness" can be considered a conspiracy thriller because the "bad guys" work for the government. There is a power struggle between the good guys and the bad guys which usually ends with the bad guys in prison or dead. However, in some films like "Death Sentence" where Kevin Bacon starts a war with the gang who killed his son and ultimately dies at the end, which is unusual because the good guys are the ones who usually survive against the odds. Some thriller films do "play it safe" by sticking to all the convention's of a thriller.
Narratives
Narratives are the stories or the main plots of the film. Thrillers are usually based around a crime or crimes that happen at the start, something happens that will lead to a big climax, or it is a race against time to stop something big from happening, like in "Along came a Spider" when Morgan Freeman has to find a kidnapped child before it is too late. At the end of a typical thriller there is usually a big twists that can involve one of the "good guy" becoming bad or revealing that they were bad from the start. A typical thriller film involves law enforcement and criminals, and sometimes these are the main points of thrillers for example in "LA Confidential" where there isn't a lot a action scenes, the main narrative is about police officers and crimes and there is a plot twist at the end where a seemingly "good guy" turns out to be bad. In some thrillers, the audience does know who the "bad guy" or some of the "bad guys" are like in "The Silences of the Lambs" where we know who one of the bad characters are but "Hannibal Lecter" (the "bad guy") is in prison where the F.B.I asks for his help to catch another killer and then he escapes from custody and kills 2 F.B.I agents. However, some thrillers like "The Usual Suspects" start with the aftermath of a crime or disastrous and then explains how that happened. By starting at the end, the audience becomes intrigued and these films are usually the most popular.
Iconography
Iconography is everything you see in the film, like the setting, the gadgets ect. In pretty much every thriller, there are always guns which could represent power. Most thrillers are set in a urban setting like in cities (New York, London, Miami ect) because usually involve law enforcement. In most thrillers in the past 10 years has include very high tech gadgets to keep up with the the 21st century like if it's conspiracy thrillers they will include bugging equipment and satellites, and most thrillers and other films types they always include the latest mobile phones and computers. For example, in "Enemy of the State" a shadowy government agency tracks the main character, Will Smith, who unintentionally gets his hands on a tape that shows some of the shadowy government agents killing a political figure and the agency uses bugs and trackers to watch and ultimately catch him. In a lot of thrillers, there is car chases so this includes fast cars for the chases and because most thrillers are set in a urban environment, the will be lots of cars to create this effect. For example, in "The Bone Collector", there are lots of ariel shots of New York at night usually in stormy weather to show that the film is set in an urban environment and the stormy night are used to emphasis the darkness of the film. In a lot of thrillers, mostly gangster and conspiracy thrillers there is a lot of good and bad guys wearing black suits to symbolise power, hence the power struggle between the good and bad guys. However, this is usually included in conspiracy thrillers which include shadowy government agencies such as the FBI or CIA.
Cinematic style
Audio visual style is the editing, camera work and sound that you see and hear in the film, like the soundtrack which is everything you hear in the thriller. Most thrillers have quite a few scenes of fast editing when something big is happening like in "Leon" where there was fast editing when there was a shoot-out in the apartment. In some thrillers they have jerky hand held camera work to create an element of danger and to put the audience in the point of view with the character. Thrillers usually have fast pace editing to create suspence for the audience. This is also in action films because it creates a sense of urgency which puts the audience at the edge of their seats.
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