The Genre 'Thriller'

The genre ‘thriller’ intends to make the audience feel a sense of suspension throughout. They achieve this by using tense music, cliff hangers and fast pace action, along with many more conventions, each of these conventions make the audience maintain their interest in the film and sometimes feel engaged with the protagonists. Thrillers provide the viewers with a high level of anticipation and uncertainty.

Name of Thriller - The Hunger Games: Mockingjay part 1

The trailer for the thriller includes different types of codes and conventions, each that evoke a response from the audience. The lighting sustains low-key throughout, and is then high-key when the actions becomes more immense. The darker lighting shows that the film itself is going to be dark and eerie, therefore shows the nature of the film to the audience before they even watch it. The soundtrack seems quite contemporary which contrasts with the action we later see, the music builds up into a faster and louder atmosphere which could denote the storyline of the film, we can hear drums both fast and slow pace which could be perceived as heart beats, suggesting death is a highlighted event in this film, whilst it could also identify with the audiences heart rates as they watch the film as thriller intends to leave you on a high with lots of anticipation. The costumes of all the characters in the trailer are all dark and shadowy colours, a key convention of the genre; the dark colours show the grittiness of the film and can also create tension as the dark colours contrast with President Snows white roses, which have connotations of innocence. 

Name of Thriller – Se7en

 

The trailer involves different conventions that help the audience to distinguish that it is under the thriller genre. For example, the sound throughout entices an audience as the pace and volume fluctuate, this creates immense tension because as the music builds so does the action therefore the audience know something is to happen yet they are unsure what. Likewise the audience get this same feel as the fast pace editing of the shots, it cuts to different scenes of the film that are all revealing and therefore uneasy on the mind, it exposes parts of the storyline but leaves viewers predicting, which is what a thriller film proposes to do. The lighting, like The Hunger Games is also very low key, meaning it is dark again hinting at parts of the plot, the lighting becomes brighter when on certain characters, and this highlights their important and is something we can usually see in thriller films, as it shows the lead roles. We can also see many props, which are displayed as weapons, this can aid the audience in knowing that death and fighting is an element within.

 

Name of Thriller – The Beach

In the thriller The Beach, we see an array of themes and convention that stereotypically fit with the thriller genre, for example, low key lighting is a common thread throughout the trailer meaning that the film is dark; this leads to multiple interpretations as nobody really knows what to expect an intention made by the thriller genre. Within the trailer we can see the use of silhouettes, this helps hide identities which in turn is an element linked with thriller the fear of not knowing who someone is in a film or what they could is exciting yet tense therefore an audience keep watching to perceive. The soundtrack behind the non-diegetic voice over in some ways shows fundamentals of thriller, as the crescendo builds so does our anticipation, however the music we hear is does not fear us as much as we think it is going to. The music then instantaneously cuts off into almost a silence and this is then broken by what could be gun shots, along with shouting. This does evoke fear as we don’t know the narrative therefore we’re uneasy on what is happening and it shocked us to watch more. Throughout the trailer there is never a consistent soundtrack, it stops and starts and changes the track each time, this is something that works effectively with the voice over as all though there is a lot going on it works and you can hear both. When the song changes for a second time the soundtrack becomes more eerie and wants the audience to expect something, the tempo increases and so does the suspense. The trailer starts off as quite light-hearted which is something that goes against our imaginations as we aren’t really expecting this, this is effective when we see a change in the narrative and we know that it was all just a build-up. The use of camera work helps develop characters more and the editing too. We see many different shots including a Worm’s Eye View of the three friends swimming in the ocean, this shot suggests they are in danger and therefore we feel the need to watch it, however the editing works against this and makes a fast cut to the three of them out of the ocean. This is a match on action as it shows time passing and allows the audience to understand what is going on. The costumes of the protagonists do not give anything away that the films nature is dark; the clothing seems quite normal for when it was set and nothing seems abnormal. However when we see the change in the narrative it becomes evident that Leonardo DiCaprio does not wear a shirt much and only wears shorts, this could be done for the Female gaze however it shows that this is a key part of the plot and it works as we pay attention to this.

 

Name of Thriller – Silence of the Lambs

The trailer begins with a large build-up of  tense music, the music infers that something is going to happen due to the crescendo, as the track builds up our imaginations do as we have no idea what to expect from the film. As the protagonists speak, it equally induces suspense as its eerie and soft almost as if they too want to bring fear upon the audience. The setting is first displayed to us as a darkly lit prison, this suggests that the storyline is about criminals or a prison itself, this in a way is eerie as prisons can be daunting, therefore it works well in this genre. The lighting seems brighter than what we usually expect from a thriller film, this could suggest that there is a lot of innocence and purity within, which contrasts to what we expect from a film of this genre. The use of close ups help the viewers understand the darkness of the tale as well as the voiceover intervened by a diegetic dialogue. The close ups help portray the emotion of the characters which gives off a sense of realism to the viewers, making them feel this is real which in turn makes the audience uncomfortable as the tale could be true in real life. At some point in the trailer there is a shot of Hannibal’s reflection behind Starling, looking down on her. His face is pure veil and this implies that there is a plan behind is maleficent look, this can also give away to the audience part of the storyline through the use of foreshadowing. The trailer finally provides a creepy final sequence; this makes the viewer feel uneasy yet helps them remember the trailer. The Mise en scene equally presents the thriller genre through the use of costume, we know that the setting is based in a prison therefore the navy overalls fit with this, it shows the navy overall distinguish him as a prisoner. The newspaper snippets imply that the killer being labelled is very well known, this leaves the audience feeling anxious on the situation but we feel the need to continue to view.

Name of Thriller – Taken

 

In the trailer of Taken, the soundtrack immediately kicks in during the first shot of a protagonist getting out of a car. The non-diegetic sound seems suspenseful as though it is building up to something. The music seems angelic which could symbolise the female protagonist innocence, this creates a feel of emotion for the audience as we immediately engage with the father daughter relationship and we don’t want anything dark to come between this.  The lighting seems natural, which creates a sense of realism for the audience, this is beneficial as it makes the film seem more real and like an everyday experience. However as the trailer progresses the lighting becomes more low key, which makes the film seem more like a thriller as it initially didn’t, the use of dark lighting leaves the audience on the edge of their seat with anticipation as negative things usually happen in the dark. The Mise en scene of the costume imply that Liam Neeson means to hurt someone, the darkness of the clothes he wears suggest he wants to keep his identity hidden and this is confirmed in a mid-shot of him hiding his face the a newspaper. Close ups of lean Neeson also show the desperation for his daughters safety this evokes both sympathy and tension as we only want the best out of this situation. The close up of his daughters face whilst being taken equally creates unsureness and the diegetic high pitched scream only adds to this. Not only does her father fear for her life, we now do. There are constant flash backs between different scenes and back to Liam Neeson on the phone, this shows how he feels about the occurrence, how important it really is and as the music builds it creates more and more tension for the viewers. There are fades of credits within and the editing seems fast pace, this is to show how intense the action is and again it provides us with uneasiness.

Whilst researching this genre, I found that…

                                                                                             

The setting within a Thriller movie varies, whilst some locate themselves in an exotic location, for example James Bond maintains this throughout its films, others are set within a family home which builds immense tension as it shows the antagonists disturbing the normality and realism. In some Thriller films, we see that closed/constricted spaces are used to show the entrapment of some characters and how they struggle; equally building the tension the genre anticipates doing.

The costume in a thriller movie helps form the narrative as well as developing the characters. Darker colours are used more frequently because of their obscure connotations; these help create suspense which in turn entices the viewers more. Costumes differ between the protagonists which can aid the audience in distinguishing between characters and their personalities, for example if someone is dressed smartly in a suit however the opposition is dressed in rags, for example in The Hunger Games, Katniss’ character where’s rags at the beginning of the film whilst Effie shows her ‘wealth’ as such, by wearing exaggerated dresses and wigs.  This demonstrates a contrast in personalities and social status, which could be portrayed as a mystery for the audience.

Thriller surrounds itself which different types of soundtracks, an ambient sound is used regularly to generate tension and terror in the given situation. An eerie soundtrack is a stereotypical convention of the Thriller Genre, and therefore we see this type of sound more often than others. We can hear different types of sounds that portray characters being in pain, or characters running away from something, this shows the audience what type of nature the film is.

Lighting in a thriller movie does not particularly differ from its low key darkness convention. The darker lighting creates the feeling of strain as we expect something bad to happen in the darkness, but the audience do not know what therefore we feel a level of certainty. However the lighting sometimes changes to high key when we see more action, this equally evokes a reaction from the audience as we see more of what the film is about, it can help reveal the narrative of the film, which can make the viewers feel more suspense as its uncertain what is to happen next, it leaves them on the edge of their seat guessing.