Research: What is a thriller? Ms Begum

Research: What is thriller? - Ms Begum


What are genres? Why is it important to know this?
A genre is a style or a category of either art, music, or literature. It could be written, spoken, an audio or visual basic, based on some set of stylistic criteria. There is a wide variety of genres in film including Comedy, Thriller, Action, Romance, Adventure, Drama, Horror and many more. I believe its important to know what genres are as it could make it easy to differ when choosing the art, music or literature of your liking. 

Definition of a Thriller?
Thriller is a genre that is revolved around suspense, curiosity, terror and anticipation. The aim of a thriller is to keep the audience excited and curious of the up-coming events. A thriller film will usually involve a dilemma for the protagonist to solve, such as a mission or a mystery. No matter what the sub-genre of a thriller film is, it will always emphasize the danger that the character or characters have to face. The tension of the problem is usually expressed to the audience throughout the whole movie from the very beginning till the last minute.


Examples of thriller films

The movie series 'Saw' is a brilliant example of a thriller film as it has the audience sitting on the edge all the way through. The movie is about a criminal, kidnapping a collection of people, usually ones that have done wrong to others. These people are forced to play a set of dangerous games; such as cutting off limbs and comparing the total weight against the opposition in order to win. The reason this would keep the audience locked on the screen is, they will be forced to find out how the next game is going to work out, and if there is going to be any survivors. 

Sub Genres in thriller

Conspiracy Thriller: In this sub-genre the character usually confronts a powerful organisation who is showing a threat that only the protagonist sees, and he usually faces the mission to eliminate them alone.
Crime Thriller: This sub-genre focuses on a crime or a chain of crimes, it is usually from the point of view of the criminal himself. Usually involves the police trying to gather up evidence based on the protagonist to bring them down. 

Common conventions of thriller


Common conventions for a thriller film includes low-key lighting, shadows, obstrusive editing, quick cuts, change in camera angles, tension music, flashbacks, stairs and use of photographs. The use of low-key lighting to cause shadows are used to represent the inner darkness within the person and cause eeriness, these effects do not reveal it in such a way so it stays a mystery within the audience. Another common convention is flashbacks, as it displays what has happened in the past to give an insight into the characters past for the audience.

Thrillers are usually set in places away from busy areas as it makes it more eerie, and harder to reach for help, when in trouble. However sometimes it may be in busy areas such as cities; usually in a Crime Thriller.

Common Themes

The most common theme in a thriller film is death, it is typically known to occur near the beginning, however sometimes it is known to be at the end to finish the movie off with a twist. The theme of death also usually delivers mystery within it too, as thrillers usually don't have basic or accidental deaths.
Love is also a common theme within thrillers, as it adds more mystery to the film. Love usually makes the audience think there may be a link between the suspects due to the relationships within the characters.

Response of the audience
The audience love thriller because it is always unique compared to one that they have watched before. The plot may be similar, however the characters may carry out a plan in a different manner which would amaze whoever that's watching. 

Why thriller is popular
Thriller is so popular because it keeps the audience clinging onto their seats and the heartbeat never slows down. In modern society people really enjoy nerve racking events, since it could be dangerous to do in first person, they choose to rather watch a movie and get a similar type of adrenaline rush.

A film such as 'Skyfall' is a very popular example for a thriller film, as it is watched by millions of peeple world wide for its unique plots. It is full of new ideas and gadgets, and the character is always escaping danger last second which leaves the movie as being unpredictable. This is what modern society wants to see, danger, futuristic gadgets and how a person would react in deadly situations. 

Conclusion

I believe thriller was the hardest genre to be able to explain and categorize movies into as it was similar to both horror and action but was neither. However since learning about the common conventions and stereotypes of thriller, telling thriller apart is now very simple, now i could watch a movie and tell if its a thriller or not. The thriller film 'Frozen' is one that portrays the genre in the best way as it includes all the stereotypes within the movie.