Genre Research

Thriller

Why did I chose this genre?

I chose this genre because I’m fascinated with all the different elements involved in the production and creation of these movies. I typically like watching thriller movies as it gives me a sense of excitement and adrenaline. These movies can be highly addictive and I want to learn more about this genre. 

Content

Thrillers are a broad fiction genre encompassing numerous overlapping subgenres such as crime, horror, and detective fiction. Thrillers use the powerful protagonist from the Action genre to face the embodiment of evil from the horror genre. They put it all together in a story about unmasking the antagonist who has committed the crime against society, as in the crime genre. The protagonist ends up as a victim and faces doom if they fail to identify and defeat the villain. This genre is defined by its ability to elicit intense feelings of excitement, surprise, anticipation, and anxiety for the audience. Thrillers often provide an adrenaline rush and sense of suspense, which can be entertaining for many people due to the unpredictability and tension. This keeps the viewers engaged and on the edge of their seats making thrillers a very popular genre. 

The four necessary conventions:

- MacGuffin. The antagonists object of desire/ what they want

- Investigative Red Herrings. False clues that mislead the protagonist.

-Personal. The villain takes the protagonists fight as a personal affront and wants to not only beat them but also make it painful.

-Clock. There is almost always limited time for the protagonist to act: failing to act burns precious time.

Techniques

• In terms of cinematography, thrillers incorporate camera angles and sound effects. Camera angles are a very important aspect in phycological thrillers as it sets the mood for the audience, which helps build tension. The most frequently used camera techniques include close up and extreme close ups, high angle shots, low angle shots, panning shots, and wide shots. In the movie "The Batman" it features a lot of extreme close ups which helps convey emotion and is used to allow the viewers to enter the characters personal space, revealing traits that might otherwise go unnoticed.

In addition, both diagetic and non diagetic sounds are important conventions of thriller. Music and sound effects can be used to create a sense of unease and tension, helping to build suspense and keep the audience on the edge of their seats. For example, in the movie jaws the famous shark sound changes the mood of the audience and alerts them of danger creating suspense as the characters can't actually hear the sound. On the other hand a girls scream is an example of a diegetic sound. The screaming sound is conventional to a thriller film because the character has been frightened by something which has a huge effect on the audience.

All thriller films use fast and slow paced editing in their films. This is very good at creating suspense, tension and also conveying emotions and/or representing characters. For example, in the movie Shutter Island the scene starts of slow paced but then suddenly becomes fast paced as they are getting chanced. This emphasizes energy and chaos while the slow pace is to emphasis anticipation.

 Parallel editing is also commonly used in thrillers. This is to show the audience what two characters are doing at the same time in different locations. Thrillers also use shot reverse shot to alternate between characters while having a conversation. This conveys the type of conversation one is having, for example, high and low angle shots could portray an altercation between two characters. 

Thrillers tend to have interesting titles and fonts because it gives a good representation of the film itself. For example, the move "The Killer", the title clearly represents blood and violence as there is a bullet hole in replace of the "I" and a stream of blood in dripping out of it. Thriller films also usually have a dark background behind the title to convey a negative emotion. 

 

Marketing

To effectively market horror/thriller movies you must know your audience, create a compelling trailer, build a strong online presence, generate word of mouth and use psychology to your advantage. The most common time to see new releases of thriller movies is around Halloween. This is due to the wider range of audience watching scary movies. Trailers appear on TV, social media, and as posters. 

“Smile” is a good example for a marketing campaign for horror/Thriller movies. The movie is about a demonic enitity that stalks victims, appearing as different people smiling. To market this, Paramount placed actors in different locations and instructed them to not speak but only smile and stare forward at the camera. This created word of mouth and was shared a lot on social media.     

Bird Box

The movie "Bird Box" is a perfect example of a Thriller movie. This movie is about invisible demon creatures that spark hallucinations that compel people to kill themselves. The plot not only creates suspense but also causes an adrenaline rush. Bird Box uses the conventions of thriller through many ways such as sound, lighting, and slow/fasted paced editing. The intense music contributes to the intense scenes and causes the audience to be at the edge of their seats. 

The cover for the movie illustrates what the movie is about. The dark illustration gives off a suspenseful feeling as a mother is grabbing her children. The blindfolds on the characters foreshadow what the movie is about and is a key element in understanding what's going on. Not only is it dramatic but also gives the viewer an eerie feeling. These are only a few elements about what thrillers consist of.