2. Examples of Thriller films/Plots:
Prisoners – Girl taken who has done it???
Taken/Taken 2 – Someone taken, trying to get them back?
Shutter Island – Police officer investigating crime, really
an insane prisoner.
The Butterfly effect – Flash backs, going back in time
trying to change the past has effects on future; how can
he fix it?
Silence of the Lambs – FBI agent develops relationship
with serial killer to solve another crime.
3. What is the thriller genre and
connotations of it?
The thriller genre is based around anticipation and suspense. From previous
experiences of watching thrillers you are normally lead to believe that one
person is to blame for a crime or a disappearance however there are many
plot twists to keep the audience guessing. The connotations of the thriller
genre is they keep the audience guessing, alert and on the edge of their
seat and also there is also normally a general plot format:
Main protagonist set against a problem; solving a crime, family members
abducted, trying to escape etc.
Tension built up through movie with various plot twists
Highly stressed climax – protagonist nearly fails and then succeeds etc.
4. Types of music used in thriller films?
I began to look into the music used in the thriller genre. I focused my reseach
into sound track around the film ‘Prisoners’. However, when researching into
soundtracks used for thriller films I discovered that films thrillers generally
tend to be dark and mysterious. Therefore, the music used in films would
reflect this connotation and also help to add to the suspense and tension
created in the films. For example, consider the soundtrack for ‘Prisoners’:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl_fmTTza7E
This particular track was used for the trailer. The sound helps to build the
tension as it is quite ‘eery’ and also vey dark. Also as it picks up pace this
helps to build tension and keep the audience on the edge of their seat.
Therefore, soundtrack choice in a thriller film is very important and the dark
and mysterious sound track could be considered a connotation of the genre.
5. Sub genres
As I researched the genre I realised that the genre is very diverse and has
many postmodern subgenres. Some are as follows:
Action Thriller e.g. Taken
Crime Thriller e.g. The usual suspects, Silence of the Lambs
Psychological Thriller e.g. Shutter Island
Religious thriller e.g. Angels and Demons
Sci-fi Thriller e.g. Inception
This subgenres of thriller all contain aspects of other genres for example an
action thriller such as Taken has continuous action such as gun and fistfights.
They can also be more than one subgenre; Prisoners could be classified as both
Crime and psychological thriller film as it contains aspects of both subgenres.
Action thriller is in bold as this is the sub genre I am currently aiming towards
for my opening sequence called ‘Bait’.
6. Why have I chosen the ACTION thriller
genre?
I have chosen the to focus on the action thriller genre for my opening
sequence as this is one that I most interested in and I believe will allow me to
show off my skills in terms of editing and camera work. I believe that over the
years of watching films I have subliminally built up enough research in this
genre by watching films in the genre which will allow me to create a good
opening sequence.
On the next slide I will look at the stereotypical props and characters of
the action thriller genre from my own knowledge of the genre and also
from secondary research.
7. Stereotypical characters/props?
General plots of the action thriller genre would be similar to that of ‘Taken’ and the
‘Die Hard’ films. The action thriller genre would also see many fights and also
explosions would be connotations of this genre.
Stereotypical characters:
Generally there would be a main protagonist that is generally male; exceptions are
seen in the ‘Kill Bill’ films. These characters are generally on a quest of sorts, either
to taken down a bunch of criminals or rescue someone who has been abducted or
taken through any means necessary. There is also generally a main antagonist that is
a criminal for example in ‘Taken’ the antagonist is the group that has taken the
protagonists daughter.
Stereotypical props:
As there are many fight scenes the main props associated with the genre would be
that of weapons. However, vehicles are also props of this genre that generally get
blown up in an explosion or destroyed at some stage of the film.
