Research: What is a thriller? - Miss Begum

What is a genre? And why is it important?

A genre is a category of artistic endeavor having a particular form, content such as film technique and conventions for example themes and settings. The genre will depend on the story line, as it will then be based on the type of genre it is. As this will then give an expectation on what kind of story line it will be based on. As then we see the types of genre that are; action, romance, drama, thriller, horror, and there are a lot more. As it is very important for the audience to know this which then they will pick the movie or film that they would like to watch based on the content, also how suitable it is for there age group.

What is the thriller genre?

The thriller genre is a convention of the horror genre that side and back lighting is used to create mystery and suspense, it's a genre which there are things that people would never image as it will be in the scene of thriller genre, as it says In the name it's a thriller so you wouldn't know what's going to come up. The main aim of thriller is to keep the audience on the edge of their seat. There are mainly psychopaths, criminals, and innocent victims in the story line based on the thriller genre.

Examples of thriller films.. 

The Cell- The cell a decidedly irregular Dorian killer thriller that has the sensibilities of an art film. The Cell takes viewers deep in to the dreadful filed of a killer's mind, exposing audiences to a noise of discordant scenes and images that are at times horrific and disturbing, but never gratuitous. The Cell is psychological thriller movies as it confuses what next will come up that the audience will get in shock with, which this makes the audience think.

Black Swan- this film is about a girl two girls as the film looks really creepy with the opening scene as it starts with a nightmare till it becomes real. This opening has given the audience on what is going to happen in the film. It is a psychological, mystery, and horror thriller genre. This movie has a effect left on the audience as its psychological.

Sub genres in Thriller

Psychological Thriller- in this sub-genre the character creates a reaction in a metal way rather than a physical way towards the audience. As this may cause a dangerous reaction to the audience based on the content the story will be about.

Crime Thriller- in this sub-genre the story was based on the criminals and criminals only no laws is involved. As polices do not do there investigations based n the law but do it the way they want.

Common conventions of Thriller

The common conventions for a thriller film includes low-key, shadows, quick cuts, changes in camera angles, obtrusive editing, tension music, stairs, flashbacks, use of photographs, black and white, and montage editing. The mirrors represent the darkness within some characters. the shadow is used to represent the inner darkness within beings, and can also add eeriness that is created. The obtrusive editing is used during an important or particularly thrilling scene, which it may create a disorientation of time and space by using the montage edit. The flashback is used to display what has happened in the past to give the audience an idea how the character is and what had happened before in there life.

Common themes

Drugs Alcohol is a common theme in thriller gen, as we see that there are a lot of unexpected things that are happening through out the type of theme that this is in a film, which it makes the audience think a lot about on what is going to happen to the person that is playing the character which is a drug addiction or a alcoholic

Ghost is a different type of theme, which is in common with thriller genre as this also tells that it makes the audience sit on the side of the seat, which shows that they are scared and that they are waiting for something to pop out suddenly. As we all know that ghosts are creepy they could make sudden actions in the film, which can leave a side effect to some of the audience.

Response of the audience

The audience mainly love thriller, as they like things that make them psychologically think. The audience find it interesting how the scene that they had created in there mind does not happen, which makes them think more on what will be happening next, but for example love they know whats going to happen because mainly all of the love films have the same structure.

Conclusion

The thriller was a very hard genre to analyse as it has a confusing structure because it has a lot of sub genres, which makes you think a lot even while you are watching a film or movie what type of genre it is mostly similar to action or horror which the audience confuses it with. Now when i watch a thriller movie i would know if it is thriller or if it isn't.