CONVENTIONS OF THE THRILLER FILM GENRE.

MARIA KINASH

Characteristics of a thriller?• Characters: -spies, -soldiers, -convicts, -stalkers, -assassins, -criminals, -prison inmates, -psychotic characters.• Feelings thrillers create:- Excitement, -suspense, -anticipation, -Anxiety,

-uncertainty,• Iconography:-cars, -weapons, -urban settings, -tension building music, -fast pace editing, -low lighting.

Characteristics of a thriller:

• Themes:-terrorism, -political conspiracy, -crime, -spies, -chase, -suspense, -assassination.• Thriller narratives:

•-A genuine thriller is a film that relentlessly pursues a single-minded goal - to provide thrills and keep the audience cliff-hanging at the 'edge of their seats' as the plot builds towards a climax.

PSYCHO (Hitchcock, 1960)

• CONVENTIONS USED:• Black and white is a convention of a thriller.• Use of murder,• Ambigious claustraphobic locations,• Sound creates eerie feel.

Psycho is a Alfred Hitchcock thriller film made in 1960 starring Anthony Perkins and Vera miles. It is the story about a young

female named Marion steals $40,000, she leaves town and encounters a motel proprietor named Norman Bates who seems

dominated by his mother.

• Claustrophobic locations make us the audience feel nervous as if we ourselves have nowhere to hide just like the character on screen.

• As visible in the still to the bottom Marion closes the door and essentially confines herself creating a claustrophobic environment and building suspense.

• Black and white is a convention of a thriller.It is used in this film as it accentuates shadows and creates greater contrasts appearing to us the viewer as eerie and dark.• The use of black and white film is particularly

effective at this stage as the silhouette would appear less sinister and mysterious if it didn't contrast with the whiteness of the shower curtain; the blackness of the silhouette also creates strong connotation to death and evil.

• The use of murder is common in the thriller genre:• In the famous shower scene, the shots are swift and

last no longer than a few seconds which has been done perhaps to highlight the brutality of the stabbing.

• Each separate shot shocks the 1960's audience and even us today.

• After the stabbings the camera slowly pans down tow the bottom of the bath that is now flowing with blood, shocking the audience as it displays the severity of his murder.

• The use of slow motion or slow camera movements makes sure the audience stays captivated in the scene that has just occurred – in this case to highten our horror of this scene.

• We hear non-diegetic music which creates a sympathetic atmosphere, within the audience towards Marion as she is pictured alone sitting in an hotel room doing calculations and writing down figures, she looks at them and sighs, then tears them up. The music also feels quite eerie and we are constantly kept on edge as we feel as if something bad is about to occur.

• Then, in the murder scene in the bathroom, the diegetic music heightens the tension within the scene as it is; loud, urgent and resembles screams.

• Sound plays an important aspect in any thriller genre as it adds another dimension of feeling and atmosphere to a scene.

SOUND

TAKEN SERIES: (2) (Megaton 2012)

• Contemporary thriller.• Uses common thriller conventions such as:- All is well at the start however cuts to extraordinary action,- Character is ex secret agent,- Dark low lit lighting in action scenes,- -Dramatic sound effects/music- -Flashbacks,- - weapons, guns destruction.

FILM OPENING:• The first scene we see a young 5 year old girl with her mum opening her

presents. This is similar to the referred ‘all is well’ at the beginning of thrillers.

• This clip is shown through a home video and we can tell this as the quality is low. The clip is then cut to a man who appears to have a flash back.

• A flashback is seen as a very common thriller convention. In this instance it is used to show a form of mental instability in this character and how he may long for the past. – This feature entices us to know more about his past?

• After showing the flashback the camera zooms in on a young girl and her family but this scene is cut off as the title series appears. This could hint that the family has been torn apart just like the subtle hint of the title sequence cutting mid shot?

• These subtle hints commonly used in thrillers keep us interested and hooked and longing to watch more.

LOCATION, THEME:• Themes of thrillers are also usually brought up around crime,

murder theft etc.• The narrative starts at an everyday situation and then escalates

to something out of the ordinary. In taken 2 the first scenes are Liam Neeson spending time with his wife and daughter and later on scenes are packed with action fighting and drama.

• Taken 2 is set in Russia on a business trip, the family then join him later in the film as they are taken and must fight in the streets of Russia.

SOUND:• The sound during the opening is diegetic, we are listening to a home

movie which adds authenticity to the scene as well as gives hints and importance of these clips in the future scenes of the film.

• During the action scenes the non diegetic music soundtrack is very loud and crashing matching the atmosphere of the crazy action packed scenes and the violence we see constantly throughout the film.

• During the end where we see a happy ending this is accompanied with joyful upbeat soft music to suggest all the action and horror has finally ended.