Research and Summaries of the Thriller Genre

A thriller is a book or film which is designed to keep the audience on edge and alert, they do this by using suspense and tension. There are numerous different types of thrillers but one of the most common is the ‘Psychological Thriller’. Psychological Thrillers use mental states not physical states to create their tension, usually the story revolves around an individual trying to resolve conflicts within their own mind. For example the movie Memento is about an individual trying to figure what has happened to him in the past, he is also battling a conflict within his mind because he cannot remember what happened. Psychological thrillers also use physical actions to express the way the character is feeling mentally, these techniques it used in most thrillers because it allows the audience to understand what sort of emotion the character going is thought just by watching physical actions.

Sounds are also widely used within thriller movies because they can be used to set the scene, for example if something dramatic is going to happen then the music usually shows it, this techniques keeps the audience on edge because they know that something is going to happen. Mise-en-scene plays a massive part within thriller movies because they can set the scene and it gives the set a sense of mystery because the audience is always keeping an eye out for something suspicious, for example in the movie psycho you can see the suspect making their way towards the shower with a object raised in one of there hands. Because the audience can clearly see the object is builds tension because they do not know what the object is but the way the suspect is wielding it gives a clue of how they are going to use it.

Thriller openings are usually very dramatic because they aim to grab the audience’s attention of the start so they watch on. The opening usually includes something important related to the story, for example in the opening to the movie se7en you are thrown straight into the story witnessing detectives looking around a crime scene where someone has been murdered, this scene grabs your attention because you want to know what happened there. Later in the story more is uncovered about the murder.

Also editing is a massive part of creating tension and drama in thriller movies, it is very common for an effect to be added to a scene because it can be used to build tension. For example in the movie se7en in the opening credits an effect is added, this effect makes the footage appear in a darker, brownish colour. This effect is used because it gives the impression that what is being shown is either in the past or future, and it gives the effect of depression because of the colours and effect used.

Thriller movie opening use multiple different camera angles to get across the scene as dramatic and possible. A scene which uses multiple different types of camera angles are much more impressive than a scene which uses one or two different angles because it is much more exciting to be able to see what is going on from different angles. Also camera angles can also be used to give the audience a perspective on something, for example if the camera is looking down on someone it gives the effect that they are weak and susceptible, and on the other hand if the camera was looking up at a character is gives the effect of strength and power over the other characters. Camera angles and shots can also be used to capture emotion and mental feelings, for example a close up on a characters face can be used to show their emotion and feelings.

Also a lot of thriller films are structured different, most film types follow a linear storyline where everything is in order and makes sense. But some thriller movies follow a non-linear storyline, this is when the story is muddled up and not placed in the correct order, for example the movie Memento is not in order and it is made up of multiple different clips from different times showing different stages in the overall story. They do this because it gives the audience a challenge, the audience is constantly tying to put the film together so the can figure how it is actually suppose to go, the start of the movie Memento shows the ending of the movie but this leaves the audience on a type of cliff hanger because they want to know why that was the ending and what lead up to it. This is a brilliant techniques because it draws the audience into the movie because they know the ending but not the rest of the movie so they want to know what happens.

Thriller movies opening usually included tiltes which include the name of the film, the company behind the film and all of the producers/ directors involved in creating the movie. Usually depending on the sub-genre of the thriller movie titles are usually portayed differently. For example for the pshychological thriller se7en the titles are made up of handwritten text which when paired with the eerie sound effect create a tense setting. The titles also have an effect on them which makes them appear as if they are out of an old fationed film. Although the titles are a small part of the movie they are important because they dont just inform the view about who the product/ director is etc it can also be used to set the scene/ atmosphere.

All of the effects and techniques which I have mentioned above all used in mostly all thriller movies because they are perfect at creating tension and drama which makes a thriller movie so interesting to watch.