THRILLER GENRES Emily Hemmings Varndean College

Audience Response to Thriller films

Thriller Film is a genre that revolves around anticipation and suspense. The aim for thrillers is to keep the audience alert and on the edge of their seats.

Peoples Responses to the first Thriller films.

The first thriller film of it’s kind was Arrival Of A Train At La Ciotat which was produced by the Lumiere brothers. This short film depicted a train arriving at a station and was the first form of thriller ever created. People fled from the cinema as they were terrified to see this huge image of a train approaching them.

The Characters

The protagonist in these films is set against a problem – an escape, mission or a mystery. No matter what sub-genre a Thriller film falls into, it will emphasize the danger that the protagonist faces. The tension with the main problem is built on throughout the film and leads to a highly stressful climax.

Example of a thriller genre.• The Great Escape –Directed by John Sturges. Released in 1963. A large group of

POW’s plan escape from a German camp in World War II.

• The Silence of the Lambs –Directed by Jonathan Demme. Released in 1991. An FBI agent develops a relationship with the notorious serial killer, Dr. Hannibal Lector, in order to gain Lectors assistance in the hunt for another serial killer.

• North By Northwest –. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Released in 1959. Mistaken for a government agent by foreign spies, an advertising agent travels cross-country to survive

Hybrid Genre

There are some of the most common and identifiable film sub-genres types (and hybrids), categorized by each major genre.You can get many other sub genres of a thriller such as: Action, Crime, Film-noir, Psychological Thriller, Science Fiction Thriller, Religious Thriller.

History of Thriller films

The atmosphere in a thriller film is also enhanced through the lighting and use of music. An example of this is from the opening of the film ‘Alien’ by Ridley Scott in 1979. In the opening of this film, the lighting is minimal and dull, this creates the atmosphere of suspense and mystery which links into the thriller genre, Thrillers of this decade were mainly psychological ones that dealt with obsession, domestic violence, revenge, mentally ill characters and the protagonist's goal of escape.

First Thriller Films One of the most well known and popular thriller films is ‘Psycho’ which was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and was produced during 1960. This film is a psychological thriller based on the American 1960‘s time period. The film was adapted from the1959 novel which was written by Robert Bloch also called ‘psycho‘. Both the film and novel are based on the cases on convicted serial killer Ed Gein, this therefore allowed the directors of the film to associate the film with other genres such as horror, drama and mystery, as well as the thriller.

Why do people watch thrillers?

Uses & Gratifications theory we are able to see that thrillers are watched for entertainment, information, social interaction; integration and personal values, therefore it is a popular genre. People watch thrillers most importantly to be entertained and thrilled which relates to escapism, and emotional release because you get escape into it, feeling the emotions expressed within the story.Thrillers are not particularly relaxing films as they create a lot of suspense so people wouldn’t watch in order to relax. Like all films, thrillers are sometimes watched to fill time also.

Sound within ThrillersDuring action scenes there are also normally fast paced music to attempt to induce more thrill and to warn you something is about to occur. Non-diegetic sound is normally added to build tension because it’s not naturally meant to be there for instance in the Shaw shank redemption the voice over which provides an introduction and comments on the actions.SFX is also included within non-diegetic sound. SFX is added to try to create a certain mood for example sadness or happiness etc.Diegetic sound is the sound of everything in the frame, for instance the characters voice and the things they say.