The Thriller Genre – An overview
History Of the Thriller Genre
People consider a film called ‘Safety Last’ by Fred
Newman and Sam Taylor to be the first every thriller. It was
made in 1923 and starred Harrold Lloyd. After this in 1927
Alfred Hitchcock made his first film ‘The Lodger’ which was
based on the serial killer Jack the ripper.
Thriller Hybrids and Subgenres
There are many films that have some of the typical conventions of a thriller film
but also have many others. These then fall into the category of sub-genre or
hybrids. There are many types of thriller hybrids, some examples are:
• Crime/detective thriller – e.g. ‘Now you see me’
• Action thriller – e.g. ‘The Bourne Identity’
• Disaster thriller – e.g. ‘The Impossible’
• Romance thriller – e.g. ‘Enduring Love’
Each of these does have the structure of a thriller but the way story runs and the
different techniques used means that it can’t be placed firmly in the thriller
genre.
Narrative Themes & Conventions
The biggest part of the thriller conventions is that extraordinary things
happen to ordinary people. There’s always a note of peril in thriller, a lot of
the time thriller deals with murderer’s, serial killers and kidnappers.
Sometimes in a film as an audience member you get to see who the
antagonist is, but a lot of the time in thriller you know as much as the
protagonist and this is called a ‘Restrictive narrative’.
Todorov theory of Narrative
Todorov said that each story follows the same plot line which can
be explained in 5 stages.
1. Equilibrium – The start of the film will show everything as it should
be. So for example in Se7en it starts with Dct. Summerset and
Mills just doing their job.
2. A disruption – The second part comes when something the
harmony and normality of the first part. In Se7en this comes
when they find the body of John Doe’s first victim.
3. Realisation – This is when everyone involved realises that there’s
a problem. In Se7en this comes when all of the police force
realise that the serial killer hasn’t finished killing and there will be
another five murders.
4. Restored order – This is the part of the plot when everyone starts
trying to change what happened. In Se7en this is when
Summerset and Mills start working together well and they start
doing better research into the killer.
5. Equilibrium again – This is where the problem is resolved and
things can return to normality. In Se7en this is where John Doe is
arrested.
Vladimir Propp
Propp was a Russian critic who worked in the 1920’s. He studied folk tales and
realised that in every story eight characters recur throughout history, these are;
1. The Hero – A character that seeks something. In Se7en this would be Dct.
Summerset.
2. The Villain – someone who tries to stop the hero. In Se7en this would be John
Doe
3. The Donor – Someone who provides something to help the hero. In Se7en this
would be the man who gives Summerset the information about who had read
a certain list of books which leads him to the villain.
4. The Dispatcher – The person who sends the hero on his/her quest via a
message. In Se7en this is the chief of police.
5. The False Hero – A character that disrupts the hero with false information
6. The Helper – Someone who’s helping the hero. In Se7en this is Dct. Mills,
although he could also be classes as the hero, but Summerset is older than him
so it makes you think that he must be the helper rather than hero.
7. The Princesses – Acts as reward for the hero and an object for the villain. In
Se7en this would be Mills’ wife.
8. The father – Rewards the hero for saving the princesses.
Typical Thriller Characters
HERO (Protagonist)
The hero in a thriller is
generally an ordinary
person or someone who
works
in
law
enforcement.
Despite
the fact that the hero is
the ‘good guy’, he/she
always has a flaw. For
example
in
‘Shutter
Island’ (although you
don’t find out till near
the end of the film) The
main character Teddy
Daniels, is actually crazy.
And in ‘Taxi Driver’, the
character Max, is driven
by money.
VILLIAN (Antagonist)
Although the villain is
obviously never someone
who is at all nice. They are
nearly always someone
who’s very clever and
manages to stay one step
ahead of the protagonist.
They usually have a
motive as to why they’re
doing whatever it is. For
example, in ‘Se7en’ John
Doe thinks he’s doing the
right thing because he’s
‘ridding people of sin’
DAMSELL
The damsel in distress is
usually the hero’s girlfriend
or wife. They are nearly the
villains final victim that get
saved at the last second. Of
course there are a lot of
plot twists in thrillers so for
example in ‘Se7en’ Mills’
wife is the last victim but
they do not manage to
save her.
Mis-En-Scene
Mis-en-scene is a French word which means ‘Placing on stage’ and it is
everything that you can see in the frame of a film
• Colour/lighting – A lot a blue lighting is used in thriller to show that the
place is cold and unwelcoming.
• Sound – Obviously each film has a soundtrack and the soundtrack
always should reflect the feel of the film. So in thrillers a lot of the
sound tracks are big orchestral pieces.
• Setting/location – The idea behind thrillers is that extraordinary things
happen to ordinary people, so the settings are usually in an ordinary
place like the centre of a town, but some where that is very
unpleasant and unwelcoming, like a dark alley.
• Costume & make up – this is used to tell you about each of the
characters without saying things outright. So the way a character is
dressed could tell you they’re a messy person without it actually
being said at any point in the film.
Editing

Editing – The pace at which a film is edited changes due to what
kind of film it is. In thrillers when the film is drawing to a close the
pace becomes faster to suggest an urgency. It’s generally fairly fast
paced and sharp throughout the film in order to show that what’s
happening is something dangerous.
Target Audiences & Audience Expectations
The target audience for thriller can vary from teenagers up. Depending on
whether the thriller the audience are going to see is a straight thriller or a subgenre thriller e.g. Crime thriller, their expectations can vary.
The things I personally expect when I go to watch a thriller is, suspense, crime
and overall for it to be a thrilling experience which is what it’s supposed to be,
hence the name of thriller.
Initial Ideas for my own Opening Title Sequence
After watching a number of different thrillers and thinking about the sort of thing I
would want for my opening title sequence, I’ve realised that I want it to be something
fairly obscure.
What I thought was we could have an actor standing in a run down building dressed
quite formally. He would be staring at the wall (But the audience wouldn’t see what it
was he was staring at). It would cut to an extreme close up of his hand which would
have a very small amount of blood on them, this gives the audience reason enough
to believe that he’s the villain but have no idea what it is he’s done which creates
suspense. There will be suspenseful music in the background which will help add to
the idea of the man in frame is a villain .
Cinematography
Thriller films use a large verity of shots, but a lot of the time no
establishing shot is used because it adds mystery. In wide angle shots
the subject takes up the majority of the frame with a little safety room
to either side also above and below it. Long shots are used in the same
way as wide angle shots, showing the full subject with space around. A
point of view shot or POV is where you’re looking through the subjects
eyes. Thrillers use POV shots quite a lot because it holds information
from the viewer and only shows you what one character is seeing.
Close ups are used because it shows a small part of a scene but in
great detail.
Thrillers also often use high angle shots so it’s as though you’re looking
over the characters shoulder. This is often used while a character is
either writing or reading something.
Source List

http://www.tiki-toki.com/timeline/entry/69797/History-of-the-Thrillergenre/#vars!date=1928-11-13_13:42:14!

http://www.filmsite.org/subgenres.html
Pictures Used
1. The Silence Of the Lambs (1988)
2. Se7en (1996)
3. The Sixth Sense (1999)
4. Shutter Island (2010)
5. Don’t Look Now (1973)
6. Safety Last (1923)
7. The Bourne Identity (2002)
8. Shaun of the Dead (2004)
9. Now you see me (2013)
10. Shutter Island (2010)