History of the genre: Thriller

History of thriller films

• The aim of thrillers is to keep the audience alert and on the edge of their seats.
• A thriller is a villain-driven plot, where he/she produces obstacles for the ‘victim/s’ to overcome.
• Common sub-cultures include psychological thrillers, crime thrillers and mystery thrillers.
• Homer’s Odyssey is one of the oldest stories in the Western world and is regarded as an early prototype of the thriller.
• One of the earliest thriller films was Harold Lloyd’s comic Safety Last! In 1923.
• ‘Rebecca’ is a well-known psychological thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1940.
• 'Arena' (2011) is a film we deconstructed, in which we looked for camera angles, mise en scene, sound and editing techniques that would be useful for our film e.g close up shots etc.

Conventions of a thriller

• Suspense/tension from micro elements such as sound, mise en scene, camera work etc.
• Battle against good and evil
• At the beginning, there is usually peace which is then disturbed by a particular event.
• Shadows
• Anticipation
• Terror
• ‘whodunit?’
• Danger
• Hostages/ransoms/captivities
• Mirror/reflections
• Death
• Threats
• Quests
• Stairs
• Climax
• Darkness
• Enigma
• Action

• Tracking and Pan shots are common within thriller films

• Close ups

• Long shots

• Fast paced

• Heroes are often men as they are ‘macho men’ who are familiar to danger.

• Protagonist normally seen ‘in peril’

• Screams

Conventions of a film website

• Videos
• Photo gallery
• Info about the film for example, how much it is, what it’s about etc.
• Promotion of the DVD etc.
• Trailer/links
• Menu
• Networking links
• Title
• Theme
• Sound
• Easy to navigate
• Don’t have to scroll down the page.

Conventions of a film poster:

• Title (to tell audience what the film is called i.e Akeldama)

• Tagline (appropriate for genre and film)

• Keep in genre (to let audience know what type of film it is, and to attract the target audience)

• Same typography (as the website and teaser trailer)

• Ratings (such as 5*, 4* etc.)

• Release date (to tell the audience when the film is going to be shown in cinemas)

• Main starring actors (to attract 'fans' attention and increase film popularity)

• Pictures relate to film (appropriate images)

• Golden rule (to allow the audiece to move their eyes aruond the whole poster to take in all info)

• Focal picture (to firstly attract the audiences attention. Eye-level)

• Info on production companies (to tell the audience who produced the film, and to increase popularity)

• Accurate use of language (approprate to the genre and film, and to allow all ages to be able to understand)

• Images are clear (so that audience can easily see the images, and relate to the film)