Forms and Conventions of a Thriller

Characters
Typically, in the thriller genre we have a range of characters that we expect to be shown. Some of these characters that we expect are criminals, stalkers, assassins, innocent victims and women. Women can be seen in thrillers in many different ways. Women can be seen as helping the hero along the way(typically a man who have a sexual relationship together) or a woman stopping the man from being a hero, by using him along the way and paying him with sex. We could also see the woman to be the hero and taking full control, this is anti-sterotypical as usually for a thriller as we usually see mature men taking the role as the hero. For example, Daniel Craig in the Bond films. One example of a thriller where the woman is taking control is Uma Thurman, acting in the film "Kill Bill". Uma is conveyed to be a tough woman and is able to take on men that are seen sterotypically to be stronger than her. In thriller, we also expect the corrupt characters, these tend to be the criminals. We also expect in thrillers the victims, that we tend to feel sorry for, that get caught up into a situation that they cant handle.We tend to relate to these characters and want them to succeed and survive. Other characters that we tend to see within thrillers are politicians, cops, gangs, detectives, drug dealers, hitmen, serial killers, FBI agents, terrorists, obsessed individuals, lonely outsiders, innocent people and stalkers.

        

Themes
Thriller has a wide range of themes that could be used within the genre. This usually includes, terrorism, jelousy, political conspiracy, romantic triangles, paranoia, obsession, allientation, deception, revenge, power struggles, betryal, espionage,breakdown of society and many more. Within a film, there doesnt have to be one theme, there can be several of them. One example is 'Silence of the lambs' the themes that are included in this film are madness, obsession, Allientation and Battle of minds(between Hecter and the FBI) Thrillers tend to follow the same sorts of themes, however within a thriller there must be a story based around these themes to seperate the film from any other genres and make it a thriller.

                   

Narrative

The Narrative is the story that the film is based around. Most thrillers have similar narratives, usually at the start of the film we disover quite early that something has gone completley wrong and a character is caught up in a big situation that they cant handle, a race against time, or on the look for a criminal that is always a step ahead the police. Throughout the film we expect a lot of shooutouts, murders, explosions, loud noises etc, which is also followed by jumps and twists that we dont expect to happen. This is typical of a thriller because we always expect to expect what we dont think is going to happen, to build up suspense and tention. We also tend to get a scene in thrillers towards the end where we think that everything has been sorted and life is back to normal, however we get back to reality and something bad happens again. At the end of the film, we usually expect the criminal to be caught or killed and the innocent people are now noticed to be innocent. An example of a different ending to a thriller is 'Se7en' where the criminal gets what he wants in the end of the film to be killed by the man who he envies by being happy in a relationship and completing his seven deadly sins by killing the detectors wife.

          

Iconography

Iconography in thriller is the visual elements that we can see. Typical igonography of a thriller usually includes guns, bombs, fast cars, cigarettes, cigars, urban clothing etc. This is typical of thriller because these visual elements we do not tend to see in any other genres, therefore we can seperate and distinguish that its a thriller by the iconography. All thrillers tend to use the same iconography. The gadgets that are always very high tech and advanced which also relates to characters and why you see more older and mature men in thrillers.

              

Audio-Visual Style
Audo-Visual Style is elements such as camera work, editing, lighting and sound. In a thriller we expect up tempo, fast editing to build up suspense and tension to create the thrill that the audience is expecting. When we as the audience are feeling for the victims within the thriller we expect a lot of close ups to be in  the characters personal space and to experience mainly how they are feeling, so we can feel scared for them. One character that we feel the most sympathy for is Matilda in the thriller "Leon". This is because she is a young, innocent child placed in a dangerous world and the camerawork used, places us as the audience in her shoes. Within thrillers, we always expect a lot of low key lighting especially in a lot of suspense moments to create the audience to feel that something bad is going to happen, such as an attack or a murder. Sound that is used in thrillers can be both non-diegetic and diegetic sound.

                    

Target audience of Thrillers

The target audience for thrillers vary depending on the sub-genres. This is because thrillers can go from comedy to horror thrillers. Typically, thrillers that are more sophisticated and are starring more older strong male characters such as "George Clooney" in "The American" are usually targeted at older males. This is because most of these films are rated as an 18, which is more suitable for older people because the shooutouts, murders and gore is shown in a more explicit way. Psychological thrillers are also usally rated as an 18 because it is quite disturbing and this could affect younger people watching it, such as American Psycho, Se7en and The Silence of the Lambs. A good example of a thriller that is targeted for children rather than older people is "Twilight", this is because the film uses Vampires and Wolves, which we would associate as horror/thriller characters. However, this is targeted to younger people because the film doesnt show too much gore, even though the vampires and wolves have a conflict, and there are killings in the film, the twilight films are based around love but they still have the elements of suspense that makes the film a thriller.

                  

Thriller Sub-Genres

Physiological thriller
The definiton of a physiological thriller is related to the mind or the process of the mind. We then relate to these people as "phycos". These people then tend to end up as the character of the criminal and they usually do corrupt things to people. We could also bring obsession into this sub genre. Some of the films that would be placed in this genre is, Silence of the lambs, Black Swan, Se7en, The shining and the resident.

                

Action thriller

I think that action thrillers are the most popular and well known. Action thrillers include films such as Kill Bill, Sherlock Holmes, Salt & Knight and Day. These include a lot of technical weapons, usually a race against time and an unexpected twist at some stage of the film. We expect a lot of loud music, noisy shootouts and flashing images, usually a very fast edited film.

              

Spy thriller
A spy thriller involves high technology weapons such as trackers, mobile phones, fast cars, bugging devices, cameras etc. Spy thrillers are usually also set in a high tech world, and are also usually in an urban setting. Films that would fit into this sub-genre would be Casino Royale,The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum. Spy thrillers also include chases, races against time, noisy shootouts and espionage.

              

Supernatural thriller
A supernatural thriller tends to be a spine tingling film which gets you on the edge of your seat and also makes you question things, it tends to also be known as a cliff-hanger. Some of the films that fit into this sub-genre is White noise, The ring and The Sixth Sense.

            

Revenge thriller
Revenge thrillers always follow the structure of something going wrong, and throughout the film the main character has to fight for the person or object back. Revenge in thrillers isnt shown in a nice way, it involves a lot of shooutouts. Films that would fit into this sub genre are Taken, Harry Brown and The American.

          

Definition of a thriller

The definition of a thriller relates to the key elements that are involved to make the film a thriller. Such as suspense, setting, weapons, camera shots, angles etc. All of these elements work together in certain ways, which makes it clear to the audience to distinguish that they are watching a thriller by giving the audience the thrill and suspense that they are waiting for, as this is always expected in a thriller film. Thriller is a wide sub-based genre and can be split into many categories, such as action thrillers, physiological thrillers, supernatural thrillers, spy thriller, etc. However, all of these sub-genres use the same key elements to relate to the "typical thriller film". What i expect from a thriller is somebody who gets themselves into a situation and cannot control it, this is then followed by shootouts, murders, revenge etc. This also includes flashing lights, dark scenes, quiet suspense music, and then loud heavy shootouts. I also think that it is easy to separate thrillers from any other film genre because of the key elements. For example, in a horror we expect a lot of fast music and a lot of blood and gore, differently to a thriller, we expect a lot of suspense and we have to wait until any real action happens, its almost like teasing. Whereas to a horror, its very quick and over with.