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.
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.
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.
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