A thriller story or film is created and designed to create suspense, usually make people jump and to make the audience very tense.
Thriller Theory
What is a thriller?
- Can happen in almost any movie genre.
- Sub genres can be - psychological/mystery/hybrid.
- Made to scare or make you jump.
- Creates suspense/twists/chain of events.
- Can get the audience asking 'Who did it?'
- Parallel plots.
Has tension/excitement and mystery to drive plot and create suspense.
Sub Genres
Psychological/crime/supernatural/action/erotic/horror/political.
Different types of thrillers (ingredients of thrillers)
G.K. Chesterton - The Transformed City
Thrillers transform urban settings into exciting and dramatic locations for stories.
Northrop Frye - The Heroic Romance
Thrillers throw ordinary people into extraordinary situations.
John Cowelti - The exotic
Thrillers take every day life and throw an exotic element into it.
W.H. Matthews - Mazes and Labyrinths
Thrillers often use the idea of a mysterious quest in a confined location that feels like a labyrinth, taking advantage of the human curiosity for mazes and puzzles.
Pascal Bonitzer - Partial Vision
Thrillers sometimes keep the suspense by keeping something important partially seen by the audience but obscuring all crucial parts.
Noel Carroll - Question and Answer
Thrillers can be constructed around a series of complicated questions that always lead to the audience being desperate for answers only getting hinted at what the answer could be leading to more questions.
Roland Barthes - Enigma Codes
Moments during a narrative which leads to the audience asking questions. In a thriller enigma codes are very useful for telling the story with lots of suspense.
Thriller Codes and Conventions
Music Gives Tension
- Loud
- Dramatic
- Fast pace
- Intense music
- Low key
- Use of shadow
- Mirrors - reflect soul and darkness of inner self
- Black and white - eerie and dark
- Flashbacks
- Disorienting
- Obtrusive
- Quick shots
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