So today I finally began my extensive research for the genre thriller. I was never aware of the amount of emotions that a thriller film must evoke in a viewer for it to be truly considered a good thriller movie. There are various different types of thrillers I did not know existed, some of them include:
- Legal thriller
- Spy thriller
- Action-adventure thriller
- Medical thriller
- Police thriller
- Romantic thriller
- Historical thriller
- Political thriller
- Religious thriller
- High-tech thriller
- Military thriller
The list goes on and on! All these different types of thrillers are the subgenres of the actual genre thriller. This list continues because thrillers are the easiest genre to merge with other genres, which is why there are countless films that are considered action or romance but still showcase that suspense from the thriller genre.
The thriller genre is best defined by the mood it ignites in a viewer, these moods or feeling can be anywhere from anxiousness to excitement. Thrillers usually include one main character who is stuck in some sort of conflict and therefore isolates themselves from the world, more specifically from the people who they care about and care about them. This is absolutely perfect for my introduction because the character is doing exactly that. She is isolating and running away from home due to an internal conflict, that is yet to be determined, and leaving behind the two people she should trust the most, her parents.
Suspense is a huge part of a thriller movie, it is what creates all the different emotions evoked in a viewer. Without suspense could a thriller even be called a thriller? Absolutely not! Suspense is unpredictability, which leads to mystery and hooks readers to watching the piece of film.A prime example of a master of thriller movies was filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock. People loved his movies because he was astonishingly great at creating that feel of suspense and keeping people on the edge of their seats. Some of his best thriller movies include, North by Northwest, The 39 Steps, Rear Window, and Vertigo. Another example of a thriller is Gone Girl by David Fincher. This film combats what we all know about murder mysteries and includes multiple turns in the story.
Like any other genre, thriller has its typical themes that are seen:
- Ransoms
- Captivities
- Kidnappings
- Revenge
- Heist
- Assassins
- Stalkers
- Psychotic individuals
- Sociopaths
- Spy
I think we can all agree every thriller we have watched has included at least one of the characters or themes listed above. Despite how much we have watched these types of movies over and over again they always keep us hooked until the very end. It's like we know what to expect but for some reason keep watching the film. This is all due to the different ways in which suspense is created throughout the film. Suspense can be created with anything, from a difference in lighting to the soundtrack used.
Covering up important information from characters is also a key element in creating a good thriller. When viewers know information that other characters do not know it creates a sense of anxiety in the viewer to want the other characters to discover this piece of information. However, hiding information from other characters is not the only way to achieve this. Hiding information from the audience is just as effective or even more, when the characters know something that the audience does not it makes us want to discover whatever it is that the characters are hiding from us.
This is just the beginning to my research on the genre, but I have to admit I did not expect there to be so many layers to a thriller which is crazy because I feel that every movie I have ever watched includes at least one aspect of a thriller. Stay tuned for more research on the genre!
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