2. The Thriller genre uses suspense, tension
and excitement to stimulate the
audiences mind and provide the sense
of anticipation.
It keeps the audience on the “edge of
their seats” by using devices such as cliff-
hangers, red herrings and plot twists.
An example of a famous Thriller film is
Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock. A successful
director of Thriller films.
3. The protagonist character is often a
brave male who seeks to restore the
equilibrium.
The antagonist character will tend to
have a hidden identity that the
audience will find out about as the film
goes on. Usually they are out to seek
revenge of a past event in their life.
Different types of characters in Thrillers:
Criminals, stalkers, assassins, victims on
the run, psychos, terrorists, con men.
4. Low key lighting is essential in a Thriller as it helps to
create a gloomy atmosphere and helps the
audience feel more suspense towards the film.
The use of props is also a big part of Thrillers. Knifes,
glass, drugs, guns, sharp objects, are all frequently
used objects in Thrillers. A film that uses their props
well is Eden Lake as the props show the audience
that the characters are out to kill each other.
A typical Thriller setting tends to be in a haunted
house or in a big open space like the woods. This
makes it seem more real to the audience as these
are real life situations and real life places which
makes the audience feel like it could happen to
them.
5. The sound used in Thrillers is one of the
main things that makes people feel on
edge in a Thriller film. The music tends to
be eerie and builds up in loudness over a
period of time. Also the use of silence in
a Thriller is one of the main things that
causes the audience to jump. It is used
to create suspense and then a music
sting follows through in the middle of the
silence to give the audience a shock.
6. The directors of Thrillers use lots of jump
cuts and rapid editing in their work to get
through a sense of action to the
audience and make them feel as if they
don’t know what is going on. Continuity
editing is used to make sure all the fast
shots flow together to make it fluid and
easy to understand for the viewer.
7. Lot’s of close up’s and extreme close
up’s are used in Thriller’s, especially used
on the protagonist character. This is often
used to show the character’s emotions
and to show fear.
For the antagonist character the shots
used will be quick to cover their identity
to the audience.
