Media coursework

1. BRIEF HISTORY AND EXAMPLES OF
THRILLER DIRECTORS AND
PRODUCERS

2. HISTORY
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One of the very first thriller films was a comic made in 1923 by Harold
Lloyd called Safety Last, however, the breakthrough of thriller genres
didn't come about until Alfred Hitchcock made films that set the
standard of the modern thriller genre.
In the 1970s and 1980s thrillers became very popular, and suddenly
the industry had many new directors, for example, Steven Spielberg's
Jaws and Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver. It was in the 1990s when
crime and mystery thrillers became more popular with serial killers
and investigations.
Thriller films have always had a recurring change in camera
angles, they use scores and soundtracks to raise the tension and
suspense within a scene.

3. ALFRED HITCHCOCK
Hitchcock developed the genre and was England’s
best director and producer who pioneered many
different techniques in the suspense and psychological
thriller genres.
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He had a distinctive and recognisable directional style. He was very clever
in the way he pioneered use of camera movements and framed shots to
maximise: fear, anxiety and empathy, he also often used: twist endings,
murder and crime.
His film Psycho is one of his best known films. The
violence of the shower scene, the early death of the
heroine, the innocent lives extinguished by a disturbed
murderer became the defining hallmarks of Hitchcock's
new horror movie genre and has been copied by many
authors of subsequent horror thriller films.

4. DAVID FINCHER
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Brought more money to it.
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He is often known for dark thrillers and stylish thrillers, he includes:
violent content, resolutions or ‘happy endings’, dark colours/tones and
low angles in his thrillers.
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He achieved huge success with se7en and panic room.

5. CHRISTOPHER NOLAN
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He redefined thrillers.
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He is well known for unconventional and often
highly conceptual narratives.
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His most well known thrillers include: Batman, Inception, Memento