1. Vantage Point: Political action Thriller (2008)
By Richard Morrison and Alon Ziv
GENRE
During the sequence, we are given a glimpse of the
important people representing America (president,
politicians). Here the representation of the genre
of a political action thriller is being established.
NARRATIVE
By identifying the genre, we are able to understand
the basic narrative of the movie, which could be an
assassination on the president or a terrorist
attack.
CHARACTER
The characters established in the opening sequence
seem to be politicians and the president standing
on a stage and guns/tanks before. Here it links
back to the genre of a political action thriller
because we assume that it is about an
assassination or terrorist attack on America.
Atmosphere
The atmosphere created has a very intense impact
on the viewer because of the sound and special
editing effects used to identify this. The effect of
the slow motion of the pictures helps the viewer
understand the overall location of where the story
is going to take place. The dramatic soundtrack
helps to create the feeling of fear, tension and
suspense.

2. Thrillers are made by fast-pacing, resourceful heroes who must be able to stop
the well developed and powerful villains.
The main plots of any thriller film are usually crimes such as:
- Serial Murder
- Terrorism
- Assassination
- Overthrow of governments
The typical endings of any thriller films are protagonist (hero) defeats/kills the
villain, he survives and saves many people’s lives and the people are
enormously grateful to him. Another ending would be when the protagonist
uses the weakness of the antagonist against him and therefore defeats him
again. Finally, one main ending is when the hero uses the antagonist’s power
to destroy him.
The main storyline to a successful yet ‘typical’ action thriller movie is having the
hero (protagonist) who is against the evil villain (antagonist).
• This follows afterwards by a major incident or attack created by the villain
involving the situation of life and death for the characters (heroes).
• Then usually, the heroes have to strive against the antagonist to make sure
that by all means the attack doesn’t take place.
• Overall, the ending of the plot tends to have a positive outcome.

3. Thrillers include the following sub-genres, which may include elements of
other film genres:
• Spy
• Psychological
• Crime
• Horror
• Supernatural
• Political
• Erotic
• Legal
The antagonist is the main person who makes the plot more energetic
and exciting. This is the ultimate key to writing a good successful thriller.
The director should make sure that the villain chosen has the key traits
to make the thriller film powerful and successful.
The main characteristics of a good villain are:
• Mind set
• Physical power
• Institutional power
• Motivation in shadow
• Spirit of evil