Homer's Odyssey was an early influence on the thriller genre. One of the earliest thriller films was Safety Last! (1923), and directors like Hitchcock and Lang helped establish the modern thriller genre in the 1920s-1930s. Thrillers remain a popular genre at the box office today, including subgenres like crime thrillers, sci-fi thrillers, and horror thrillers. Characters in thrillers often include criminals, stalkers, victims, and characters with dark pasts intended to create suspense and anticipation in the narrative. Thrillers aim to disrupt the equilibrium and keep audiences guessing through complex plots and twists until questions are answered at the end.

3. Homer's Odyssey is one of the oldest stories in the
Western world and is regarded as an early prototype of
the thriller. One of the earliest thriller movies was Harold
Lloyd’s comic Safety Last! (1923), with a character
performing a daredevil stunt on the side of a
skyscraper. Alfred Hitchcock and Fritz Lang helped to
shape the modern-day thriller genre beginning with the
films The Lodger (1926) and M (1931).
Now in 2014 Thriller films are one of the most
established genres continuing to achieve high box office
ratings when released in cinemas.

4. Action or adventure thrillers
Sci-fi thrillers
Crime thrillers
Western thrillers
Film-noir thrillers
Romantic comedy thrillers
Horror thrillers
Psychological thrillers
Conspiracy thrillers

5. Characters in thrillers include convicts,
criminals, stalkers, assassins, innocent victims
(often on the run), prison inmates, menaced
women, characters with dark pasts, psychotic
individuals, terrorists, cops and escaped cons,
fugitives, people involved in twisted
relationships, world-weary men and women,
psycho-fiends.
All of these characters are what the audience
expects because, they give a role to a character
and help give the anticipation to the narrative.

6. In a thriller the narrative is restricted so a lot of the
information is hidden. There is an equilibrium and
then the equilibrium is disrupted and then the
equilibrium is restored again.
Thriller’s narrative have often a complex structure,
they like to keep the audience guessing on what will
happen next and it has twist and turns. A lot of
thrillers have a restricted narrative, questions and
or riddles will be left unanswered until towards the
end of the film.

7. Shots that are typically used in a thriller is the extreme close up
shot, because with the person or object being so close up to the
screen, right into the viewers faces it can create suspense. With
it being an object you know that it could have significance to the
main narrative of the film. Or with it being a person, you can see
clearly their emotions, which usually if it’s a thriller could be fear.
And with that character filling all the screen it can make the
audience watching it feel that emotion too.
Then you have the tracking shot, with this is can make the
audience feel part of the film, this shot is usually used when a
big moment or dramatic scene is happening, its good because it
keeps the audience intrigued and interested and part of the
action, for example if the character is running and the shot is
used so it looks like the audience is running with the character
into danger.

8. These all depend on the specific content in the particular thriller.
The Target audience would be starting from young so around 15 – 30 year olds and
then from middle age so 30-50 year olds. Because most thrillers are rated 15-18’s
the target audience does start at 15. Sometimes thrillers are 12’s but because
thrillers do usually involve a lot of graphic violence which some young viewers aren’t
suitable to watch. Also they can involve a lot of swearing and possible sexual
nature. These are usually above the rating of a 15 but if its not frequent it can be
rated a 15.

9. Hybrids Taken is an action/crime/thriller film.
Certificate  15
 Drugs
Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage
drug misuse. The misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous substances
(for example, aerosols or solvents) is unlikely to be acceptable.
Taken – The woman who are taken by sex traffickers are put in drugs to make
them tired.
Violence
Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The
strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic or
sexualised violence is also unlikely to be acceptable. There may be detailed
verbal references to sexual violence but any portrayal of sexual violence must
be discreet and have a strong contextual justification.
Taken – The violent scenes in taken are strong and there are a lot of them, most
scenes do involve some type of violence, a lot of the violence isn't majorly
graphic and horrible but there are a few scenes where it can be quite
uncomfortable to watch e.g. when he is electrocuting the man in the chair.