Natasha Blockley

Q1
The thriller genre is aimed to create suspense and excitement for the audience, they do this as the main objective
of a thriller is to entertain and grip the audience with a series of enigma's and action sequences designed to keep
the audience guessing and on the edge of their seat. Often they take place in suburban areas and busy streets.
The plot normally takes place over an investigation of an enigma and the main character/hero is the only person
able to solve the mystery and reveal the truth, they are also usually on social injustices which are righted. The
most common convention of a thriller is that it is centred on violence and it often reveals the inner workings of
government institutions such as the police or army. It will usually have a natural/logical explanation rather than
a supernatural one and the enigma present in the plot will usually be solved by the end of the film.
Effects are often used to create a mysterious or ominous feel for suspense and tension for the audience. This is
done by using low key lighting, fast paced editing and a tense soundtrack.
There are many different sub-genres in Thrillers as there are many different scenarios in which can cause the
audience to feel suspense. The most commonly used sub-genres are:
-Psychological: Story which emphasizes the psychology of its characters and their unstable emotional states.
E.g. Silence of the Lambs
-Mystery: Mysteries that are investigated. E.g. Se7en
-Spy: Espionage, involves a mission E.g. Mission Impossible
-Crime: Concentrates on the impact of crime on protagonist E.g. Pulp Fiction
-Period: Set in the past E.g. Sherlock Holmes
-Action: Semi-realistic with a lot of action happening throughout the plot E.g. Mad Max
-Conspiracy: Based on real life theories/events E.g. JFK
-Disaster: Normally based on a worst case scenario of a probable event E.g. Armageddon
-Eco-thriller: Documentary style dealing with possible disastrous ecological issues caused by humans E.g. The
Last Winter
-Forensic: Based around the medical side of a police case.
-Legal: The main characters are lawyers and their employees and the main plot revolves around the system of
justice E.g. The Firm
-Medical: Set around a hospital and employees inside of it, usually revolves around one group e.g. surgeons E.g.
Flat liners

Natasha Blockley

-Political: Based around a political power struggle E.g. Enemy of the State
-Religious: Incorporates religious themes into the plot E.g. The Prophecy
-Supernatural: Form of investigation involving themes which are not natural E.g. The Skeleton Keys
-Techno: Thriller: set in future, sophisticated weapons etc. E.g. Paranoia
For my groups thriller we decided to use the subgenres; Psychological and Mystery. We believed these would
be effective because it is the style that appeals to our target audience as they would expect it to have typical
conventions of the sub-genres such as the story line following the protagonist as they try to solve a series of
enigmas, using their own psychology while trying to figure out the mind set and motives of the killer, to get to
the bottom of a murder. This idea follows many of the conventions our audience would expect from our
production. The use of mind games and the unknown mind set of the killer are clear conventions from a
psychological thriller whereas the theme of a multitude of enigmas the protagonist must solve is from the
mystery sub-genre.
Typical conventions of thrillers

Natasha Blockley

Our audience would be expecting some generic signifiers for our genre,
typical shots used in thrillers include high/low angle shots this is used to
connote power (if looking up at character) or weakness (If looking
down on the character) . Close ups and extreme close ups are also put
to use frequently in this genre, this is common because it is difficult to
see an entire object/ person from this view so it creates enigmas for the
audience as they struggle to figure out what the image is showing, as
well as this, a close up/extreme close up is uncomfortable for the
audience and so this creates tension which is a convention of a thriller. Thrillers usually contain a many different
shots put together in fast paced editing sequences; this is to create a sense of building excitement and tension as
thrillers are usually accompanied by a ticking-clock scenario. Also usually jump shot are frequently used again
to create a sense of confusion or chaos which usually mirrors the protagonists emotions at the time. Our thriller
adheres to many these stereotypes, the first being extreme close ups and fast paced editing, we used many
abstract shots of close ups, extreme close ups as well as other shots in order to disorientate the audience and this
also meant they did not see the full shot in detail so the audience is intrigued . We developed this from the draft
by shortening the shot times so they are only around three seconds maximum for the best effect.
Typically in a thriller the hero and villain, though on different sides, often share a few characteristics. They are
both outsiders and secretive (but the hero is moral) and often we see similar character types throughout the
genre. These include Resourceful Heroes, criminals, soldiers, police, stalkers, assassins, innocents, psychotic
characters and victims. Themes often explored in thrillers are, psychological, crime, tension/Suspense, single
ideas that are being pursued, escape, imprisonment, murder and enigmas to be solved. Although the villain is not
shown in the sequence it is clear that there is one and the hero is indirectly a victim, however our thriller does
subvert convention as the hero is a female. This is not common for thrillers as men are shown as the dominant
and stronger sex meaning they would make better heroes. Our group decided that because of slowly changing
gender roles we could make the lead a female and still have it be effective. However because the female cries
during the opening this is stereotypical for a woman so this is enforced as a female stereotype.
Typical Mise-en-scene for our genre includes urban locations, realism, isolated environments, props (guns,
weapons, knives etc.) and low key lighting to again create a sense of foreboding within the audience as it is
more difficult to tell what is happening and darkness also denotes the colour black which in turn connotes evil

Natasha Blockley

and power. As well as the lighting being low key it is also usually natural so the feeling given off by the scene is
still realistic while being tense/exiting. Again we adhere to this stereotype as we use the isolated setting of an
abandoned however we challenged the idea of weapons, nothing in our thriller links to a weapon and we have
made it obvious by the bruising (made with face paint) on the victims neck that
she was strangled meaning there was no weapon involved. We chose to challenge
this part of thrillers because we believed that you do not need a weapon to create
suspense or excitement as you can leave it up to the audiences imagination of
what happened before it is revealed.

Natasha Blockley

Typically a thriller opening usually includes the names of the main actors,
director, producer, casting, Music. The titles shown would include the name of
the studio and production company as well as the films name usually last and
biggest of all. The film title reflects the film it is for so it is each is different in
style. The subgenre for The Bourne Legacy was action/crime and is around
the theme of a corrupt government therefore the typography used for the title is official style but it shakes/blurs
slightly, this could represent the shaky morals on which the government operate or the conflict between Bourne
and the organisation. We also tried to imitate the theme of our narrative into our title by having it styled as if it
was written in a newspaper article or police report as this shows the struggle against authority our protagonist
faces as she find out about her sisters death. We went with white writing on a
black background because white signifies the innocence of the victim that is
now surrounded by the darkness of what happened to her, stripping her of this
innocence is also displayed by the title slowly fading to black completely. The
opening sequence also sets the genre for the rest of the film so the audience is aware of what they are watching
an example of this is American Horror Story we got ideas from the opening sequences as this because in
every series they get a new sequence that somehow links to the theme of the series meaning we followe this
convention of the thriller genre by signifying what was to come in the opening.