conventions of thrillers

Convensions of thrillers

Conventions of thrillers

By Laura Knowles

What is a thriller?

A Thriller is a broad genre of literature, film, gaming and television which has numerous, often overlapping sub-genres. A typical Thriller might usually contain things such as dark and harsh mysterious lighting, mysterious music which usually builds up to a more major event, and a dark, normally worn down building as a setting.

A Thriller is usually fast paced and packed with action and includes resourceful heroes who musty thwart the plans of the more powerful and better equipped villains. So a thriller is usually a villain-driven plot, whereby he or she presents obstacles that the protagonist must overcome.

Thrillers generally try to keep the audience interested with its intense content as the plot builds towards a climax. Literary devices such as red herrings, plot twists, and cliff-hangers are used.

More on What may be included in thrillers

As I said in the fist slide, a typical thriller might usually contain things such as dark and harsh mysterious lighting, this makes the film seem like it has more of a dark side to it which a thriller usually does, also it gives the impression that something bad is waiting to happen.

mysterious music may also be used in thrillers as it usually builds up to a more major event. This is done to make the audiesnce3 more on the edge of their seats because they want to know what is going to happen next.

Like a horror film, there are places in thrillers where a dark, normally worn down building has been used as a setting. This also shows that the film has a darker side to it and sets the scene of something mysterious.

Diegetic sound is something else used quite a lot in thrillers as it highlights the importance of some natural sounds for example, somebody's heartbeat or them breathing may be significantly made a lot louder. This is used to make the viewer understand the feelings of the character and why they might ben feeling a certain way in order to cause the sound.

Spy Thrillers

(also a subgenre of spy fiction), is a type of Thriller in which the hero in the film is generally a government agent who must take violent action against agents of a rival government or (in more recent years) terrorists. For example, any of the James Bond films.

Political thrillers

A political Thriller is a type of Thriller in which the hero usually must ensure stab ability of the government that employs them,

An example of a political thriller is Argo in which Iranian activists storm the US embassy in Tehran taking hostages, and an operation is undertaken to free the hostages whilst keeping the whole episode secret.

Military thrillers

Usually military thrillers are a type of thriller in which the hero is an uninformed military officer operating behind enemy lines alone or as part of a small team of specialists. They also often seem to succeed against all odds.

An example of a military thriller is Die Hard 2.

Conspiracy thrillers

In a typical conspiracy thriller the hero would usually confront a large, powerful group of enemies whose true extent and power is only recognised by the hero himself or herself.

An example of a conspiracy thriller could be The Insider where Al Pacino finds himself in the middle of a huge tobacco industry cover up and Russell Crowe is ready to whistle-blow. However he faces powerful enemies.

Medical thrillers

In a typical medical thriller the hero would be generally a principled physician who must fight corrupt drug companies or colleagues who are engaged in unethical experiments.

An example of a medical thriller could be coma.

Forensic thrillers

In a typical forensic thriller the heroes are usually forensic experts whose involvement with a unsolved crime case puts their lives at risk.

An example of a typical forensic thriller is The bone collector.

Psychological thrillers

A psychological thriller would usually be in which (until the often violent resolution) conflict between the main characters is mental and emotional rather than physical.

An example of this is of Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman in Se7en

Horror thrillers

A horror thriller is usually in which conflict between the main characters is mental, emotional, and physical. Horror Thrillers can incorporate all of the other thriller elements.

An example of a typical horror thriller is The Silence Of The Lambs.

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