SECTION ONE: THE THRILLER GENRE

DEFINITION: These are types of films known to promote intense excitement, suspense, a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, anxiety, and nerve-wracking tension. Thriller and suspense films are virtually synonymous and interchangeable categorizations, with similar characteristics and features.


- [http://www.filmsite.org/thrillerfilms.html]


There are eight primary elements of the Thriller genre:

1. The central protagonist(s) faces death, their own or someone else's.
2. The force/s of antagonism must initially be clever and/or stronger than the protagonist.
3. The main storyline for the protagonist is either a quest or the character who cannot be put down.
4. The main plot line focuses on a mystery that must be solved.
5. The film's narrative construction is dominated by the protagonist's point of view.
6. All action and characters must be credibly realistic/natural in their representation on screen.
7. The two major themes that underpin the Thriller are the desire for justice and the morality of individuals.
8. One small but significant aspect of a great thriller is the presence of innocence in what is seen as an essentially corrupt world.

- [http://www.twelvepoint.com/?q=blog/8-primary-elements-thriller-genre]




Thriller sub-genres:
Here are a few examples of thriller sub-genres:


Legal Thriller: eg- A Few Good Men
Disaster Thriller: eg-  The Day After Tomorrow
Psychological Thriller: eg- The Talented Mr. Ripley 
Medical Thriller: eg-  The Experiment
Religious Thriller: eg- The Da Vinci Code
Crime Thriller: eg - Silence of the Lambs
Techno Thriller: eg-  The Matrix

THRILLER THEORIES:

Partial Vision
This is where only some of the narrative information is given, leaving the audience to wonder what is going to happen next. This gives a chance for the audience to think of their own theories about what is going to happen in the film. Se7en is a great example because the audience only see the murder scene, not the murder happening.

Question Answer Model
This keeps the audience asking questions. These are mainly used in mystery thrillers as there could be a sort of surprise coming up at or towards the end.

The Transformed City
The transformed city is the idea that an ordinary place being transformed into an extraordinary place for the purpose of a thriller. Most Thrillers are set in a town or a city and for the thriller to be successful the atmosphere must change to become more different to others and more exciting.

Concealment and Protraction
Concealment and Protraction tends to pull the audience in different directions. It is used to create suspense and deliberatly hiding information. Protraction is also used to create suspense. For example this could be delaying a bomb explosion in a big city, the audience knows what is going to happen but suspense is created by hiding information.

Mazes and Labyrinths
This is the idea that the Protagonist finds themselves having to go through 'mazes' to reach the ending. The narrative of the film is usually filled with twist and dead ends, this makes it difficult for the Protagonist to resolve. The audience is always presented with the problems that the Protagonist must solve and how they do this.

The Exotic
This is the idea that buildings and objects have been placed within a Thriller which an audience would not expect to see at all. These objects could reflect personality? Sometimes there will be props from other places added to create a different setting or surrounding.

The Heroic Romance
The Protagonist of the film is shown to be an ordinary person but acts in heroic ways to survive during the film. In Thrillers the hero is usually portrayed as having an ordinary job and an ordinary life.