Introduction to Thrillers.

Thriller is a very famous genre of Film, Television and Literature. This type of genre has an exciting plot, which tries to keep it's audiences on the edge of their seat throughout the film. It uses three main elements; Suspense, Tension and Excitement. People enjoy thrillers for in most of them, the audience is put through tense anticipation throughout the whole movie, wondering what is going to happen next, and they keep their audiences attention, for they are known for their fast-pacing, exciting action and complex plots.
There are different types of Thriller films as well, such as spy films, political films and action films.
An example of a spy thriller film is James Bond. This is fast pacing, builds suspense and tension and always keeps you on the edge of your seat.

There are many methods involved in a good Thriller, such as Plot twists, Red Herrings and Cliffhangers.
A plot twist is a change in the outcome of the plot of a film, for example, in the start of James Bond:Skyfall [SPOILER for those who haven't watched it yet] Bond and his enemy are fighting on the top of a train, Bond's team try to shoot at the enemy fighting Bond, and the audience automatically know that it is going to hit the enemy, but plot twist, it hits James Bond, and he falls to his expected untimely death into the water. Yet he still doesn't die. James Bond is one of the most famous Thrillers known to man, and the audience enjoys it so much for its use of techniques that makes a good thriller.


A Red Herring is another great characteristic of a thriller. A Red Herring is a type of diversion used to distract the audience from the original plan of the movie. In North By Northwest for example, [SPOILER for those who have not watched it] Eve, the main female character, is shown to be working with the bad guys, the villains. She gains the heart of the main character, Roger Thornhill, and tells the villains where they can find him, and sets him up for death. Yet, we later on find out that she is actually an agent working against the villains, trying to set them up to the police. That is an example of a good Red Herring.

A Cliffhanger is a very good technique to grab the audiences attention and make them want more. A cliffhanger is a device used to show the character is in a difficult dilemma, or presented with a shocking announcement. Although many people think a cliffhanger belongs at the end of a movie, sometimes it is used in the beginning of a film, or in the middle of a film. If a cliffhanger was put in the beginning of a film, it would catch the audiences attention, and make the audience think "Well, how did he get into this mess?" and then they would continue watching to find out the story of how the cliffhanger was created, therefore creating a great Thriller. A great example of a cliffhanger in a Thriller is a movie called "Inception." It ends with the main character, Dom Cobb, spinning a totem. This made everyone in the audience sit on the edges of their seats in anticipation, waiting for the epic moment of finding out whether Dom is still in dream world, or if it topples over, then he is back to reality. The totem wavers as though it is about to fall, which some of the audience believed that it would be proof that he isn't dreaming. Just as we are about to find out the moment of truth, the screen goes black, and it ends. So the cliffhanger being "was it dreamworld or did he get back to reality?"

Narrative and Genre

There is a theme in film called "Macro Elements." "Macro" refers to Genre and Narrative. Genre is another word for category, but it is more used in film and media.

There are many different types of genres, such as Action and Romantic comedy.
More genres are shown below

On many occasions, a different genre mixes with another genre, such as Romance and Comedy, creating the genre most formally known as a Rom Com.  However, Comedy is not the only genre that Romance mixes with. Romance can be found in many film genres, such as Action, Animation, and even Horrors. Examples to prove this statement are movies such as Twilight, which is a Fantasy Romance movie, Warm Bodies, which is a Fantasy, Romance and Comedy movie, and many more.

Narrative is the process where events occur. It is a term indicating a story presenting any form of human expression in which no individual is telling the story. Here is another explanation of Narrative:

There are two main types of Narrative. These are Linear and Non-Linear Narrative.
Linear Narrative is when the story goes in a straight line, from beginning, to middle, to end. This process is used often in movies, it is more common than Non-linear.
















However, Non-Linear is completely the opposite. It has no order; instead it just goes in a confusing order, as to keep the audiences attention. It can sometimes start with a cliffhanger, and then go straight to the start after seeing the cliffhanger, as to make the audience wonder how the character got into this predicament, and so they would continue watching the movie.

This image shows how sometimes Non-linear starts at the end, works it's way straight in between the beginning and the middle, back near the end, to the middle and then the beginning.





Non-Linear is the order in which the audience is not common with, but it makes the story very interesting.

Welcome Post

I'm Kamie-Rose Rothon and this blog is all about Thrillers.
I am going to be researching on different types of Thrillers, such as Alfred Hitchcock's films and different features involved in these kinds of films, such as Red Herrings.
 
I am also going to be doing some exercises involved with Thrillers, such as sound exercises and Camera exercises. This will all be shown in a film that I created to show these different features.
This is to present everything about Thrillers.