Thriller Genre

The thriller genre can include the following sub-genres, which may include elements of other genres:

Action thriller: In which the work often features a race against the clock, contains lots of violence, and an obvious antagonist. These films usually contain large amounts of guns, explosions, and large elaborate set pieces for the action to take place. These films often have elements of mystery films and crime films but these elements take a backseat to action. Notable examples are the James Bond films, The Transporter, and the Jason Bourne novels and films.
Conspiracy thriller: In which the hero/heroine confronts a large, powerful group of enemies whose true extent only he/she recognizes. The Chancellor Manuscript and The Aquitane Progression by Robert Ludlum fall into this category, as do films such as Three Days of the Condor, Capricorn One, and JFK.

Crime thriller: This particular genre is a hybrid type of both crime films and thrillers that offers a suspenseful account of a successful or failed crime or crimes. These films often focus on the criminal(s) rather than a policeman. Crime thrillers usually emphasize action over psychological aspects. Central topics of these films include murders, robberies, chases, shootouts, and double-crosses are central ingredients. Some examples include The Killing, Seven, The Godfather, Reservoir Dogs, Inside Man, and The Asphalt Jungle.

Disaster thriller: In which the main conflict is due to some sort of natural or artificial disaster, such as floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanoes, etc., or nuclear disasters as an artificial disaster. Examples include Stormy Weather by Carl Hiaasen, Tremor by Winston Graham, and the 1974 film Earthquake.

Drama thriller: In which the story consists of the elements of a thriller and drama film. These films are usually slower paced and involves a great deal of character development along with plot twists. Examples include The Illusionist, The Interpreter and The Prestige.

Eco-thriller: In which the protagonist must avert or rectify an environmental or biological calamity_often in addition to dealing with the usual types of enemies or obstacles present in other thriller genres. This environmental component often forms a central message or theme of the story. Examples include Nicholas Evans's The Loop, C. George Muller's Echoes in the Blue, and Wilbur Smith's Elephant Song, all of which highlight real-life environmental issues. Futuristic eco-thrillers are of the science fiction genre that propose ideas that will or may occur and include such works as Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy and Ian Irvine's Human Rites Trilogy and Dasavathaaram.

Erotic thriller: In which it consists of erotica and thriller. It has become popular since the 1980s and the rise of VCR market penetration. The genre includes such films as Basic Instinct, Dressed to Kill, Color of Night, Eyes Wide Shut, Fatal Attraction, Looking for Mr. Goodbar, and In the Cut.

Horror thriller: In which conflict between the main characters are mental, emotional, and physical. Two recent examples of this include the Saw series of films and the Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later. What sets the horror thriller apart is the main element of fear throughout the story. The main character(s) is not only up against a superior force, but they are or will soon become the victims themselves and directly feel the fear that comes by attracting the monster's attention. Other well-known examples are Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and Thomas Harris's The Silence of the Lambs.

Legal thriller: In which the lawyer-heroes/heroines confront enemies outside, as well as inside, the courtroom and are in danger of losing not only their cases but their lives. The Innocent Man by John Grisham is a well known example of the type.
Medical thriller: In which the hero/heroine are medical doctors/personnel working to solve an expanding medical problem. Robin Cook, Tess Gerritsen, Michael Crichton, and Gary Braver are well-known authors of this subgenre. Nonfiction medical thrillers are also a subcategory, comprising works like The Hot Zone by Richard Preston. Films such as Awake are other examples of medical thrillers.

Political thriller: In which the hero/heroine must ensure the stability of the government that employs him. The success of Seven Days in May (1962) by Fletcher Knebel, The Day of the Jackal (1971) by Frederick Forsyth, and The Manchurian Candidate (1959) by Richard Condon established this subgenre. A more recent example is the 1980 film Agency.

Psychological thriller: In which (until the often violent resolution) the conflict between the main characters is mental and emotional, rather than physical. The Alfred Hitchcock films Suspicion, Shadow of a Doubt, and Strangers on a Train and David Lynch's bizarre and influential Blue Velvet are notable examples of the type, as is The Sixth Sense by M. Night Shyamalan and The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith (who also wrote Strangers).
Spy thriller (also a subgenre of spy fiction): In which the hero is generally a government agent who must take violent action against agents of a rival government or (in recent years) terrorists. Examples include From Russia with Love by Ian Fleming, The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum, and television series such as Mission: Impossible and 24 (the latter demonstrating a break from the norm by Robert Ludlum, as it is as much a psychological thriller as a spy thriller).

Supernatural thriller: In which the conflict is between main characters, usually one of which has supernatural powers. Carrie by Stephen King, Unbreakable by M. Night Shyamalan, and Torchwood are notable examples of this genre. This type of thriller combines tension of the regular thriller with such basic horror oriented ingredients as ghosts, the occult, and psychic phenomenon; the supernatural thriller combines these with a frightening but often restrained film. They also generally eschew the more graphic elements of the horror film in favor of sustaining a mood of menace and unpredictability; supernatural thrillers often find the protagonists either battling a malevolent paranormal force or trapped in a situation seemingly influenced or controlled by an other-worldly entity beyond their comprehension.

Techno-thriller: A work that usually focuses upon military action, in which technology (usually military technology) is described in detail and made essential to the reader's/viewer's understanding of the plot. Tom Clancy defined and popularized the genre with his The Hunt for Red October, and is considered to be the "Father of the Technothriller".

Forms and Conventions of a Thriller

Before our planning we looked at a few films in class, and a couple at home. This helped us to identify with the genre and see what made a thriller so successful. We began to look closely at the conventions so that we could use them to make our thriller.

Here are some conventions we identified;

• Thriller events happen on a grand scale - for example instead of one murder there would be serial or mass murders.
• Jeopardy and violence are standard plot elements
• Often explore the psychological reasons of the villain
• Fast paced - quick edits
• Cliff hangers
• Red herrings
• Many different camera angles used to create a fast paced sequence
• Strong soundtrack to build tension and suspense
• Lighting used to create shadows and darkness
• Audience fully understand the main characters personality and motives
• Audience is manipulated by the twists and turns of the plot

When looking to create the opening to our thriller we decided to use some of these conventions to influence us. This would make a successfully thriller that the audience would enjoy to watch.

Second Shooting - April

Due to all of our busy schedules we decided that we would film the shadow scene at Chloe's house instead, and in fact it was a better location as we had a blank wall to project the shadows onto. It did take a while to get the lights positioned exactly so we could have the characters producing the shadows onto the wall without having them seen by the camera. We used a number of lamps to bounce the light off the wall which gave us the right effect. Chloe and her brother played the mother and father, we got her brother's shadow to appear more dominant by having him closer and Chloe further away. This showed the contrast between his dominant superior character and Chloe's character who was being abused. In this scene we chose to use a baseball bat to create lot's of brutality and to show the severity of the attacks to the audience. Even if the filming did take a few hours we were eventually happy with all the shots we had got and knew we could edit them to make them look really good.

Location - Gnosall Park

We choose this particular park because of the surrounding area being field and trees. We thought that this would be very successful because it would show she is isolated and alone.

From google maps you can see the area in which the park is set and why we chose this area.

First Shooting - February

On our first day we decided to do the park scene, we found this to be very successful but very time consuming as we need lot's of different shots so that when we came to edit we had a variety to choose from.
We decided to choose a park in Gnosall as this was more secluded and had the right scenery in the background. We wanted a park which there were trees in the background and you could not see the road from where you were filming so this park was ideal to create the atmosphere we wanted.
The park however was very busy in the February half term. But we still managed to get the right shots with the perfect weather conditions. We got shots from all different angles and distances so that when it came to edit we could build up the scene.
The actor, Teylor, with her costume began to swing, we then began shooting. We used tracking shots, point of view shots, close ups, long shots, reverse angle shots etc.

Once the park scene was done we had planned to go back to scene the rest of the opening in which the shadows would be created on a blank wall. This was however not possible because of time so we had to arrange to do this another time, which in the end did not create any big problems with our schedule.

Possible Names

We wanted to decide on a name which would be just right for our film. Choosing a bad name could mean that the film would be let down. A good name is needed to represent the thriller genre and intrigue people into what the film is about.
Here are the possible ideas we came up with;

• Neglected


• Forever


• Unwanted


• Burden


• Alone


• Lonely


• The UN-needed

We finally decided on alone as we thought it is to the point and represented the key feeling of the little girl who is all alone.

Basic Plot

In our opening there would be a switch between two scene. The first being an innocent yet very lonely and sad girl on a swing alone. She appear to have thing on her mind. The audience then begin to wonder why she is all alone and what has happened to her. This can then be slowly reveled to the audience as we have flashbacks to a fight scene between her mother and father. The mother suffers domestic abuse from the father and the little girl has had to grow up experiencing that.
In the opening there are many questions still left unanswered for the audience and this is what we planned. We wanted to have the audience guessing into what has happened. From the beginning it may not even be clear that it is the little girls mother and father but what they do know is that whatever happened in the past has made the girl to be how she is. As the story would unfold there would be many twists along the way and explore the psychological reasons for how the little girl grows up.