"What are Thriller films?"

... this is the question we tried to answer. To begin with, we talked generally about film we had seen and what we already knew. We then looked in more detail at specific areas and conventions used. Below I have listed the main points that I feel contribute to a good Thriller movie.



-a Thriller should be atmospheric, exciting and thrilling

-there is usually a "fight for survival" theme, such as preventing/solving crime, a terrorist attack, a fight against corruption, a hostage situation... etc

-stereotypical characters often include
*a protagonist (an unconventional hero, often lonely )
*an evil character/organisation (usually creating mayhem, sometimes foriegn)
*sometimes include a partnership (good cop/bad cop, boss and gunman)
*usually realistic characters put in extraordinary situations
*often, although the main characters are often "important people" (police officers, doctors,
army officers...), civillians are sometimes drawn into the plot to create emotional or comic
subplots
*stereotypically male characters but female leads in Thrillers are increasing

-usually full of twists and turns in the plot to keep the audience interested

-many sub-genres are linked to Thriller films~ mystery, horror, psychological. It will be important to understand the key differences when making our own film openings to ensure they are predominatly Thrillers

-setting in Thriller films is important as it can be used to establish an atmosphere before any action has even taken place. It can also be used symbolically as a pathetic fallacy to reflect events taking place or a character's emotional journey