Genre Research

Given the subject of our second task, I though it was wise to research more widely into the thriller genre.

"Thriller is a broad genre of literature, film and television that includes numerous and often overlapping sub-genres. Thrillers are characterized by fast pacing, frequent action, and resourceful heroes who must thwart the plans of more powerful and better equipped villains... Literary devices such as suspense, red herrings and cliffhangers are used extensively." (Wikipedia)

As mentioned above there are numerous sub-genres of thriller, many of which are combined when making films. The most common sub-genres are noted below:

• Action thriller - Large amounts of special effects and violence; obvious antagonist.
• Conspiracy thriller - Large, powerful group of enemies whose evil is commonly only known to the protagonist.
• Crime thriller - Suspenseful account of crimes; can focus on law enforcement or criminals.
• Disaster thriller - Main conflict is artificial or natural disaster
• Drama thriller - Slow paced; character development; plot twists
• Science-fiction thriller - Sci-fi film with thriller elements
• Horror thriller - Character in danger; must destroy antagonists
• Erotic thriller - Consists of erotica and thriller elements
• Legal thriller - Protagonists confront enemies in and out of the courtroom; life may be in danger
• Medical thriller - Protagonists are doctors fighting a medical problem
• Political thriller - Political power struggles
• Psychological thriller - Conflict is mental and emotional
• Spy thriller - Protagonist is a government agent
• Techno-thriller - Technology described in detail; paramount to audiences understanding
• Religious thriller - Plot is connected to religious elements 

Thrillers usually contain the following forms and conventions:

• Typically a male protagonist although females are becoming much more widely used. They are usually presented as a normal person who the audience can relate to due to their insecurities and flaws which are often present, despite there obvious heroism.
• The antagonist is often known from the start of the film.
• Heavy use of suspense and tension

Alfred Hitchcock - The Master of Suspense

Given the genre we were working in I saw it as sensible to research the most widely known Thriller director - Alfred Hitchcock. By researching not only the man but also his revolutionary techniques, we may be able to draw tried and tested methods improving the overall quality of our film.

Perhaps one of the most famous film directors of all time, Alfred Hitchcock was an English filmmaker who revolutionised many techniques used in the thriller genre. Nicknamed the Master of Suspense, it was films such as Vertigo (1958), Psycho (1960) and The Birds (1963) which forged Hitchcock's long-lasting reputation.

Hitchcock attributed many of the techniques used in the aforementioned films as being down to his early career in Silent Film industry. The limitations of the silent form led filmmakers to develop a visual language to enable them to say with images what they could not using dialogue or sound - indeed Hitchcock felt that the arrival of sound in 1927 meant that something was lost to cinema. However, Hitchcock's visual storytelling flair was already in place. Throughout his career, Hitchcock continued to believe in cinema as a visual medium. For him, dialogue and sound should remain secondary to the image in telling the story - the popularised shower scene in Psycho exemplifying this.

Hitchcock was noted for his ability to engage the audience - knowing exactly how to build suspense and when and how to terrify them. He used basic storylines but turned them into classic through his extraordinary techniques - getting into the minds of the audience, framing for emotion, roaming cameras, less importance placed on dialogue, point-of-view editing, montages of close ups in quick succesion, characters that break away from cliches, humour, two things happening at once, suspense, surprise and twists.

"His flair was for narrative, cruelly withholding crucial information (from his characters and from us) and engaging the emotions of the audience like no one else." (Daily Telegraph)