Sunday, 27 November 2011

Research into chosen Genre - Thriller

The genre we have chosen to do is thriller, we decided that we would do research into this chosen genre so we would have more knowledge of the genre, thus making our trailer a conventional Thrilling trailer. Before researching into thrillers, we did our own mind map to show what we think a thriller film includes and what makes a successful film for this genre:




Thrillers includes many sub-genres:
Conspiracy Thriller: This genre of thriller often involves and amateur investigator or journalist who find themselves accidentally stumbling across a piece of information of small thread that unravels a vast conspiracy that ultimately continues all the way up to the top. In a detective like way, the character often find it hard to convince others of their information and have to deal with the situation independently.


Crime Thriller: Often focuses on a character who has committed a crime in the past, either successfully or failed, it is a hybrid genre of crime films and thriller films. There is usually a psychological insight into the mind of a criminal or even a policeman. For example, Reseviour Dogs and Seven


Legal Thriller: Characters such as lawyers find themselves in a situation where they are defending a client in the courtroom but also becomes personal and their lives become endangered. They may be blackmailed based on the fact that they are defending someone that may have conflict with others on the outside, For example, The Juror.  


Political Thriller: This sub-genre often involves a heroic character who must ensure the stability of the government that they work with. Sometimes combined with the idea of conspiracy, possibly a conspiracy within the government that one character must get to the bottom of for the sake of the country. For example, the Sentinel and State Of Play.


Psychological Thriller: As within many thrillers, physical strength may be needed to overcome a situation, however in psychological thrillers, they are now reliant on their mental resources, battling with characters through emotional and mental ways. Psychological thrillers are very much dependent on a characters mental stability, or lack off. A situation may occur when the characters mental state is being diminished and controlled by someone else. Characters may also have past problems that affect their present life. Examples of this genre is Shutter Island, Nick Of Time, The River Wild and Phone Booth. All of which show someone else controlling someone's mind and action.


Supernatural Thriller: This sub-genre may combing elements of suspense and plot twists in Thrillers, along with conventions of Horror, like fear of the unknown or a character may have the psychic ability to communicate with supernatural. For example What Lies Beneath. 


Iconography
We are going to do research into our chosen genre to get a better and more fuller understanding of the genre and its typical conventions. Iconography is certain iconic imagery and symbols which we associate with certain genres, for example elements like certain settings, characters, objects, costumes and lighting which are subconsciously expected by the audience when watching a certain type of genre. In terms of the Thriller genre:

Settings and Location
- Cities: Thrillers often take place within a city as it is closer to the home of a realistic character. Thrillers often contain characters that are realistic and are facing more dramatic problems of life, therefore taking place in a city gives a sense of realism for the audience. 
- Confined Spaces:
- Isolated Areas: Especially used within the psychological thrillers as it often mirrors the mental isolated and solitary state of a main character within this film.


Characters and Costumes
Thrillers often involve a character who is in a difficult situation that needs to be solved through various means, therefore a typical character is a heroic male protagonist who has to solve this problem whilst ensuring the safety of others involved. Other characters can include criminals, stalkers, assassins, terrorists, psychotic individuals and many more.


Lighting
Depending on what kind of atmosphere that is wanting to be achieved, the lighting will change, but typically a dimly lit setting shows a negative situation which is often the case within a thriller. 


Camera Angles and Shots
- Very commonly used in thriller films are jump cuts and quick camera angle changes to illustrate a number of different things or problems which are occurring within the film and build up the pace to create tension. 
- Close up shots are often used to give a focus to main characters that are going to be of some importance, but us as the audience are yet to know why which gives an element of suspense.
- The main character will also be shown through a number of angles, often high or low angles to show the situation they are in. For example when a character is in a helpless state, a high angle may be used to show their status and that they are inferior to others, similarly when characters are in power, a low angle will be used to show as if they are looking down upon someone or thing to display their superiority.
- Point of view shots, commonly used in psychological thrillers to give us an insight into the mentality of the character.


Themes and Plots
- Edge of your sit cliffhangers that build towards a climax as the character progresses through life threatening situations
- Other people being controlled or blackmailed to do something against their will.


We want to include aspects of each one to ensure that we create a trailer that conveys the Thriller genre successfully.

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