What is a Thriller?

thriller

- n

a book, film, play, etc, depicting crime, mystery, or espionage in an atmosphere of excitement and suspense

A thriller film generally aims to excite, scare and thrill it's audience, as well as raising anxiety and a sense of mystery; meaning just about any film could be regarded as a thriller. The genre itself can be split into a vast amount of 'sub-genres', these include: Horror, Psychological, Science Fiction, Crime/Detective and Action Thriller - although these genres are very different, they can all share the elements of a thriller. However, what are some of the main aspects that make a thriller. . .a thriller?

Conventions/Plot line

Conventions are what capture the audience, and what make them feel part of the thriller they are viewing. They can induce various emotions within the viewer, and determine how the audience may react to a scene/film. For example isolation is a key convention, it makes the character within the film seem vulnerable and at great risk; causing the audience to feel vulnerable also. Isolation is often prevalent within psychological thrillers and horrors, the feeling of loneliness and threat are very popular within these two types of thriller. Examples include John Carpenter's 'The Thing' (1982) where the crew of a polar research station are hemmed in on one side by inhospitable Antarctic weather, and on the other by a deadly extra-terrestrial threat, with the ability to assume the form and mannerisms of any organism it comes into contact with. . .posing the question, who do you trust? Another example of a thriller in which is based around isolation is 2007 horror/thriller '30 Days of Night' - a small Alaskan town find themselves trapped by a blood-thirsty gang of vampires during the annual 30 day black out, with no way of escaping. Another form of a convention is voyeurism; being watched or followed. This makes the audience feel as though they're somewhere they shouldn't be, and that they're witnessing things that they should not know about.

Characters

Much like many other film genres, conflict (of any sort) is essential to a thriller. Conflict can be between numerous different types of characters; hero and villain, man and extra-terrestrials, man and the mind (as featured in our production). Conflict within thrillers is usually a murder of some sort, or very one sided, however in other thrillers the conflict can be equally matched and non-violent such as in 'Catch Me if You Can' - in which a con artist is forever trying to flee the law. Sometimes to fool the audience, characters are presented as their opposites, for example Watchmen's Rorschach - a key example of an anti hero. Initially from the way he is presented, you would assume that he is a villain, this is not the case however; he is indeed one of the 'good guys'.

Setting/Iconography

The right setting to a thriller is essential, it determines the atmosphere and temperament of the film. Settings within a thriller would generally include a sense of isolation and entrapment, this could be anything from a forest to a prison. However this is not the case for every thriller; some are set in busy urban areas to 'break the mould'. This could be in order to give the audience a false sense of security, no one really expects something abnormal and dangerous to happen in an openly social area.

This then leads further into Iconography. Iconography is the symbolic representation of different images, such as trees, running water or street lamps. Trees are often prevalent within a thriller, as the tall, intimidating bodies represent prison bars, keeping you contained and confined; this is why you see a lot of thrillers (and horrors) set in the woods. Running water is also a key symbol in iconography, as it often represents life being washed away. Another symbol is a street lamp, you will often see a character standing underneath a street lamp (or any other light for that matter), this usually intends to create a positive light casting over this 'good' character.