The next step towards our coursework was studying Thrillers in preparation for shooting our own opening sequence of a thriller.
A thriller is a book or film which is designed to keep the reader or viewer on edge with suspenseful and sensational action. Thrillers have also been produced in the radio, theatre and television media. It is a ‘meta-genre’ as it is difficult to define because the majority of emotions and reactions that come from Thrillers are part of the whole experience of film. The genre is flexible and ambiguous and can easily cross over with other genres like horror. There are many sub-genres of Thriller, for example supernatural thriller, crime thriller etc. The Thriller relies on a detailed plot to create fear, tension and suspense for the audience. It plays on
everyday basic fears by focusing on the most infantile and therefore repressed thoughts. These thoughts can be voyeuristic, sexual or violent. Thrillers raise questions or Enigma codes in the mind of the audience. Thrillers also have universals themes for e.g. love, death, and money. There is often a struggle with these that enthrals the spectator. There is also a sense of delay which is follower by a sense of relief from that tension. However the Thriller genre is sadomasochistic meaning that the audience often enjoys watching the director cause pain and suffering to the characters. Our pleasure is derived from their discomfort. We know this due to the popularity of thrillers. As well as evoking visceral, gut-level feelings rather than more sensitive, delicate emotions, thrillers also create a sense of ambivalence- they feel a sense of identification and sympathy with the hero or victim’s vulnerability.
A thriller is a book or film which is designed to keep the reader or viewer on edge with suspenseful and sensational action. Thrillers have also been produced in the radio, theatre and television media. It is a ‘meta-genre’ as it is difficult to define because the majority of emotions and reactions that come from Thrillers are part of the whole experience of film. The genre is flexible and ambiguous and can easily cross over with other genres like horror. There are many sub-genres of Thriller, for example supernatural thriller, crime thriller etc. The Thriller relies on a detailed plot to create fear, tension and suspense for the audience. It plays on
everyday basic fears by focusing on the most infantile and therefore repressed thoughts. These thoughts can be voyeuristic, sexual or violent. Thrillers raise questions or Enigma codes in the mind of the audience. Thrillers also have universals themes for e.g. love, death, and money. There is often a struggle with these that enthrals the spectator. There is also a sense of delay which is follower by a sense of relief from that tension. However the Thriller genre is sadomasochistic meaning that the audience often enjoys watching the director cause pain and suffering to the characters. Our pleasure is derived from their discomfort. We know this due to the popularity of thrillers. As well as evoking visceral, gut-level feelings rather than more sensitive, delicate emotions, thrillers also create a sense of ambivalence- they feel a sense of identification and sympathy with the hero or victim’s vulnerability. An example of a thriller is ‘The Babysitter’ which is about a teenage babysitter, who is the focus of two boys and a man's separate obsessions. This film has a build up of tension as it shows the effects of alcohol on the different males and how it makes them act.
Horror is a genre intended to scare, unsettle and horrify the audience. The difference to thriller is that the cause of the ‘horror’ experience is often the intrusion of a disturbing supernatural element into everyday human experience. Horrors have morbid, gruesome, surreal, or exceptionally suspenseful or frightening themes. Horror often overlaps science fiction or fantasy. Horrors are more visceral meaning the audience get a more immediate reaction of they see on screen.
An example of a Horror is 'Tormented' which is about a bullied teenager comes back from the dead and takes murderous revenge on his former classmates in increasingly brutal, bloody and imaginative. It can be described as a 'slasher' as it is very gory and by some members of the audience may be found quite comic as it is so visual and unrealistic. 
No comments:
Post a Comment