Ingredients of a thriller.

A thriller  is a broad genre of literature, film, and television programming that uses suspense, tension and excitement as the main elements. A good  thriller create an intense and exciting atmosphere  with the purpose of keeping the audiences at the edge of their sits. 


Sub Genres 

Psychological
Political 
Mystery
Action  
Conspiracy
Disaster 
Supernatural 
Crime 


The movement of thrillers 

After the assassination of John F Kennedy a lot of political thrillers were made , a good example is Oliver Stones's JFK. 
 


Alfred Hitchcock was very influential in the world of thrillers. His film psycho was one of the earliest films to really capture the essence of a thriller film. He was the first director to demand the audiences absolute commitment to the story.

                                         




Conventions  of a thriller film

In a conventional thriller ordinary people  are pitted against evil villains who are determined to destroy them , their country or the stability of the free world.

A conversational thriller will have non-stop action plot twists , red herrings  and cliffhangers that will both surprise and excite the audience.Settings that are both vibrant and exotic and an intense pace that never levels up until the Adrenalin filled climax.  

A plot twist is the change of the expected outcome in the plot of a film. Plot twists are usually based on the idea that there is something going on that the audience is not aware of. This is hidden usually aspects of a particulars persons personality or back story. A typical moment is when we find out for example in the dark night rises a woman we assume to have been 'one of the good guys' turns out to be the master mind behind the whole attack on Gotham city.  It comes as a great surprise because she has been entrusted with all the secrets and inside information but also because the audience has a completely different assumptions about her background.

 A cliffhanger is a narrative or plot device in which end is curiously abrupt so that the main characters are left in a difficult situation without being left any resolution of conflict.At a results of a sudden end suspects is created right at the end which leads to audience into a state where they cannot help asking 'what happens next'. A cliff hanger can be found in any part of the narrative sometimes it is found at the beginning of a film , which contributes to the suspense throughout the film.A cliff hanger at the end of the film is usually popular in film that are part of a planned series this is a good way to maintain suspense and anticipation for the next film. A very tense cliff hanger is the one in inception , at the end of the film when Dom spins the totem and whether it falls or not is the answer to whether he is in a dream or in reality.At the end it wavers a bit but we don't see if it falls because the screen goes black. This particular ending has created many debates about the meaning and possible outcomes in my opinion this is the reaction that an effective cliffhanger should have.



A red herring is a kind of fallacy introduced in a plot to divert the attention of the audience  from the original plot of the story. This usually leads the reader into a completely different assumption of the conclusion. Usually in detective movies the detective will come to the wrong conclusion , this is usually in the form of the most obvious conclusion to come to. For example in The Da vinci code , throughout the whole film we are lead to believe that Bishop Aringarosa is the main culprit in the Vatican cover up. But in fact he is just a read herring.



What is a thriller ?















Breaking Conventions

 More recent thrillers have began to break the conversations of the traditional thriller. For example we see for female protagonists in thriller films like in The call , Salt and Silence of the lamps. We have moved from the ordinary man who fights for justice on to thrillers that are more centered around the villain Silence of the Lamps is also a good example of this , even films like the good doctor are starting to lead on the idea that seeing things through the villains point of view is much more exciting and chilling for the audience.