What is a thriller?

In most thrillers the heroes tend to be accustomed to danger: law enforcement officers, spies, soldiers etc. However, they may also be ordinary citizens drawn into danger by accident. While such heroes have traditionally been men, women lead characters have become increasingly common for example films like Tomb raider. Also in a thriller the film will always circulate around crime and slowly the suspense is built up to cause an unexpected bang at the end. Thrillers often overlap with mystery stories, but are separated by the structure of their plots. Thrillers are often hybrid, mixed with other genres. These are called sub genre such as:

1) Action thriller: James Bond films, The Transporter.
2) Conspiracy thriller: Three Days of the Condor, Capricorn One, and JFK
3) Crime thriller: The Killing, Seven, Reservoir Dogs, Inside Man, and The Asphalt Jungle
4) Disaster thriller: Stormy Weather and the 1974 film Earthquake.
5) Drama thriller: The Illusionist, The Interpreter and The Prestige
6) Erotic thriller: Basic Instinct, Dressed to Kill, Color of Night, Eyes Wide Shut, Fatal Attraction, Looking for Mr. Goodbar, Obsessed, and In the Cut.
7) Legal thriller: The Innocent Man
8) Medical thriller: Awake
9) Political thriller: Agency.
10) Psychological thriller: Suspicion, Shadow of a Doubt, and Strangers on a Train
11) Spy thriller: The Bourne Identity
12) Techno-thriller: The Hunt for Red October
13) Religious thriller: The Da Vinci Code.

Directors of Thrillers

COMPARING OPENING SCENES

- Silent beginning gives a very suspenseful approach to the start of the film which gives a serious approach as we don't no what to expect.
- The lighting is dark in the beginning, and during the trailer begins to lighten up.
- Main Characters names are displayed before the any clips are even shown e.g. Marlon Brando, Al Pacino.
- Produced by Paramount Pictures.
- Trailer involves a lot of fading in and out to change scenes which creates a continuous effect.
- Music gives us a very calm, mellow feeling, the soundtrack played is used during the film most of the time so it is relevant.
- Trailer consists of main characters speaking.





- Lighting Dark, with mild lighting, but some spots emphasized with strong lighting
-Sound- Main character speaks, in trailer, leads on audience, voice gives a recognition of scariness. The voice is followed with some dramatic music which builds up an then grows louder with big scenes scenes
- Main Characters: Heath Ledger and Christian Bale
-Location- America
-Camera movements, Upbeat, fast movements , then slow and continuous, but then each scene un ravels another camera shot.

THE TERMINATOR OPENING SCENE

The short clip above is taken from the 1984 release of The Terminator. This clip which goes on for approximately 1 minute and 39 seconds are the opening credits of this film. Even though this film was released more then 25 years ago, the effects and sound go hand in hand to produce an inspiring start to the film. As you can see there aren't any pictures in the opening credits, but what we do see is the names of the cast, producer, director etc. Are written in block capitals and come on to the screen as if they were being type on by a machine. This is very effective as we know this action/sci-fi thriller is based on machines, so to do that is in a way giving the audience a sign of whats to come. This effect goes very well with the background sound, this is because as we hear the letters being typed the sound of the typing merges very well with the background sound itself without causing any disturbance.

SE7EN OPENING SCENE

In the opening scene on "Se7en" we first see a couple of blank pages being turned over by a blurred hand in the background, we next see the credits. This is very effective as this doesn't just only give an idea of what type of film it is, but it also keeps the audience interested with the short but appealing 2 minute start. Another important factor is sound, the screeching and slow sound sets the perfect tone for the film to start as it cause's intensity as well as causing suspense as the pitch goes high and low. During all this is taking place we also see flashing images to cause more awareness. This is all done to consume the audience in order to provide them with an experience of a life time. The use of different colors create a tense atmosphere causing the minds of the audience to believe what they are seeing. All of this sets the foundation of the film, which is now one of the best thrillers ever made.