Researching our chosen genre (thriller/mystery/drama)
It was hard putting our movie into a genre because there are now so many similar film genres which ahve a lot of overlapping characteristics, and there is a trend to merging genres (hybrids), so that’s why in the end I have characterised our film as a mixture of three.
Common themes for these genres
Our film is clearly related to the thriller genre and typical thrillers tend to be fast-paced and normally on a large scale such as a terrorist plot. It can be on a small scale but normally will involve a very big and serious situation for an individual.
Thrillers also have features in common with mysteries as there tends to be something to figure out e.g. where will a bomb detonate or in our case who was the abductor and how will they react. Normally something bad will happen to the main character near the beginning of the film. This is done so we feel sorry for them and develop a relationship with them. Along with the villain there’s normally a love interest or another similar character, maybe a daughter who will play an important role in the film and have some kind of close relationship with the main character. Normally they will get killed off. This is done to further the connection between the audience and the character and to see their emotions and give the audience the feeling that after all this character has been though they want them to have a happy ending. There is almost always a villain and lots of fighting scenes, and commonly a final fight scene between the protagonist and the villain where the villain is killed by the main character. This is generally the climax of thriller film. There is normally only one protagonist in thriller films who in the end saves the day, for example "Taken" features Liam Neeson as the film's main character who finds his daughter from mainly his own efforts and as I said before manages to kill the villains that took her.
Thrillers also have features in common with mysteries as there tends to be something to figure out e.g. where will a bomb detonate or in our case who was the abductor and how will they react. Normally something bad will happen to the main character near the beginning of the film. This is done so we feel sorry for them and develop a relationship with them. Along with the villain there’s normally a love interest or another similar character, maybe a daughter who will play an important role in the film and have some kind of close relationship with the main character. Normally they will get killed off. This is done to further the connection between the audience and the character and to see their emotions and give the audience the feeling that after all this character has been though they want them to have a happy ending. There is almost always a villain and lots of fighting scenes, and commonly a final fight scene between the protagonist and the villain where the villain is killed by the main character. This is generally the climax of thriller film. There is normally only one protagonist in thriller films who in the end saves the day, for example "Taken" features Liam Neeson as the film's main character who finds his daughter from mainly his own efforts and as I said before manages to kill the villains that took her.
Thrillers also have always had a very tense plot where anything could happen at any time and the audience will always be filled with suspense. The story lines for thrillers are normally far-fetched, however because we are so used to them, with the hero foiling the bad guy and saving the day, they carry a high media verisimilitude. People see this narrative in films all the time and even though the plots are in real life ridiculous people watching still see it as believable and ‘real’ because it is a media trope that is very familar.
Locations for thriller types vary between films but common settings would be large cities or urban areas. Often there is use of well known cities such as London or New York to create a sense of verisimilitude because people will recognise these places and relate to them. Thrillers are typically filmed in high key lighting so bright and harsh lights because of the seriousness of the genre, depending on the film the main character is generally a tough man who knows how to fight and so the actor is picked accordingly so he looks the part and is normally associated with that genre e.g. Tom Cruise. However in our case we’ve gone the opposite way and chosen to have a weak and vulnerable girl as our main character who is being abused by a strong male character and so when we cast who the actors will be we will have to get people who fit the part and look like the character they are portraying so the audience can create a connection and find it more believable.
Editing in thriller films is often fast paced and quick going from scene to scene also there tends to be a chase scene and cross cutting will normally be used to create a fast paced action there is also a lot of filming on handhelds so the camera wobbles making it seem that the viewer is there with the character. An example of these techniques is this scene from the Bourne Ultimatum:
It is filmed using quick cuts and transition very fast paced creating tension which is very common in fight scenes in thriller movies.
Sound is very important in films and thrillers and normally the themes are very serious so the underscore will generally be orchestral and have very dark tones, almost brooding, to help create tension and suspense in the needed moments coming up to the climatic scenes the music will increase in volume and pace to coincide with what’s happening on film.
Thrillers will normally have a happy ending with the protagonist solving the mystery or foiling the bad guy and solving the problem of the film.
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