There are several things that are expected when you are filming and watching Thriller films. In this post i will list all of the typical features and even some uncommon features the some people don't realise. First of them all is a chase scene.
To be honest, thrillers wouldn't be called thrillers if there wasn't an exciting
chase/fight scene. Imagine watching James Bond and instead of him fighting through about 20 goons, he just walked straight to the boss and killed them; it wouldn't be an exciting movie. This is exactly why directors have to think about the chase scenes to try and entice the audience and make them want to watch and see what happens afterwards. Next is the
Male Hero. Well in today's society, normally the main hero is a male and it has been the same since the beginning of films but recently females have now been given a more important roles in films than in previous years. Take for example, Janet Leigh she didn't get a big role in Psycho but now actors such as Angelina Jolie get massive roles in films where they can even be the main character, which is good for women because then they can show off their acting talents. Could this be the beginning of a new era of film??
Cliffhangers and
Red Herrings are generally used in Thriller films because they can fool the audience into thinking that something will happen but instead nothing does. It is a very clever technique that if used correctly will make a film exceptionally good. Cliffhangers are normally used if the movie will be continued in another period of time such as The Lord Of The Rings or Star Wars etc. But there are some films that actually use Cliffhangers to make the film seem as though it will never end and the threat is still at large. This is used in The Birds because at the end of the film, all we see is the car driving away and a large screen of all of the birds then the movie just ends. Alfred Hitchcock says that he used this as the end of the film so that "The threat is still looming out there".
One typical thing that is guaranteed to be in Thrillers are
Love Interests. There always has to be one person that falls in love with the main character in the film or they are either already married to someone and something goes wrong but in the end they always either stay together or marry blah blah blah. But there is always that odd occasion in a film where the main character actually loses a loved one and that is actually the drive of the film. Revenge. This is especially present in the film Bourne Identity where he loses his loved one and then looks for answers which is exceptionally done throughout the entire film. But also the women in the films are typically blonde and very attractive although now in today's film era that has been changed since as long as they're beautiful no one really cares about what hair colour they have. Though that would have been very different in the days of Alfred Hitchcock who definitely like having blonde's in his films.
There is always a
Threat or
Deadline that the heroes have to accomplish before time runs out. For example, in nearly every Bond film there is a "Save the Planet" mission where he has 24 hours to save us and does accomplish the mission. But there are always deadlines in thrillers, no matter which movie you watch. think about it. Is there always a head of department that says you have so and s time to save the world? Thought so. And now were used to it but to be honest, we don't really care about the time we just care about how the hero is going to finish the mission.
There will always be
Obstacles in life and especially in movies because without them they would be completely boring. As i said above the hero would basically just go up the the main villain and just kill them and that wouldn't be any fun. SO they throw in a couple traps, goons and maybe occasionally a sort of mini action sequence. For example, The Transporter, his job is simply to just deliver packages and stuff to their destinations with no questions asked. But something always goes wrong and he starts getting in trouble with the baddies and this is what really brings us into the movie. Will he get the package back? How will he get out of this one? These elements make thrillers worth watching and add suspense throughout the entire movie.
The
Villain is always well prepared and assumes to have thought about everything to make sure that their plan is going to work but that in most movies is not the case and obviously their pal is thwarted by the Main Hero. An example of this is in North By Northwest where you have the innocent Cary Grant and you have the villain which is well equipped and knows exactly where he is going to go and has all his goons and cronies following him to get back the Microfilm (MacGuffin). The villains in the film always seem to ave an infinite amount of wealth and will do almost anything to make sure that their plan goes ahead perfectly.
There is always going to be
Deaths in thrillers because of all of the action and fight scenes and there seems to be no consequences of the actions of the hero. He could take down a whole army of evil goons and then not have any remorse for them and this makes me think. Would that really happen in real life? I mean you wouldn't feel that much remorse because you're trying to save the world at the expense of a few people but they must feel something. Whereas if a assistant or side character was to be killed in the film, All of the good guys would try even harder to take down the villain for their fallen comrade but this isn't the same for the evil side, it is as if everyone is for themselves yet we still work together.
In most films there will be
Background Music or
Diegetic and
Non-Diegetic sound because it adds impact to the film and can even sometimes build up some of the best suspense. Birds is a great example because there is no diegetic sound in the film at all which means that there will always be suspense because you will never know when the birds will attack. Which is what makes a good film, i believe. Another important feature is the background lighting and shadows. Villains are always seen to be on the 'Dark' side so they will often be in the shadows which can add to the effect of the character and make it even more effective.
We all know that some women cause trouble. You can just feel it inside whenever you watch them in the movies. Do you know what they're called? Yes? Well ill tell you anyway, they're called
Femme Fatale. Theses are the women in the background that usually smoke cigarettes and just look at the surroundings. Take North By Northwest for example (sorry its a good example) he was about to get caught and then a women just offers to hide you away from the goons. Who does that?! Think rationally. I would have gotten a bit suspicious and had questioned her. But the film did have to go on. Now generally the women are the sidekicks that help the Main Hero complete their mission and help solve the problem or throughout the whole film are the actual problem but then the Hero only realises this at the end of the film most of the time when it is too late.
In some thrillers the Main Hero may drink or may even be an
Alcoholic and you continually see this throughout the film. For example in James Bond we have the infamous line of "Shaken not stirred". Even though it shows he likes a drink like any other person it also shows a certain level of professionalism by the fact that he wants his drink a certain way. But then there is the opposite in films such as Hancock where you can see that he has lost his way and all he does all day is sit on a bench and drink alcohol. I think that this is typically used in the film because then it shows that nothing really comes out from being drunk and that the occasional drink is fine. There is normally some kind of
Puzzle or
Enigma in thriller films that the Hero has to think logically to figure out how to progress. This is seen in Indiana Jones where he is in old ruins and he has to figure out the old puzzles to continue on his quest. This is also used in recent films where they have programmers and background characters that help the Main Hero continue on their mission and in the end finish the task that they have been given.
Finally to the last point of this post,
Sub Genres. Although we still call some movies thrillers some f them have sub genres that they also fall into. Say for instance, Final Destination could be seen as a Horror/Psychological Thriller because there is always the suspense that something is going to happen. The psychological part of the film could be seen as the fact that the movie kind of plays with the mind and makes the audience think "Did that really happen?" or "What is really going on?". It really makes the audience question themselves about what just happened or what is happening in the film. (Miami Vice was a really confusing movie for me to watch).
And this is all of the techniques that i have found that are found in Thrillers. Keep watching my blog for more recent posts about Thrillers and Movies.
