The thriller genre

Not to be confused with the horror genre, thrillers often make the audience feel tense and create suspense and anticipation. These typical thriller moods can also occur in horrors, so the two genres are closely linked and films can often come under the genre horror-thriller. This is known as a hybrid. Other common hybrids include action thrillers, psychological thrillers, political thrillers, crime thrillers, sci-fi thrillers etc. For our coursework clip it would probably be more practical to do a horror-thriller or a psychological-thriller because they are easier to film  and it would require fewer props. An action-thriller or espionage-thriller would need props and iconography such as weapons and cars which we don't have access to. Also it is unlikely we will find people willing to act in our clip that would fit the profile for a action hero, secret agent or spy whereas we know lots of young people who would be perfect horror victims.
To create the typical moods of a thriller film, cinematography, mise en scene, sound and editing are all key. In cinematography the protagonist/victim may be shot using high angles to make them seem weaker and more vulnerable. Oppositely antagonists can be shot using low angles to make them appear more powerful. Point of view shots are also used to show victims being watched by the antagonist or to show an eyeline match shot for when the protagonist makes a discovery. Close ups and extreme close ups are often used to highlight characters' facial expressions, normally to show fear in the victim or to show insanity in the antagonist. The facial expressions are important to create tension among the audience because the audience will feel uncomfortable and therefore tense. Also using close ups and extreme close ups enables the audience to see details they wouldn't be able to see normally, so the experience is more exciting and thrilling than it would be in real life. Zooming and dollying can be used to disorientate the audience, especially in psychological thrillers where things aren't always as they seem. As stalking and pursuit are main thriller themes tracking can be used to show characters being followed. This can be point of view or over the shoulder, and it lets the audience know the protagonist is in danger, building tension and suspense.
 In mise en scene low key lighting is often used as a play on the fear of the unknown, creating suspense and tension because the audience cannot see much of what is happening on the screen so enigmas are formed. Therefore the audience feels uneasy and they imagine what they think is happening in the storyline when really it is probably  not as bad as they believe. As some early thrillers date back to the 1920's and 1930's some were made in black and white, which can create an eerie mood and so adds to the tension of the thriller. Key props are used to make the film seem more realistic. They can also just be part of the storyline but usually key props link in with iconography. Also in mise en scene the location of the scene can help to create the mood for a thriller. Often the most tense scenes are set in isolated, rural locations because that is where victims are most helpless and vulnerable. For example in Psycho (1960) the Bates Motel is the perfect location for a thriller as it is isolated, secluded and remote. The antagonist is free to murder the protagonist without fear of being caught because it is unlikely anyone would be around to see him.

Bates Motel

Thrillers usually have a protagonist who is an outsider or an underdog and therefore an easier target because if anything were to happen to them people may not care or even notice. They often unknowingly get involved or dragged into a dangerous situation and escape seems impossible. This creates tension and suspense because the audience cannot see a way out for the protagonist and they feel anxious and sympathetic towards them. The protagonist is sometimes a controversial character with secrets of their own from past experiences, often on the run, in trouble with the law or they just stand out as different from the rest of society. Typical thriller characters include prison inmates, stalkers, spies, convicts, corrupt police officers or detectives, assassins, soldiers, terrorists, mentally unstable people and people with dark pasts. The antagonist is not always clear, they can be sketchy, shady characters and sometimes the audience aren't sure who it is until later in the film. This is often the case is mystery thrillers and it creates suspense and tension because the audience are kept in the dark. Quite often in thrillers as well as the protagonist and the antagonist there is the innocent victim who isn't really important to the storyline but they end up getting involved either by a connection to the protagonist or just by trying to do good. This unlucky character will usually die, heroically or tragically but never significantly. Another thriller character is the femme fatale. This is a strong female character,  although she is not usually the protagonist, and she may at first seem innocent but she is actually devious and manipulative, and of course seductive. She is often very guarded and complex, holding many secrets which creates enigmas.
Editing is used to increase the pace of the scene by using quick cuts so the scene is fast and tension rises. This can be used at the climax of a scene, for example the shower scene from Psycho (1960) where the woman is killed. By making the pace of the scene faster, it creates a sense of panic and the audience feels tense and nervous. Another editing technique used in thrillers is cross cutting. This establishes a relationship between people or objects, but in a thriller in can also suggest something is about to happen. Cross cutting between two shots creates an expectation for some action, so the audience knows there is something going on. Although this technique doesn't create much tension it can create suspense as the audience anticipate what is going to happen next. Long edits also let the audience know something is about to happen and they elongate the wait to build suspense and tension. By prolonging the shot the audience have more time to worry and let their imaginations lead them astray. The longer the edit the greater the tension.
Sound is arguably the most important creator of the atmosphere and moods that define a thriller. Without sound most thriller films would lose the tension and suspense created with scores and sound effects. Sound, and in particular score, often links with editing. For example a long edit may have a slow, simple score to build up tension, like the well known score used in Jaws (1975) which is effective because the audience anticipates the danger. During quick cuts the score may be more fast paced and complex, often including several instruments. This is usually pleonastic too so that it mimics the actions of the film, therefore exaggerating and intensifying it. In the build up to an action of some sort the score can increase the pace and tempo to indicate danger is approaching or it can stay the same so that when the action occurs the audience are surprised as they weren't expecting it.
Dramatic irony and red herrings are quite typical in thrillers. Dramatic irony lets the audience know something the characters don't, so they feel more involved with the film and also anxious because they are aware of what is likely to happen whereas the character isn't, so the audience can anticipate the action but they can't do anything to prevent it or warn the character. Red herrings do the opposite. They lead the character to believe something is important when in actual fact it is insignificant to the storyline and so the audience are blissfully unaware of what is actually happening and when it is later revealed they are shocked. Quite often characters can be red herrings, the audience thinks they are responsible for whatever the story revolves around and actually it was someone else all along.

 In Shutter Island (2010) the protagonist Marshal Teddy Daniels has a bad past which is an enigma and is revealed bit by bit throughout the film. Flashbacks are used to show his past but not enough to reveal anything too much, just enough to confuse the audience. He ends up involved in a storyline bigger than his Investigation and the audience realise towards the end of the film after the plot twist that the investigation was a red herring. This is a typical feature of a thriller film as it fools the audience so they can be surprised when they realise it was a red herring. It also allows the audience to think they know more than they do because in fact the whole time something else has been happening. As the protagonist is visiting the prison for an investigation, he is an outsider. This is common for the protagonist in a thriller film because it means they are an easier target and they stand out from the crowd so they must be different for a reason. The film links two common thriller characters, criminals and psychos, in a prison for the criminally insane. Most of the film is shot with low key lighting to create a sinister and ominous mood. Many parts of the film make the audience doubt themselves and question what they know as there are conflicting views. The audience want to believe the protagonist but logic is on the antagonist's side. As the title suggests the film is set on an island, which is an important factor of the key thriller theme of impossible escape as it means the protagonist cannot leave the island unnoticed. There is also a storm which means it is unsafe to travel on the water and therefore no one can leave the island, so the protagonist is trapped. The protagonist starts hallucinating and suffering from migraines which disorientates the audience and creates more suspense, tension, anxiety and uncertainty.

Alfred Hitchcock is an English film maker/director who's best known for making suspense thrillers. In his third film, an early silent film The lodger (1927), the protagonist and murder victims are all young, blonde females, showing that since the beginning of thrillers this has been the typical character appearance. The antagonist is a mystery for most of the film, and an innocent man is wrongly accused of being the murderer. This theme is also used in The 39 steps (1935) and The wrong man (1956). A similar theme also occurs in Psycho (1960) where the audience think Mrs Bates is the murderer when really it's Norman dressing up as her.  Hitchcock often used red herrings in his films, such as the $40,000 that's stolen in Psycho which really isn't significant to the murders. It also includes an innocent victim, the investigator who's just trying to do his job but gets killed instead. Hitchcock is often called "the master of thrillers", and he is responsible for many of the conventions of thrillers used in modern films. He had many signature features he included in his films, such as using sexual themes or a taboo to make his films more controversial as well as making cameo appearances in most of his films. He used a variety of cinematic techniques in his films to evoke the right emotions out of his audience, such as the dolly-zoom shots in Vertigo (1958).

Hitchcock - "The master of thrillers"

House at the end of the street (2012)  is a good example of a film that includes the codes and conventions of a thriller, laid out by Alfred Hitchcock. The protagonist, a young, blonde female, has just moved house with her mother, so she is an outsider. This is a typical character from a Hitchcock thriller, and automatically lets the audience know she is in danger because of the expectation from the film genre. The antagonist is shadowy and throughout the film the audience is lead to believe it is the little sister of the man who lives in the house at the end of the street but it is actually the man himself who is responsible for the deaths of his parents and other occurrences in the film. This theme of using a red herring as the antagonist also comes from Hitchcock. There is no femme fatale but the film does include the innocent victim; the police officer who tries to save the protagonist but ends up getting murdered instead. This is similar to the investigator in Psycho (1960) who also gets killed because he got in the way of the antagonist. The location is a rural town, although there are other houses in the town they are spread quite far apart, so the house at the end of the street is quite isolated and separate from the rest of the neighbourhood. This makes it a good location for the man to keep girls hostage because no one is around and even when she escapes it is such a long distance to the next house he catches her before she reaches help. The film is rated a certificate 15, so it is not suitable for people under the age of 15. This is because it contains disturbing images and some bad language. The score used in this film is quite high pitched and slow because there are many tense moments where the score is needed to create suspense. There are many long edits which also create tension and due to the massive plot twist the audience is shocked and so for the remainder of the film very tense. Close ups of the protagonist's face are often used to show her fear, this projects her emotions onto the audience so they too share her fear and tension.