Researching The Thriller Genre

Here I am going to analyse our film genre (Kidnap thriller)

Mainly a thriller has two characters. An evil mastermind, stalker, psycho etc. And a hero played usually by a person of the law, or just an underdog doing what no man could. A prime example of this is 'The Dark Night' were batman plays the brave hero and the Joker is the evil psycho serial killer.

The sense of realism is crutial in this genre as it is supposed to be as realistic as possible (The public is frightened by things that seem un-natural but can easily occur in reality). A good way to keep this sense of realism is by the use of low key lighting. The low key lighting keeps the viewer on the edge of there seat as they don't know what may be lurking around the corner.

Another main thing thrillers have is the sense of being watched. I have touched upon this in my analysis for vertigo, a sense of being watched corresponds with the realism as stalkers and psycho's tend to do this.

The settings for thrillers are usually dark, abandoned building, alley ways, barroned land. The reason being is that tensions is created in small isolated places causing fright and an enigmatic settings for the viewer as anything unexpected can happen at any given moment.

The main story line for the main protagonist is usually a quest for them to do something. This is about the time when the antagonist comes into play to stop them from fulfilling there goal, thus creating more excitement and interest for the audience.

Using this knowledge, i can take this away and make sure I create as much tension and enigma in my final film as possible. The build up of tension is crucial as it keeps the viewer interested.