Generic Thriller Research and Crime Thrillers

Generic Thriller Research – key conventions of thrillers: characters, locations, themes, narratives and so on.

“Thriller is a broad genre of literature, film, and television programming that uses suspense, tension and excitement as the main elements.”

Thrillers heavily stimulate the viewer's moods giving them a high level of anticipation, heightened expectation, uncertainty, surprise, anxiety and terror.

A thriller is a villain-driven plot, whereby he or she presents obstacles that the protagonist must overcome.

Common subgenres are psychological thrillers, crime thrillers and mystery thrillers. After the assassination of President Kennedy, the political thriller genre became very popular. Another common subgenre of thriller is the spy genre which deals with fictional espionage. Successful examples of thrillers are the films of Alfred Hitchcock. The horror and action genres often overlap with the thriller genre.

The aim for thrillers is to keep the audience alert and on the edge of their seats. The protagonist in these films is set against a problem – an escape, a mission, or a mystery. No matter what sub-genre a thriller film falls into, it will emphasize the danger that the protagonist faces. The tension with the main problem is built on throughout the film and leads to a highly stressful climax.

The cover-up of important information from the viewer, and fight and chase scenes are common methods in all of the thriller subgenres, although each subgenre has its own unique characteristics and methods.

In this genre, the objective is to deliver a story with sustained tension, surprise, and a constant sense of impending doom. It keeps the audience cliff-hanging at the "edge of their seats" as the plot builds towards a climax.

Thrillers tend to be fast-moving, psychological and threatening, mysterious and at times involve larger-scale villainy such as espionage, terrorism and conspiracy.

“...Thrillers provide such a rich literary feast. There are all kinds. The legal thriller, spy thriller, action-adventure thriller, medical thriller, police thriller, romantic thriller, historical thriller, political thriller, religious thriller, high-tech thriller, military thriller. The list goes on and on, with new variations constantly being invented. In fact, this openness to expansion is one of the genre's most enduring characteristics. But what gives the variety of thrillers a common ground is the intensity of emotions they create, particularly those of apprehension and exhilaration, of excitement and breathlessness, all designed to generate that all-important thrill. By definition, if a thriller doesn't thrill, it's not doing its job.” — James Patterson, June 2006, "Introduction," Thriller

Common methods and themes in crime thrillers are mainly ransoms, captivities, heists, revenge, kidnappings. .

More common in mystery thrillers are investigations and the whodunit technique.

Common elements in psychological thrillers are mind games, psychological themes, stalking, confinement/deathtraps, horror-of-personality, and obsession.

Elements such as fringe theories, false accusations and paranoia are common in paranoid thrillers. Threats to entire countries, spies, espionage, conspiracies, assassins and electronic surveillance are common in spy thrillers

The primary elements of the thriller genre:

• The protagonist(s) faces death, either their own or somebody else's.
• The force(s) of antagonism must initially be cleverer and/or stronger than the protagonist's.
• The main storyline for the protagonist is either a quest or a character who cannot be put down.
• The main plotline focuses on a mystery that must be solved.
• The film's narrative construction is dominated by the protagonist's point of view.
• All action and characters must be credibly realistic/natural in their representation on screen.
• The two major themes that underpin the thriller genre are the desire for justice and the morality of individuals.
• One small, but significant, aspect of a thriller is the presence of innocence in what is seen as an essentially corrupt world.
• The protagonist(s) and antagonist(s) may battle, themselves and each other, not just on a physical level, but on a mental one as well.
• Either by accident or their own curiousness, characters are dragged into a dangerous conflict or situation that they are not prepared to resolve.
  

Characters include criminals, stalkers, assassins, innocent victims (often on the run), menaced women, characters with deep dark pasts, psychotic individuals, spree killers, sociopaths, agents, terrorists, cops and escaped cons, private eyes, people involved in twisted relationships, world-weary men and women, psycho-fiends, and more.

The themes frequently include terrorism, political conspiracy, pursuit, or romantic triangles leading to murder.

The suspense often comes from two or more characters preying upon one another's minds, either by playing deceptive games with the other or by merely trying to demolish the other's mental state.

CRIME THRILLERS –

Since we have gone for an Crime Related Thriller, I have decided to go into further detail on the crime genre.

Often the two overlap. However, pure crime films/novels focus on a specific crime or set of crimes, and solving the mystery or tracking down the criminal(s), with no or little violence but more drama throughout. Thrillers are usually fiction-based and fast in pace, while crime fiction tend to be more leisurely paced, dramatic and realistic. Crime thrillers are often based on the criminal rather than the police force (not always), the crimes used on these types of movies are often murdersor theft, also some crime thrillers are often psychological, emphasising how much the criminal is smarter than the cops (for example Inside Man, Seven.)

Generally, violence is also lacking in a crime film, be it a thriller or not, but this depends if the work is based on the mafia, where violence is intense.

Crime-thrillers, on the other hand, have more threat and suspense in them and may involve espionage (spying), frequent killings and other non-criminal conflicts (i.e., Heat). In crime fiction, the hero might be a police officer, or a private eye, who can still be tough and resourceful.

He is pitted against villains determined to destroy him, although, unlike in thrillers, not necessarily other people, the country or the stability of the free world.

The conventions of a crime thriller are:

• suspenseful account of failed or successful crimes
• features - murder/robbery/shoot outs/double cross/scenarios
• can glorify the rise & fall of a criminal - often based on real people
• set in a large crowded cities to provide the viewer with an insight into a secret world
• characters have an ambitious desire for success or recognition
• rivalry between binary opposite characters is strong
• many locations - seedy & interior settings
  

Different Personalties Among Characters in Crime Thrillers

• Immoral
• Megalomania
• Intimidating
• Materialistic
• Intelligent compared to inferior characters
• Street-Smart
  
  
  Codes Used in Thriller Films
• Slow camera movements
• Slow-paced edits
• Moderate/fast paced sound (high amounts of non-diegetic sound)
• Shots used to establish a location/scene (Establishing shot, long shot or dolly shots are used often)
  
  All of these aim to increase the tension and suspense in the atmosphere of the film and consistently do so throughout the film to keep viewers enticed in the film.