This is what I found out:
If a thriller were to be defined strictly it would be said to be a genre with a single goal; to give the audience “thrills” and keep them on the edge of their seats as the plot develops to a climax. These are types of films known to promote intense excitement, suspense, a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, anxiety, and nerve-wracking tension. The tension usually arises when the main character(s) is placed in a menacing situation or mystery, or an escape or dangerous mission from which escape seems impossible. Their lives are usually in danger because they are unknowingly in a dangerous situation.
Thrillers are often hybrids - there are lots of varieties of suspense-thrillers:
This uses physical action to create suspense throughout the film. This sub-genre will often have continuous motion and action including physical stunts, chases, fights, battles, and races which contribute to the sense of danger the main character(s) are facing.
A Science Fiction film will incorporate heroes, villains, unexplored locations, fantastical quests, and advanced technology. These elements can be used to create anticipation and suspense. Often it explores the theme of “future gone bad” for example alien invasions.
It uses the suspenseful aspects of a thriller and a crime film plot. The plot usually centers on a serial killer, murderer, robbery, or manhunt. They use both action and psychological aspects to build tension and suspense.
Film Noir is not just a sub-genre but a term for a distinct type of crime-drama or thriller that was popular throughout the 1940s and 1950s. It is characterized by a black-and-white style with stark lighting effects. The main character is usually a cynical hero. It relies on a narrative voice and various flashbacks to explain the intricate plot.
The horror gene is also very closely related to the genre of thriller. They create tension and suspense and take the viewer through agony and fear.
Examples: The Machinist, House of 9, Straw Dogs, Shutter Island.
Psychological thrillers are fictional thriller storys which emphasizes the psychology of its characters and their unstable emotional states, with similarities to gothic and detective fiction in sense of “dissolving sense of reality”, moral ambiguity, and complex and tortured relationships between obsessive and pathological characters.
Psychological thrillers often incorporate elements of mystery, drama and horror.
Examples: The Machinist, House of 9, Straw Dogs, Shutter Island.
Characters in thrillers include convicts, criminals, stalkers, assassins, down-on-their-luck losers, innocent victims (often on the run), prison inmates, menaced women, characters with dark pasts, psychotic individuals, terrorists, cops and escaped cons, fugitives, private eyes, drifters, duplicitous individuals, people involved in twisted relationships, world-weary men and women, psycho-fiends, and more. The themes of thrillers frequently include terrorism, political conspiracy, pursuit, or romantic triangles leading to murder.
Alfred Hitchcock had a huge influence on shaping the modern genre of thriller. He manipulates his audience’s fears and desires and allows his viewers to associate with the representation of reality that faces the characters. He often places an innocent victim into a strange or life threatening situation by mistaken identity, misidentification or wrongful accusation. He often used a “red herring” to catch the viewers attention. Also known as a McGuffin which would drive the plot forward. It initially appears to be very important but it intentionally misdirects the audience, it then quickly fades into the background and ends up being trivial, irrelevant, or incidental to the film's story. For example: The 39 Steps (1935): the nature of the 39 Steps, and the smuggling of secret plans (vital to the country's air defense) out of the country and Psycho (1960): the stolen money, the $40,000 wrapped up in a newspaper in the motel bedroom.
Response to comments: Overall from this I have learnt what a thriller aims to do and how they start to create tension, I know about a few different sub-genres of thrillers, I have learnt some of the types of charcters which will help us to decided what types of people we are going to have in our opening and I have learnt about some of the things Hitchcock did in his films and I have learnt what a McGuffin is so this is something we could possibly use.
If you had to summarize your learning-what would you say?
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