You see this is something that I have been dreading ever since first hearing about it, but it's one of the key things that I must have on the blog to ensure that my mark is a good one. It's every school boy and university student's worst nightmare. That's right. I have to write an essay, and a long one at that. Like I said, please forgive me for this and prepare for the dullest time of your lives.
Let's get started!
With reference to Hitchcock's 'Psycho' and at least two other films, as well as your further research, discuss the Thriller Genre and its Conventions
It's not at all difficult for a film to get classed as a Thriller. Looking at films in the media and their sub-genres, the Thriller genre appears a good amount, often conjoined with various other main genres: Action Thriller, Psychological Thriller, Crime Thriller, Political Thriller, Supernatural Thriller and Sci-Fi Thriller being a few examples. One of the main reasons for this big range is down to what makes a film a Thriller - its main conventions that make it distinguishable as a Thriller. Unlike most of the other main film genres such as Action, Sci-fi, Horror and Fantasy, whose conventions largely revolve around the setting of the film, it's plot devices and content, the Thriller genre's conventions are far less substantial and concrete, meaning that they can be applied far more easily to films.
Similarly to Comedy films, Thrillers are incredibly reliant on the audience's reactions to make them effective films except, rather than humour, Thrillers focus on eliciting feelings from the audience that are associated with danger - feelings such as suspense, tension, excitement, and anticipation.
That's not to say that Thriller conventions are limited to psychological feelings alone. Other conventions include a fast-paced plot line, plot elements such as cliff hangers and 'red herrings', i.e. elements in the storyline designed to mislead the audience, although, in a roundabout way these also relate to psychological feelings as cliffhangers are associated with suspense and anticipation, and red herrings bring forth false assumption and confusion. Because of the dark nature of these conventions, it's not uncommon to have Thriller films that are also classed as Horror, since their individual conventions are very similar in nature. It's also the main reason why Thrillers become less and less frequent as the age certificates get lower, with Thrillers being either incredibly rare or non-existent at the lowest certificate - Universal. Thrillers are most frequently rated either 12 certificate or above in Britain by the BBFC, or R rated in America by the MPAA.
Going back to the roots of the genre, it first appeared in literature, but was eventually applied to films and has been developed and shaped over time into its present day format. Late film maker Alfred Hitchcock is largely credited as being one of the first to make Thriller films and also one of the biggest influences on the modernization of the genre. His famous work Psycho (1960) is universally considered to be one of the best films of all time, and had a huge influence on the Thriller genre's development, as well as pushing back the boundaries for violence and intimacy in films.
What makes Psycho in particular so outstanding is down to the way it uses the Thriller genre's key conventions. Its plot elements are what make it so successful. The film's opening sequence is a clear indicator of the sort of film to be expected, with the title 'Psycho' appearing on screen in solid text until it gets distorted and twisted. The music accompanying it is also a clear indication of the theme of the film - it's a jerky string soundtrack that has a definite sense of danger or threat. This opening scene sets the mood for the film and in a sense warns the audience of the film's nature, setting up initial anticipation for dark plot elements. What is surprising however is that for a good portion of the film following the start, the plot has elements more similar to a crime film, with the main actress stealing money and trying to escape with it. The absence of any major dark plot elements for such a prolonged period of time causes the feeling of anticipation created by the opening to be dragged out and also brings forth the feeling of anxiety for the main character as she becomes better known.
It isn't until about a third of the way through Psycho that any dark elements appear in the plot, but when they do they come in very alarmingly. The main character, Marion is murdered by a shadowy figure without any prior warning. The murder itself is not what is predominantly alarming; it is the manner by which it takes place. Hitchcock uses a combination of effective and very powerful elements in perfect conjunction to make the murder as shocking and surprising as possible. The murder takes place in a shower, a private and closed-in space, adding a claustrophobic sense to the setting. Marion is naked; nudity is often associated with exposure and vulnerability, the murder is the climax of the anticipation and anxiety that has been growing since the start of the film. The murder is abrupt and out of the blue, the murderer's identity is concealed, leaving a new question dawning as to who it is and what prompted them to kill. The music accompanying the scene is jerky strings again but at a higher pitch than that of the opening, and unlike most deaths shown in films that are either instant or unrealistically long and glamourised, in this case this murder has the victim being stabbed to death in a very realistic manner, even though none of the wounds are shown on screen. Instead Hitchcock implies the stabbing with a clever combination of sound and multiple camera shots to make it seem real and horrific without ever showing the injuries. These combined elements of the 'shower scene' as it is famously known, are what made the scene so dramatic and also memorable. This scene by itself is one of the main reasons why Psycho became so famous.
A common feature of most Thrillers is that the scenario for the lead character - the protagonist, is very similar from film to film. In many cases the protagonists are very much ordinary people (but still '3-dimensional') at the film's beginning, living ordinary lives (ordinary at least for the setting of the film), until the plot drops them into strange circumstances and their lives suddenly change from ordinary to extraordinary, sometimes even after the plot is resolved. This is certainly the case with Psycho, as Marion Crane, whilst being particularly attractive, has a job as a secretary in Phoenix, and her life only becomes out of the ordinary when she decides to leave Phoenix with $40,000. The same concept applies for the main protagonist of Alfonso Cuarón's film Children of Men (2006): Theo Faron who, before being captured by an immigrant rights group called The Fishes, is just a cynical bureaucrat living an ordinary life. The main reason why Thrillers and films in general do this is to increase feelings of empathy and familiarity between the protagonist and the audience, which can be done more easily with a character living a similar life to their own, and to make the circumstances by which the character becomes involved seem like something that could be possible for the audience watching. That's not to say that Thrillers have to follow this trend. There are examples of the protagonists being rather extraordinary individuals with particular exceptional abilities. In the Crime Thriller Taking Lives (2004)the protagonist Illeana Scott is an outstanding FBI profiler with exceptional detective skills, and Llewelyn Moss from the Western Thriller No Country for Old Men (2007) is a Vietnam War veteran and is shown to be meticulous and thorough with everything he does, paying attention to every detail.
Antagonists in Thrillers also play a very important role, as much as, if not more than the main protagonists themselves. Since Thrillers implement dark themes and dark plot elements, the antagonists need to be equally dark in character and also interesting, as much more focus tends to be put on them in Thrillers than it does in many other film genres. Indeed, in the case of some Thrillers, the main villain is the driving force behind the effectiveness of the film. Most commonly the best villains have something about their characters that is abnormal, often a personality trait or a certain outlook on the world that makes them behave in a very abnormal way. This gives the audience something to try and work out for themselves - i.e. what makes the character behave in that particular way. A classic example of this idea is the Joker in Christopher Nolan's film The Dark Knight (2008): he is a psychotic and enigmatic anarchist (though for what reasons is never fully explained), who perceives the world in a very dark way and causes others to suffer for it. Another thing about his character that is also commonplace in villains is that his background and identity are shrouded in mystery, which also leaves the audience with questions as to who the villain actually is and what his past was like. These unanswered questions about the villain are mainly designed to add character to the villain and make the antagonist more interesting and 3-dimensional.
In Psycho too, the main antagonist Norman Bates is far from ordinary, and his portrayal presents him as a man with a complex personality and a lot of potential secrets. When he first appears there is nothing in his character to reflect anything dark, although there is mystery surrounding his elusive mother and his protectiveness over her. During his conversation with Marion he is shown to be very unpredictable in his moods, being quiet and aloof one moment then cold and intense the next. After Marion's murder, when he discovers the body, his behavior is rather unexplainable. He cleans up the mess in the shower, thoroughly clears her room of any evidence of her being there, wraps her body up and hides it in the boot of the car, along with her belongings, then drives the car into the swamp by the motel, all of the time without saying anything and acting as if nothing peculiar happened. Throughout the rest of the film he acts as if the murder never took place and also tries to hide his mother so that she can't be interrogated, giving another indication of Norman's protectiveness over her. Norman's true nature is only revealed at the very end of the film, where Marion's sister searches the basement and finds that Norman's mother is nothing more than a mummified skeleton; nothing more than a very convincing red herring to cover up who the true villain in the story is. Norman is revealed to be the true culprit behind Marion's murder, but it was his mother's mind dominating his body due to jealousy for Norman's attraction to her. It becomes clear that he has multiple personality disorder, and the reason for the film's title is finally revealed. Norman's mother's mind is his other personality, and he had been living both of their lives ever since she died, but there had been a battle for dominance constantly going on in Norman's head. This unique and surprising portrayal of Psycho's main antagonist is another of the reasons why Psycho is the success that it is, and the same idea has been used many times in future Thrillers.
It is somewhat easy to identify Thriller conventions within films. Good Thrillers have situations that readily elicit feelings of worry, danger, anticipation or tension from the audience to increase the film's quality. Psycho is one good example, but certainly not the only one. One of the most notable and more recent is Gary Ross' The Hunger Games (2012). The film demonstrates a very effective use of anticipation and dread, particularly throughout the first half of the film, and during 'The Reaping' scene near the start. This scene makes use of the natural tension that arises during selection processes on shows like The X Factor, and deliberately has a section before the reaping to allow the audience to familiarize themselves with the characters and to add to the feeling of worry that they may be picked. What's more, throughout the scene there is no non-diegetic sound at all, everyone gathered is deadly silent, aside from the announcer, which only makes the reaping process even more tense. The film doesn't allow the dread and anticipation to end after the reaping is over. Prior knowledge about the Games, around which the film centres, keeps the audience aware that even though the two 'tributes' (the boy and girl selected to participate) have been shown, at least one of them will be dead by the end of the Games. This makes the audience more worried about the two characters that they may have grown to like, or cautious to start liking them in case they get killed off, which is perfectly possible, given the nature of the film's plot line.
The feeling of anxiety is not eased either as the story goes on, especially as the other tributes come into the picture and it becomes possible to familiarize with them as well. The sense of anticipation and worry is further added to as other elements reminiscent of game shows are added into the plot, such as training, chances of survival, scores for suitability for the Games. All of these things the audience anxiously awaits the outcome of, hoping that particular more likeable characters will do well. And all of this happens before the games even start, as the plot tries to build up as much anticipation, as much dread, and as much tension as possible before climaxing it off with the beginning of the actual Games. The feeling of dread is at its height, immediately before the Games start, as the contestants stand atop individual plinths waiting for the start. What adds the final touch is a slow countdown, that the audience is aware is also a countdown to the climax of all of the built up feelings that have accumulated over the first half of the film.
One other key convention of Thriller films is their use of sound, both diegetic (sound that is 'in' the film) and non-diegetic (background sound that the audience is aware of, but isn't present in the actual setting), to help elicit emotion. In the suspenseful scenes in Thrillers, the sorts where everything slows down and the audience is anticipating some sort of sudden surprise, often the accompanying sound is key to the scene's effectiveness, and is a major contributor to the build-up towards the scene's climax. There is a particularly good example of this in D. J. Caruso's film Taking Lives. The scene is set in an abandoned flat where the main villain of the film had lived for a time. As the main protagonist and a fellow detective are searching, everything is deadly silent and they themselves are moving slowly and quietly. Only a menacing non-diegetic soundtrack can be heard in the background, which keeps playing as they search. All of the time, tension is building up and the feeling that something is about to happen is becoming stronger. One of the detectives then speaks up, breaking the silence, saying that the house is clear, and the tension instantly drops, along with the music. Then suddenly, as he picks something up a grotesque looking corpse swings down from above the ceiling above him, shocking both the detectives and the audience as the music suddenly picks up again loudly, adding to the shock of the scene.
Thrillers use sound in this way a great deal to better convey certain feelings at certain points, and to add effectiveness to scenes that need it. Mainly the sound comes in the form of a non-diegetic soundtrack played over the top of diegetic sound, but sometimes diegetic sound is used on its own to just the same effect, such as in the Coen Brothers' movie No Country for Old Men, where there is never any use of non-diegetic sound throughout the entire film, but there is much more emphasis on diegetic sound and visuals, which are used in a very effective way to cleverly elicit the same feelings of anxiety, danger and anticipation that non-diegetic sound would normally evoke. Indeed the absence of a music score possibly makes the film more suspenseful as the film's music score is a often main reference point for the audience to turn to, in order to work out what emotions to feel, and to give prior warning to the content of the scene. No Country for Old Men takes away this 'safety rail' and makes it more difficult to tell what is going to happen, leaving the audience in suspense all of the way through the film. This use of diegetic sound and absence of non-diegetic sound that is one of the reasons why No Country for Old Men one of the most successful films created by the Coen Brothers to date.
To sum up, Thrillers are very versatile and their conventions can be applied to almost every major genre of film. They are heavily reliant on the audiences reactions to their content, and their plot lines are usually dark in nature. The Thriller's primary convention is the ability to elicit feelings of suspense, danger, anticipation, anxiety and tension within the audience, to make their content properly effective. Because Thrillers are generally dark by nature, the need for a fascinating antagonist is just as important, if not more important than the need for a strong protagonist. It is quite common for there to be plot twists, red herrings, and cliff hangers implemented into the story. There is however no set theme to the way Thrillers are constructed, which allows for all manner of creativity and plot styles, and even the potential to challenge the genre's conventions themselves. Ultimately, if choosing to watch a Thriller, things to expect are a dark mood, intriguing characters, suspenseful moments that build up to a strong climax, and most importantly, expect things to not be what they originally seem to be.
Going back to the roots of the genre, it first appeared in literature, but was eventually applied to films and has been developed and shaped over time into its present day format. Late film maker Alfred Hitchcock is largely credited as being one of the first to make Thriller films and also one of the biggest influences on the modernization of the genre. His famous work Psycho (1960) is universally considered to be one of the best films of all time, and had a huge influence on the Thriller genre's development, as well as pushing back the boundaries for violence and intimacy in films.
What makes Psycho in particular so outstanding is down to the way it uses the Thriller genre's key conventions. Its plot elements are what make it so successful. The film's opening sequence is a clear indicator of the sort of film to be expected, with the title 'Psycho' appearing on screen in solid text until it gets distorted and twisted. The music accompanying it is also a clear indication of the theme of the film - it's a jerky string soundtrack that has a definite sense of danger or threat. This opening scene sets the mood for the film and in a sense warns the audience of the film's nature, setting up initial anticipation for dark plot elements. What is surprising however is that for a good portion of the film following the start, the plot has elements more similar to a crime film, with the main actress stealing money and trying to escape with it. The absence of any major dark plot elements for such a prolonged period of time causes the feeling of anticipation created by the opening to be dragged out and also brings forth the feeling of anxiety for the main character as she becomes better known.
It isn't until about a third of the way through Psycho that any dark elements appear in the plot, but when they do they come in very alarmingly. The main character, Marion is murdered by a shadowy figure without any prior warning. The murder itself is not what is predominantly alarming; it is the manner by which it takes place. Hitchcock uses a combination of effective and very powerful elements in perfect conjunction to make the murder as shocking and surprising as possible. The murder takes place in a shower, a private and closed-in space, adding a claustrophobic sense to the setting. Marion is naked; nudity is often associated with exposure and vulnerability, the murder is the climax of the anticipation and anxiety that has been growing since the start of the film. The murder is abrupt and out of the blue, the murderer's identity is concealed, leaving a new question dawning as to who it is and what prompted them to kill. The music accompanying the scene is jerky strings again but at a higher pitch than that of the opening, and unlike most deaths shown in films that are either instant or unrealistically long and glamourised, in this case this murder has the victim being stabbed to death in a very realistic manner, even though none of the wounds are shown on screen. Instead Hitchcock implies the stabbing with a clever combination of sound and multiple camera shots to make it seem real and horrific without ever showing the injuries. These combined elements of the 'shower scene' as it is famously known, are what made the scene so dramatic and also memorable. This scene by itself is one of the main reasons why Psycho became so famous.
A common feature of most Thrillers is that the scenario for the lead character - the protagonist, is very similar from film to film. In many cases the protagonists are very much ordinary people (but still '3-dimensional') at the film's beginning, living ordinary lives (ordinary at least for the setting of the film), until the plot drops them into strange circumstances and their lives suddenly change from ordinary to extraordinary, sometimes even after the plot is resolved. This is certainly the case with Psycho, as Marion Crane, whilst being particularly attractive, has a job as a secretary in Phoenix, and her life only becomes out of the ordinary when she decides to leave Phoenix with $40,000. The same concept applies for the main protagonist of Alfonso Cuarón's film Children of Men (2006): Theo Faron who, before being captured by an immigrant rights group called The Fishes, is just a cynical bureaucrat living an ordinary life. The main reason why Thrillers and films in general do this is to increase feelings of empathy and familiarity between the protagonist and the audience, which can be done more easily with a character living a similar life to their own, and to make the circumstances by which the character becomes involved seem like something that could be possible for the audience watching. That's not to say that Thrillers have to follow this trend. There are examples of the protagonists being rather extraordinary individuals with particular exceptional abilities. In the Crime Thriller Taking Lives (2004)the protagonist Illeana Scott is an outstanding FBI profiler with exceptional detective skills, and Llewelyn Moss from the Western Thriller No Country for Old Men (2007) is a Vietnam War veteran and is shown to be meticulous and thorough with everything he does, paying attention to every detail.
Antagonists in Thrillers also play a very important role, as much as, if not more than the main protagonists themselves. Since Thrillers implement dark themes and dark plot elements, the antagonists need to be equally dark in character and also interesting, as much more focus tends to be put on them in Thrillers than it does in many other film genres. Indeed, in the case of some Thrillers, the main villain is the driving force behind the effectiveness of the film. Most commonly the best villains have something about their characters that is abnormal, often a personality trait or a certain outlook on the world that makes them behave in a very abnormal way. This gives the audience something to try and work out for themselves - i.e. what makes the character behave in that particular way. A classic example of this idea is the Joker in Christopher Nolan's film The Dark Knight (2008): he is a psychotic and enigmatic anarchist (though for what reasons is never fully explained), who perceives the world in a very dark way and causes others to suffer for it. Another thing about his character that is also commonplace in villains is that his background and identity are shrouded in mystery, which also leaves the audience with questions as to who the villain actually is and what his past was like. These unanswered questions about the villain are mainly designed to add character to the villain and make the antagonist more interesting and 3-dimensional.
In Psycho too, the main antagonist Norman Bates is far from ordinary, and his portrayal presents him as a man with a complex personality and a lot of potential secrets. When he first appears there is nothing in his character to reflect anything dark, although there is mystery surrounding his elusive mother and his protectiveness over her. During his conversation with Marion he is shown to be very unpredictable in his moods, being quiet and aloof one moment then cold and intense the next. After Marion's murder, when he discovers the body, his behavior is rather unexplainable. He cleans up the mess in the shower, thoroughly clears her room of any evidence of her being there, wraps her body up and hides it in the boot of the car, along with her belongings, then drives the car into the swamp by the motel, all of the time without saying anything and acting as if nothing peculiar happened. Throughout the rest of the film he acts as if the murder never took place and also tries to hide his mother so that she can't be interrogated, giving another indication of Norman's protectiveness over her. Norman's true nature is only revealed at the very end of the film, where Marion's sister searches the basement and finds that Norman's mother is nothing more than a mummified skeleton; nothing more than a very convincing red herring to cover up who the true villain in the story is. Norman is revealed to be the true culprit behind Marion's murder, but it was his mother's mind dominating his body due to jealousy for Norman's attraction to her. It becomes clear that he has multiple personality disorder, and the reason for the film's title is finally revealed. Norman's mother's mind is his other personality, and he had been living both of their lives ever since she died, but there had been a battle for dominance constantly going on in Norman's head. This unique and surprising portrayal of Psycho's main antagonist is another of the reasons why Psycho is the success that it is, and the same idea has been used many times in future Thrillers.
It is somewhat easy to identify Thriller conventions within films. Good Thrillers have situations that readily elicit feelings of worry, danger, anticipation or tension from the audience to increase the film's quality. Psycho is one good example, but certainly not the only one. One of the most notable and more recent is Gary Ross' The Hunger Games (2012). The film demonstrates a very effective use of anticipation and dread, particularly throughout the first half of the film, and during 'The Reaping' scene near the start. This scene makes use of the natural tension that arises during selection processes on shows like The X Factor, and deliberately has a section before the reaping to allow the audience to familiarize themselves with the characters and to add to the feeling of worry that they may be picked. What's more, throughout the scene there is no non-diegetic sound at all, everyone gathered is deadly silent, aside from the announcer, which only makes the reaping process even more tense. The film doesn't allow the dread and anticipation to end after the reaping is over. Prior knowledge about the Games, around which the film centres, keeps the audience aware that even though the two 'tributes' (the boy and girl selected to participate) have been shown, at least one of them will be dead by the end of the Games. This makes the audience more worried about the two characters that they may have grown to like, or cautious to start liking them in case they get killed off, which is perfectly possible, given the nature of the film's plot line.
The feeling of anxiety is not eased either as the story goes on, especially as the other tributes come into the picture and it becomes possible to familiarize with them as well. The sense of anticipation and worry is further added to as other elements reminiscent of game shows are added into the plot, such as training, chances of survival, scores for suitability for the Games. All of these things the audience anxiously awaits the outcome of, hoping that particular more likeable characters will do well. And all of this happens before the games even start, as the plot tries to build up as much anticipation, as much dread, and as much tension as possible before climaxing it off with the beginning of the actual Games. The feeling of dread is at its height, immediately before the Games start, as the contestants stand atop individual plinths waiting for the start. What adds the final touch is a slow countdown, that the audience is aware is also a countdown to the climax of all of the built up feelings that have accumulated over the first half of the film.
One other key convention of Thriller films is their use of sound, both diegetic (sound that is 'in' the film) and non-diegetic (background sound that the audience is aware of, but isn't present in the actual setting), to help elicit emotion. In the suspenseful scenes in Thrillers, the sorts where everything slows down and the audience is anticipating some sort of sudden surprise, often the accompanying sound is key to the scene's effectiveness, and is a major contributor to the build-up towards the scene's climax. There is a particularly good example of this in D. J. Caruso's film Taking Lives. The scene is set in an abandoned flat where the main villain of the film had lived for a time. As the main protagonist and a fellow detective are searching, everything is deadly silent and they themselves are moving slowly and quietly. Only a menacing non-diegetic soundtrack can be heard in the background, which keeps playing as they search. All of the time, tension is building up and the feeling that something is about to happen is becoming stronger. One of the detectives then speaks up, breaking the silence, saying that the house is clear, and the tension instantly drops, along with the music. Then suddenly, as he picks something up a grotesque looking corpse swings down from above the ceiling above him, shocking both the detectives and the audience as the music suddenly picks up again loudly, adding to the shock of the scene.
Thrillers use sound in this way a great deal to better convey certain feelings at certain points, and to add effectiveness to scenes that need it. Mainly the sound comes in the form of a non-diegetic soundtrack played over the top of diegetic sound, but sometimes diegetic sound is used on its own to just the same effect, such as in the Coen Brothers' movie No Country for Old Men, where there is never any use of non-diegetic sound throughout the entire film, but there is much more emphasis on diegetic sound and visuals, which are used in a very effective way to cleverly elicit the same feelings of anxiety, danger and anticipation that non-diegetic sound would normally evoke. Indeed the absence of a music score possibly makes the film more suspenseful as the film's music score is a often main reference point for the audience to turn to, in order to work out what emotions to feel, and to give prior warning to the content of the scene. No Country for Old Men takes away this 'safety rail' and makes it more difficult to tell what is going to happen, leaving the audience in suspense all of the way through the film. This use of diegetic sound and absence of non-diegetic sound that is one of the reasons why No Country for Old Men one of the most successful films created by the Coen Brothers to date.
To sum up, Thrillers are very versatile and their conventions can be applied to almost every major genre of film. They are heavily reliant on the audiences reactions to their content, and their plot lines are usually dark in nature. The Thriller's primary convention is the ability to elicit feelings of suspense, danger, anticipation, anxiety and tension within the audience, to make their content properly effective. Because Thrillers are generally dark by nature, the need for a fascinating antagonist is just as important, if not more important than the need for a strong protagonist. It is quite common for there to be plot twists, red herrings, and cliff hangers implemented into the story. There is however no set theme to the way Thrillers are constructed, which allows for all manner of creativity and plot styles, and even the potential to challenge the genre's conventions themselves. Ultimately, if choosing to watch a Thriller, things to expect are a dark mood, intriguing characters, suspenseful moments that build up to a strong climax, and most importantly, expect things to not be what they originally seem to be.
