GENRE:
For everything there is a genre. Genre is a type or class which forms a category. This very well applies to films. The main aim of films is to entertain the viewing audience with different types of entertainment, this is where film genre is essential.
FILM GENRE:
Film genre means a category that a film falls into. One film genre that I will be highlighting is thriller.
THRILLER AND CODES AND CONVETIONS:
Thriller is a type of film that always creates suspense and anxiety. It is quite easy to spot a thriller film when you notice it's codes and conventions. Codes and conventions are common features that are used in a type of film in order to make it typical. The codes and conventions for a thriller film would be Low key lighting,In other words with a few areas of contrast having dark tones for filming. A protagonist which means a leading character in the film. Antagonist who is the villain of the film that has a hidden motive. A build of tension(situation of anxiety). Slow editing to capture a crucial scene, death and music to create thrill.
THRILLER MOVIE:
A perfect example of a thriller movie is the black swan which stars Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis.
The plot of the movie is about a ballerina who aspires to dance for a ballet company. However her world is turned upside down when she has dark experiences. This film contains a protagonist(which is played by Natalie Portman), antagonist (played by Mila Kunis), and a build of tension. These are the main codes and conventions of a thriller movie.
SUB GENRE:
When there are two or more film genres being acted in one film, we call it a sub genre for example sci fi-action or comedy horror. In the context of thriller sub genres would be: action thrillers, sci fi thrillers, romantic thrillers, erotic thrillers and much more.
EXAMPLES OF SUB GENRE THRILLERS:
An example of a sub genre movie Involving a thriller is The Bodyguard. The bodyguard is a romantic thriller starring Kevin Costner and the late Whitney Houston. A former secret service agent is hired to protect a famous singer however she has a wayward lifestyle. The romance comes in when the singer falls in love with him.
Another unique example of a sub genre movie is Argo starring Ben Affleck. Argo is a historical thriller, based on the true story of the six U.S diplomats that were trapped in Iran during the hostage crisis in 1980. This film contains the codes and conventions of a thriller film. Since this is an event that really happened, Argo is a sub genre movie.
THEMES:
There could be all types of themes in a thriller movie. The main themes of thriller are: Death, Crime, Suspense, Vengeance, Violence and Rivalry. These themes make up a thriller movie on its own. If the movie was a sub genre more themes would have been added.
RESPONSE OF THE AUDIENCE:
There will always be a reaction towards any film from the audience. For thrillers the reaction would be mainly be excitement, due to the anxiety and tension that happens in thriller movies. However at the same time, there is a scared reaction from the audience due to those two factors.
TARGET AUDIENCE:
The target audience for thrillers tend to be people from the age of 13+. The reason is because they can naturally can cope with the tension and are mature enough to view violent and scary content. Where as a child, they would not like to experience the feeling of fear when watching thrillers and they are mentally and physically immature to view violent content. For example a rape scnene would be too drastic for a child to view.
This post has made me learn the basics of thriller. The genre, sub-genre etc.
From Rex Okere
Rex, you make some relaly good points here about the thriller genre. I like the way you introduce the term genre, and how you include examples to illustrate your work.
ReplyDeleteTo improve;
-can you think why understanding genres is important for audiences?
-provide some examples for sub-genres of thrillers.
-who is the general target audience for thrillers and why?
-conclude with what youhave learnt and how this has helped your planning.