HISTORY OF THRILLER FILMS
The word 'thriller' is a type of genre in a film. A thriller film involves a lot of action, tension, suspense and excitement. A thriller film can bring many emotions to the audience and create a lot of fear and suspense. A thriller film is usually scary and keeps the viewers on the edge of their seats, waiting for the next scene to take place, this is what is intended to be done when the producer is producing the film.
Looking at the history of thriller films I have researched some well-known thriller films from the past decades/years to show my understanding of how things have changed and stayed the same in thriller films now-a-days.
Before I hang
The first film that I have chosen to analyse is a 1940's film called Before I Hang. This film was well known in this year and was a great hit with the public, I found a short clip on you tube which I have used to look at.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07ykt1pgpE8
This is a trailer of the film, the trailer would have been shown as a preview before the film was released, this may have given certain emotions to the audience to watch this thriller. The film is about The film is about a physician on death row for a mercy killing is allowed to experiment on a serum using a criminal's blood, but secretly tests it on himself. He gets a pardon, but finds out he's become a Jekyll-&- Hyde. This film demonstrates convention of a thriller, the key convention 'blood' is used throughout, also being used by the key/main character. The blood is not only used for the characters purpose but leaves the audience asking questions at why he is using his victims blood. The behaviour used makes the audiences suspicious of the characters in sight. Furthermore, the use of him secretly testing this experiments on himself discreetly conventional to a thriller genre because this creates enigma as it is mysterious of why he has to do this experiments secretly which builds up the tension and suspense as the audience wonder why he is acting in the manner. Also the fact that he is a Jekyll-&-Hyde shows that he constantly alternating between good and evil behaviour (convention of a thriller) which builds up suspense and tension because we do not know why he is acting in this way. There is a constant switching of behaviour between them, which shows that he is clearly hasn't got his mind set showing that he is not being himself, building up tension between the audience and the characters.
And soon the Darkness
Looking at the history of thriller films I have researched some well-known thriller films from the past decades/years to show my understanding of how things have changed and stayed the same in thriller films now-a-days.
Before I hang
The first film that I have chosen to analyse is a 1940's film called Before I Hang. This film was well known in this year and was a great hit with the public, I found a short clip on you tube which I have used to look at.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07ykt1pgpE8
This is a trailer of the film, the trailer would have been shown as a preview before the film was released, this may have given certain emotions to the audience to watch this thriller. The film is about The film is about a physician on death row for a mercy killing is allowed to experiment on a serum using a criminal's blood, but secretly tests it on himself. He gets a pardon, but finds out he's become a Jekyll-&- Hyde. This film demonstrates convention of a thriller, the key convention 'blood' is used throughout, also being used by the key/main character. The blood is not only used for the characters purpose but leaves the audience asking questions at why he is using his victims blood. The behaviour used makes the audiences suspicious of the characters in sight. Furthermore, the use of him secretly testing this experiments on himself discreetly conventional to a thriller genre because this creates enigma as it is mysterious of why he has to do this experiments secretly which builds up the tension and suspense as the audience wonder why he is acting in the manner. Also the fact that he is a Jekyll-&-Hyde shows that he constantly alternating between good and evil behaviour (convention of a thriller) which builds up suspense and tension because we do not know why he is acting in this way. There is a constant switching of behaviour between them, which shows that he is clearly hasn't got his mind set showing that he is not being himself, building up tension between the audience and the characters.
And soon the Darkness
1970
This is a 1979's film which shows improvements in the thriller film industry and when released saw a very violent start. This film is about two nurses having a biking holiday in France.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmEOl29iy8c
This was an English film, directed by Fuest and Produced by Albert Fennell and Brian Clemens. This film was made by the same person who created the hit TV show The Avengers.
Although after arguing leaving one another isn't the best idea as one of the nurses is murdered in a near by forest. Unlike most horror films this film used two women to be portrayed as the victims, although only one of them is hurt the other is still in the frame. In most thriller films only one sexy female victim is used, which is why its un usual to see this. One women used in thrillers is conventional in thrillers as it leaves the audience feeling sorry for them and creating a strong relationship between the two. In this trailer the opening scenery noise is a police siren, immediately setting of alarm bells to the audience leaving them wondering what has happened. One thing I noticed from this trailer is that there is a lot of good uses of sound used, the scene soon arises into the sun, but the director is clever and uses a crackling sun which almost sounds dangerous, the crackling stands out and grabs the audiences attention quickly. This trailer uses a lot of conventions of a thriller film, the location is set in a forest, instantly meaning that the victims are trapped and abandoned in such hard place to get out of.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmEOl29iy8c
This was an English film, directed by Fuest and Produced by Albert Fennell and Brian Clemens. This film was made by the same person who created the hit TV show The Avengers.
Although after arguing leaving one another isn't the best idea as one of the nurses is murdered in a near by forest. Unlike most horror films this film used two women to be portrayed as the victims, although only one of them is hurt the other is still in the frame. In most thriller films only one sexy female victim is used, which is why its un usual to see this. One women used in thrillers is conventional in thrillers as it leaves the audience feeling sorry for them and creating a strong relationship between the two. In this trailer the opening scenery noise is a police siren, immediately setting of alarm bells to the audience leaving them wondering what has happened. One thing I noticed from this trailer is that there is a lot of good uses of sound used, the scene soon arises into the sun, but the director is clever and uses a crackling sun which almost sounds dangerous, the crackling stands out and grabs the audiences attention quickly. This trailer uses a lot of conventions of a thriller film, the location is set in a forest, instantly meaning that the victims are trapped and abandoned in such hard place to get out of.
Fatal Attraction
Fatal attraction is a thriller film made in 1987. This film is a American Psychological thriller directed by Adrian Lyne. The Budget of this film was very high, meaning they knew it was going to be very popular.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3oF8Po4qWc
This film became very popular in the USA and also the highest-grossing film of the year worldwide. This films narrative is about a married man who has an affair in the state of New York City, this man becomes the victim of innocent stalking and emotional blackmail, but very suddenly ending with the sudden death of the antagonist. The audience in this film plays a large part, engaging with the audience easily and portraying the characters differently in their eyes. This film is very eye catching and keeps the audience on the edge of their seats throughout.
All of these thrillers that I have researched are very popular (still are and used to be). The thriller industry hasn't changed much, a lot of the same techniques are still used to portray the audience and keep them engaged.
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You have made a start in describing some of the changes of thrillers films. You have also made a start in considering some films, but further discussion of how the thriller are conventional are needed. This can be achieved through analysing the trailers and short sequences, which enable this post to be more detailed.
ReplyDeleteYou also need to refer back to the class work and this is because you have missed out on including task B, which is needed to develop your knowledge and understanding further.