Definition of a 'Thriller'

'Thriller'

 a novel, play, or film with an exciting plot, typically involving crime or espionage.

"a tense thriller about a diamond heist that goes badly wrong"

Thrillers heavily effect the viewers mood, giving them high doses of anticipation, expectations, uncertainty, surprise, anxiety and often horror. It's aim is to keep the audience on the edge of their seats as the film drives towards its climax, plot twists and cliff hangers are used extensively. 

A thriller is usually a villain driven plot, in which they present various obstacles for the protagonist must overcome. Also there are common sub-genres which are found within the main genre; such as psychological thrillers, crime thrillers, spy thrillers and mystery thrillers. Action and horror which are main genres often overlap with thrillers too.

Some Characteristics 

• Suspense
• Conflict
• Amusement 
• Mystery
• Surprise
• Chaotic
• Investigation 
• Antagonists 
• Protagonist
• Back Stories

The plots of thrillers can vary widely. Some are supernatural, for example, centering around mystical antagonists. Others are scientific or medical in nature, forcing their protagonists to contend with biological agents or mysterious scientific happenings. Some are simply straight mysteries with clever, horrific, or intriguing antagonists, while others be focused on the inner workings of the legal system, environmental threats, technology, or natural disasters. One long-established thriller genre is the spy thriller, featuring an often heroic and dashing spy who must confront whichever enemy.

Some thrillers are extremely intellectual and of very high quality, encouraging more educated people to enjoy them. Thrillers that incorporate a psychological aspect, force people to examine the motivations and backstories of the characters to figure out the plot. Others are more simplistic, in the vein of the penny dreadful and designed to appeal to a much wider audience. Many thriller books are adapted into movies, and thrillers can also be turned into comic books and television shows.

What Makes A Good Thriller?

Techniques

As me and Dom were discussing which genre in which we wanted to create for our opening, we thought of techniques that are used during different genres of film. Here is the sort of thing that you would find in a horror or thriller film; to add a sense of tension and surprise for the audience. With added effect such as music to suit the pace of the scene, usually a slow pace. Hence making it scary for some, aspects like this are what make this confine to the genre of.

Company logo's

20th Century Fox

DreamWorks Animation

Paramount Pictures

Universal Studios

These are just a few of the company logo's that are presented at the beginning of films to show the audience who has funded and produced the film they are about to watch. By doing this, these conglomerates are able to boost their reputation and wider their recognition.

Opening Title's Importance (market research)

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Man of Steel - Title Sequence

Man of Steel is the latest remake of one the most famous and arguably the best comical character in Superman. This Super budget reboot portrays the origin of Superman which is the story of how he came to earth and his journey on becoming a superhero.

Se7en - Opening Titles

Se7en is a 1995 thriller which follows the journey of two investigators hunting down a gruesome serial killer.

Within the opening titles we see straight away what to expect from the film, its explicit adult themed content clearly sets the scene. As Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman are such reputable popular actors, their names are shown before the title of the film. This shows how they are seen as more important than the name of the film, and how the producers have relied majorly on the pre sold audience to conform of fans of the two big name actors. 

The music played builds tension and seemingly sets the audience up for something that is about to happen. It fits perfectly with the actions going on at the time, not creating a story, but flicking from different scenes in quick succession with the attempt to confuse the audience. With these images and sounds, the audience do not know what to expect, as this is not part of a series or a sequel, the audience are left open minded with what to expect, which with a film like this can leave the faint hearted left frightened.

The font used is one of a hand written portrayal, however someone with not neat hand writing, as the letters are not connected and are also different sizes. Furthermore, the words slant in different direction giving the impression that it was written in a rush, meaning that the writer may have been in a panic. once again setting the tone and mood for the rest of the film.

This is a very effective opening title as it is able to tell the names of the actors, producers and other contributors while also managing to set the scene, mood and tone for the rest of the film. However the downfall of this opening is that even though the timing is only in fact 2 minutes, as it contains no action in this period of time this can have a repercussion of it seeming longer and dragging out. Consequently causing some audience members to become detached and lose interest. 

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 (Opening Scene - HD)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 was the 2011 blockbuster finale based on the Harry Potter six part series origionally written by J.K. Rowling. The film is the second instalment of the Deathly Hallows which was in fact origionally written by Rowling as one book.

As the film is a seqeal; the opening sequence relies heavily on the viewer having seen part one of Deathly Hallows. Therefore there is no introduction to the film, the first few scenes are short clips of the aftermath of what has occured after the last thing that was seen in the scenes at the end of the first film. For the people who have infact seen the first part it is a very helpful opening; as it sets the scene and gives a short recap of what has previosly happened to refresh the memory. If they spent too long on the opening to allow people who haven't seen the first Deathly Hallows to understand the film it would aggitate the people who have seen it. This shows how the producers have relied solely on the persentage of people that have watched part 1 to be  widely larger than those who havent.

As Warner Bros is a well known huge production company, they flaunt their logo mid way through the opening sequence. This is due to the fact that they are aware that they have a well known reputation as producing monster blockbuster films, as a result when people see that they have an involvement in the film it will not only heighten expectations of the film; but also boost the reputation of Warner Bros as the film was a huge success.  The mise-en-scene shows the main most reputable characters from the beginning and also the famous building of Hogwarts. Furthermore the building is covered in fog with slow dramatic music to create tension. We see Dementors with their death like costumes surrounding the building which Harry Potter fans will immediately recognise and associate with danger. The shots fade from scene to scene in quick succession to implicate that the scenes are occurring simultaneously.