Genre Analysis

Thriller/suspense

My chosen genre is Thriller/suspense; in this sort of genre I would expect a film with lots of excitement, intense scenes, anticipation and anxiety. An example of a stereotypical narrative for this genre is; a crime is committed, a group of detective try to solve the crime but complications occur then in the end the crime is solved. The role of the hero in this genre is to save the next victim or to solve the case. This genre includes a character(s) that is on the run or hiding from a situation whilst not knowing what is going to happen next, creating tension. The audience is meant to feel the plot build towards a climax and they are not meant to know what could happen next which then creates the anxiety for the audience. There is a close-related genre to suspense-thrillers this is horror but, my two minutes film is all about the run of the wife so this takes it into the categories of suspense and thriller.

With this genre the theorist Todorov links in with suspense- thriller because there is equilibrium – disequilibrium – resolution (new equilibrium). The way that the wife and husband are equal at the beginning, makes it equilibrium but, then she takes the power and murders him which makes disequilibrium and finally when they resolve the mystery there is a resolution.

Thrillers are a genre that has been around for a long time, one of the earliest

thrillers was Harold Lloyd’s comic ‘Safety Last’ (1923).

Another early film is the haunting and chilling German film ‘M’ (1931)

directed by Fritz Lang.

Another thriller-suspense film director is English film-maker and director Alfred Hitchcock; he helped to mould the Thriller genre

that we know today. He began with his early silent film the ‘lodger’ (1927), followed by ‘Blackmail’ (1929) which was his first

sound film but it was also released in a silent version.

Hitchcock was nominated five times for the best director from 1940-1960 however, he never won an Academy Award. He casted leading actors such as, Gregory Peck, James Stewart and Cary Grant. As well as, Madeline Carroll, Joan Fontaine, Ingrid Bergman, Grace Kelly, Kim Novak, Janet Leigh and Tippi Hedren in his films. He looked mainly into story lines that include: Abuse, murder, paranoia and obsession and guilt and punishment. Hitchcock’s films are still very popular and they have and still have a varied audience. In a Thriller-suspense genre there are key features that include; tension building music, long camera shots, extreme close-ups of facial expressions and tracking shots. I am going to use some of these key features to help portray the genre of my film.

Other films that Hitchcock produced include; ‘Stranger on a train(1951)’, ‘Dial M for Murder(1954)’,

‘Rear Window(1954)’, ‘To catch a thief(1955)’ and ‘vertigo(1958)’.