Research of the Genre Thriller

Thriller is a broad genre of literature, film, television, and gaming that includes numerous and often overlapping sub-genres. Thrillers are characterized by fast pacing, frequent action, and resourceful heroes who must thwart the plans of more-powerful and better-equipped villains. Writer Vladimir Nabokov, in his lectures at Cornell University, said that "In an Anglo-Saxon thriller, the villain is generally punished, and the strong silent man generally wins the weak babbling girl, but there is no governmental law in Western countries to ban a story that does not comply with a fond tradition, so that we always hope that the wicked but romantic fellow will escape scot-free and the good but dull chap will be finally snubbed by the moody heroine.

Literary devices such as suspense, red herrings and cliffhangers are used extensively. "Homer's Odyssey is one of the oldest stories in the Western world and is regarded as an early prototype of the thriller." A thriller is villain driven plot, whereby he presents obstacles the hero must overcome. The genre is a fascinatingly flexible form that can undermine audience complacency through a dramatic rendering of psychological, social, familial and political tensions and encourages sheltered but sensation-hungry audiences, in Hitchcock's phrase, "to put their toe in the cold water of fear to see what it's like."

DVD poster

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFjaJbihWwc

This is an analysis of the film 'Superbad'. i chose this because i feel there are many different scenes of comedy and camera angles which i could of used, but these were the two i opted for.

This printscreen from the movie 'Superbad' shows McLOVIN's ID card. this is a good example of an extreme close-up as you wouldn't be able to see it from any further out. It shows plenty of detail in the card so you can get a look at it. this shot is also taken from the persons point of view, as if you are the one looking down on it. the angle would be a low angle because you are holding it below eye level. I think this is very effective because it interacts with the audience to make them feel like they are the person holding it. This shot also uses rules of thirds as the card is the focal point, and is central to the shot

This is the second scene i chose to analyse. It is a long shot of the two cops, and McLOVIN. This shot was a good example of it because it is far away so you can see all three characters, but still close enough to notice their emotions and is within earshot. Another thing that makes the audience feel like they are interacting with the characters is the fact it is shot at eye level, which makes them neither intimidating or intimidated. You can tell from this shot that the cops are the more superior beings. For example they are both dressed in their police uniforms, and there is one either side of McLOVIN shich also proves they are superior. Another factor is the police car in the background. You could also maybe guess the genre of the film from this. McLOVIN and a cop are celebrating after hitting a street sign with a bullet. This could be a characteristic of a comedy, but you could also relate it to an action film or maybe a thriller. Their surroundings suggest a backstreet in a city. It is also set at night. Our attention is drawn to the characters immediately when this shot shows, as they are moving and making plenty of sound.

The image on this poster shows the main bad character, which you could assume from the creepy, unnerving black and white photo, which is given the effect that the camera is a CCTV camera. It doesn't give too much away from the photo, as you can't see the girls face. This adds mystery to the poster. It also adds to the scary effect this poster gives you. From first glance you could easily guess it was a horror, due to it's black background and lack of colour and happy images associated with other genres. The mise - en - scene gives people a sense of horror and death, as there seems to be no 'life' in this poster due to the colour lacking. The font gives the effect that it is hand written, or carved into something, and only adds to the scary feel to the poster. The font seems as though it is trying to be insignificant, but that in it's own right makes you more drawn to the large writing. This poster is well laid out due to the fact the image is central and attracts your attention first. the black background seems to give the white text an eerie feel to it, perhaps suggesting there is a twist that differs this from a normal horror, such as paranormality. The tag line is an indication to the film being a horror aswell, due to the mentioning of fear, which people would immediately associate with a horror film. Overall this poster would give someone a sense of fear and mystery as nothing is given away in it, which differs from other posters which may show the characters face or mention characters name. With this you are given nothing except a scary dark figure slumped in the centre of the screen, some eerie font and a mysterious tag line..

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