- Thriller
- Horror
- Action/Adventure
- Disaster
- Film Noir
Thriller
Thrillers are about provoking some fear and typically use music and low key lighting to show most of the narrative, depending on the specific narrative it may also be based a lot in the night, as this is an easy way to achieve low key lighting. Night environment also adds mystery and fear of what is within the darkness. Thrillers often include aliens or monsters and within that, invasions. Isolation is another convention of horror, but thrillers, use isolated locations, but there is often a group facing whatever is in that location. an example is in Super 8 (2011, dir. J.J Abrams), when they face the monster, the heroes are a group of children, but everyone has abandoned their town, leaving them isolated, yet together. Below is the trailer for Super 8 which is a typical thriller film and fits all the codes and conventions mentioned above.
Horror
Horror and Thriller codes and conventions are quite similar, low key lighting, music and aliens or monsters are typical of horror films, but horror would tend to have more blood, violence and gruesome scenes. Horrors are more often shown from one person's view, or specifically about one person, although they may be looking for or protecting other characters. This is opposed to Super 8, mentioned above, which although has a main character, he has a close circle of friends, that are heavily involved. Isolation of location as well as character makes the scene scarier for the audience, which is why it is used in horror and not thriller. There is often a love interest in both, Thrillers and Horrors, but the second character involved in the love interest, in Thrillers is heavily present, yet, Horror, they would be included less, focussing mostly on the main character. An example is in Super 8, Joe (Joel Courtney) and Alice (Elle Fanning) are the love interest, and Joe is the main character in the film, and Alice is involved in the narrative as more than a love interest. If Super 8, was more of a typical Horror, Alice, would be more of a materialistic goal than she is.
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| DVD cover of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre |
Weaponry is exaggerated in horrors, to make the weapon seem more dangerous, brutal and threatening. An example of this is The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974, dir. Tobe Hooper) where the villain is using a chainsaw, which is normally used for trees and large pieces of wood, and is being used for humans. Also, how he's holding the chainsaw in the poster/DVD cover right, suggests violence and extreme use of the weapon, as does the blood down his clothing. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, is based on a true story and this isn't a convention of Horror, but is a theme used fairly regularly, to provoke the fear produces, further, although the film production is often exaggerated compared to the original event.
The villain or whoever is provoking the horror behaviour, is normally physically, a stereotypical villain; they may have disfigurements, or wear masks, this is to make them seem unnatural or different; the masks would also make them mysterious, as they are hiding their identity. The mask can either be a normal thing, making them seem more close to home and realistic, like a plain white mask or the mask can add to their physical difference, and in that respect, making them more fearful. The murderer's mask in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, comes under, adding to the physical differences. I believe his mask is made of, or supposed to the look like it's made of animal and human skin. A similar concept, is Saw (2004, dir. James Wan) where you never see the villain, he acts through a puppet, Jigsaw and the audience, and the characters in the film, never see the real villain. Below is the trailer for Saw (2004, dir. James Wan)
Not seeing the actual villain, for most or all of the Saw franchise, would provoke even more fear, as you never really know what your up against. You learn some of his attributes of how he tortures or kills the victims, but nothing further about him, and often the fear of the unknown, especially in films, is the most fear-provoking thing you could include into a film. It also adds tension to whether the villain will appear and reveal themselves later on.
Slow cut editing is used in horrors quite a lot, as it builds tension to whether anything is 'just around the corner'. Slow cut editing can also be used to draw out any horrific scenes for as long as possible as it allows you to take in all the mise-en-scene of that one shot, drawing on the horror. On the other hand, fast-paced editing can also contribute to the horror, as things can seem more fearful if you can only see quick flashes of it.
This is shown in the iconic shower sequence of Psycho (1960, dir. Alfred Hitchcock). You can watch this scene, here. Leading up to the stabbing, the editing pace, is rather slow, increasing the tension. But during the stabbing, the pace increases, and also, is edited to the rhythm of the incidental music, which corresponds to the repeated stabbing. Once the stabber has left, the pace of editing considerably slows again, with a long take, watching the panning down of the woman, Marion (Janet Leigh). The silence that accompanys the scene, from after Marion pulls down the shower curtain, adds to the stillness of the scene and the shock of the brutual murder.
A rather popular sub-genre of thriller and/or horrors, is psychological thriller/horror, these films don't bring fear because of the mise-en-scene or the specific villain like traditional thrillers or horror, but its the narrative that brings fear. Normally, the main character is mentally ill, hallucinating or similar, and we experience the story from their perspective, or looking onto them as an outsider, with glimpses of what they are experiencing. Unusual camera angle such as canted and high/low angles are used more in these films as the fear, suspense and disorientation is all within the characters head, allowing screenwriters to experiment with disorientating camera angles to portray to same feeling and sympathise with the main character, whom is often the one who is experiencing this. Music is also an important concept of psychological thriller, as music is an easy way to change the perspective of a scene, and music in thrillers and horrors is often low, deep tones to build tension or sharp high notes to make people jump. Crescendos are also used quite a lot as these build tension and can make people feel scared and overwhelmed. A lot of these camera angles and This genre and the codes of conventions is shown well in the trailer of Black Swan (2010, dir. Darren Aronofsky)
Psychological thrillers, and horrors, rely mainly on questioning the things within the film. An example would be Nina, in Black Swan, she questions what she really is seeing and believing is real, and this is protrayed onto the audience, as the film is through her point of view, leaving the audience wanting the answers to the questions as much as Nina does. A good example of this within Black Swan, is a scene towards the end, were she thinks, she has stabbed someone else, but is in fact, herself.
books used in this post:
Rubin, Martin., Thrillers, 1999
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