Research into the history of the thriller genre.
The definition of thriller is that there is an an idea of a suspenseful story building up to a very exciting ending that the audience ends being thrilled at. Thrillers aim to make the audience feel a sense of anticipation,expectations,uncertainty,surprise,anxiety and sometimes terror which is only in the 18 rated stage normally.
1920s-1930s-
- In 1928 the first spy thriller film was created by Fritz Lang the film was called 'Spies' and this film helped to inspire the James Bond series in the future.
-A director call Alfred Hitchcock made Britain's first sound thriller movie in 1929 called 'Blackmail' and it was recognised as a film that brought a lot of tension throughout. The narrative involved a detective who was interested more in his work that his daughter.
- Between the 1920s and 1930s there was various other British directors who created thriller films such as Walter Forde,Victor Saville,and a very young director called Micheal Powell. Forde made nine films throughout these years and Victor made seven films between 1932-35 whereas Powell made five films throughout this time.
1940s-
-In the 1940s Hitchcock continued to make thriller films that had a a lot of suspense in them. He produced two films and one was a Oscar winning which was 'Rebecca and the other film he created was called 'The Foreign correspondent' also in 1941 he made a film called 'suspicious' this was about a women in danger of her own husband and as you can expect this created a slight worry to the audience as they couldn't anticipate what was going to happen and these films were the most successful thrillers of the 1940s along with 'The Third Man' in 1949 and 'Sorry Wrong Number' in 1948 which was about a women overhearing a scheme on the phone which involved her murder.
1950s-
-In the 1950s Hitchcock continued to add thriller films to his collection and he made a film called 'Technicolor' and 'Strangers on a train' which was released in 1951 which was about numerous fights which ended up with both characters getting murdered.
-Other movies by the director Hitchcock were 'To catch a theif' in 1955 and another film called 'Vertigo'
-Another director who made a classic film within this time period was Robert Aldrich's 'Kill me deadly' in 1955 also a unique crime thriller was made called 'Touch of evil which was released in 1958 which involved a kidnapping and police corruption in the narrative.
1960s-
-A thriller film called Psycho was made yet again by the director Hitchcock and it was about a lonely person and a mother fixated hotel owner and this film was famous for a specific scene which was known as the 'Shower scene' in this time period they wasn't allowed to show someone getting stabbed in graphical images.
- The film director Terrence Young's created a film called “Wait Until Dark” in 1967 and it was famous because the film was about a victimised blind woman in her Manhattan apartment and a evil con man searching for drugs that they think is in the womens apartment.
-The film series called 'Harry Palmer's spy trilogy' were inspired by the James bond 007 film series
1970s-
In this period of time there was numerous thrillers that were violent which include 'Frenzy' in 1972 and this was given a rating 'R' for explicit content. Another thriller film made in this time period was 'Play misty for me' and this was the first British thriller film about a person being madly obsessed over an idol, this film was done by Clint Eastwood in the early years of the 1970s. other thriller films in this time period include Duel by Steven Spielberg and this was a low budget entertaining movie for the audience that was allowed to be viewed on TV straight away. This was about a businessman that was terrorised by a driver.
1980s-
-Firstly in this time period this is when Thriller films really started to do well with the first thriller of the 80s which was by Brian De Palma and this is about a high priced call girl who witnessed a murder also in the early 80s a thriller film called blow out the plot in this film was when a assassination. Body Double followed on the thriller genre in the 1984 and this was about a actor spying on a women, this film was rated 18 and is only suitable for an adult audience because of the content involved for example the stronger language and the use of drugs.
1990s-
-The 90s thriller period started with the film Misery in 1990 and this thriller film was about a person who is rescued from a car crash situation by a obsessive fan, we can infer from this that the thriller film is only suitable for the 18 rated because of the blood headline writing and the story line behind the film.
-David Fincher made a suspenseful film called 'Seven' when the plot entailed a search for a violent serial killer who made seven deadly sins. This is rated 18 at the time of 1995 because of the violence and gore that was involved the BBFC did not think it was suitable for the younger age categories as well because of the intense scenes.
2000s-Present-
The thriller genre of these years has brought many greats suspense and adrenalin films for example in the early 2000s a thriller film called The Other was produced by a man called Alejando Amemabar the plot of this film was about a women who lived in a dark house with two photosensitive children and she believed that her home was haunted. This film will attract the audiences attention because of an element of surprise that is added to the film at the ending because of the cruel twist. Another film in 2010 created a mass amount of tension for the audience and this was the film shutter island, the film was about a disappearance of a murderer who escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane. Shutter island was cleverly directed by Martin Scorsese for the use of different sound effects that displayed suspense throughout the film. other thriller films in this time period include the conjoring,disturbia and the saw films, these films were famous within the thriller genre because of the shock that was produced in most scenes.
The image below shows the rankings of how well certain films do in the thriller genre. As you can see from the image the 'Saw' series do very well in the thriller genre industry with five Saw films being in the top 20. Within the 'Saw' series it always carries elements of suspense and surprise as well as horror and bloody scenes that are involved and Saw is recommended and makes untold amounts of money when ever a new one is released this is because people who watch thriller film always know that the Saw films always contain a lot of different codes and conventions within the thriller genre. Hannibal is the thriller film that has made the most money of all time in the thriller genre at this current date and I also believe this is because of the high profile studio 'MGM' this is regarded as very high profile also Hannibal is rated the best thriller film because it provides something different to the ordinary viewer for example it implements a crime based narrative as a certain character is wanted by the FBI due to the circumstances that are involved. I believe Hannibal was rated the best thriller movie because of the enigma that is involved and this is what people want to see in thriller movies as well as the gruesome scenes in Hannibal. Another film that has done well in the thriller industry is the film Seven with over 100,125,643 dollars made and this is because of the detailed and interesting narrative for the viewer with unexpected twists and turns that are involved and I think the Seven series has done well because of the use of the narrative for example hunting a serial killer could intice the audience to wathc the film.
1920s-1930s-
- In 1928 the first spy thriller film was created by Fritz Lang the film was called 'Spies' and this film helped to inspire the James Bond series in the future.
-A director call Alfred Hitchcock made Britain's first sound thriller movie in 1929 called 'Blackmail' and it was recognised as a film that brought a lot of tension throughout. The narrative involved a detective who was interested more in his work that his daughter.
- Between the 1920s and 1930s there was various other British directors who created thriller films such as Walter Forde,Victor Saville,and a very young director called Micheal Powell. Forde made nine films throughout these years and Victor made seven films between 1932-35 whereas Powell made five films throughout this time.
1940s-
-In the 1940s Hitchcock continued to make thriller films that had a a lot of suspense in them. He produced two films and one was a Oscar winning which was 'Rebecca and the other film he created was called 'The Foreign correspondent' also in 1941 he made a film called 'suspicious' this was about a women in danger of her own husband and as you can expect this created a slight worry to the audience as they couldn't anticipate what was going to happen and these films were the most successful thrillers of the 1940s along with 'The Third Man' in 1949 and 'Sorry Wrong Number' in 1948 which was about a women overhearing a scheme on the phone which involved her murder.
1950s-
-In the 1950s Hitchcock continued to add thriller films to his collection and he made a film called 'Technicolor' and 'Strangers on a train' which was released in 1951 which was about numerous fights which ended up with both characters getting murdered.
-Other movies by the director Hitchcock were 'To catch a theif' in 1955 and another film called 'Vertigo'
-Another director who made a classic film within this time period was Robert Aldrich's 'Kill me deadly' in 1955 also a unique crime thriller was made called 'Touch of evil which was released in 1958 which involved a kidnapping and police corruption in the narrative.
1960s-
-A thriller film called Psycho was made yet again by the director Hitchcock and it was about a lonely person and a mother fixated hotel owner and this film was famous for a specific scene which was known as the 'Shower scene' in this time period they wasn't allowed to show someone getting stabbed in graphical images.
- The film director Terrence Young's created a film called “Wait Until Dark” in 1967 and it was famous because the film was about a victimised blind woman in her Manhattan apartment and a evil con man searching for drugs that they think is in the womens apartment.
-The film series called 'Harry Palmer's spy trilogy' were inspired by the James bond 007 film series
1970s-
In this period of time there was numerous thrillers that were violent which include 'Frenzy' in 1972 and this was given a rating 'R' for explicit content. Another thriller film made in this time period was 'Play misty for me' and this was the first British thriller film about a person being madly obsessed over an idol, this film was done by Clint Eastwood in the early years of the 1970s. other thriller films in this time period include Duel by Steven Spielberg and this was a low budget entertaining movie for the audience that was allowed to be viewed on TV straight away. This was about a businessman that was terrorised by a driver.
1980s-
-Firstly in this time period this is when Thriller films really started to do well with the first thriller of the 80s which was by Brian De Palma and this is about a high priced call girl who witnessed a murder also in the early 80s a thriller film called blow out the plot in this film was when a assassination. Body Double followed on the thriller genre in the 1984 and this was about a actor spying on a women, this film was rated 18 and is only suitable for an adult audience because of the content involved for example the stronger language and the use of drugs.
1990s-
-The 90s thriller period started with the film Misery in 1990 and this thriller film was about a person who is rescued from a car crash situation by a obsessive fan, we can infer from this that the thriller film is only suitable for the 18 rated because of the blood headline writing and the story line behind the film.
-David Fincher made a suspenseful film called 'Seven' when the plot entailed a search for a violent serial killer who made seven deadly sins. This is rated 18 at the time of 1995 because of the violence and gore that was involved the BBFC did not think it was suitable for the younger age categories as well because of the intense scenes.
2000s-Present-
The thriller genre of these years has brought many greats suspense and adrenalin films for example in the early 2000s a thriller film called The Other was produced by a man called Alejando Amemabar the plot of this film was about a women who lived in a dark house with two photosensitive children and she believed that her home was haunted. This film will attract the audiences attention because of an element of surprise that is added to the film at the ending because of the cruel twist. Another film in 2010 created a mass amount of tension for the audience and this was the film shutter island, the film was about a disappearance of a murderer who escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane. Shutter island was cleverly directed by Martin Scorsese for the use of different sound effects that displayed suspense throughout the film. other thriller films in this time period include the conjoring,disturbia and the saw films, these films were famous within the thriller genre because of the shock that was produced in most scenes.
The image below shows the rankings of how well certain films do in the thriller genre. As you can see from the image the 'Saw' series do very well in the thriller genre industry with five Saw films being in the top 20. Within the 'Saw' series it always carries elements of suspense and surprise as well as horror and bloody scenes that are involved and Saw is recommended and makes untold amounts of money when ever a new one is released this is because people who watch thriller film always know that the Saw films always contain a lot of different codes and conventions within the thriller genre. Hannibal is the thriller film that has made the most money of all time in the thriller genre at this current date and I also believe this is because of the high profile studio 'MGM' this is regarded as very high profile also Hannibal is rated the best thriller film because it provides something different to the ordinary viewer for example it implements a crime based narrative as a certain character is wanted by the FBI due to the circumstances that are involved. I believe Hannibal was rated the best thriller movie because of the enigma that is involved and this is what people want to see in thriller movies as well as the gruesome scenes in Hannibal. Another film that has done well in the thriller industry is the film Seven with over 100,125,643 dollars made and this is because of the detailed and interesting narrative for the viewer with unexpected twists and turns that are involved and I think the Seven series has done well because of the use of the narrative for example hunting a serial killer could intice the audience to wathc the film.
This post demonstrates a very basic understanding of how thriller films have changed over the years and this is because most of this information is taken directly from the internet.
ReplyDeleteYou have not included any screenshots to support the points and the points that you have included are very basic and minimal.
To develop this post, you need to-
1) Ensure that you reference your research
2) Include screenshots to support the points that you have made
3) Include further detail within the films that you have included, by focusing more on the narrative and the conventions of a thriller
4) Include a summary, to explain how this research will assist you with planning your own thriller film
The box office information that you have included above, helps to demonstrate further understanding of the thriller genre. But further discussion of the narratives and audience figures are needed, to show further understanding of how thriller films appeal to an audience.
ReplyDeleteThis can be achieved, by considering 3 different films and the narratives