Thriller:
History of the genre.
Thriller
is a genre used in literature, film and television to create suspense, tension
and a sense of excitement. A film in the thriller genre will give the audience
thrills, and keeps them apprehensive about events in the film the plot builds
up towards a climax. The common plots in crime
thrillers are ransoms, revenge and kidnappings, which are elaborated on for the
effect on the audience. In mystery thrillers, the common methods are
investigations to keep the audience captivated by what’s going on. The elements
which are usually shown in a psychological thriller are mind games, stalking,
death traps, obsession. These features are generally combined to a certain
degree, where it creates a complex plot which forms thrills the audience.
Thriller
films started to appear in the early 20th century. One of the most
famous directors to have produced thriller films was Alfred Hitchcock. Alfred Hitchcock's first thriller was his third silent film The Lodger
(1926), a suspenseful Jack the Ripper story. His next thriller was Blackmail
(1929), his and Britain's first sound film. Soon after Hitchcock’s productions,
Fritz Lang produced one of the earliest spy films then in 1933 produced a thrilling
film based on the serial killer Peter Kurten. There have been various notable
directors producing thrillers from the 1920s onwards including Alfred
Hitchcock, Fritz Lang, Walter Forde (making nine films), Victor Saville (making
seven films), George A. Cooper and Michael Powell (both making six films each).
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) was one
of the most successful and critically acclaimed films of Hitchcock's British
period.
Rebecca (1940) won best picture, unusual for a psychological thriller film.
One of the most famous scenes in the thriller genre where
the shadowy mother figure in Psycho (1960) brandishes a knife towards
the camera.
Director Brian De Palma's earliest, heavily stylistic
films (one example being Dressed to Kill) are particularly reminiscent
of Hitchcock's tense thrillers.
Thriller directors:
·
Alfred
Hitchcock:
- Many story lines and techniques within the
cinematography of Hitchcock are shared standards for films of today. However,
Hitchcock didn’t start out as an excellent director, but instead started from
the very bottom of the business. He was employed at Paramount as a title designer for
silent films meaning he wrote out the lines that are displayed after each shot
in the film. From that job he worked his way up through the business to
assistant director and directed a small film.
-Hitchcock's films were believed to have been extensively storyboarded to
the finest detail. He also used this as an excuse to never have to change his
films from his initial vision. If a studio asked him to change a film, he would
claim that it was already shot in a single way, and that there were no
alternate takes to consider.
-Hitchcock is known for
visualising the action during the screenwriting process, where he planned and
often illustrated each shot in a film. This is a course for everyone who loves
movies.
-Hitchcock had total control over
camera placement, costumes, and scenic design. Every element of every shot was
planned for a full effect; in film there are hundreds of shots, each reflecting
the director’s style.
·
Fritz Lang:
- Lang was a
German-Austrian filmmaker, screenwriter, and occasional film producer and actor.
His most famous films include
Metropolis (the world's most expensive silent film at the time of its
release), and M, made before he moved to the United States, which is
considered a precursor to the film noir genre.
·
Walter Forde:
-Forde
was a British actor, screenwriter and director. Born in Bradford, Yorkshire in
1896 he directed over fifty films between 1920 and 1949
Written by Alex Horn. Edited and Published by Grace Blick.
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