Genre study

Genre Study- Psychological Thrillers

 

Horror/Thriller film

Typical target audience of the genre

According to the Canada Media Fund, horror-thriller films are aimed at young adults, mostly males, 15- to 24-year old.

Genre conventions - 

-Unusual angles

- Underexposed lighting with lots of shadows

- Hand-held camera movements

-Common use of high pitch key sounds to create an unsettling  sense of alarm

-Contains gory scenes that show violence and/or mystery

-Common themes include monsters, apocalyptic events, and religious or folk beliefs

-Fast-paced editing

-Often uses silence or still cameras shots to create a false sense of safety before a jump-scare

-  Films often kill off minor characters early and stage a face-off between “good and evil” at the end

- Little to no comedic relief

- Openly depicts weapons and blood

- Dark color palettes in set and costume design

-Employs focus pulls to shift attention in important scenes

-Settings are usually urban and mundane

Genre conventions - production techniques

 -Average to low filming budget

-Produced by small or independent studios and purchased by bigger studios for distribution

-Big franchises commonly spawn off many sequels

 

 

 Institutional conventions - how is genre marketed

 

Narrative Image: Horror/Thrillers are meant to scare the viewer and trigger their fight or flight reaction using suspense and jump scares. Trailers appropriately convey the tone of the film and leave the viewer with a taste of the excitement the story promises. The narrative image often utilizes the same suspense techniques the film with fast edited previews and low lighting for posters. Psychological thrillers do not usually need a sequel, but they may leave the film open ended. The most successful franchises, like Halloween or Friday the 13th,  gain enough momentum for a spin-off.

 

Marketing:

Studios advertise horror/thrillers by through trailers and social media. On-air trailers reach audiences directly, constantly appearing in daily TV programming. For the younger demographic of the target market, social media can make a big impact. The movie “Smile” made big headlines recently by pulling off multiple stunts that went viral on social media.

 

Movie theaters show relevant previews, which helps market the film among horror lovers as they are more inclined to make plans to watch the upcoming film because they are already in the  “mood” for horror.

 

Film samples within the genre

Film #1: It 

It is a 2017 Horror-thriller film directed by Andrés Muschietti, based on the original story by Stephen King. IMDb sums up the narrative as “In the Town of Derry, the local kids are disappearing one by one. In a place known as 'The Barrens', a group of seven kids are united by their horrifying and strange encounters with an evil clown and their determination to kill It.” The film’s dark theme and plot are indicators of its genre. The narrative and the events that occur have the audience at the edge of their seats. Unlike other Horror films, the antagonist doesn’t hide in the shadow, sometimes appearing in broad daylight and in mundane environments. Maybe most interesting is that the story is told from the perspective of the children, meaning the audience perceives the antagonist with the same mystery they do and they similarly can see only what the kids can see. The trailer, along with the soundtrack, started slow and built up to a fast-paced ending. This film was very popular and had a had a sequel (It 2) in order to finish the original story by Stephen King that depicts the kids as adult.

 

 

Film #2: Psycho

Psycho is one of the best known horror-thriller films in history. The director, Alfred Hitchcock is often referred to as the “master of suspense”. The film was innovative because of the suspense techniques, he used which are now common for all films in the genre. In the most well-known scene, which we watched in case, anticipation & suspense build while the killer approaches and the audience is kept in the dark. That is until the killer’s outline is revealed in dramatic lighting. The director invented the standard of horror/thrillers we still use today.

 

Other Horror/Thrillers Thriller Films:

-Halloween

- Get Out

-Midsommar