What is the purpose of the opening to a film?
To intrigue and interest the audience and make them want to watch the rest of the film.

How do you think a thriller film is defined?
It’s almost like a horror in the fact that certain parts make you jump and feel tense, however a thriller focuses more on building up the tension and suspense for most of the film and reaches the climax at the end, which usually ends in a cliff-hanger. They don’t usually include a lot of blood and violence but use shots that suggest that these features are present in the scene.

What techniques can a director use to create suspense in a film?
Using dark lighting, using close up shots on everyday objects to make them seem more sinister and suspicious, focusing on only part of a person’s face to conceal their identity and make them appear more suspicious and mysterious.

What films can you think of that would fit into the thriller genre?
One of the most famous thriller films ‘Psycho’ and a film I saw recently called ‘Inception’

The thriller film can be divided into sub-genres – what different types of thriller films do you think exist?
• Murderous passion, for example ‘Blood Simple’
• Psycho traumatic, for example the film I mentioned in the previous question ‘Psycho’
• Innocent on the run, for example North By North West
• Story based on changes in identity – Detour
• Political thriller – Day of the Jackal
• Film Noir – Mildred Pierce


What are the characteristics or conventions of a thriller film?
Intense narrative, the building up of tension, low key lighting, suspense, cliff hangers, surprises, twists in the plot, action, murder, eerie music similar to the music found in horror films, a hero/heroine.

What do you think is the audience pleasure of a thriller film?
The narrative is usually very intense and confusing and so many people would enjoy trying to work out the mystery. Also a lot of people like thriller films because of the thrill they get, hence the name, because they are often very tense and keep you on edge, leading up to the final scene where there is usually a surprise.

What do you think are the differences between a horror and a thriller film?
Horror films are often more shocking because they usually include blood, gore and other disturbing images, whereas thrillers are more subdued and hint that these disturbing features are included, but don’t actually show it. Horrors often make you cringe more and genuinely scared and disturb the audience whereas thrillers tend to make you feel tense but don’t actually mentally torment you like a lot of horror films do, for example the Saw films which are very gruesome and violent because they show you the torture actually happening which a lot of people can’t physically watch. To summarise I think that thrillers are a mild type of horror film because they play on your mind and scare you but only slightly, whereas horrors show you everything and genuinely disturb you.