HISTORY OF THRILLER
Alfred Hitchcock
The first thriller was produced by a man named Alfred Hitchcock in 1926, this film was called “The lodger” a jack the ripper type of story filled with suspense. His next film in 1929 was a film called “blackmail”, this was notable for being his and Britain’s first sound film. In the 1940’s Hitchcock continued to direct suspense thrillers. In this year he produced two films one of which, was Oscar winning. Some of the best thriller films are the third man (1949) by Orson Welles, Rear window (1954) Alfred Hitchcock, The usual suspects (1995) Bryson singer etc.
Thriller is a genre that uses suspense, tension and excitement as its main elements. Thrillers contain sudden rush of excitement that drives the narrative; it keeps the audience on the edge of their seats. A thriller usually consists of a battle between the protagonist and antagonist, when there is disruption in the equilibrium. The story then shows a chain of bad events building tension and suspense for the climax. The aim of the protagonist is to restore justice, while the antagonist seeks to destroy it. The protagonist is a brave male who seeks to store the equilibrium and the antagonist will have a hidden identity that the audience will uncover as the film progresses, often the antagonist goes out for revenge from a past event.
Understanding the history of thriller
is important because it allows us to use a wide range of conventions in our media product.
DID YOU KNOW?
Walt Disney thought that psycho was a disgusting movie and refused to let Hitchcock film at Disneyland in the 1960’s. Although Hitchcock did call on some Disney magic for one of hid other creepy films: he hired animation and special effects artist extraordinaire Ub Iwerks, the co creator of Mickey mouse, and used Disney’s special camera to film the famous bird attack in the birds.
By Lolita Lind
Alfred hitchcocks most famous FILM scenes
This is a scene from one of Hitchcock's thriller films, 'The Birds'. Throughout the entire film, Hitchcock did not use any music, the only soundtrack is the sound of the birds. Despite music being very effective in the making of thriller films, Hitchcock decides to use the sound of the birds to create tension and fear in the film. This was a very smart technique as sometimes the music of a thriller film can suggest when the audience should feel a certain type of emotion, but by using no music, the sound of the birds created better elements of fear and tension among the audience.
This a scene from one of Hitchcock's thriller films, 'Suspicion'. This film tells the story of a woman who suspects her husband is trying to kill her. In this particular scene, the wife is laying in her bed fearing the wors when her husband brings her a glass of milk. The camera follows the husband walking up the stairs. As he continues walking up the stairs, the audience get a closer look at the glass of milk. From a far, the glass of milk looks like any normal glass of milk. However, the closer shot of the glass of milk shows the audience that the milk looks strange, as if the husband had put something in the drink, which gives the audience the impression that the husband is trying to poison his wife. This was Hitchcock's intention, as he put a light in the glass to highlight the milk in the shot to have the audience question what the husband was going to do next.
This is a scene from one of Hitchcock's thriller films, 'The Wrong Man'. In this particular scene, Henry Fonda's character hasn't yet proven his innocence against murder allegations, and begins to pray to God. As he does this, we see Hitchcock use the 'Double Exposure' technique. This is where two characters appear on the same screen despite being in different places. In this scene, the picture of Henry dissolves into a close up of the actual murderer and both of their faces line up with eachother. Hitchcock uses this technique to show the characters are from two different 'worlds', and then shows their 'worlds' colliding with one another.
This is a scene from one of Hitchcock's thriller films, 'Psycho'. This thriller film is HItchock's most famous film and is still well known to people today. This film was the starting point of all violent thrillers. This scene is also the most famous film scene of Hitchcock's, and is the making of this film. In this particular scene, the female character is taking a shower and everything seems normal. Then, the camera changes to view what is behind the female character. The audience sees a shadow of a character opening the door to then opening the shower curtains, repeatedly stabbing the female character in the shower. What is effective about this scene is that every cut happens with every stab of the knife, and the music compliments the actions of both characters. The music is used is really effective as it creates fear among the audience.
By Skye Smith
THRILLER FILM TIMELINE
After Five (1915)
SEVEN KEYS TO BALDPATE (1917)
1920
The Hands of Orlac (1924)
1910
The Cobweb (1917)
Der Herr Der Liebe (1919)
The Lodger (1926)
1930
M (1931)
MAD LOVE (1936)
1940
GASLIGHT (1944)
Rebecca (1940)
1950
Stangers On A Train (1951)
Niagara (1953)
Vertigo (1958)
1960
Peeping Tom (1960)
Colossus (1970)
Psycho (1960)
1970
The conversation (1974)
1980
The Shining (1980)
Terminator (1984)
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
1990
Pulp Fiction (1994)
PRESENT DAY
Shutter Island (2010)
Shooter (2007)
Inception (2010)
Django Unchained (2012)
The equalizer (2014)
Black Mass (2015)
By Skye Smith and Lolita lind
The difference between old thrillers and new thrillers
1917 film
2015 film
The main difference between these two thriller film posters is the quality. The 1917 film poster is painted whereas the 2015 film is a well edited, professional photgraph. With the introduction of new technology, it has allowed thriller films to expand with creativity and has allowed more options for thriller directors to use in thriller films. For example, film editors can now use CGI to create things such as explosions. In the film Jurassic World, CGI allowed film editors to create dinosours and make them look real, as if they were actually there. This has had a massive affect on thriller films as it has made thriller films better to watch as the films can look more real. It has also made thriller films more intense as today's generation wouldn't be scared by Alfred Hitchcock's shower scene in Psycho, as thriller films have developed from this. In today's films, you can actually see actors/actresses being murdered and it looks real, whereas back in Hitchcock's time it wasn't possible to make that happen. However, from Hitchcok's films the thriller genre has developed and become more violent.
By Skye Smith