What I have learnt from my research

What is a thriller? 
A thriller in film is defined as being a film that revolves around anticipation and suspense. One of the most famous directors for the genre is Alfred Hitchcock. Some of the most famous movies within the genre include Psycho, Seven, Shutter Island and The Silence of the Lambs. 

What are typical conventions of a thriller movie and what have I learnt from my research?  
Thriller movies obviously rely on suspense to drive it's story. In the opening scenes that I have analysed, the films have a number of similarities. For example, they all have little to no music within the opening sequence. This is because no music creates suspense and allows the audience to really focus on what is happening. Thriller movies are often about story as rich characters and a strong narrative mean the story is more tense, as the audience is rooting for the characters more. As such it is important that the audience follow the story and can concentrate on all the little details. 
Characters have to be rich as one dimensional characters won't be liked much by the audience. The audience has to care about the characters in order for the story to be more suspenseful, as rooting for the characters and wanting the characters to live will create suspense. 
Thriller films will often use quick, jumpy editing to create a sense of urgency. The music that is used in the film will tend to get louder and louder as the tension builds, and the music will be dramatic/mysterious. In a thriller there will often be a group of central characters, who try to stop or fight something else. There will usually be an opposing force, whether it be a serial killer or a group of criminals, who fight against these characters. At the end of a typical thriller, the good guys will win. However this is not always the case. However, most thrillers will have similar beginning, middle and ends. 

What is the typical audience of a thriller film? 
The typical audience of a thriller film will be young adults. Teenagers are likely to enjoy thriller films for the suspense and thrills. Older adults however are likely to find a lot of thrillers immature and not as exciting as a young person may find it. The targeted age range probably ranges from 14-30. Many films in the genre will be given a 15 or 18 certificate due to the number of violent scenes that are usually in thriller films, as well as other things.

How are thriller movies marketed?
Thriller movies are usually advertised on the TV or on the internet. This will be the same for most movies. Thriller movies however will be shown differently. For example in trailers for thriller movies the lighting will be darker, there will be little music and the music that is in the trailer will be negative. This is different to a movie like a comedy where the music will be very upbeat and positive. There will often be merchandise sold such as toys, posters, music and games. This is to add to the profit of the genre and to get more awareness of it. There is often less merchandise sold for comedies, and more merchandise is sold for horror movies, thriller movies and action movies. The reason is this is because action and thriller/horror movies usually contain more iconic characters, where as comedies will typically focus on more one dimensional characters as the film does not need to go into as much detail, as the film is trying to be funny. Again, to build suspense the characters need to be rich, and I think this is why the action/thriller/horror movies contain them. As a result of this more merchandise is typically sold, for example posters of a bad-ass action hero.