Researching Thriller movies

For my A2 Media coursework I have decided to do a trailer for a Thriller film. I decided to do a Thriller as I decided I could add a lot of action and mystery into the trailer and make it more exciting and different. I began by researching the different Thriller films to get ideas for my own Thriller, through this I found that a large majority of them usually have a protagonist, this could be like a detective figuring out some kind of mystery. I also found there is always an Antagonist who doesn’t give their act away until the end of the Thriller film, therefore you keep guessing. The Antagonist I found is usually someone who has committed a crime like murder however I found a lot of Thriller films also have Psychopaths or stalkers in their films. Through watching Thriller trailers I learnt that I needed quick shots to create tension and music which switches from fast to slow, all of this creates a sense of threat which is my main aim when creating my Thriller trailer, this keeps the audience guessing and keeps the film exciting and mysterious. When I had found they basic skills I need to create my Thriller I need to come up with a plot, to do this I searched for a typical Thriller plot to help give me ideas;
  • Your hero discovers a secret conspiracy of enemies (for example, a secret political or criminal organization).
• The villain has discovered the hero's point of psychological weakness and is playing mind games with the hero. The hero will have to overcome this psychological weakness in order to stop the villain from committing a crime.
  • A crime is about to happen. Or a crime has happened and is about to be repeated as a larger crime. The hero alone can stop it. For example, there are many thrillers about serial killers, who kill at least once at the beginning of the book and who, if not stopped, will commit more and even worse crimes. • The hero is trying to stop a disaster (medical, nuclear, environmental, political) that has spread out of control.
• The hero is involved in a dramatic court case that has drastic consequences outside of the courtroom


After finding this information and researching different thriller films, I could begin to plan and plot my own thriller.