Wednesday 26 November 2014

Sub Genres

Despite the fact that the thriller genre as a whole is exceptionally varied (compared to Western films for example where every film looks very similar), within the thriller genre there are a number of sub genres. In these sub genres there is a high degree of similarity. Here are three different film posters for the sub genre of phycological thrillers. The posters are of the films Se7en, Silence of the Lambs and Paranormal Activity.



Similarities and Differences
The most obvious similarity between these three posters is the fact that they all show a pair of eyes/ person in the poster. Especially in the silence of the lambs poster and Seven, the eyes are staring directly at the viewer, haunting them and also intriguing them. This plays a phycological effect on the viewer of the poster which contrasts the themes and sub genre of the film. Whereas in the paranormal activity poster, the characters are not staring at the viewer, but they are staring at the villain of the film, which intrigues the consumer as they may be more interested in what may be happening in the film and therefore be more likely to view it. The movie poster, Se7en, also has the 7 deadly sins placed in the middle, which adds as the metaphorical barrier between the characters which may explain that these characters may have trouble in the film. In addition, in the silence of the lambs poster, a bug with a skull on it is covering the characters face, also explaining to the consumer that this is an abnormal situation, therefore being a phycological thriller. Paranormal Activity also shows an abnormal situation which is a similarity between all three posters however it is the only poster which shows a scene from the film.


List of Sub Genre Thrillers

Action Thriller
Conspiracy Thriller
Crime Thriller
Disaster Thriller
Erotic Thriller
Legal Thriller
Medical Thriller
Phycological Thriller
Political Thriller
Religious Thriller
Spy Thriller
Supernatural Thriller


The most appealing thriller sub genre to me is either Phycological Thriller or Spy Thriller as I believe that making an opening sequence to one of these thrillers would be interesting as well as they are usually the most tense which was one of my aims when the process began. In addition I believe that these kind of thrillers are usually the most exciting and intriguing so that is one of the main reasons why they interest me.

No comments:

Post a Comment