History of thriller films- Miss Georgiou

History of thriller films

1940

• In the 1940's they relied on sound and editing to make the films scary. They also used old fashioned monsters a lot in there films such as mummy's, zombies and vampires. This was the first time viewers could experience being scared by films. Since then thriller films have become a big hit.
• The mummy is a perfect example of a 1940 film. The black and white theme and tense music all create tension on the viewer. Also the mummy itself is made to look old and threatening. This was one of many films back then that showed viewers fictional monsters to make there minds run wild with thoughts.

1960

Psycho is a 1960 American horror-thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock starring Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, John Gavin, and Janet Leigh. The director in psycho concentrated on close up shots to try and clearly show the expressions on the characters. This in turn would help the viewer relate to the character because they would know how they are feeling. Sound was also used to create a tense feeling on the viewer. Jump scenes were made by increasing the background music and slowing down the speed of the film. This was one of the first films to use this technique. 

1980

The shining is known as one of he best horror movies ever made. This is down to the tense but addictive story line and the creative uses of lighting. Lighting was a key element in this film. Scary scenes were enhanced using darker lighting which would make the viewer feel tense because they wouldn't be able to see the background around the characters clearly. Like in the movie psycho sound was also a key element. There was always a background music in this film. It would get louder in scary scenes and become quieter in calm/happy scenes. The shining was famous for its introduction music because it made the viewer scared even before the film had started. 

2000

The descent. A woman goes on vacation with her friends after her husband and daughter encounter a tragic accident. One year later she goes hiking with her friends and they get trapped in the cave. With a lack of supply, they struggle to survive and they meet strange blood thirsty creatures. This was the first ever film of its kind to be filmed just by using hand held cameras. This was a new and exciting way of making the audience feel like they were seeing exactly what the characters were experiencing. This encouraged other horror films to use this technique such as Paranormal activity and the blare witch project. Using this method meant that the lighting had to be changed because its was only being filmed on a low budget camera. The director came up with the idea of placing a light on the camera and on the characters helmets to improve the standard of lighting. This also made the scenes more scary because the cameras shine would only reach a certain distance meaning that you wouldn't see the creatures until they were right next to you.

Top 10 box office films

             

Contagion was more of a hit than source code because it was more thriller like and they used better effects. Contagion used lighting to create suspense on the audience which worked very well because it made the audience feel like they couldn't really see the full surroundings around the character.