Synopsis Thriller Sub-Genres

Main Sub Genres

• Conspiracy
• Crime
• Mystery
• Political
• Religious

Other Sub Genres

• Techno
• Supernatural
• Disaster
• Action

Crime Thrillers

• Crime thrillers are a classic sub-genre of a thriller
• Mainly set in an urban society
• It focuses either on the criminals and their plot leading to the crime
• Or mainly the detective trying to solve the mystery
• Usually a mixture of action and psychology and often with a twist at the end
• Main investigation scenes consist of murders. robberies, chases, heist and investigations.

Mystery

• Relates to all thrillers because without mystery and suspense there is no thrillers
• Usually links mystery with crime
• Uses mainly detectives or investigators to solve the mystery
• Also allows the audience to solve the mystery
• Usually involves a dramatic twist that shocks the audience

Conspiracy

• The storyline usually involves a sort of hero
• Usually either a journalist or investigator
• Find corrupt secrets that the government are involved in (a secret organisation or cult)
• Secret powerful organisation goes after protagonist to keep the secret organisation alive
• Protagonist takes down the organisation
• Conspiracy thrillers usually plot against the secrecy of governments

Political

• Usually relies on a hero to save the government to prevent a bad thing form happening
• Usually consists of assassinations of presidents/ prime ministers
• Links mainly to conspiracy thrillers

Religious

• The plot is linked to religio. The narrative focuses closely on religious objects, institutions and questions (enigma codes)
• Religious thrillers often contain conspiracies as part of the narrative
• Within the narrative, it unravels the good and bad elements related to religion in particular the catholic belief

Characters

Computer Hacker

• Props - for the computer hacker we need the actor to wear either smart office wear or casual wear, depending on the hierarchy of the workplace. More props that the computer hacker would need is a computer, a chair, an office and a desk. Various other office equipment would be advised as well.

• Additional Information - The computer hacker is going to be played by a male as I think it appeals to viewers that can associate with violence, also if played by a female the film would be too controversial and risky. The face of the computer hacker may or not be shown, depending on who and how well the actor beforms.

Killer

• Props - for the killer, a hooded jumper or jacket may be needed in order to cover the identity so that the viewer is left in suspense and left wanting to know who the killer is. Another prop needed would be a knife or a gun. However a knife is easier to find than a gun so this would be the more likely weapon.

• Additional Information - The killer can be female or male because the killer will be almost covered to hide the identity of the killer. A mask may be worn but this could borderline onto a horror movie. 

Our Thriller Ideas

Moodboard 1

This is a collection of some of the ideas for the characters in our opening for our thriller. We will also have the build-up of how the murderer gets to the scene. One idea would be to arrive by car then have shots of the killer travelling by foot. In between this would be shots of the computer hacker at the scene of the crime working by a computer, with close up of the screen such as the middle-right picture seen above. Then as a cliffhanger the computer hacker will by stabbed in the back by the killer. This will finish with the killer walking out of the building. Hopefully this will create suspense for a thriller film.

Rainbow Productions Intro

For our production titles introduction we used Photoshop and Keynote to create the effect that makes the rainbow wipe across with the title. We also added audio from the opening intro for Paramount, which was trimmed in GarageBand to fit to our production intro. Also I think that the audio fits with the background as it looks like a picture from Wizard of Oz.

Rainbow Productions Logo

We based our logo on Castle Rock Entertainment Intro in which the lighthouse shines it's light to reveal the words. We believe that our logo represents our production and that with an animation can be added to the beginning of the opening title for our film.

Thriller Opening Mind Map

For our Thriller Opening, we have decided to set the scene in a office where a computer hacker would sit. In order to create suspense we are going to include two crimes in the opening, one is of the murder's act towards the computer hacker, the other is when the murderer steals a USB stick that belongs to the computer hacker. The viewer then feels for the computer hacker and believes that the murderer is the antagonist.