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What makes a Thriller a Thriller?                              

Max Curdy

A thriller film is a film that aims to keep the audience anticipating what's going to happen next, to keep the audience on the edge of their seat. The concept of the genre revolves around the use of suspense, tension and excitement. In short, the point of  a thriller is to be thrilled, hence the name! Thriller films also make out 1 objective that must be completed (example - stop the jokers plan - Batman). 

Characters of a Thriller film are quite basic when you strip the conventions down. There is; a protagonist (hero) that comes to save the day. Often a male which ends up seducing the his female friend after the day is saved. There is an antagonist (villain) that comes to stir up trouble for the hero to deal with. Again, often a male that is always beaten at the end of the story. There is a damsel in distress in which is mostly a female role. This character is often taken hostage or put in danger which the protagonist has to save her, she is also the prize at the end of the story. 

Now you can't have a film with only 3 characters in it, there are also others such as 'the helper' which is normally a friend of the protagonist that helps save the day. There are the henchmen, multiple characters that follow and help the antagonist with his deeds, though they are easily beat by the hero. Having said that, one of the henchmen often becomes a small challenge for the hero. Despite these other character types, the most important ones are the protagonist, antagonist and the damsel in distress. 

Obviously if every thriller film were to simply repeat these character types the audience would grow tired of them and the film wouldn't be very thrilling. So every movie tries to put a twist to the characters or plot making the film unique and resulting in unexpected events. Also, many films try and break stereotypes and challenge these character types, for example the protagonist or antagonist may be a woman or  the protagonist may not be as good as you think. 

Another type of Thriller film is psychological thrillers, this is where they focus on making the audience think! With these types of Thriller films, the character types mentioned above don't always apply. 

Thrillers mostly take place in public places such as in towns or cities. This makes the action seem a lot more real and makes the audience able to relate. The whole point of a Thriller is to make the audience feel ''wowed'' but that won't happen if the plot is not believable, like there is no chance of the events taking place in real life. Public places are also used a lot as the antagonist often threatens to harm the people living in these densely populated places. The fact that its such a threat makes the action seem more exciting which keeps the audience on the edge of their seat wondering how or if the hero will save them. Exotic places are used sometimes to show off what the character is like, for instance, if the character is dangerous or a terrorist they might be shown in a cave with guns (iron man) or if the character is simply working in a normality scene before the event takes place (day after tomorrow).

The Basic Narrative Structure

Exposition >>> Rising Action >>> Climax >>> Falling Action >>> Denouement 

Exposition - Meeting characters, establishing the setting, setting the tone, establishing the normal of the world.

Rising Action - The central conflict is introduced and the tension between the protagonist and the antagonist begins to mount. 

Climax - The turning point, which marks a change for the better or the worse, in the protagonist's future. Usually high speed action and marks the ending of a film. 

Falling Action - The major action has happened. This is the after math. Sorting out the major conflict's resolution.

Denouement/Resolution - The creation of the new normal. The conflict is resolved.