To what extent does your thriller conform to the structures of Genre?

For my AS Media coursework, I created an opening title sequence for a thriller with a partner. In order to successfully come out with a good grade we followed the conventions of a thriller. Our thriller plot was that the computer hacker has something valuable that the killer wants, for example government information on a USB stick. In order to get this, the killer kills the computer hacker. The sub-genre of our thriller can be classed as a crime-thriller, however it can be also classed as a mystery and conspiracy thriller too. The theories that I will include is Christian Metz and his theory on Genre Development and Transformation, Steve Neale and his theory on sub-genres, Jason Mittel and his theory on how the Media Industry uses genre to persuade their audiences to buy products, Rick Altman and his theory of how genre creates pleasure and the last theory on the Strengths of Genre.

Christian Metz believed that there were four stages to the genre development theory, these are Classical, Experimental, Parody and Deconstruction. We used genre development in our thriller opening because ours is experimental as there is no resolution at the end when the computer hacker is killed. However, our thriller could also be considered Classical because it conforms to the conventions of stock characters (Hero, Villain etc). 

Steve Neale declares that 'genre are instances of repetition and difference', he adds that 'difference is absolutely essential to the economy of genre'. To summarise, you need sub-genres in order to draw in audiences, otherwise it would just be repetitive. In our opening titles we class our genre as crime thriller because the acts that both the computer hacker and killer do are illegal, hence a crime. Although, the reasons behind their acts define them as their stock characters (Hero, Villain etc). However, our thriller could also be classed as a mystery thriller because the audience doesn't know why the information the computer hacker took was so important that he had to be killed by the killer. And there is also a hint of our thriller being a conspiracy thriller because we steer towards the idea of the government that the compter hacker stole from, is conspiring to kill him by hiring a killer.

Jason Mittel argues that industries use genre to sell products to audiences. Genre allows audiences to make choices about what products they want to consume through acceptance in order to complete a particular pleasure. It can be said that our thriller sells products to an audience. For example, the use of tension in our thriller opening when the hacker uses his computer could increase advertising for the use of technology because that is how he's able to get the information he needs. However, you could say that it would put an audience off technology buts the acts that the computer hacker is performing on the computer is stealing information from a large organisation. This is considered illegal and may influence audiences that technology is giving people too much access. 

Rick Altman argues that genre offers audiences a 'set of pleasures'. These include Emotional, Visceral and Intertextual Puzzle pleasures. I would say that we used Visceral pleasures in our thriller because at the end we have a close-up of a gun shot to the computer hacker's head. Which has a physical effect on the audience as they are shocked and draws the audience in. However, emotional pleasures also feature in our thriller opening because we sympathise with the computer hacker who doesn't know that he is being followed by the killer. We also used intertextual puzzles because a mystery is left to know why the information the hacker stole was so important.

The Strengths of Genre theory explains that the reason why it is so effective is that everybody uses it and understands it. Media experts use it to study media texts, the media industry use it to develop and market texts and audiences use it to decide what texts to consume. Without the genre in our title opening, the audience wouldn't be able to judge whether they want to watch the film or not, they need a genre because it decides what type of film it is. However, in our thriller opening, it would better to not conform to the conventions of a thriller and go against the genre. If we marketed our thriller as a romantic comedy in our thriller opening, it would be a lie and may not bring in as big of an audience.

In conclusion, our thriller does conform to the structure of genre because the mise-en-scene, characters, soundtrack, foley etc. show conventions of a thriller. For example, with the mise-en-scene, the first location was in Canary Wharf, London, which is known for businessmen/woman, which the computer hacker fit in with. This conforms to how we see thrillers because we get a sense of mystery as to why the computer hacker is in there amongst the busy workers and buildings. The characters in our thriller opening conform to the conventions of a thriller genre because they are typical Hero (computer hacker) vs Villain (killer) stock characters where the Villain (killer) seeks out to end the Hero's (computer hacker) quest (which is to keep the information from the large organisation. However, the computer hacker isn't a stereotypical Hero because his quest involves stealing, this means that maybe the characters don't conform to the genre of a thriller.

Genre Theories

The 5 Genre Theorists that I have chosen are:

1. Genre Development and Transformation - Metz
2. Subgenres - Steve Neale
3. Industry - Jason Mittel
4. Pleasure - Rick Altman
5. Strengths of Genre

To what extent does your thriller conform to the structures of Narrative?

For my AS Media coursework, I created an opening title sequence for a thriller with a partner. In order to successfully come out with a good grade we followed the conventions of a thriller. Our thriller plot was that the computer hacker has something valuable that the killer wants, for example government information on a USB stick. In order to get this, the killer kills the computer hacker. The sub-genre of our thriller can be classed as a crime-thriller, however it can be also classed as a mystery and conspiracy thriller too. The theories that I will use are Cook's theory of the Enigma Code, Propp's theory of Stock Characters, Todorov's theory of Structure, Levi-Strauss's theory of Binary Opposition and Barthes theory of Cause and Effect.

Roland Barthes theory of Enigma Code is explains that text is like a tangled ball of threads, the threads need to be unravelled and once unravelled, we encounter an absolute wide range of political meanings. This means you can look at narrative in two ways. Barthes narrowed down the action of a text into Five Codes, which are woven into any narrative. These are the Hermeneutic Code, The Enigma Code, The Symbolic Code, The Cultural Code and the Semantic Code. I would say that our thriller showcases the Hermeneutic Code because our thriller also avoids telling the truth about why the information on the USB stick is so important, in order for it stay a mystery even after the computer hacker is killed. This leaves the thriller opening on a cliff-hanger and if it were to be for a film, then that film would end up explaining and hinting clues. The enigma code is why the computer hacker is being followed as this is not known at the start of the thriller opening. We also include the code that the audience doesn't know what the information is that the hacker stole, or why is it so important. The enigma code is revealed at the end because the computer hacker is killed for the information he stole from the large organisation. 

Izetan Todorov believed that conventional narratives are structures in five stages, theses are the equilibrium, the disruption, the recognition, the repair and the reinstatement. However, for out thriller opening we are only focusing on three stages, the equilibrium, the disruption and the recognition. The equilibrium in our thriller is when the computer hacker has the information with him and is downloading it onto his computer at home so it's safe. The disruption of that is when the killer comes in and steals the information, the kills the computer hacker, The recognition backs up the idea that the killer is out to get the hacker and wants something from him in order to follow him. However, the recognition is not prominent because the disruption that has occurred (the killing) is not recognised by any other character. This would be revealed later but not in a thriller opening as this would ruin the plot.

Vladimir Propp believes that there are 8 stock characters that fairy story's in particular follow, these are the villain, the dispatcher, the helper, the princess or prize, the princess's father, the donor, the hero and the false hero. The stock characters help to define what the characters motives are because this can help to understand the plot. We used stock characters in our thriller because the computer hacker is the Hero and the killer is the Villain. The stock characters help to define what the characters motives are because this can help to understand the plot. We used stock characters in our thriller because the computer hacker is the Hero and the killer is the Villain. However, the Hero, who is a computer hacker, has also stolen from somebody, so he is an alternative hero, and some may say that he is a False Hero because he doesn’t finish his quest as he is killed by the killer, who is the Villain. 

Levi-Strauss's theory was that the way we understand certain words doesn't depend on the meaning it creates but more on our understanding of the difference between the word and it's 'opposite' which is called 'binary oppositions'. He realised that words purely act as symbols for society's ideas and that the meaning of words, therefore, he believed that they are a relationship between opposing ideas. Binary opposition can explain that with one thing, there is an opposite to this. This can help to create conflict between the characters. We use binary opposition in our thriller because the computer hacker is good and the killer is evil. This is also shown through lighting as the killer is seen in dark lighting and the computer hacker is seen in light lighting. However, sometimes the killer is seen in the same lighting as the computer hacker, which could showcase that the two characters are not complete opposites after all. 

Pam Cook argues that the Hollywood narrative structure includes ‘linearity of cause and effect within an overall trajectory of enigma resolution’ and ‘a high degree of narrative closure’. We included cause and effect in our thriller because the cause is that the computer steals information from a large corporation and they then hire a killer to kill to computer hacker to get the information back, this is the effect. However, even though the effect is clear, there is no narrative closure to this effect as we don’t know why the information was so important for the computer hacker to be killed.

Narrative Theories

The 5 Narrative Theorists that I have chosen are:

1. Cook - Enigma code
2. Propp - Stock characters
3. Todorov - Structure
4. Levi-Strauss - Binary Opposition
5. Barthes - Cause and Effect