7 screen shots to represent the genre of thriller

8 Screen shots of films to
Represent the genre of thriller


To the left is a screen shot taken from the film, the strangers which is a remake made in 2008,
I choose to use this screen shot to represent my genre because in a thriller they mainly use low key lighting and this screen shot shows this.
In the background it does show the bright lights of the street lamps just shining onto the killer emphasising the thrilling and eary nature that this screen shot shows, along the ground fog is added to add effect. On top of the atmosphere that’s already there.
The costume of the killer is a usual thing to see in films under the genre of thriller, peoples identities are never fully known and you don’t always know about the killers like in strangers and also the TV series American psycho, where the guy in pampering himself and you know he is a killer, which is very un-stereotypical so you never actually know there true identity.


This again is a screen shot taken from the strangers; I have chosen this film to take another screen shot from because,
As you can see there is a victim who is a female and this is stereotypical in these types of films, normally it’s a male killer in these types of thrillers and although he’s behind his mask you can tell it’s a male killer and a female victim.
The lighting in this is coming from the lamp which is a usual house hold electrical item making it feel very natural and feels real.
The killer or stalker in the background I only just visible, as there is low-key lighting on him, adding suspense to the screen shot, suspense a usual factor and feeling that thrillers try to create.

This is the last screen shot I am going to be taking from the film The Strangers to represent the genre thriller. I have chosen this as my 3rd screen shot clearly because:
One, the only part the killer is visible adding a feeling of suspense typical in thrillers.
Two, the darkness around the killers face or mash is almost black emphasising the mask that the killer is wearing.
The antagonist in this shot is a female which is very un- stereotypical in thriller films. The above screen shots are showing a male killer so there obviously shows more than one killer, also very unusual in the genre of thriller.



This screen shot was taken from the 2010 film The Resident, I have chosen this for a number of reasons and the three main ones are shown below.
The setting where this screen shot has taken place is very natural and dark, the colour of the walls are a dark brown making the room feel dark and eary.
If you look closely in the background you can just see a man in the distance between the gaps in the door, there is just a sense of suspense and creepiness in the air.
The lighting in the room is very natural and it’s coming from the lamps on the right of the screen shot, and also in the old guy’s room from the window above the door. This isn’t adding much contribution to the light to be honest but its adding enough to show the man in the background which is the important part of this screen shot.

This is a screen shot from the film paranormal activity 2 which was released in 2010 as a follow on from its predecessor paranormal activity, I could have used a number of screen shots but I choose this one because:
The lighting isn’t normally like this its meant to be low-key lighting, but due to the night vision camera they are using to film this, this is a very unusual method of filming but I think its been pulled of very well and sticks to the genre, which is thriller.
In this the un-stereotypical killer is a female which I explained in previous screen shots this doesn’t fit the normal stereotypical male killer (antagonist) and the victim is male.
The 3rd point why I choose this is due to the scene, in a lot of thrillers the setting is in a person’s house and this is where most of the action takes place.


This is a screen shot taken from the upcoming film screen 4, this is a very important screen shot, because it represents the genre of thriller extremely well and the reason are shown in bullet points below:
First I will talk about sound, although it’s a screen shot and its impossible to hear things threw a picture, I can still determine what sounds are coming, I would say it’s a diagetic sound; the female victim will be scared and as a result be breathing very heavily, and the killer will be trying to stay as silent as possible.
This is a very untypical screen shot as it doesn’t have any low key lighting and it’s very bright.
The camera shot here is what I am going to be talking about last of all on this screen shot, as you can see it’s a two shot but slightly an over the shoulder shot, this is a very typical shot used in thrillers as it in a lot of films its always showing the killers somewhat stalking there victims and are always behind them with out there knowing.

This is a screen shot taken from the film District 9 I have chosen this for number of reason one in particular and it has been discussed below in bullet points:
The look of the guy in the screen shot makes him look like a psycho killer, but on the other hand he also looks like a victim. This is very much a trait in thriller films, adding to the over all mysteriousness.
The setting is imposable to see, but a setting in your imagination is easy to establish here as you can see he is dirty and bloody, and threes like a desert sort of colour blur in the background, this screen shot is not showing a clear scene which again adds a mysterious feel.