Thriller Sub-Genres

Thriller comparison

Action Thriller - Hanna

For the thriller comparison, I used the film 'Hanna' as the action thriller and the film 'the Sixth Sense' as a drama thriller.


Location

In the film 'Hanna', the location takes place in a winter land with snow and winter trees with very minimal in terms of other people or any other sort of life. By doing this, Wright is able to give the impression of the fight for survival in the conditions. However, in the film 'The Sixth Sense', the location takes place in the basement by a wine cabinet in a house. By having the two contrasting locations in the opening scenes, it shows how the different directors interpret the different sub-genres. The winter location fits with the action sub-genre and the home location fits into drama better than the winter setting would.

Devices

In the action thriller, 'Hanna', the director uses a cliff-hanger in the opening scene, as the last thing in the scene that the audience sees is the gun pointing at the reindeer's body, and the last sound that is heard is a gun shot, creating a cliff-hanger effect to the audience. However, in 'The Sixth Sense', the director uses a small cliff-hanger and climaxes when the main character quickly leaves the room after building up the suspense of something or someone watching her in the basement.

Props and Costume

In 'Hanna' Wright uses guns and a bow and arrows as a use of self defence, as well as a thick winter coat, camouflaging into the surroundings of the winter location, giving the action effect of having the weapons as a form of protection, as well as the camouflage as a form of hunting and predatory  behaviour. Contrasting to this, in the opening scenes of 'The Sixth Sense', Shyamalan gives the female character a wine bottle, and that is all in the terms of props. This is as in the location she is in a wine cellar, meaning it would be fitting her having a wine bottle as part of her props. As a costume, the character is wearing smart casual clothing, as if at a dinner party. This contrasts 'Hanna' as the sub-genres are shown through the differences in clothing.

Themes

 In the opening scenes of 'Hanna', the director uses themes, such as violence and death to demonstrate the action thriller theme. Using the reindeer to represent the two themes highlighted, it also gives the idea that justice is served, as the main character has managed to get what she set out to hunt down in the beginning scenes of the film. However, in the opening scenes of 'The Sixth Sense' the director uses a close up of a lightbulb, and then the entrance of the main character, with dramatic music to emphasis that it is a dramatic thriller

Characters

 In both films, the directors have chosen to use one character in the opening scenes. By doing this, it creates the sense of suspension at the beginning of the film, and the sense of unaware for each character. In 'Hanna', the character is given the role in hunting, which gives the audience the idea of fighting and having to live off independence which could be considered as a key aspect of action thrillers. However, in 'The Sixth Sense', the director puts the character in a dramatic setting and a dramatic lighting to match in with the drama-thriller sub-genre.

Showing the sub-genre

 Wright shows the sub-genre of action-thriller through the use of the weaponry, as well as the location. By using the combination of the gun and bow and arrows, Wright has created the action thriller effect by showing the aggression and power at which comes at having the weapons, as well as using the location to give the idea of threat to the main character. Shyamalan however contrasts the action thriller to drama thriller by using dramatic entrance music during the credits at the beginning of the film to give the dramatic tension to the film, as well as using a dramatic, dark lit room as the opening scene. By doing this, both directors are able to highlight the key sub-genres in the first few minutes of each film.