AS Research:

ACTION:

The action genre is a class of creative works characterized by more emphasis on exciting action sequences than on character development or story-telling. The genre encompasses action fiction, action films, action games and analogous media in other formats such as manga and anime. There are many sub-genres, Including martial arts action, extreme sports action, car chases and vehicles, Suspense action, and action comedy, with each focusing in more detail on its own type and flavor of action. It is usually possible to tell from the creative style of an action sequence, the genre of the entire creative works. For example, the style of a Combat sequence will indicate whether the entire works is an action adventure, or Martial arts. Action is mainly defined by a lot of focus on any kind of movement. Action films involve one or more heroes thrust into a series of challenges requiring physical feats, extended fights, extensive stunts and frenetic chases. Story and character development are generally secondary to explosions, fist fights, gunplay and car chases. Both historically and currently, action films have wide commercial appeal and enjoy box office success. The action film revolves around a narrative, to be sure, but more importantly than that, a hero; when a moviegoer thinks of an action picture, more often than not they are thinking of a specific actor (Harrison Ford, Errol Flynn, Bruce Willis, Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Lee, Steve McQueen, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Statham, or Douglas Fairbanks Sr., to name but a few) and the obstacles their character(s) must overcome. Long the most popular of genres among male moviegoers, the action picture has been the dominant film genre of American and many foreign film markets (notably Hong Kong), since action translates across language barriers. It is impossible to think of the cinema without the action adventure film (Raiders Of The Lost Ark), the cop action film (Bullitt), the confined-space action film (Die Hard), the sci-fi action film (Aliens), the martial arts action film (Enter The Dragon, the action comedy (most Jackie Chan films), and the various other action subgenres too numerous to mention. Hollywood has continued to produce more action films than ever before, especially as advents in CG have made it cheaper and easier to create action sequences and other visual effects that once required professional stunt crews, dangerous staging, integrated use of props, and other complex, expensive elements. However, action audiences’ expectations have been raised commiserate with the leveling of the movie-making playing field, and films where computer animation is not believable are often met with criticism. Additionally, a subgenre of action films have emerged wherein the filmmakers’ efforts to continually strive for more and more absurdist, over-the-top action elements is an openly understood aspect of the cinematic experience, as with films like Crank.

RISE OF THE ACTION FILM
In the West, during the 1920s and 1930s, adventure films were popularized by actors such as Douglas Fairbanks and Errol Flynn, but the settings were often period ones. The phenomenal success of the James Bond series in the 1960s and 1970s, helped to popularize the concept of the modern day action film in more recent years. The early Bond films were characterized by quick cutting, car chases, fist fights and ever more elaborate action sequences. The series also established the concept of the resourceful hero, who is able to dispatch the villains with a ready one-liner.
Early American action films usually focused on maverick police officers, as in Bullitt (1968), The French Connection (1971) and Dirty Harry (1971). These were among the earliest films to present a car chase as an action set-piece. However, the action film did not become a dominant form in Hollywood until the 1980s and 1990s, when it was popularized by actors such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis and Sylvester Stallone. The 1988 film Die Hard was particularly influential on the development of the genre in the following decade. In the film, Bruce Willis plays a New York police detective who inadvertently becomes embroiled in a terrorist take-over of a Los Angeles office block. The film set a pattern for a host of imitators, like Under Siege (1992) or Air Force One (1997), which used the same formula in a different setting.
Action films tend to be expensive, requiring big budget special effects and stunt work. As such, they are regarded as mostly a Hollywood genre, although there have been a significant number of action films from Hong Kong which are primarily modern variations of the martial arts film. Because of these roots, Hong Kong action films typically center on acrobatics by the protagonist while American action films typically feature big explosions and modern technology.

CURRENT TRENDS
Current trends in action film include a development toward more elaborate fight scenes in Western film. This trend is influenced by the massive success of Hong Kong action cinema, both in Asia and in the west. Asian martial arts elements, such as kung-fu and karate can now be found in numerous non-Asian action films. Now, a distinction can be made between films that lean toward physical, agile fighting, such as The Transporter, and those that lean toward other common action film conventions, like explosions and plenty of gunfire, such as Lethal Weapon, although most action movies employ elements of both.

FEMINIST THEORY

Feminist film theory has been used to analyze action movies, owing to their rare variance from a core archetype. The separation between the physical male, who controls the scene and the gaze, and the female, who is almost always the object of the gaze, is very clear in most such films. Although female characters in most action films are nothing more than objects, a prize for the winner, hostages, loving wives and the like, there has been a move towards stronger female characters such as those in works by James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow, and a move towards “girl power”-style feminine empowerment (e.g. Charlie’s Angels), in place of the traditional “damsel in distress”.

SUB-GENRES

Action drama– Combines action set-pieces with serious themes, character
insight and/or emotional power. This sub-genre can be traced back to the origins of the action film. Carol Reed’s The Third Man (written by Grahame Greene) was an award-winning predecessor of this sub-genre.

Buddy cop– Two mismatched cops (or some variation such as a cop and a criminal) team-up as the main protagonists. Major examples are Rush Hour, 48 Hrs., Lethal Weapon, and Hot Fuzz.

Action comedy– Mixture of action and comedy usually based on mismatched partners (the standard “buddy film” formula) or unlikely setting. The action comedy sub-genre was re-vitalized with the popularity of the Lethal Weapon series of movies in the 1980s and 1990s.

Action thriller– Elements of action/adventure (car chases, shootouts, explosions) and thriller (plot twists, suspense, hero in jeopardy). Many of the James Bond series of films are icons of this popular sub-genre.

Caper / heist– Protagonists are carrying out robbery, either for altruistic purposes or as anti-heroes. The film You Only Live Once, based on the exploits of Bonnie and Clyde, was one of the first examples of this sub-genre.

Die Hard– Story takes place in limited location – single building or vehicle – seized or under threat by enemy agents. This sub-genre began with the film, Die Hard, but has become popular in Hollywood movie making both because of its crowd appeal and the relative simplicity of building sets for such a constrained piece.

Science fiction action– Any of the other sub-genres of action film can be set in a science fiction setting. The Star Wars films began the modern exploration of this combination of high action content with futuristic settings in the 1970s, based in part on the serials of the 1930s and 1940s such as Flash Gordon. An explosion of science fiction action films followed in the 1980s and 1990s.

Action horror– As with science fiction action films, any sub-genre of action film can be combined with the elements of horror films to produce what has increasingly become a popular action sub-genre in its own right. Monsters, robots and many other staples of horror have been used in action films. In the 1980s, Aliens introduced movie goers to the potential of a hybrid of science fiction, action and horror which would continue to be popular to the present day

A2 Research:

THRILLER

Thriller is a genre of literature, film, videogame stories and television programming that uses suspense, tension, and excitement as its main elements. Thrillers heavily stimulate the viewer’s moods, giving them a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, surprise, anxiety and terror. Films of this genre tend to be adrenaline-rushing, gritty, rousing and fast-paced.
A thriller provides the sudden rush of excitement, and exhilaration that drive the narrative, sometimes subtly with peaks and lulls, sometimes at a constant, breakneck pace. It keeps the audience on the “edge of their seats”, akin to the sensation of hanging from a cliff, as the plot builds towards a climax. Literary devices such as red herrings, plot twists, and cliffhangers are used extensively. A thriller is usually a villain-driven plot, whereby he or she presents obstacles that the protagonist must overcome.
Common subgenres are psychological thrillers, crime thrillers, erotic thrillers and mystery thrillers. Another common subgenre of thriller is the spy genre which deals with fictional espionage. Successful examples of thrillers are the films of Alfred Hitchcock. The horror and action genres often overlap with the thriller. Thrillers tend to be psychological, threatening, mysterious and at times involve larger-scale villainy such as espionage, terrorism and conspiracy.

Characteristics

THEMES AND CHARACTERISTICS

A common occurrence in thrillers is characters being taken as hostages and with a ransom in need. Common methods and themes in crime thrillers are mainly ransoms, captivities, heists, revenge, kidnappings. More common in mystery thrillers are investigations and the whodunit technique. Common elements in psychological thrillers are mind games, psychological themes, stalking, confinement/deathtraps, horror-of-personality, and obsession. Elements such as fringe theories, false accusations and paranoia are common in paranoid thrillers. Threats to entire countries, spies, espionage, conspiracies, assassins and electronic surveillance are common in spy thrillers.

The primary elements of the thriller genre:

The protagonist(s) faces death, either his and/or her or somebody else’s.
The force(s) of the antagonist’s must initially be cleverer and/or stronger than the protagonist’s.
The main storyline for the protagonist is either a questor a character that cannot be put down.
The main plotline focuses on a mystery that must be solved.
The film’s narrativeconstruction is dominated by the protagonist’s point of view.
There may be a suspenseful and atmospheric soundtrack for the scenes of suspense.
All action and characters must be credibly realistic or natural in their representation on screen.
The two major themes that underpin the thriller genre are the desire for justiceand the morality of individuals.
One small, but significant, aspect of a thriller is the presence of innocence in what is seen as an essentially corrupt world.
The protagonist(s) and antagonist(s) may battle, themselves and each other, not just on a physical level, but on a mental one as well.
Either by accident or their own curiousness, each character is dragged into a dangerous conflict or situation that they are not prepared to resolve.

Characters usually include criminals, stalkers, assassins, innocent victims (often on the run), menaced women, characters with deep dark pasts, psychotic individuals, spree killers, sociopaths, agents, terrorists, cops and escaped cons, private eyes, people involved in twisted relationships, world-weary men and women, psycho-fiends, and more. The themes frequently include terrorism, political conspiracy, pursuit, or romantic triangles leading to murder.

The protagonists are frequently ordinary citizens unaccustomed to danger, although commonly in crime thrillers, they may also be “hard men” accustomed to danger such as police officers and detectives. While protagonists of thrillers have traditionally been men, women lead characters are increasingly common. In psychological thrillers, the protagonists are reliant on their mental resources, whether it be by battling wits with the antagonist or by battling for equilibrium in the character’s own mind. The suspense often comes from two or more characters preying upon one another’s minds, either by playing deceptive games with the other or by merely trying to demolish the other’s mental state.

SUSPENSE

Suspense is a crucial characteristic of the thriller genre. It gives the viewer a feeling of pleasurable fascination and excitement mixed with apprehension, uncertainty, anticipation, tension, and anxiety. These develop from unpredictable, mysterious and rousing events during the narrative, which make the viewer or reader think about the outcome of certain actions. It also gives the person the so-called “on-edge” feeling. Suspense builds in order to make those final moments, no matter how short, the most memorable. They are the defining features in a thriller. The suspense in a story keeps the person hooked to reading or watching more until the climax is reached, and the thrill and amusement of being suspended, so to speak, finally come to a close. Suspense is about conflict and the obstacles between the protagonist and his goal.

In terms of narrative expectations, it may be contrasted with mystery or curiosity and surprise. The objective is to deliver a story with sustained tension, surprise, and a constant sense of impending doom. A thriller aims to keep its audience alert. As described by film director Alfred Hitchcock, an audience experiences suspense when they expect something bad to happen and have (or believe they have) a superior perspective on events in the drama’s hierarchy of knowledge, yet they are powerless to intervene to prevent it from happening.

Suspense in thrillers is often intertwined with hope and fear, which are treated as two emotions aroused in anticipation of the conclusion – the hope that things will turn out all right for the appropriate characters in the story, and the fear that they may not. The second type of suspense is the “…anticipation wherein we either know or else are fairly certain about what is going to happen but are still aroused in anticipation of its actual occurrence.”

According to Greek philosopher Aristotle in his book Poetics, suspense is an important building block of literature, and this is an important convention in the thriller genre. Ari Hiltunen affirms that “Aristotle’s concept of fear can best be understood by the word suspense. The audience are aware of threatening danger and would like to warn the character but of course cannot do so.”

STORY AND SETTING

The protagonist of these films is set against a problem – an escape, a mission, or a mystery. No matter what subgenre a thriller film falls into, it will emphasize the danger that the protagonist faces. The cover-up of important information from the viewer, and fight and chase scenes are common methods in all of the thriller subgenres, although each subgenre has its own unique characteristics and methods.

Plots of thrillers involve characters which come into conflict with each other or with outside forces – the threat is sometimes abstract or unseen. An atmosphere of creepy menace and sudden violence, such as crime and murder, characterize thrillers. Thrillers often present the world and society as dark, corrupt, and dangerous, but in Hollywood, they usually feature upbeat endings in which evil is overcome. The tension usually arises when the character(s) is placed in a menacing situation, a mystery, or a trap from which escaping seems impossible. Life is threatened, usually because the principal character is unsuspectingly or unknowingly involved in a dangerous or potentially deadly situation.

Thrillers emphasize the puzzle aspect of the plot. There are clues, and the viewer/reader should be able to determine the solution at about the same times as the protagonist. In thrillers, the compelling questions isn’t necessarily who did it, but whether the villain will be caught before committing another crime. Hitchcock’s films often placed an innocent victim (an average, responsible person) into a strange, life-threatening or terrorizing situation, in a case of mistaken identity, misidentification or wrongful accusation.

Thrillers take place mostly in ordinary suburbs and cities, although sometimes they may take place wholly or partly in exotic settings such as foreign cities, deserts, polar regions, or the high seas. These usually tough, resourceful, but essentially ordinary heroes are pitted against villains determined to destroy them, their country, or the stability of the free world. Often in a thriller movie, the protagonist is faced with what seem to be insurmountable problems in his mission, carried out against a ticking clock, the stakes are high and although resourceful, they face personal dilemmas along the way forcing them to make sacrifices for others.

Writer Vladimir Nabokov, in his lectures at Cornell University, said: “In an Anglo-Saxon thriller, the villain is generally punished, and the strong silent man generally wins the weak babbling girl, but there is no governmental law in Western countries to ban a story that does not comply with a fond tradition, so that we always hope that the wicked but romantic fellow will escape scot-free and the good but dull chap will be finally snubbed by the moody heroine.”

Thrillers may be defined by the primary mood that they elicit: fearful excitement. In short, if it “thrills”, it is a thriller. As the introduction to a major anthology explains:

“…Thrillers provide such a rich literary feast. There are all kinds. The legal thriller, spy thriller, action-adventure thriller, medical thriller, police thriller, romantic thriller, historical thriller, political thriller, religious thriller, high-tech thriller, military thriller. The list goes on and on, with new variations constantly being invented. In fact, this openness to expansion is one of the genre’s most enduring characteristics. But what gives the variety of thrillers a common ground is the intensity of emotions they create, particularly those of apprehension and exhilaration, of excitement and breathlessness, all designed to generate that all-important thrill. By definition, if a thriller doesn’t thrill, it’s not doing its job” – James Patterson, June 2006, “Introduction,” Thriller

THRILLER AND MYSTERY

Thrillers often overlap with mystery stories but are distinguished by the structure of their plots. In a thriller, the hero must stop the plans of an enemy rather than uncover a crime that has already happened. Mystery thrillers also occur on a much grander scale: the crimes that must be prevented are serial or mass murder, terrorism, assassination, or the overthrow of governments. Jeopardy and violent confrontations are standard plot elements in the mystery-thriller genre (e.g. Triangle), unlike in the mystery genre where the story is more downbeat and dramatic (e.g. Changeling).

While a mystery climaxes when the mystery is solved (e.g. Gosford Park), a mystery thriller climaxes when the hero finally defeats the villain (after reveal), saves his own life and often the lives of others (e.g. Oldboy). There is very little violence, menace and threat in mystery/detective films (especially between the villain and other innocent people), whilst the violence is quite intense in thrillers and the villain is more ruthless. In thrillers influenced by film noir and tragedy, the compromised hero is often killed in the process.

While most will associate death with the genre and as being part of the story, a thriller isn’t just about someone being murdered. There is always something bigger and more important at stake behind the murder that may endanger more lives. Where in a mystery the motive for a crime such as insurance fraud can be greed, in a thriller mere money doesn’t come across as believable for all the terrible things the antagonist will do.

HYBRID GENRE

A cross-genre (or hybrid genre) is a genre in fiction that blends themes and elements from two or more different genres. As opposed to the (literary and political) conservatism of most genre fiction, cross-genre writing offers opportunities for opening up debates and stimulating discussion. Such hybrid genres are not new but a longstanding element in the fictional process.

In creative works, a hybrid genre refers to a combination of two or more stylistic, themed categories. Such mergings may occur in art, music, and — perhaps most prevalently — in literature. In these works, certain guidelines are followed and common features of each genre are present within the work or group of works. Examples of hybrid genre fiction might include a science fiction horror novel or a romantic suspense novel.

A hybrid genre occurs when an author or other creative professional attempts to merge two or more genres. While elements of one genre might be stronger in the work, the professional still abides by the guiding rules of both genres. Science fiction and fantasy are two genres that are often merged by fiction writers.

Almost any of the major genres can be combined to create a hybrid genre work. Horror writers often use actual scientific principles as a foundation for many of the bloodthirsty creatures found in horror stories. Romance writers, in turn, might create a subplot based on a mystery that the two romantically intended characters must solve together. Mysteries may also merge with thrillers if the stakes of the unsolved crime affect many people and send the primary characters on action-packed adventures.

While genre novels usually have a preset formula of plot and characters, the specifics of this formula often change over time. Writers experiment, and new genres are sometimes even born from these experiments. In many cases, a hybrid genre provides a sound transitional phase for the transformations that sustain the literary world.

Hybrid genres are found in artistic forms other than literature. Artists may take elements of distinct artistic approaches like surrealism and classical styles. In addition, musicians often combine the instruments and rhythms of particular subsets such as country and pop music to create cross-genre hits. Movies, likewise, may appeal to a broader audience by merging different genres. Comedy is one particularly popular cinematic genre that fuses with other genres like romance or even horror, creating hybrid genres like the romantic comedy and the black comedy.

ACTION-THRILLER

Action thriller – Featuring guns, cool explosions, and amazing set pieces, this movie type first developed in the 1970s in such films as Dirty Harry and The French Connection, and became the exemplar of the Hollywood mega-blockbuster in the 1980s in such works as Die Hard and Lethal Weapon. These films often feature a race against the clock, lots of violence, and a clear—often flamboyantly evil—antagonist. Though they may involve elements of crime or mystery films, those aspects take a back seat to the action. Other significant works include Hard Boiled, True Romance, Point Break, The Warriors, Bullitt, The Seven-Ups, Cobra and Rambo: First Blood Part II, Taken.[25] The story takes place in limited location; a single building, plane, or vessel – which is seized or under threat by enemy agents, but are opposed by a single hero who fights an extended battle within the location using stealth and cunning to attempt to defeat them. The Die Hard subgenre has become popular in Hollywood because of its crowd appeal and the relative simplicity of building sets for such a constrained piece. Examples include Under Siege (terrorists take over a ship), Broken Arrow (terrorists hijack a nuclear weapon from a B-2 bomber), Snakes on a Plane (poisonous snakes take over a passenger plane), Speed, Under Siege 2: Dark Territory and Derailed (hostages are trapped on trains and buses), Sudden Death (terrorists take over an Ice Hockey stadium), Passenger 57, Executive Decision and Air Force One (hostages are trapped on a plane), Con Air (criminals take over a transport plane), and Half Past Dead and The Rock (criminals or terrorists take over a prison). Paul Blart: Mall Cop is a recent spoof of this trend (as Die Hard in a mall).

COMEDY-THRILLER

Comedy thrillers are a hybrid genre that draw subject matter generally from comedy, thrillers, spy, science-fiction, action, horror and suspense. They include a disproportionate amount, relative to other genres, of humor.’

PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER

Psychological thriller is a thriller story which emphasizes the psychology of its characters and their unstable emotional states. In terms of classification, the category is a subgenre of the broader ranging thriller category, with similarities to Gothic and detectivefiction in the sense of sometimes having a “dissolving sense of reality”, moral ambiguity, and complex and tortured relationships between obsessive and pathological characters. Psychological thrillers often incorporate elements of mystery, drama, action, and horror, particularly psychological horror

PLOT TWIST

A plot twist is a radical change in the expected direction or outcome of the plot of a novel, film, television series, comic, video game, or other work of narrative.^[1] It is a common practice in narration used to keep the interest of an audience, usually surprising them with a revelation. Some “twists” are foreshadowed.

When a plot twist happens near the end of a story, especially if it changes one’s view of the preceding events, it is known as a surprise ending. Sometimes people use a plot twist to describe a sudden change of a situation in real life. It is often assumed that revealing the existence of a plot twist spoils a film or book, since the majority of the film/book generally builds up to the plot twist; however, at least one study suggests otherwise.

A method used to undermine the expectations of the audience is the false protagonist. It involves presenting a character at the start of the film as the main character, but then disposing of this character, usually killing them – a device known as a red herring.

CLIFFHANGER

A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma, or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode of serialized fiction. A cliffhanger is hoped to ensure the audience will return to see how the characters resolve the dilemma.

Some serials end with the caveat “To Be Continued…” or “The End?” In movie serials and television series the following episode sometimes begins with a recap sequence while some Films end with Cliffhangers

The last few seconds of the movie Inception hold one of the biggest Cliffhangers of all time. The Movie was released in 2010, yet the ending is still debatable and forever will be