patrick lee

The typical repertoire of elements used within the Thriller genre is settings, mise en scene characterisation and iconography. I will convey how these elements are used within the genre of disaster thriller.

There are differences even between settings in subgenres of thriller. For example horrors are often set in, isolated, small, dark, enclosed space such as garages, basements and attics unlike disaster thrillers because they are always set in wide open out door areas but thrillers do involve isolation but in enlarge spaces because they are all ways moving from place to place.

Iconography within disaster thrillers is limited due to the fact that they are always moving place to place so the only type of typical items or objects would be any kinds of transport and communication device. you would not find any type of family, house hold objects because they are on the move, for example in the disaster thriller film "2012"(released in 13/11/09 and directed by Roland Emmerich) they are constantly on the move and using a verity of vehicles to get them to there destination such as a aeroplane..

There are a number of stock characters with in disaster thrillers. The main character is normally and almost all the time a man because he is seen as the hero and the strongest, and only the strongest will get who ever he is with to safety. The main character normally has his family with him such as his wife and children or with a group of people he has found trying to save him self, but there is normally more than one child, but the children will not normally be seen as much because they are not important and don’t fit with the type of story being told. The wife’s role, the helper in the movie, is to be directed by the hero in what to do and to look after the family; this is because females are stereotyped as being the weaker sex. The Hero will come across other stragglers who will also help him; these people are normally the donor in the film, helping the hero by giving there lives to save the hero and his family. This constantly happens in the 1997 Disaster Thriller "Volcano" (directed by Mick Jackson), where we men giving there lives to save other trapped and injured people.

Mise en scene in disaster films will include many of the tings mentioned in iconography but also they cover wider elements like the weather. The weather used within in disaster thrillers is to mirror the mood of the story or to be a disaster itself such as "Day after Tomorrow" (released 2004 directed by Roland Emmerich) the disaster is the weather, where it floods the top half of the northern hemisphere. Special effects in disaster films are normally big dramatic explosion, burning buildings, tsunami and natural disasters (e.g. volcanoes erupting.). The special effects also help communicate to the audience by emphasising the magnitude of what horror they are going through. Diegetic sounds used with in thrillers are normally emphasized to give a more dramatic feel to the movie, and to drawing the audience in and keeping them captivated. Disaster thriller films normally get big well known actors in to play the part of the hero; this will help bring in different kinds of audiences depending on the actor.