Conventions in a Thriller

What is the Thriller Genre?• Thriller is a genre of literature, film, 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 emotions, 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 a sensation of hanging from a cliff, as the plot builds towards a climax. Literary devices such as red herrings, plot twists, and cliff-hangers are used extensively. A thriller is usually a villain-driven plot, whereby he or she presents obstacles that the protagonist must overcome.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thriller_%28genre%29

Titles• The titles are an important factor to making a film a thriller and can vary from its font and whether it

comes right at the beginning or after a scene. Most thriller films seem to have their credits done over a black screen with some non-digetic music playing in the background to set the scene but its also common for thrillers to start with a particular event before the titles begin to show.

• An example of a film that includes this is ‘Kill Bill vol 1’ (Tarantino, 2003) where the scene is set in black and white and a bloody beaten up woman on the floor; by doing this at the very beginning it already raises questions to the audience as to how and why the character is in the state she is and it also gives them a feel of what the storyline is about.

• Usually in titles the most important film companies or actors in the film are shown first in the credits.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ew5EYd5_i6M

Camera Angles, shots and movement

• Camera shots are important when filming a thriller because you need to remember that what you film is what the audience sees what you see in your head may not be what comes out on film. With good use of camera angles thriller would commonly do an establishing shot in the opening so that the audience are aware where the scene is set and this can be in a form of a panorama, then It would jump straight to an important scene where it launches the audience straight into the action or maybe a suspenseful/ monologue scene with the protagonist explaining the scenario.

• Tracking and pan shots is what’s commonly use in the beginning of thriller films, particularly a certain group of people we should be interested in the audience. An example of this is the bank heist scene from ‘The Dark Knight’ (Nolan, 2008) where the camera tracks the group at certain points. Zooming in and out was a rarity that was scene during as action scene.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OYBEquZ_j0

Mise-en-scene• Mise-en-scene conventions are very important to the thriller genre as many props, sets and locations can

have sinister or tense connotations. • The use of black and white filters are also used as a convention of thrillers as it shows a suspensful and

sinister side a film and the cold harshness which many thrillers portray; for example the whole film of ‘Sin City’ (Miller) shows extensive use of black and white to portray the harsh narrative. In the opening scene of ‘Sin City’ only iconic parts are filmed in colour which the director thinks would be of some significance such as the woman's red dress; by doing this the audience can make out that the woman has an important role to play in the film and can raise tension and atmosphere.

• Lighting is important when establishing the thriller genre because it can create the sense of mystery and danger depending on the angle of the lighting which in return can raise suspense from the audience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JV1436VsnZY

Sound• Sound is also an important feature and as well as the others it holds many conventions relating to the

thriller genre. Sound is used to create tension with eerie or intense music being played either as digetic or non-digetic material within the scene. High pitched sound is often used as it makes the audience uncomfortable and shows how scenes may not be pleasant or something unexpected may happen.

• An example of sound being used to create suspenseful atmosphere for the audience is the soundtrack used in ‘Jaws’ (Spielberg) and since then the motif of the shark has become a widely known sound for a suspenseful atmosphere. Another example where sound is used to create suspense is the shower scene in ‘The shining’ which makes the audience uncomfortable and ‘on the edge of their seats’ anticipated on what else is to come.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9QTSyLwd4whttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VP5jEAP3K4

Sources

• http://www.slideshare.net/Mattynolan182/codes-and-conventions-of-thriller

• http://www.slideshare.net/bobsled/conventions-of-thriller-films-3300791