Conventions of thriller films

Alyssa Grieveson

Mise en scene..

Typically in a thriller movie, you expect the film to be set in a dark and rural setting, e.g. wooded area, quiet village, or an old mansion in the middle of a country side.

They use this as the mise en scene because it helps create the feel of mysterious and tension because you cant see what around the corner and you don’t have a wide range of sight due to the dark setting.

Camera Angles..In the movies they use a variety of different camera angles, the conventional camera angles that are used are:• Tilting- they use the tilting technique because it makes object appear a

lot taller and bigger than they actually are. This causes fear and intimidation for the characters and the audience as it will make them feel weak.

• Point of view- they use the point of view shot because it lets the audience have the perspective of what the character in the movie is seeing. Also we could see the point of view of the villain so we can also see the other character from both points of view.

• Mirror shot- The mirror shot is very effective in thriller films because we get to see what's behind the character. This is a good shot to create good tension and make the film jumpy as you are expecting something to suddenly appear in the mirror.

Lighting..For the film they use a lot of dim and dark lighting, this is because this also is another way in which to cause tension and fear for both the characters in the movie and the audience. They also use black and white lighting effects throughout the movie. They do this because it gives us the sense of safety and danger. The use of the white light suggests the feel of safety because the audience and the character can see where they’re going and what is around them. It also gives the feel of freedom and you no longer feel trapped. We also associate harmless people with the colour white which also suggests safety. However we also associate ghosts with the colour white. This is another reason in why they would use the colour white in a thriller movie.The use of the black lighting suggests the feel of danger. This is because you cant see your surroundings properly and it makes the character and the audience feel trapped. Also with the colour black we associate evil, a ‘dark side’ and pain with someone wearing black. Therefore the use of black is useful because we can see the difference between the evil and good characters judging by the colour of clothing.

The Others..This is a convention of a thriller movie because of the setting of the house and the fact that you cant see it due to the misty weather, which makes it more mysterious for the watchers.

In this scene they have made it more mysterious for the viewers because they have covered every object with white sheets, which we typically connect with ghosts. So we are waiting to discover what will be revealed under the sheets.

The use of the mirror is a convention in thriller films and this is a good example of how it is used. It is a good way to use it because we creates suspense for the audience because as Nicole Kidman’s character looks at the door behind her in the mirror we except something to suddenly pop out from behind the door.

Another way in which they have used a typical convention in the others is the use of the foggy weather. This is a good mise en scene because this also creates tension as we cant see what is going on around the character and we are uncertain on whether something is going to suddenly appear and therefore senses danger.

The use of the character walking up an enclosed and dark stair case is a good convention and effect because it creates the feel of danger and being unsafe because they have used the use of light effectively as it shows us that the outside is the safer place to be. It is also effective because it creates the feel of mystery as we cant see who the character is an whether they are evil or not.

This is a good use of lightening because it shows us that the house is unsafe and the outside is safer because they have made the inside of the house black which indicates danger but the outside is white which indicates safety. This is also reflected upon the characters in this shot and throughout the movie because they are all wearing black, which tells the viewers that they are dangerous.