Conventions of a thriller

Conventions of a Thriller Movie

In a thriller, the usual scenario is a battle between a protagonist and an antagonist, when one disrupts the other. Usual a set of bad events happen, setting the scene for a climax at the end, often a build of to suspense for the end of the film. The protagonist tries to out do the antagonist, and often (not all the time) justice is restored.

In thrillers there are many different conventions, these include:
-Tense music
-Quick cuts
-Black and white shots
-Protagonist in mercy of Antagonist
-Variety/Montage of shots

There is, most often, a single/group of characters that make up the protagonist, and they virtually always fight for justice, whilst in most thrillers the antagonist usually has a hidden identity at some point in the film, adding mystery code to the thriller. The story line is often quite realistic so that the person watching thinks it could possibly happen them, involving them and adding emotional connections with the film.

Camera shots like close up and extreme close ups would be used to show the emotion of the character, to set the tone for the scene. Along with the camera shots, music would be played in the background to enhance the mood for that particular scene even further.

Music in a thriller is key for the mood of any scene, and it can also send a message to the audience ie. making the them happy, or making them scared. In the majority of thrillers it builds up suspense, and the music will often get louder as more of something is revealed, to make it more dramatic.

Mise-en-scene:
-The location is key because it establishes the theme of the thriller.
-Lighting so that the theme can be further established
-The costumes play a key part in the mise-en-scene as the characters personality is clearly displayed through them.
-Saturation and colours used in the film show the theme and mood.

This links into our thriller as we are going to use some of these ideas, for example the lighting, in our thriller for a more sinister effect. We will use sharp music, similar to that use in the shining.