The Conventions of a Thriller

8/3/2019 The Conventions of a Thriller

1/6

Ricardo Da Silva

The conventions of a thriller


2/6

Definition of a thriller

y A novel, play, or movie with an exciting plot, typically

involving crime or espionage.


3/6

Background on the thriller genre

y After the assassination ofPresident Kennedy, the political

thriller and the paranoid thriller film became very popular.

Successful examples of thrillers are the films ofAlfred

Hitchcock (Psycho).

y Thrillers stir up the viewer's moods such as a high level of

anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty,

anxiety, suspense, excitement, tension, and terror. Devices

such as cliff-hangers(end of Inception) are used

comprehensively. The cover-up of important information

from the viewer( Memento), and fight and chase scenes(

Dark Knight) are common methods in all of the thrillers.


4/6

Conventionsy Tracking and pan shots are used at the beginning of thriller films,

especially ofa certain group ofpeople who we should beinterested in as the audience.

y In terms offraming close ups are regularly used in thrillers, this isto build suspense and mystery in the beginning. Long shots arecommon to set the scene and show the audience where the actionwill be taking place.

y Lighting is used to set a tone and atmosphere for the rest of thefilm.

y Jump cuts are frequent during thrillers this is because ofmultiple

set ofactions that are taking place at once that we are unaware ofand these fill in the gaps in our knowledge. This allows us to makeassumptions of the characters

y Non diegetic sound is used through sound bridge to create acertain atmosphere. Silence is another technique used to conjure

thought provoking images.


5/6

Famous Thriller director- Christopher

Nolany British-American director,

screenwriter and producer.

y Gained acclaim as a director afterhis 2000 film Memento whichpropelled his career.

y

His highest grossingf

ilm made wasDark Knight $1,001,921,600

y Nolan often casts the same actors indifferent films. Christian Bale,Michael Caine, Tom Hardy, JosephGordon-Levitt, are among his morefrequent acting collaborators.

y Feature films include, Batmanbegins, Dark knight, Inception andMemento

y He has had a total of11 awardwins.


6/6

Case Study- Inceptiony Inception is a 2010 science fiction film which

was written, co-produced, and directed by

Christopher Nolan. The film includes the

actors Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe,

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy... DiCaprio

plays Dom Cobb, a specialised spy and thief.His work consists ofsecretly extracting

valuable commercial information from the

unconscious minds ofhis targets while they

are asleep and dreaming.

y Grossed $825,532,764y Famous ending encompasses everything that a

thriller is. It leaves us on a cliffhanger without

knowing what really happened.

y http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQPy8

8-E2zo

Trailer-

http://www.youtube.com/wa

tch?v=66TuSJo4dZM

Documents

The Conventions of a Thriller