Thriller is a genre that uses suspense, tension and excitement as the main elements.

Plays With Viewers Mind

Surprises & Twists

Music To Add Tension

From Killers Point Of View

Make Audience ThinkUses lot of split screen narrative

Flash backsFast paced editing

Quick cuts and changes camera angles

Lot of enigma codes

Follows thordoves theory

Horror thriller

Targeted at teens and adult audience

Will be usually set in busy areas i.e. city

Action thrillers

Psychological thriller

Crime thriller Spy thriller

•Music is always essential to help build up tension•The use of lighting helps to create shadows etc. building suspense and mystery•Usually see thrillers from killers point of view but not always•Usually a lot of flashbacks to help develop the storyline.•Story not elongated otherwise could be boring.

Conventions

Most of the films I've studied have seemed to have their credits done over a black screen with some non diegetic music playing in the background to set the scene. It is also common for some films to start with a particular event before titles start to show, my examples include Terminator 2(T2), Kill Bill vol1(KB) and The Departed(TD) which all before beginning show you a clip of what probably the film will be about. Another convention of titles is that usually the most important film companies or actors in the film are shown first in the credits.

•Tracking and Pan shots is what’s commonly used in the beginning of thriller films, particularly a certain group of people who we should be interested in as the audience. An example is the bank heist scene in The Dark Knight(DK) where the camera tracks the group at certain points. Zooming in and out was a rarity that was only seen in DK during an action scene.

• Framing of shotThe most typical shot used in thriller films seems to be the close up, greatly used in both films Se7en and Kill Bill vol 1 to build suspense and mystery in the beginning. Long shots have also been a commonality among thriller films being used in both DK and T2 to set the scene and show the audience where the action will be taking place in the upcoming events of the film.

Things that seem to be quite common are the low levels of framing and the high angles at certain points, the high angle is used mainly to show those in a powerful position but they might also be used such as in T2 with the first arrival of the terminator shown to be in control and having most of the power. There seems to be a main character(s) in the beginning which seems to have the majority of power and this is shown through the camera angles.

Camera

Jump cuts become a commonality during thriller films as they were used in two of my films, both Terminator 2 and Dark Knight . This is usually because multiple things are happening that we’re unaware of and the jump cuts fill us in, they allow

us as the audience to make assumptions on what the story or characters will be like. While the jump cuts are built up in both DK and T2 they eventually draw to a close, however the cutting rate seems to increase which ultimately seems to lead to a

miniature climax of the introduction.

Editing and sound

All films analysed had non diegetic music playing in the background creating a sound bridge to create a certain atmosphere. Some films such as Dark Knight use dialogue, even if not that much - this usually gives us an insight to the characters

motives or their relationships with other characters in the film. Silence and sonic exaggeration are 2 techniques used in both DK and Terminator 2, This is very thought provoking and does well to build up tension, which seems to be a strong

convention for thriller films.

Directors

Alfred Hitchcock Steven Spielberg James Cameron Quentin

Codes and conventions of thriller

In thriller usually tension arises when the central characters is placed in a threatening situation, mystery or an dangerous mission from which escape seems very impossible. This is

because, it makes the audience think how they would escape from a situation which is impossible, this makes the audience

hooked to the narration.

Plots of thrillers involve character's which comes into a conflict with each other or with outside forces. Therefore, usually

thrillers follows the binary opposition theory.

Most of thrillers are made ensuring excitement, suspense, anticipation, nerve wracking tension,

anxiety, uncertainty etc., are included.

Most of thrillers will have a murder at the beginning of the narrative, which foreshadows a mystery in the narration later on. The central characters will get involved in that murder somehow as the narration

progress and will eventually clash for the disruption. These are some of the examples.

Themes of thriller

Political conspiracy Terrorism Psychological mind games Supernatural events Crime

Spies Chase Suspense Assassination Comedy elements

Iconography of thriller

Car chases Weapons Urban settings

Tension building music Fast paced editing Low lighting