Conventions:

• Some form of potential crime at the core of the storyline such as; murder which is often used as it keeps its audience hooked causing them to question and want to know more. These extraordinary events happen during ordinary situations having a deeper effect on the audiences emotions as they can easier relate. Thriller genres also tend to have complex plots containing misleading paths, enigmas, clues and also resolutions. Again this is all about trying to keep the audience hooked throughout allowing them to try work out the conclusion. An example of this is portrayed in Shutter Island which leads the audience into mislead ideas and thoughts.

Character:

• Most Thriller genres contain some form of hero or protagonist who is drawn into conflict and deceit by the antagonist. Again when looking a Shutter Island, we focus on Teddy (Leonardo DiCaprio) who is portrayed as the protagonist with Dr. Cawley (Ben Kingsley) as the antagonist. We focus on both characters and at some stage we will find them together, the antagonist is portrayed to have the disadvantage but may come out as the victor. This is because the antagonist draws the protagonists flaws which is not seen straight away by the antagonist but can be portrayed to the audience.

Themes:

• Identity: This can be used in order to keep the audience informed of the characters, who they are, what they do, also to identify the protagonist an the antagonist.

• Mirroring: Portrays two or more characters in the same position which again creates a deeper sense of realism e.g. one character may be fired from work, whilst in another scene another character is in a similar position and is also fired.

• Voyeurism: When someone is being watched or spied upon without knowing, the point of view is of the one watching.

Titles:

• Titles are a key feature when looking at Thriller genres as they tend to mirror the type of film. Again if we look at Shutter Island we can identify the film immediately through the title font and colour. Firstly we notice that the text is all in bold and in Capitals which connotes a sense of fierceness and strength. However some of the text seems to be breaking away as though this strength is beginning to fade. The deep red portrays blood and violence, key throughout the story and plot of the film.

Mise-en-Scene

• Mise-en-Scene is key to capture the mood, and characters emotions e.g. if a character is sad then the setting should also portray this sense e.g. rain, low key light etc. They may also be wearing scruffy clothing again portraying their mood. When looking at Shutter Island we notice that the atmosphere is dark, rainy and generally miserable throughout, portraying a sense of darkness, sadness and deep emotion of the Island.