Conventions of Thriller Films

A thriller genre film will always follow specific rules or “traditions” in order to build a certain effect on the audience. A thriller film will give the audience a high level of anticipation expectation, uncertainty, surprise, anxiety and terror. As well as this thrillers tend to be adrenaline-rushing and quite fast paced films.

A thriller genre film will usually have many different characters as it takes you to many different storylines. By taking up more than one storyline, the film gets the audience to think and come up with many different endings and outcomes which usually results in the audience ether being confused, lost or uncertain of what’s going to happen. However the confusion also helps the audience to pay attention to the film and follow the plot so you can still try and work out what is happening.  A thriller film will usually always have the audience wondering. There are may twists in the plot of a thriller films which will result in ironic endings but intelligent storylines.

Editing in a thriller genre tends to be fast paced in order to create the tension and suspense needed for the film. The colours black and white are also conventions of a thriller genre as they will bring a more dark and sinister feel to the movie. However not all films use just the colours black and white but sometimes just the colour black with a another bright, contrasting colour to give the same effect. Different camera angles are used in a thriller and are changed quickly in order to create that suspense and uncertainty necessary in a thriller.

Since thriller films like to use the main colours of black and white, lighting in a thriller genre film is usually quite dark, dull and dim. Shadows are a convention of the thriller genre as they create mystery in the film as a shadow may reflect one thing but be something else. Shadows also exaggerate the use of the colour black and white or the lighter tones against darker tones.

Music (mostly non-digetic) tends to be used in a thriller film. Sound and music is essential in a thriller genre as without it the right atmosphere will not be created. In the beginning of a thriller, slow paced music will be used to build up suspense or get you into the film however during a thriller film silence is also another technique used in a thriller. Silence is used because it means the audience can put all there main focus on the character instead of allowing the music to create the atmosphere for them.