Thriller Film Conventions

Thriller films, although similar to the horror genre have their own conventions which make them different to horror movies. The fact that these two genres are similar means they work well together, the graphic images created by horror films, coupled with the intricate plots and psychological fear and tension thrillers create, strikes fear into the audience which is so successful in sub-genres such as Horror/Thriller.

Thriller Film Conventions

• Psychological elements - these are common in thriller films and are often portrayed in the form of mental illness, which is uncontrollable, such as in The Butterfly Effect (2004) at first Evan didn't know why he was having blackouts, or how to stop them and it took him half of his life to work out how to control his power, and he hurt a lot of people in the process, for me, it was a difficult film to watch, but amazing none the less, he had no control over his power which causes the audience to empathise greatly with him. Mental Illnesses such as Schizophrenia make for interesting and complex plots, such as Shutter Island (2010) where the main character, Teddy Daniels creates a whole new world for himself after being traumatised when he murdered his family, which makes it even more thrilling story, like Inception(2010), the film consists of layers of dreams within dreams and a plot so intricate it needs to be watched a few times
• Plot - Thriller plots are usually very intricate and really make the audience use their brains. Literary devices such as red herrings, cliffhangers and suspense are commonly used
• 'Hard' characters - In modern thrillers, the main protagonists is usually a 'hard man' someone from a military, law enforcement or secret service background, such as Taken (2008), the plot revolves around an ex spy, played by Liam Neeson who travels the world to get his kidnapped daughter back.
• Violence - As we see in Taken, the main characters in thrillers aren't shy about using weapons and violence to get what they want, this is also shown in The Matrix (1999) although this films may not be a stereotypical thriller, because it is mostly science-fiction is complicated plot and fantastic array of weapons and action scenes shows several thriller conventions within the movie
• Camera techniques - tracking and panning shots are common as they shows movement, action or distress. Close up shots are used to create suspense and to show the audience how the character is feeling. Low angled and other quirky shots are common.
• Location - Like horror films, the locations in thriller films are often deserted or isolated to put the character in more danger, such as the asylum in Shutter Island (2010), the asylum is on an island, so the characters are stuck there, this adds to the tension
• Lighting - As with horror films the lighting is dark to create an unknown and scary atmosphere