Plays With

Viewers Mind

Music To Add
Tension

Make Audience
Think

Uses lot of split

Surprises & Twists
screen narrative

Follows thordoves
theory

Thriller is a genre that uses suspense,

From Killers Point
tension and excitement as the main
Of View
elements.

Fast paced
editing

Flash backs

Will be usually set

in busy areas i.e.
city

Lot of enigma
codes

Quick cuts and

changes camera
angles

Crime thriller

Horror thriller

Targeted at teens
and adult
audience

Action thrillers

Psychological
thriller

Spy thriller

Conventions
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.
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.

Camera
Tracking and Pan shots is whats 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 shot
The 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

Editing and sound

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 were
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.

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

Spies

Chase

Psychological mind
games

Suspense

Supernatural
events

Assassination

Crime

Comedy elements

Iconography of thriller

Car chases

Tension building music

Weapons

Fast paced editing

Urban settings

Low lighting