WHAT IS A THRILLER?A thriller is a movie with an exiting or thrilling plot to

capture the audience. It often includes anticipation and suspense and revolves around these concepts, with the aim being to keep the audience alert and on the edge of their seats. Tension and excitement are often used as the main

elements of thriller films.

ICONOGRAPHYThe typical things you would could expect to see within a thriller are

• Cars- fast and dangerous may be shown in an action thriller to create excitement and suspense in the scene

• Guns- may also be used in the a action thriller • Knives

• Cramped closed in spaces• Scenes of suspense

• Weaponry• Villainy• disaster • Paranormal • Ghosts

• MIRRORS- Within thriller films mirrors are used to portray the reflections of a persons soul and their inner self. Mirrors can also foreshadow the darkness within certain characters expressing

inside emotions they may not want to reveal.

SETTINGThe setting of a film is important, especially within the

thriller genre, as the setting is almost as important as the characters within the story and can vary greatly within the thriller genre. Setting is also important as it can establish

the films theme.Some examples of setting:

Action thriller – uses violence and fighting between characters and objects to create suspense within the film.

Crime thrillers – combines the suspense of a thrillers with a plot from a crime film.

Psychological thrillers – elements of drama and mystery are added to the film and it explores the processes of the mind,

which helps create suspense from the mind. Science-Fiction thrillers – merges science based themes

into the plot of the film.Religious thrillers – uses religious themes, objects, and

ceremonies during a film.

SUB GENRES OF THRILLER

MIRRORSWithin thriller films mirrors are used to portray the

reflections of a persons soul and their inner self. Mirrors can also foreshadow the darkness within certain characters

expressing inside emotions they may not want to reveal.

LIGHTINGLow key lighting:

•Created by the use of a back light - mainly used in thriller films.

• Used to represent a dark atmospheres which can be seen as scary or mysterious.

• Creates a dramatic effect as lighting reflects onto the characters and the atmosphere.

SHADOWSAn example of a successful use of shadows is from the

thriller film

A conventional thriller is a film that pursues a single-minded goal - to provide thrills and keep the audience cliff-hanging at the 'edge of their seats' as the plot builds towards a climax. The tension usually arises when the main character(s) are placed in a threatening situation or mystery, or an escape/ dangerous situation from which escape seems impossible, or if a characters life is threatened. Or the main protagonist(s) is unknowingly involved in a dangerous or potentially deadly situation. Plots of thrillers involve characters which come into conflict with each other or with outside forces - the menace is sometimes abstract or shadowy. The ending can either closed or open but are usually left open to disturb and leave the audience questioning the events in the film.

NARRATIVE

SOUNDThe use of sound within the thriller genre is an important

element, as different musical themes within a film can produce different moods that affect the audience in

different ways as a result they may often use “sting” to highlight to the audience that something is going wrong .

For example in Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller ‘Psycho’ the music is high pitched, adding suspense and tension to the

film, whereas more action thriller films use loud and jumpy fast paced music to make the audience feel excited, and to

emphasise the fast pace of the film.

In an opening sequence of a thriller film there is usually low key lighting and dreary/creepy music. The film producer's and cast/actors names are mostly shown during the title sequence to let

people know who will be starring in the film and to say who produced and directed it. The names will usually appear in time with the music. E.g. if the music is slow the names will appear slowly.

Dark and dull lighting may be used to give the opening sequence a gloomy feel to it and can help to make the audience feel more suspense and anticipation towards the film. These types of dark

colour scheme connote a sense of secrecy and fear, this creates a mystery for the audience to find out about.

Sound is important in thriller openings because the different musical themes can produce a different mood and feel for the films and the audience. For example jumpy and quite scary music

creates a different diegesis to a quiet more spooky set of music. The narrative is usually shown through the opening sequence. It could be that the place where the

film is set is shown or there could be props that are used in the film are shown in the opening sequence.

The editing normally fits in with the pace of the music as well. For example is the music is fast paced and jumpy the editing will be fast paced as well.

The opening sequence will always convey what the main film is going to be like, so that audience know what to expect.

OPENING SEQUENCE CONVENTIONS

CINEMATOGRAPHY

There will usually be lots of close ups and extreme close ups of the protagonist character, often used to show their emotions, it can

also be used to focus on props to aid the narrative.The shots of the of the antagonist character will be cut quickly and

the camera movements on this character will usually not show their identity, the quick cuts also aid this, an example of this would be, a shot of the back of them, a low key shot, the silhouette, or a

close up shot of the characters shadowthe use of camera angles to show facial expressions of the

protagonists and their body language. By using a wide range of camera angles can help capture every emotion present within a

films characters, making the audience feel like they are observing alongside during the duration of the film these types of close up

shots would be very prevalent in a found footage thriller.

Obtrusive editing is used frequently in thriller films to

accentuate the feelings of

suspense and tension

This type of editing is often used during and important or thrilling scene – sometimes creating a disorientation, by also using montage editing

Flashbacks– used to contribute to a sense of time and disorientation

in a thriller that may be used to confused the audience or give

information that was previously unknown

Black and white is another of the

conventions of a thriller, because it accentuates the use of shadows and lighting and can make scenes appear eerie and quite dark and

gloomy.

An example of this world be ‘psycho’ by Alfred Hitchcock

EDITING