Conventions Of Thriller Films

Conventions Of Thriller Films

As part of my research into the opening sequence of a thriller film I looked into conventions of thriller films to get some sort of an idea of what the audience would expect to be in a thriller film and what makes the thriller film more effective. I looked into the conventions used in lighting, mise-en-scene, camera shots, camera movements and sound.

Lighting

When I looked into the lighting that is used in thriller films, I found that shadows are closely related with low key lighting and are used as a convention in a thriller film. They are mainly used to represent the inner darkness within people and can also be used to add tension to a scene or to create eeriness.

Mise-En-Scene
Mirrors can be used to represent the darkness within some characters.  Mirrors can also be used as a camera shot.
Costumes can be used to show different characters personality's for example, a innocent young girl could wear bright clothing and a bad character could wear dark clothing. Black and white is commonly used for thriller films however we won't be including this convention in our opening film sequence as we are creating a modern psychological thriller.

Camera Shots
Flashbacks are used as a convention of a thriller because they  contribute to a sense of time and space disorientation in a thriller and this can confuse the audience and make it mysterious and can leave questions unanswered. It is also a convention of a thriller film because it can show what has happened in the past to give the audience an insight into a characters past and gain more knowledge about the character. Another camera shot that appears in thriller films often are 'framing of shot'. A framing shot is one of the most typically used camera shots in thrillers it is used in the film 'se7en' a numerous of times. They are good to use to build suspense tension. Long shots are also used in thrillers being used to set the scene and to show the audience where the scene will be taking place, also known as an establishing shot. 'Quick' shots are used frequently in thriller film, to accentuate the feelings of suspense and tension. They are often used during an important on a practically 'tense' scene this - sometimes creating disorientation of time and space, by using montage editing.

Camera movement
I found that tracking and pan shots are commonly used in thriller films.
I also looked the movement of the characters in thriller films, the characters tended to be in the middle of the frame (mid shot) or really close up. However, their movement seemed to vairy and depend on the different situations they were in. It also depended on the music if the music was fast they would move quickly and if it was quite slow and gentle they would move slowly so the sound has a big affect on the movement of the characters.

Sound
I then looked into sound conventions in thriller films and found that most thriller films have no dialogue in the opening sequence they commonly have tense music in the background. However, some films use dialogue to give the audience an insight of each character and get some sort of idea what the film is about. Another strong convention for a thriller film is silence and sonic exaggeration are 2 techniques used that are very throught provoking and builds tension for the audience.