Conventions of a Thriller

Before starting to film our thriller, we researched the key forms and conventions of the thriller genre. 4 movies in particular stood out to us, these were:

• Psycho
• No Country for Old Men
• Inception
• Taking Lives

By looking closely at these films, we studyed the forms and conventions that made them so effective and successful, and what we could use in our own film to make ours as persuasive and real.

• There is usually some kind of hero/heroine that the audience can sympathise with.
• Action and violence, usually on a grand scale as they emphasise all acts of violence to make the film more exciting.
• Cliff-hangers are used to create suspense and tension.
• Psychological reasons of the characters actions are explored, to let the audience understand possible motives.
• Twists in the plot, keeps the audience interested.
• Fast cuts, creates a fast past which conveys urgency or danger.
• Music is used primarily to convey a certain mood and create tension.
• Lighting , either high key or low key lighting is used to add effect and build an atmopshere that reflects the mood in the film.

We considered all of these aspects, and we handpicked the conventions to use in our Thriller to make it as effective as possible. We did consider the option of trying to cram as many conventions as we could into the Thriller, but we came to the conclusion that this would make it look tacky. So instead, we mainly focused on the psychological aspects to creating a suspense, using fast cuts to various photos which again plays on the psychological aspect of it, strong music to get the audience involved and captured, violence to maintain excitement, mysterious lighting to give a certain illusion of it being a dream, and the use of real-time to suspended time which prompted the viewers to ask questions.