Thriller Conventions

During a thriller film the plot usually consists of a battle whether that be physical or mental between the protagonist and antagonist when there is a disruption of the equilibrium. The antagonist is trying to destroy or disrupt peace, whereas the protagonist is attempting to find justice.

Typical Conventions:

• Low key lighting
• Quick cutting
• Shadows
• Tension music
• Changes in angles of shots
• Diegetic sound of breathing and heart beat
• Montage of shots
• Protagonist in the mercy of the antagonist

Characters

• Typically the protagonist is a brave male who seeks to restore unbalanced equilibrium
• That antagonist usually has a hidden identity that the audience will uncover as the film progresses. Often the protagonist goes out in an act of revenge for past events.

Cinematography

• There is usually a lot of close ups and extreme close ups of the protagonist character, usually to show their emotions or reactions to an event. There are usually a lot of close up of props included as important clues during the narrative.
• Shots of the antagonist are usually quick and do not reveal too much of their identity e.g. a shot of the back of them or their shadow.

Editing:

• The director will usually use a lot of jump cuts throughout the thriller because there will be a lot of things which will happen which will not make sense to the audience initially. Cross cutting is used a lot to build suspense, which is an essential part of a thriller.

Sound:

• Music is essential to determine the mood of a scene, usually thrillers will include a large amount fast paced backing music which gradually increase in pace to increase suspense and tension.
• 'Jaws' is a brilliant example of a film score that was infamous for its scare factor, the use of two notes starting from slow to fast creates a tenuous atmosphere.

Title Conventions

Title Conventions for Thriller films

 Research examples

 

The Dark knight Rises:– The opening title sequence for ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ establishes an eery and mysterious atmosphere. This is due to the pace of the non-diegetic soundtrack being played. Also, the colours in the opening only consist of black, white and grey, this again reinforces the intended atmosphere.
– During this sequence we are introduced to some of the characters within the film indirectly, as we only see pictures of them.
– The titles are included within the image and alter positions simultaneously with the camera movement.

Inception– Within the opening sequence we as the audience are not shown any titles.
– The opening establishes the main character and the setting for part of the film.
– The non-diegetic sound creates an eery atmosphere and leaves the audience wanting to continue watching to find out the plot of the film.
– There are 2 contrasting settings that we are shown, 1) on a beach in daylight 2) in a dark mysterious room with men talking in a foreign language. The contrasting scenes emphasises the darkness and eery sound playing in the background.

Opening Narrative Planning

There are two main types of narrative:


Restricted - the audience is surprised by something they are unaware would happen. This could be a shocking event such as a bomb or a gun shot, in this type of narrative there is a shock element that effects both characters and audience.


Unrestricted - The audience is aware of what is about to happen, whether that be a murder or an unknown villain, the characters are unaware whist the audience has omniscience. This is more commonly used in thriller films as it builds tension and fear.

For our narrative, despite it being of the thriller genre, we wanted the audience to be surprised and unknowing about where Olivia went / or who took her. This element of mystery to the audience makes the narrative seem restricted but it is necessary in a psychological thriller as we want to manipulate the audience's ideas about what happened.

Our opening needed to get the audience's attention, we wanted to outline the main characters and the climax of the investigation. It will purposely be vague and incongruent because this causes an ambiguity which will make the audience want to continue watching to find out what happens next.

At first we were going to end the opening with a panning shot of the beach just after Olivia has gone missing, because it is more dramatic. But then we decided we wanted to incorporate more development on the parents' characters, so in addition we incorporated the Police scene where Phoebe and Ben are waiting to be questioned, finishing with an policeman saying "The detective will see you now." This line triggers an emotive exchange in guilty looks between Phoebe and Ben, and then the opening ends. This is done because it gives the audience an idea that the Parents may have something to do with Olivia's disappearance, which provokes them to continue watching.