Thrillers
A thriller is a type of film that relies on a set of conventions in order to create suspense for the audience. It is simaler to horror in many ways however it does not cause on the killing as a horror or slasher would and instead focuses on building and creating suspense.
Types and conventions of thrillers
The conventions of thrillers are all that which will increase suspense in the audience. One convention of a thriller is low key lighting. Another is fast, quick cuts are used when a character is in distress in order to communicate to the audience the feelings of the character
Physiological
Some conventions of the physiological thriller are the common use of low key and dim lighting in order to boost tension as well as creating physiological torment for the protagonist to experience. A good example of this is What Lies Beneath as well as get out, which both create physiological obstetrical as well as physical ones for the protagonist to try and overcome.
Crime
Often times crime thrillers have protagonists that are male and some have protagonists that are not the victim and instead the protagonists are seeing the victims that the antagonist has created. There are also smaller conventions that can overlap with other sub-genres that are apart of the crime genre, such as dramatic and fast paced music during chases as well as low key lighting in periods of suspense. An example of a crime thriller that does this is Seven.
.
Contained (All in one location)
Contained thrillers are thrillers that will only ever be in one location. This sets them apart from all other types of thriller as none of the others have this convention. However, apart from it being all in one location, as well as the other limitation that this provides like lack of chase scenes, the other conventions are not so different. Music still is used to build tension and low key lighting is used to generate suspense. An example of this thriller are Panic Room.
Medical
Medical thrillers are thrillers where we follow the characters respond to a horrific medical emergency, usually an epidemic or pandemic which they must try and stay alive.Medical thrillers can be more action focused like I am Legend or more focused on the medical issues themselves. This means that one medical thriller can be very different to another while still being classed as a medical thriller. Medical thrillers are different to other thrillers because they cause on a wider scope of people as well as the movie world as a whole rather than other thrillers, especially contained thrillers, which are usually focused on a limited number of people in a small area.
Erotic
Erotic thrillers subvert many of the pre-established conventions of the thriller genre. Usually in erotic thrillers the antagonist is female and the focus is on one or a very small group of protagonists no more than 2 or 3. They are usually about the relationships between the characters rather than a larger scale focus like a medical thriller might be. An example of an erotic thriller that fits these conventions is Fatal attraction.
Spy/action
Soy/action thrillers brake away from other thriller sub-types because they usually focus on action and less on a slow, tension building pace that thrillers are known for. Spy thrillers do tend to try and stick to the more common conventions of thrillers, often building suspense by not giving information to the protagonist and the audience, a more common convention of thrillers. An example of a spy and an Action thriller are Jason born and Dye Hard.
Conspiracy/political
The conspiracy sub genre of thrillers has similar conventions to the other sub genres. Firstly, it is common for the main protagonist to be female or have some weakness like innocence or naivety to allow for conflict. Secondly, conspiracy thrillers must have a plot that is focused around the characters not knowing a lot of information, however, information is sometimes shown to the audience to engage them with the story but more times than not an audience is left as uninformed as the protagonist to keep the sense of mystery and suspense. Thirdly, antagonists are usually large groups or individuals with lots more power and control than the protagonist, providing the protagonist with an obstetrical to overcome. An example of this is The Net which intentionally follows the conventions of the conspiracy thriller genre.
Analysis of the opening of "Panic Room"
Video
Audio
Panic Room Opening (audio)
0.00 Low rumbling ambient noise.
0.19 Black screen with relatively calm music playing while syrans faintly play in the background, assumed to be of police before fading out after a few seconds.
0.23 Violin music is added presumably non-diegetic.
0.26 Car horns are added on top of the audio already and can be heard in the background the car horns are presumably diegetic.
0.39 Police siren is added back in as background noise before fading roughly 2 seconds later.
0.47 More car’s honking in the background alongside the violin.
0.49 Ominous tones come in along side the violin as background noise fades which we can assume is non-diegetic.
0.55 Slow violin fades and is replaced by a faster violin with a noticeable rhythm along with a rapid ticking. It is likely the clicking is non-diegetic however it could represent events in the movie.
1.00 Some ambient traffic noises return however they are much quieter than the music or ticking.
1.06 A whistle is added alongside the traffic noises, ticking and the violin.
1.09 Footsteps are added for about 2 seconds, they sound like they could be from high heels.
1.22 Return to the slower violin music but the ticking is still present.
1.42 Dialogue of a woman comes in and after a few seconds the non-diegetic music fades and we can only hear diegetic traffic noises and her voice.
Panic Room Opening (video)
0.00 Black screen
0.01 Columbia pictures fades in
0.20 Black screen
0.22 Establishing shot of city. Columbia pictures appears again, central and matches city colours.
0.24 tracks into the city.
0.26 Cuts to establishing shot further into the city. Text is production company.
0.30 Cuts out of city, shows top of buildings, introduces another company and colour matches building.
0.33 Camera focuses and pans to reveal the actress’ name, which is blended into the building.
0.37 Cuts to reveal actor name, same colour scheme.
0.41 Changes location, actors name appears.
0.45 Focuses into actors name which is blended into the background.
0.48 Camera tracks to reveal the name of the movie.
0.56 Pans to reveal an actress’ name.
1.00 Cuts to another establishing shot of city, shows two actors names.
1.04 Cuts further into city, two more actors names are revealed. Cars move.
1.08 High angle tracking to show the casting director's name.
1.12 Pans to reveal the costumer designers name.
1.16 High angle shot showing who the music is by.
1.20 Tracking up shot of film editors names.
1.25 High angle track down shot of the production designer.
1.30 Low angle shot, shows more names of people who worked on the movie.
1.32 Pan shot of producers names.
1.38 Low angle shot of the script writers name.
1.41 Establishing shot of central park showing the directors name.
1.46 Tracking down to reveal the actors
Analysis of the opening of "The Net"
Audio
Video
0.00 Close up of food/Pizza is half eaten/Cup of M&Ms
0.01 Camera tracks and moves to slowly reveal the protagonist
0.10 Eyeline match close up of ‘cyberchat’ to understand characters actions
0.11 Point of view of chat room
0.14 Medium close up of main protagonist
0.17 Extreme close up of ‘talk’ button
0.23 Point of view of chatroom
0.24 extreme close up to an angel icon
0.27 Close up as if the audience are the computer looking at Angela
0.34 A quick extreme close up track of the chat room as if the audience are angela reading.
0.38 Goes back to point of view shot of computer
0.41 extreme close up of the computer screen revealing a message
0.42 The shot cuts out to a close up showing the whole chat between angela and another person.
0.51 Another shot reverse shot as the camera cuts back to angela. This shot makes the audience feel like they are the computer.
0.49 The camera begins to zoom into Angelas face
0.56 Camera tracks around to show Angelas work space
0.58 Cuts to an extreme close up of Angela's lips whilst she talks about her dream man - this can imply that her dreams aren’t reality.
1.05 Camera shows a close up of the chat room, specifically focusing on the message Angela is writing
1.11 Shot reverses back to the Pov shot where the audience can watch Angela's face whilst she typing her dream man message.
1.18 Reverses to the close up of screen, yet again focusing on the message Angela is writing
1.24 Close up of Anglea’s face. She is speaking aloud of the message she is writing.
1.28 Extreme close up which fast tracks across the screen to reveal the message sent back by ‘Cyberbob’ another person on the chatroom.
1.32 The camera is placed almost behind the computer showing Angela’s expressions from another chatmates
1.36 Extreme close up of a chatmates icon
1.37 Extreme close up of another chatmates icon
1.38 Extreme close up of Angela’s icon - the close up may indicate who is chatting with Angela in the chatroom
1.39 Extreme close up of a face icon
1.41 Extreme close up the words ‘one of us’ which suggest that Angela is a frequent visitor in the chatroom
1.42 Camera cuts to a POV where it is as if the audience is the computer watching Angela
0.01 - 0.10 Diegetic ambient music in the background & Diegetic computerised voice
0.07 Diagetic typing sound
0.10 Diegetic cyberchat sound effects
0.17 Diegetic sound effect
0.18 -Diegetic computer voice
0.25 -Dialogue from Anglea
0.57 Non-diegetic music & diegetic voice
1.23 Diagetic keyboard clicks
Analysis of the opening of "Psycho"
Audio
Video
Psycho opening credits (video)
0.00 Starts with Black screen
0.01 Paramount logo appears
0.03 Logo fades out
0.06 Dark background with black bars wiping across the screen appears.
0.08/0.14 Alfred Hitchcock is the first credit to appear. His name appears to be central and the colour scheme is black and white
0.15 Name of movie appears in the same way as first credit
0.19/0.21 Name of movie starts glitches then screen gets filled with bars with look like sound waves before being wiped off.
0.23 More credit names appear in a similar style as the rest of the text
SKIP TO 1.45 for
Psycho opening scene (video)
1.45/1.55 The screen dissolves from credit scene to establishing shot of the city.
1.55/2.04 The camera pans across the city
2.04/2.07 Texting saying Phoenix, Arizona appears on the screen. It is placed central and the movie is in black and white
2.06/2.07 A noticeable cross cut in the editingThis may indicate the passing of time. When the camera cut crosses the camera has also zoomed in.
2.15 A date appears on screen - Friday December the Eleventh.
2.17 A noticeable cross dissolve happens, the camera again zooms in.
2.20 Date fades off screen
2.21 The camera suddenly zooms in faster
2.25 A time appears on screen- Two Forty Two p.m.
2.28 The camera noticeably cross dissolves to another establishing shot to a building.
2.30 Time stamp wipes off the screen and the camera is still panning
2.34 Another noticeable jump cut is included to provide another angle of the building. The camera is zooming to the apartments blind
2.34 Apartment blind lifted up while others are closed.
2.40/2.50 The Camera goes through the apartments window as if the audience were ‘climbing through’.
2.50 The scene shown is considered as voyeurism.
2.52 Close up of untouched sandwiches
2.55 Medium shot of a man talking
3.00 Camera follows man has he sits down next to a woman
Psycho opening credits (audio)
0.04 Harsh,Dramatic non-diegetic starts to lay abruptly. It seems discordant and painful to listen to. This music plays throughout the opening credits
Psycho opening scene (audio)
1.45/ The music calms down however it is still non-diegetic.
2.51 Dialogue begins
Analysis of Inception
Inception is an action/ spy thriller released in 2010. Inception does meet several of the conventions of an action/ spy thriller because it has heavy use of firearms. However, as far as traditional conventions of the thriller genre inspection does not follow many. The audience and the characters are provided with a clear goal as well as means of completing the goal the the major conflict of the film is the process of completing the goal not gaining knowledge. Additionally most scenes make use of high key lighting throughout the movie which looks to be an intentional subversion of the traditional conventions of the thriller genre. It is for these reasons that Inception does not comply with many of the traditional conventions of the thriller genre. As a result Inception appears as though it has now met the conventions of an action/ spy thriller, which it hasn't. Inception also does not use music to create suspect as other thrillers do and instead use it to punctuate events in the story like fight scenes. However, Inception appears to have intentional gone against traditional thriller conventions.
The scenes above are from inception and display the high key light that is present throughout the movie.
Analysis of Arrival
Arrival is a thriller released in 2016 focused around the understanding of language. Because of the film's mystery elements not much is told to the protagonist or the audience as a whole. Additionally low key lighting has been used to further convey a sense of mystery as well as smoke being used to hide the presumed antagonist form view, providing the audience with no knowledge about them. This has been done purposely to create tension and this meets with traditional thriller conventions. Additionally Arrival makes use of sound effects and eerie music to create a sense of suspense in the audience. Another convention that Arrival follows is that the main protagonist is female and just as uninformed as the audience and other characters for most of the film. This meets with the thriller convention of the main protagonist being weak and or lacking control and information. Arrive seems to be a traditional thriller film and has followed the main conventions of the thriller genre and has not subverted them.
As seen above, antagonists are obscured from view to deprive the audience of information to create a sense of suspense.
Analysis of No Country For Old Men
No country for old men is a thriller film that was released in 2007 and follows the protagonist being tracked by the antagonist. No country for old men consistently shows the perspective of the protagonist but also the antagonist. This is a subversion of the convention of depriving the audience of information because it instead derives tension from not seeing the antagonist and protagonist meet but that the antagonist is slowly catching up. It is also established early on how dangerous the antagonist is by seeing him kill many minor characters. While this is not a convention of the thriller genre, showing how dangerous the antagonist is is something thrillers do. No country for old men also makes use of low and high key lighting in order to distinguish between protagonist and antagonistic characters. While No County For Old Men does not follow the convention of having a female/ weak protagonist it is established early on that the antagonist can not be stopped, thus creating tension throughout the movie. A lack of music has also been used to create tension. The convention of using music to create a sense of unease in audiences is a thriller convention however No County For Old Men subverts this by using a lack of music to create tension. No Country for old men both subverts traditional conventions of the thriller genre while also following others but it does so in a way that successfully creates suspect for the audience.
As seen above a difference in lighting with him in shadow has been used to signify that this character is an antagonist.
What are the conventions of thrillers?
Typically a thriller will stick to the conventions of having a female protagonist, tense music in order to build tension, low key lighting in order to keep the audience in the dark. Short film openings usually introduce the setting for which the rest of the film will take place, 1 or more of the characters who we will follow in the film, usually the protagonist or antagonist and that depending on the type of thriller a film can have different conventions. If we were to create a thriller film opening we would need to create a storyboard and shot list, write a budget, create props, costume, make up and equipment plans, create a contingency plan as well as a shooting schedule and location recce. These must be created in order to ensure that the film opening can be filmed on scheduled without exceeding the its budget as well as making sure scenes can be filmed as intended and that there aren't any restrictions posed by the location.