Conventions of a Thriller Movie

Conventions of a Thriller Film

A thriller film consists, typically, of conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist characters when the stability of the film is disrupted. The story's climax progresses through a sequence of events and when the story is resolved, the balance is restored. The direct focus of the protagonist is to create peace and to settle the situation but the focus of the antagonist is to disrupt and destroy the protagonists intentions. 

-Lighting

-Camera angles/shots

-Non-diegetic music to create tension

-Black and white shots

These are just a few of the conventions that are used in mind when making a thriller film.

Thriller film makers are very good at creating a storyline to their film to something that could happen in a real life situation, to make the audience feel like it could potentially happen to them, which makes them scared but always draws their attention.

In regard to the characters within a thriller, there is stereotypically a male playing the role of the protagonist, who is very brave and desperate to restore justice. The antagonist's identity is very often kept anonymous until towards the end of the film. This draws the audience in and makes them want to watch more to see what happens. The story behind the antagonist is that they are out to seek revenge on events that have happened in the past.

Having the right music is essential when creating a thriller. It is used so the audience can understand the mood of a scene, it can build up the climax and also add in tension and suspense. 

The camera shots in a thriller are very expected and stereotypical. They famously use a large number of close up and extreme close up shots to show the emotions of both the protagonist and the antagonist. Close up shots can also encourage the narrative of the story. However, shots of the antagonist will be short, over the shoulder, or just the shadow. This is to protect their identity and cause a sense of mystery. 

Mise-en-scene is very important and it sets the whole film up. It depends on having the correct type of location to help the audience establish the genre, it uses low lighting to cause effect and the make-up and hair styles are good for representing the characters. Thrillers are famous for using black and white or grainy effects for their movies and they also use costumes to distinguish between the protagonist and the antagonist characters.

Taken is a very popular thriller movie, as well as things such as Batman.