Conventions of a Thriller

Introduction

In a thriller film there are many different conventions that must be used for it to fit into that genre. These conventions vary from specific things such as the pace of the editing, to more broad aspects like titles.

A lot of Information Concealed

A key convention of a Thriller opening sequence is that a large amount of information is hidden from the audience. This creates a lot of mystery and questions for the audience to make them want to watch on. This may be done in many ways, but a very common way of concealing information is to not show the audience the character's faces, whether this is done through the use of focus, shadows or something concealing their face.

Serious Tone

A lot of Thriller films often have very serious tone. By setting the tone early on in the film, it allows the audience to prepare themselves as to what is going to come up in the film and understand the kinds of themes that arise. For example in the film of memento, it opens with a shot of a dead body covered in blood. This sets a tone for a very violent film.

Equilibrium Broken Early

In a lot of thriller films the normality is broken very early on. For example in the film watchmen the opening sequence shows a man being killed. This is effective in thriller films as it creates a lot of questions for the audience and mystery very early on. It also allows the audience to see the tone of the film at the very beginning.

Tension Built up

A convention of a thriller film is that it builds up a large amount of tension to put the audience on edge while watching the film. This is very effective as it keeps the audience engaged and they are worried for what will happen next in the film. This can be done in many ways such as slow paced editing and score, which makes the shots linger on the screen for longer and slows down the pace of the film greatly, hence making the audience wait longer to find out what will happen next.

Slow Paced Editing and Score

Like said above a very common convention of an opening sequence is to use a very slow pace between cuts and a score with a very slow rhythm and low volume. This drags out the scene and keeps the audience wondering what is going to come up.

Low-Key Lighting

In a lot thriller film opening sequences low-key lighting is used. This is used for several reasons such as setting the tone as being a dark and scary film, and also it helps to obscure a large amount of information as the audience cant see what it happening very clearly.

Loose/Tight Frames

In thriller films these two types of shots are used quite frequently. They are the two extremes of character placement in the shot, from a loose frame having a large amount of room around them and a tight frame being the opposite with no room around the character. These are often used to show how sad or alone a character is, for example a loose frame may show how there is no one else around a character, and then a tight frame may show that the character is upset.

Shallow Focus

The use of shallow focus is very effective in a thriller film. A shallow focus is when only the thing in the foreground is in focus, blurring out everything that is far away. This is very effective as it can obscure a lot of information and what is going on behind a character causing the audience to worry for the characters involved.

Risk

In thriller films the characters are always in some form of risk, most commonly at risk of dying. This leads the audience to fear for the characters and helps to create a large amount of tension as they don't know whether or not the character will survive.

Realism

A common convention of a thriller film is that it doesn't stray too far away from realism. For example the antagonists in the film are believable and real people, whereas in a sci-fi film the antagonists could be aliens. Have a large amount of realism in a thriller film is effective as it allows the audience to relate their life to what is going on, and makes the experiences of the character more effective for the audience as they can imagine themselves in that situation.