1. Understanding of thriller
It can be very hard to actually define what a thriller is. Repetition and variation means that in
most thrillers the same conventions are used however they are used in different ways normally
creating many hybrids or sub-genres for example, psychological, sci-fi or action thrillers, which
make it so diverse yet harder to categorise. So what is a thriller? although harder to define most
thrillers will have certain conventions which show you that they are of that genre. I will use the
psychological thriller to explain how and what these conventions are and to also show my own
understanding of these conventions.
Crime is one convention which is seen in almost every thriller. They tend to be a crime like theft
or murder but some are less obvious than that. Even if the film does not centre a crime it is likely
that crime will be involved in the story. In the film ‘shutter island’ there are quite a few crimes
involved however I think the one that it mostly centres round is the possibility of what they are
doing to the patients on shutter island, it is possible that they are testing on the patients and
also killing them to use their brains for study. Shutter island is a home for the criminally insane
which means the audience is constantly reminded of crimes.
From this scene at the beginning of the film we see two
guards and what look like two detectives so we know that
there is a crime which will possibly be investigated.
The main character in most thrillers, will have something in
there past which someone can play to or use against them,
this tends to lead them into serious danger, or leaves them
feeling isolated and helpless, a lot of times it can do both. In
Shutter Island Marshal Teddy Daniels wife was killed by a
fire, more specifically someone set fire to the house. The professor on the island knows that
teddy is looking for the man who did it and uses this in order get and keep Teddy on the island,
we then see teddy in peril with himself as he wants to leave but also wants to find this man. At
the end when they start to get more into teddys head he becomes more and more isolated and
hopeless, pushing his partner away. We know how hopeless and lonely he feels as he climbs
down a mountain to try and save his partner. Thrillers tend to do this because for a start it can
play on the audiences fears, which means they empathise with the main character and therefore
feel more involved in the film, it also gives a sense of good and evil so the audience know who
to support.
Thrillers like to present ordinary situations in which extraordinary things happen. At the start of
the film it seems like an ordinary investigation into a missing person but as the film carries on
more and more extraordinary things start to happen for example his partner going missing and
then finding the real Rachel Salando. Thrillers do this because it creates a sense of unease for
the audience, you think you know what is going to happen and then it changes, creating tension
throughout as the viewer no longer trusts whats ‘real’.

2. The micro-elements, sound, cinematography, mise-en-scene and editing are used in thrillers to
build up suspense. These micro elements are used throughout ‘shutter island’ but there is one
scene where I think they particularly work well. The picture below is a shot from this scene,
where teddy is walking through cell C. In this scene it is silent apart from Teddy and Charles
talking this means that when charlie shouts it
makes more of an effect and makes the viewer
jump. Also Teddy matches keep going out leaving
him in pitch and this creates a sense of uncertainty
and an idea that someone could easily jump out at
him, and the fact it is pitch black apart from the
match plays on a common fear of the dark. When
he lights the match again it has the same effect as charlie’s shouting it also makes a sound
which sounds like a scream in the distance. Charlies face is beaten and he is dirty and unclean
this gives the audience and idea of what could become of Teddy.
In thrillers themes of identity are common, for example mistaken identity, amnesia or doubling.
This is a major theme in shutter Island, as they have us think throughout the film that Teddy is a
detective, but then at the end we find out that in fact he is a criminal living in the institute. These
type of things tend to be used because it creates a mystery and it keeps the audience intrigued
and guessing until the end. This also fits in with another common convention in thrillers, which is
manipulation of perspectives, in shutter island, we think he is a detective, and he also believes
this, but then at the end it starts to unravel that he may not be leaving the viewer unsure
whether to trust the professor saying he’s a criminal or him saying he's a detective. It also
manipulates his perspectives making him feel lost and unsure about everything.
The opening sequence of thrillers is so important as this is where in most they will set one of
more important enigmas which then are further complicated throughout the film until reaching a
conclusion at the end. In the opening of shutter island we learn about his dead wife and we
learn that they are investigating a missing person. These keep the viewer interested we want to
know how this person escaped such a high security prison and we also want to know what
happened to his wife and why its so important. These enigmas keep the audience interested
and as they always continue to the end it keeps the viewer watching. In shutter island we find
out about the wife and the missing person before the end however by then other enigmas have
been set up.
One common convention which was not involved in shutter island, is the idea of the viewer
being placed in an ambiguous position of voyeur, this is common in the more scary thrillers like
paranormal activity.