Codes and Conventions of a thriller by Kieran Lowen, Emma Hodgson

1. CODES AND CONVENTIONS
OF A THRILLER
By Becky
Walker, Ryan
Smith, Emma
Hodgson and
Kieran Lowen

2. WHAT IS A THRILLER?
A thriller is a genre that uses suspense, tension
and excitement as it’s main elements.
A lot of the time thriller uses enigma to capture
an audiences attention.
There are different kinds of elements to a
thriller genre, for example; Thematic, Narrative,
and Technical.

3. THRILLER ELEMENTS
Thematic Elements -
Thrillers are meant to be enigmatic, tension - creating and exciting.
They promote moods, For example; a high level of anticipation, adrenaline
rush, arousal, uncer tainty and sometimes even terror.
Narrative Elements -
Thrillers have literar y devices like plot twists, ret herrings and clif f -
hangers.
Usually narrative elements show society as a corrupted and dangerous
place that has violence, crime and murder with a menacing atmosphere.
Technical Elements -
The thriller genre usually has quick cuts, elliptical (invisible) editing,
change in camera angles.
Music is of ten there to create tension but again, it depends on which sub -
genre the movie lies in.
Also lighting, shadows, mirrors, flashbacks, twists, stair s and surprises
depends on the sub -genre of the movie and how it will ef fect it.

4. MISE-EN-SCENE
Props-
Fake blood, weapons (knives, guns, axes, chainsaws), lanterns
etc…
Costumes-
Ripped clothes, dark colours, masks, make up.
Lighting-
Dark light, dull, gloomy, mysterious, low/high key.
Setting and location-
Train tracks, woods, old mental homes, abandoned houses,
fields.
NVC-
The use of non verbal communication builds up tension by the
use of silence and expression on peoples faces.

5. SOUND
The sound to a thriller movie would be incidental sound where
the movie fits with the action.
You would usually hear loud screeching and screaming to make
the film more mysterious and get us thinking to what is going to
happen next.
The use of silence is a powerful tool to suggest fear or menace.

6. EDITING
-Only use fade to connect the scenes together.
-Don’t use transitions as it looks scruf fy, just use basic cuts.
-The use of shallow focus can establish the importance of an
object so can be used to show the importance of a main fixture
in the film.
-Continuity editing should be used to give a sense of realism and
flows together.

7. NARRATIVE STRUCTURE
Narrative Structure of a thriller:
Inciting Incident (Builds the story)
Progressive Complications (Things get
worse)
Crisis
Climax
Resolution

8. CAMERA SHOTS
 Close ups –To show how someone is feeling or on an
important object in the scene.
 Extreme Close up – To show a closer view of an emotion.
 Shallow focus – Blurs out the background and just focuses on
one thing, can use this to show the importance of an object.
 High angle shot- To show the power of someone.
 Low angle shot – To show the weakness of someone.
 Tracking shot – Following the victim and the antagonist. This
link with steadi-cam and hand held cameras to give a sense of
realism
 Wide shot – To show how alone the victim is.
 Establishing shot –To show the audience where it is set.

9. COMPOSITION
Composition is where a character or an object is placed on the
scene, for example the use of rule of thirds is where an
object/character is placed in an imaginary grid to show the
importance of a scene.
The photo should be divided into nine equal parts, these parts
then create more tension, energy and interest in the
composition rather than placing a character directly in the
middle.
In typical media films the main character is placed in the
middle to draw the audiences attention to the centre.
Composition is a key factor to a good film as an oddly placed
character or object could ruin the film buy being out of place
and not needed in the scene.