Thrillers use certain conventions to build tension and suspense. Editing techniques and low key lighting create an uneasy atmosphere. The antagonist has a criminal or psychological motive that drives them into conflict with the protagonist. Examples from films like Panic Room, Fatal Attraction, and The Shining demonstrate how close ups, music, and isolated settings are used to focus on characters' emotions and highlight danger and uncertainty in the story. Static shots, unexpected dialogue, and rapid scene changes also build tension between protagonists and antagonists.

1. Investigating Thrillers

2. Thriller conventions
• Editing is used in order to create tension and
suspense
• The setting often uses low key lighting in order
to create a feeling of uncertainty and danger
• The antagonist will have a crime-led,
psychological or personal motive.
• The protagonist and antagonist will clash at
some point and this leads to action

3. Panic Room
• Close ups on both the antagonist’s and
protagonist’s faces to emphasise their emotions
• Music starts to signify a conflict and later ends
along with the end of the fight
• POV shot of protagonist with the gun to focus on
her hands shaking, showing she is scared
• First the protagonist is in focus to show her
breathing heavily and panicking, then the gun is
in focus to show the danger of the situation.

4. Fatal Attraction
• Static shots, POV shots and pauses in between
dialogue are used to build tension between the
protagonist and antagonist
• The antagonist surprises the protagonist in his
territory, causing him to panic
• The last scene cuts between each character in
rapid succession in order to show the variety of
emotions on each characters face but still
conceal what they are reacting to for a moment.

5. The Shining
• Setting is isolated and empty, creates and uneasy
and tense atmosphere
• High pitched background music to make the
viewer feel uneasy
• Gruesome shot of dead girls cut in randomly to
make the situation seem unreal, something
similar to a nightmare
• Holds on static shot of women in bathroom for a
long time in order to focus on her reaction and
emotions
• Antagonist’s joke and silly facial expressions
shows he has gone insane and makes the
situation even more uncomfortable

6. Cape Fear
• Switches between static medium shots of each
character to show the differences in their
demeanour
• The antagonist is not violent but uses his
dialogue to make the protagonist uncomfortable,
for example he changes the subject of
conversation from his criminal charges to him
learning to read, showing how he is unhinged
and therefore dangerous
• Similarly the antagonist uses the dialogue to
reveal his motive; revenge.

7. Shallow Grave
• The characters appear deranged and are on
edge, leading to sudden violence and action
• The convention of friends turning on each other
is prominent here as they fight over money they
have found
• The introduction of a fast paced soundtrack
again signifies the beginning of a fight or action
sequence

8. Stoker
• The protagonist suspects a new creepy and
mysterious character who becomes the antagonist.
• The antagonist says very strange and unsettling
things with a creepy tone to match, therefore
presenting him as untrustworthy and somewhat
dangerous
• However the protagonist is fooled to follow the
antagonist and suffers because of this.
• In all of these scenes there is a focus on each
character’s facial expressions and often shows the
protagonist being confused and scared of the
antagonist