A thriller is a movie genre meant to keep viewers constantly on the edge of their seats through suspense and tension. To be successful, a thriller must make the audience feel emotions like excitement and exhilaration, leaving them wondering what will happen next in the plot. Common conventions include a tense atmosphere, washed out colors, mysterious music, and plot twists. Thrillers have evolved over time from being similar to horrors to incorporating more action elements.

1. GENRE RESEARCH
THRILLER

2. WHAT IS A THRILLER
A thriller is a movie that is created to keep the viewer “On the
edge of their seat” using suspense and tension which
provides sudden rush of emotions, excitement and
exhilaration which makes the audience feel a sensation of
hanging from a cliff, as the plot builds towards a climax.

3. WHAT DOES IT NEED TO
ACHIEVE?
For a thriller to succeed it needs to make the audience feel
certain emotions that they would usually feel when watching a
traditional thriller. It needs to keep the audience pondering what
is going to unfold in the forthcoming scenes. For example, in a
crime thriller you are wondering throughout the film: will they
ever catch the criminal or will they uncover who the murderer is.
Also, it needs to keep certain plot points from the audience so
that at the end of the film, the audience will feel like they never
saw that coming.

4. COMMON THRILLER
CONVENTIONS
Common Thriller conventions include:
 Tense and suspenseful atmosphere
 Dull and washed out colours (through costume and
scenery)
 Tense, fast paced and mysterious music
 Confusing plot points and plot twists
 Themes of justice and morality

5. H OW H AVE TH R ILLER S D EVELOPED
THROUGH HISTORY
Many of the best thrillers were made by Alfred Hitchcock who
has been deemed as one of the greatest directors of all time.
Something that has developed in thrillers over the years is
that at first it was hard to tell the difference between thrillers
and horrors with examples being Psycho and Jaws but today
have evolved into incorporating more action in to thrillers with
examples being Taken and Inception.