GENERIC CODES AND

CONVENTIONS OF A THRILLER

NARRATION

■A non-linear narrative to surprise the audience, e.g. through red herrings, plot twists and cliff-hangers;

■Restricted narration to create an enigmatic opening that generates mystery — a thriller convention;

■A key sub-genre or theme, e.g. crime; reinforced through a film’s microelements;

■A gripping, well-constructed storyline that evokes tension, excitement and suspense.

MISE-EN-SCÉNE

■An eerie setting (e.g., asylum) that establishes a key theme (e.g., isolation);

■Costumes are usually contrasting and symbolic, e.g. an antagonist may have a dark costume to represent negativity; a protagonist could have a white costume to symbolise purity;

■Iconography includes props such as knives, low-key lighting (to create shadows), and blood; all have connotations of thriller conventions, e.g. knifes symbolise violence;

■Facial expressions and body language to show who is the antagonist/protagonist, e.g. an apathetic psychopath may be emotionless/motionless.

CAMERAWORK

■Establishing shot to establish the tone and atmosphere of a scene, e.g. eeriness of a haunted mansion;

■Panning/tracking shot to surprise the audience with an unexpected object/subject;

■Close-up to emphasise emotion, e.g. a victim being attacked;

■Extreme close-ups, enabling audience to enter a character’s intimate space, e.g. psyche of a psychopath;

■Over-the-shoulder shots build tension, e.g. symbolising that a figure is behind a victim;

■Low-angle shots to create a sense of in-superiority.

EDITING

■Obtrusive editing to accentuate suspense and tension; ■Fast-paced cutting to build suspense and tension;■Jump shots to surprise/scare the audience – a thriller

convention;■Montage editing to bring discontinuous and unrelated shots

together, and to compress time;■Fades, enabling the audience to catch their breath after a

dramatic scene, e.g. death;■Match-on action, to emphasise scenes e.g. those containing

violence;■Eyeline match, to show what the character onscreen is seeing,

e.g. an unknown figure;■180-degree rule, to ensure continuity; ■Special effects such as a split-screen effect to serve as a

unique selling point that appeals to the target audience.

SOUND

■Loud thundering diegetic sound, e.g. slamming doors, to break tension;

■Quiet, eerie diegetic sounds to build tension and suspense, e.g. breathing;

■Foley sound for pleonastic sounds in which dramatic scenes are emphasised, e.g. stabbings;

■Silence to create a brief false sense of security;■Contrapuntal sound that doesn't match onscreen action, e.g. a

door slamming in a distance;■Dialogue—the tone, pitch and volume of actors’ voices is

adjusted to enable the audience to relate to characters;■Non-diegetic music to create a sound bridge during

transitions; ■Dramatic non-diegetic music to construct the conventional

dark atmosphere of a thriller film, e.g. an orchestral soundtrack.

CHARACTERS

“Stock” characters including:■Heroic, ordinary people;■Criminals;■Assassins;■Characters carrying secrets;■Innocent victims;■Police (e.g., if subgenre is crime);■Psychopaths (e.g., if subgenre is psychological);■Sociopaths;■Corrupt businessmen (e.g. if subgenre is political);■Usually a key protagonist and antagonist.

THEMES