TYPICAL THRILLER FILM CONVENTIONS

Jamie King

• A thrillers main objective is to create suspense and excitement and maintain this throughout the entirety of the movie. The suspense and excitement will continue to grow until it hits the peak, also known as the climax of the movie. At the peak this is where

maximum suspense and excitement has been made.

• In a conventional thriller it is set in a busy urban or suburban area. There is a high dense population, the setting is busy.

• For example, in Taken the film is set in Paris, the capital of France. One of the busiest cities in the country. Then the setting changes into a more dense populated suburb on the outskirts of France.

• In the film Bourne Ultimatum it is set in the busy English capital London.

• The Dark Knight Rises, Batman film, is based in the busy fictional city of Gotham City. This is one of the busiest cities in USA when it is set.

• The main narrative of the film is focused around a puzzle or an investigation. The protagonist will be the person who will be solving this investigation and will be able to solve it.• In Taken the protagonist goes out to find his missing daughter

and then helps free other people who has been kidnapped by the antagonist gang.• In the Dark Knight, Batman, protagonist, goes out to stop the

Joker, antagonist, from harming the cities residence. Batman wa sable to stop the joker.• In Casino Royale, James Bond has to stop a lethal weapons

dealer from selling weapons to villains. 007 was able to kill the dealer and stop the weapons from spreading.

• Violence and action is a key theme in thrillers also. It will usually be the protagonist fighting the antagonists using violence. In most cases the violence will reveal the roles of some of the institutions such as the CIA, Police, government or the military.

• An example of this is in any of the James Bond 007 film series. There is always a repetitive theme of violence. As part of MI6 he travels the world to catch and kill villains to protect his country.

• In Gravity there the two protagonist astronauts suffer a violent accident and then they both have to overcome the crash to survive.

• In the Saw series there is a repetition of violence throughout the films. There will be violence towards the protagonists but they always end up winning.

•Thrillers tend to much more possible and rational explanations as opposed to me impossible supernatural explanations when it comes to solving the investigation.

• In most cases both the protagonist and antagonist will shave the same qualities and characteristics.• James Bond and all of his enemy's are able to use war tactics to overcome situations and are violent people•Batman and Superman both are superheroes who both try to help people

• Another theme which is important throughout a thriller is the idea of justice and injustice. The protagonist will bring justice where as the antagonist will bring injustice. The protagonist will be trying to fix the injustice of the villain. In most cases the protagonist will be secretive due to their job or they may be an outsider who is generally quite. However, they will always solve the mystery by the end of the film.