Conventions and Conventions of Thriller Genre

Now that research has been done into the codes and conventions of the horror genre, here is evidence of my research into the thriller genre. As our film is intended to be a sub genre of both horror and thriller, our research into the codes and conventions of both of the genres will tell us whether or not this actually is the case, and how we have done/not done this within certain aspects.

Setting - When doing my research into both of the genres, I realized that there certainly were some overlaps within the codes and conventions of the respective genres. Although this was the case with some of the aspects of a thriller genre, this was not entirely the case with the setting. While I found our that horror films can often feature settings which are isolated and away from civilization, it is sometimes the opposite with thrillers. Many well-known thrillers tend to have busy, hectic locations e.g. city centres. This is down to the fact that thrillers play with the idea that with a busy location, it is impossible to see everything clearly. Thrillers follow the theme of what you can't see, as oppose to people not seeing you. An example of this can be found in the Bourne movies (extract below).



Typical Character Types - Thrillers often follow a protagonist who loses something near the beginning, whether it be their friend or members of their family for example, as seen in the Bourne film series. As a result of this, the narrative of a thriller is often based on the losing of a possession e.g. a person as it appeals to the audience through their own experiences that they have been through. There is often also the character type of the antagonist who is the reason behind the suffering of the antagonist. Although the narrative may be based often on the protagonist's quest for revenge on the antagonist(e.g. Kill Bill films), there may also be a sidekick to the protagonist who follows them throughout the film. They may even be killed off in order to fuel the need for revenge of the protagonist.

Lighting - The lighting of a typical thriller film is similar to that of a typical horror film and therefore is one of the examples in how the genres overlap each other. The use of a lack of light is a way of signifying danger to the audience without them having to see the antagonist. This is therefore a way of building up the tension and suspense which like horror films, thrillers tend to typically do. Below is an extract from the opening of the successful thriller film Seven (1995) which shows a lack of light being used to create tension and connote danger to the audience.



Costume - When doing my research into the clothing of characters in a typical thriller, it was clear to me that most of the characters in a thriller wear very typical and generic clothing, although this depended on the type. For example, in the thriller Seven (as seen above), the characters do tend to wear generic clothes however the police uniform offers some of the characters a sense of authority about them. This is how I have found clothing to be used in thrillers. Similarly to horrors, clothing is used to relate to the audience and to make it seem like they live the life that they do and therefore that also to connote that whatever happens in a thriller is plausible in real life. The colour of the clothing is a factor also, just like in horror films, with dark clothing tending to be worn by the villain (connoting danger) and bright clothing being typically worn by the protagonist (symbolising hope).