Codes and Conventions of the Thriller Genre

 

To my mind, the Thriller genre of film is one of the most exciting genres of film to watch; let alone make. In this post I will be analysing and examining what makes Thriller films so successful and exciting to watch as a viewer. As our film opening is a hybrid Social Realistic thriller. (i.e.: it contains elements of both a thriller and social realism films or a mix of both genre defining elements from both areas of film), I have conducted the following research into the codes and conventions of the thriller genre so that our film can conform to both of it's parenting genres as closely as possible.
Thriller films, in particular their openings conform to the following defining, key characteristics that unquestionably mark the film out as belonging to that of the "Thriller" genre:

Thrillers are all about creating an air of mystery and suspense for the viewer, particularly within the opening moments of the film, thrillers must fulfil an obligation in that they must begin whetting the appetite for viewers who are waiting in hungry anticipation as to what will happen next. It is this steady increase and build up in tension that either draws the viewer in, hungry for more with their appetite whetted satisfyingly or makes viewers turn a blind eye and lose any original interest they had in the film, if any. From this, it is important to grasp the idea that the audience are merciless and as such our opening must begin to slowly increase tension and anticipation levels amongst audience members before accelerating further to a crescendo of tension and excitement from viewers at a later point in the film.

Music is another area that the thriller is dependent upon to make an impression upon viewers. Music and Soundtrack are able to dramatically aid the feelings of sinister suspense, or in some cases, simulate a vast increase in adrenaline rushes from audience members and consequently as a result an increase in excitement levels for the viewer and really aid the audience in expressing emotions such as adrenaline or panic as they will begin to feel more emotion for the characters as through the pace of the music their emotions will become heightened as well as feeling more interwoven and connected to the narritive through the unifying medium of music as they may be drawn towards the narrative through the catchy and pulsating rhythm of the music, for example.

Lighting is a crucial aspect of the thriller genre, as much in the same way as Music or Soundtrack is intended to have an effect on the mood of the film's audience, lighting also does a similar thing for audience members in that it is able to set the mood of the piece; often dark, oppressive and isolated. Lighting will nearly always aid this in that the majority of the film screen at the beginning of a thriller is often shrouded in darkness to effectively sustain and maintain an air of mystery about the opening. Very little light is often seen at the beginning of a film typical of the Thriller genre in order to not give away too much detail at the beginning of the film and perhaps comprimise certain aspects of the film at a later time.

The camerawork used at the beginning of films of the thriller genre is often very slow and deliberate to ensure that audiences are hanging on the edge of their seat in suspense as to what will undoubtedly unfold. Often the camerawork, complemented by the effective use and deployment of lighting will reveal very little to begin with. Indeed, it is not uncommon at the beginning of a Thriller film for a character's face to only be seen in a half light, the other side obscured in darkness or their identity completely obscured from view. Indeed, this is true of the opening of the fourth Harry Potter film, The Goblet of Fire in which the antagonist's face, that of Lord Voldemort, is completely obscured from view in the opening portion of the film in an effort by the director for his identity to remain a mystery, leaving it to the audience's imagination as to what the antagonist looks like. Indeed, the antagonist's face is obscured by the arrangement of a rear facing chair towards the camera and the use of greys, whites and blacks as the colours being used to situate his lair in a luminous light.

With regards to a chase sequence, with this being a main crux point of our film opening, this is typically a thriller aspect that we are implementing into our film opening I feel effectively and will hopefully through the successful implementation of the above areas effectively we are able to produce a hybrid film opening that successfully conforms to the large part of the Codes and Conventions for both parenting genres out of which our new hybrid Social Realistic Thriller, was born.

With these aspects in mind, we will aim to consider what best befits the needs and requirements of our piece and move forward progressively with a plan of action, ensuring that we as a production team aim to conform to the Codes and Conventions of each individual, particular genre in order to create a successful film opening of our new hybrid film.