Research Into Genre: Conventions

Conventions of The Genre- Colours, Locations, Props, Sound, Characters & Costume

Colours

Most Thriller films tend to focus on darker colours in their scenes, such as grey, black and white. Black and White are both colours linked to shadows, which is a common theme in most thriller films. These colours may be used to reflect the power of good and evil, the two colours have very opposite connotations- much like the protagonist and antagonist in a thriller film. The black may reflect the villain, with the white linking to the hero. The combination of these two colours could be the combination/ binary opposite of good versus evil. However, brighter colours tend to be used at particular points in the plot to highlight a key moment, for example- yellow may be used as police tape in order to emphasise the extent of a crime committed. Blue is often used in thriller films to reflect the police investigation aspect. Due to most police cars and prisons having a common theme of blue sirens. Furthermore, blue is often used to reflect a loss or upsetting moment in the story.   Also, the colour red could be used in order to reflect the element of blood, danger and violence that can occour in thriller films, although this colour tends to be more prominent in horror films. Overall, dark lighting is used to help give a gloomy mood and allows the audience feel more suspense towards the film.

Grey: detached, confusion, neutral, indecisive, dull, isolated, emptiness, lack of emotion and warmth.

Black:: Power, death, mystery, evil, darkness, grief, night, emptiness, eerie.

White: innocence, purity, goodness, light, equality, new beginnings, fresh, ghostly.

Yellow: danger, hazard, attention-grabbing, warning, spontaneous, safety, decay, sickness, and jealousy.

Blue: sincerity, stability, power, knowledge, specialist, seriousness
Red:  energy, danger, determination, blood, anger, violence, fire, intensity, courage.

Locations

Locations can very dramatically in a thriller film. Most tend to use quite gloomy, dark locations that connote mystery, suspense and tension to the audience. This tends to involve a character being isolated with a limited chance of escape. This could be in a dark forest, road or area which the audience are not too familiar with. This allows the audience to relate to the character being in an unknown area and thus feel similar emotions and tension. However some decide to use more everyday settings such as a house, in order for the audience to be able to relate to understand the plot much easier.

Props

Props are used by actors performing in the film. Props help to determine the identity of characters in a film, set the mood and scene of a location and allow the audience an insight into the characters world. Thriller films tend to use lots of weaponry, both for protection and attacking. Props can be key aspects in many plots as they can used to create clues and foreshadow to points later in the film.

-Criminal Records

-Handcuffs

-Flashlight

-Weaponry

Sound

Audio features are essential to any film in order for the audience to understand and relate to the characters mood and feelings. Sound is used predominantly to create tension with intense, eerie music as either diegetic or non-diegetic material within the scene. Often, the diegetic sound of heavy breathing is used in scenes with one individual alone in order to create suspense. Another common audio piece of thriller films is high pitched noises- whether this is a longer and more painful screech or short, sharp squeals. This makes the audience feel uncomfortable and thus allows the spectator to sympathise with the characters discomfort at a specific moment in the plot.

Characters

A thriller usually consists of two main characters- the antagonist and protagonist, otherwise known as the villain and the hero of the plot. These opposing characters are set apart from each other in the way that the audience views them through costume, personality and body language. Typically, a hero in a thriller film consists of a man with a job involving some element of danger, whether that being a policeman, spy or ordinary citizen that has been pulled into danger by accident.

-Convicts

-Criminals

-Stalkers

-Assassins

-Terrorists

-Psychotic Individuals

-Innocent Victims

Costumes

In general, most characters are reasonably well-dressed to emphasise the importance of their role in the plot. They tend to have slightly warmer coloured clothing on, so that when next to the antagonist there is a clear divide in connotations from the colours also. Often the villain will wear form-fitting clothing that emphasises their build and power- contrasting drastically with the hero. The colour scheme tends to be much darker to reflect the more evil element of the character.