Conventions of Thriller

During the Media course so far, I have learnt about the thriller genre and key conventions of this genre. I have learnt about these conventions by watching different thriller films and have used them to help create an effective opening of a thriller for my coursework.

One key signifier of a thriller is to have a narrative based on crime. One example of this is in the film noir thriller, "Third Man". This has crime as the basis of the narrative as we discover that Lime, who leads the authorities to believe he is dead, has been effectively murdering children as he has been diluting the penicillin which they have been prescribed. We have encorporated this convention of the genre into our thriller, as our plot is based around a drugs scam.

Another convention of thrillers is that the resolutions to the crime are often ambiguous. There is a clear example of this at the end of 'Chinatown' as Gittes, the detective is arrested, whilst we see Katherine being taken away by Cross, meaning we never know if Cross gets away with his crimes. In our thriller plot synopsis we intend the film in a similar way, with the main protagonist being shot, and the audience never knowing if anyone ends up paying for their crimes.

Thrillers also include the aspect of the protagonist being disempowered and drawn into a web of intrigue by the antagonist. This is key in "Third Man" as Holly Martens, the protagonist, is obviously drawn into the intrigue and is completely out of his depth. If we were to make our entire thriller, this would be vital in our plot as we see the protagonist getting caught up in a downwards spiral of drugs and gangs.

In thrillers, ther protagonist is often flawed, for example in "Pulp Fiction" Jules, a hitman with a brutal past, redeems himself by turning to the fundamentalist church. The flawed protagonist is often presented in thrillers as a male with an obvious drinking and/or smoking habit. The protagonist within our thriller will be flawed as he works in the underworld of the city - in the drugs trade.

Extraordinary events in ordinary situations often occur in thrillers, with an example of this being in "No Country for Old Men" when Moss, who is out hunting, stumbles upon several cars full of dead bodies and $2 million. Our thriller synopsis doesn't really include this convention, although the fact that small-time drug dealers get lucky and end up in control of a big drugs deal could be classed as this.

Themes of voyeurism are also very common within thrillers, as the majority include several scenes of focusing souly on a scene or character, giving the impression that we are watching the action. A good example of this is in the opening of "Psycho". Our opening aims to include this theme within it.

Another convention of thrillers is the fact that elements of mise-en-scene reflect the protagonist’s emotional state. This is clear in a scene from "Vertigo" as the spiralling staircase represents Scottie's state of mind. The dark rainy stylised streets shown within "Sin City" connotes corruption in the characters, aswell as reflecting their emotions. We hope that our thriller opening we create can show examples of this, by using staircases and dark settings to show the characters' emotional states.

Thrillers often begin and / or end with the protagonist in peril. This is clear within the television series "Spooks" where the characters are often endangered and agents are often killed. In our thriller, we begin with a chase scene involving the protagonist, and end with a gun pointed to the protagonists' head.

Another feature of thrillers which we have chosen to encorporate is the presence of femme fatales, glamorous, seductive and dangerous women. "Double Indemnity" is a good example of this, as is "The Black Dahlia".

We also hope to embrace the convention of blur between good and evil in making our thriller, and think that our narrative will easily be able to show this. A good example of this is "Pulp Fiction" with the protagonists killing multiple people, even an innocent bystander, yet saving and stopping a shooting at the end of the narrative.

Twisting and convoluted narratives are also a convention of thriller genre films. The narrative within "Chinatown" reflects this, as does the majority of thrillers, including the good example "Double Indemnity" in which the narrative loops round, and features a lot of flash backs, which reflect the the character's state of mind and the twisted morality the protagonist has.