As with every genre, Thrillers have a general list of conventions that they must follow to be classified as a thriller. This explains why romantic comedies like 'Love Actually' (Richard Curtis, 2003) and musicals like 'Mamma Mia!' (Phyllida Lloyd, 2008) could never be classified as thrillers.
The conventions of Thrillers include:
- Very simple and quick cuts. These keep the action flowing in the scenes, but they also add a little bit of brutality to the events.
- Takes that are either incredibly long to heighten expectation and anxiety or rather short to give the audience a thrilling sequence of events.
- A soundtrack that uses a lot of strings to create the atmosphere it wants, whether that be eerie, melancholy or epic. Sometimes heavy bass and percussion is used to add to the tension of the film.
- Lighting that is used to create incredibly clever shadows that can be used for whatever is the desired effect. Where shadow is not used, there is usually no lighting to create an incredibly dark scene which creates fear within the audience.
- A setting that is recognisable to the audience which holds a reputation for tension or a reputation of safety which can then be brutally altered.
- A narrative enigma and usually have multiple plot twists throughout the movie to keep the audience thinking. Sometimes they end on a cliff hanger that allows the audience to reflect on what they just saw and still be involved long after they have finished watching the movie.
- A crime or something similar around which the narrative can centre itself.
- The theme of victims and villains. Villains are a major force within Thrillers and are usually the main driving force behind the narrative. They are always known to exist, but their true identity or their motive is sometimes hidden from the audience's knowledge until later in the film. The victims are either minor characters whose only role in the movie is their death or they are the protagonist/protagonists as they attempt to escape the villain.
Opening credits can vary between none at all, a title sequence, just the title or the credits showing over the action. Unfortunately, the time limit on my thriller of 2 minutes means and my need to showcase my cinematography ability that I cannot afford the luxury of choosing which type of opening credits I will use. However, this just makes my job so much easier at the editing stage because I do not need to worry about how to show my credits, just what is in them.
So, I shall make sure to follow the common opening credits order as shown on Wikipedia.
- (Name of the Distribution Studio)
- (Name of the Production Company)
- (Producer's Name) Production or/and (director only) A Film By (Director's Name)
- Starring - Principal actors.
- (Film's Title)
- Featuring- Featured actors.
- Casting
- Music or Music Composed By or Original Score By
- Production Design
- Editor
- Director Of Photography
- Producer - Often, though, the name of the producer will be the next-to-last opening credit, just before the director's name is shown.
- Story
- Writer
- Director
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