Conventions of thriller films

Alyssa Grieveson

Mise en scene..In thriller movies you expect to see a typical setting, you expect the film to be set in a dark and rural setting, e.g. wooded area, quiet village, or an old mansion in the middle of a country side and as you can see from the screen shot on the right hand side, which is a screen shot of the house from ‘ The Woman In black’ , that this follows the typical thriller convention.

They use this as the mise en scene because it helps create the feel of mystery and tension because you can’t see what is around the corner and you don’t have a wide range of sight due to the dark setting. Also it helps the audience picture of what could or is going to happen within the movie judging on what the setting looks like.

Camera Angles..In the movies they use a variety of different camera angles, the conventional camera angles that are used are:• Tilting- In thriller movies they use the tilting technique because it makes object appear

taller and bigger than they actually are. This causes fear and intimidation for the characters and the audience as it will make them feel weak and small.

• Point of view- They also use the point of view shot because it lets the audience have the perspective of what the character in the movie is seeing. Also they typically use the point of view of the villain so we can also see the other characters from both points of view of them, so we can see clearer the expression of the character(s) to help set the atmosphere and what they think of the villain.

• Mirror shot- The mirror shot is very effective in thriller films because we get to see what's behind that character. This is a good shot to use in thriller movies because it creates good tension and makes the film jumpy and more suspense like as you are expecting something to suddenly appear within the mirror.

• Panning- panning is an effective shot to use within thriller films because it helps set the scene for the audience because it allows them to see the whole room and what is around the character. This helps to create suspense and also gives them an idea of the scale of the setting.

Lighting..In thriller movies they use a lot of dim and dark lighting, this is because this also is another way in which to cause tension and fear for both the characters in the movie and the audience watching.

They also tend to use black and white lighting effects throughout thriller movies. They do this because it gives us the sense of whether the character is in a safe zone or danger zone. The use of the white light suggests the feel of safety because the audience and the character can see where they’re going and what is around them therefore the character will feel a lot safer within that environment. It also gives the feel of freedom as you no longer feel trapped. We also associate harmless people with the colour white which also suggests safety as the character will feel like they are more likely to be able to trust the other character and they may even help to protect or help them. However, as well as associating the colour white with safety, we also associate ghosts with the colour white, this gives us another reason in why the director would use the colour white in a thriller movie.

The use of the black lighting suggests the feel of danger. This is because the character and the audience are unable to see the surroundings properly and it makes the character and the audience feel trapped. Also with the colour black we associate evil, a ‘dark side’ and pain with someone wearing black. Therefore the use of black is useful and effective to use in a thriller movie because we can see the difference between the evil and good characters judging by the colour of clothing or the surroundings in which they are placed throughout the movie.

The Others..This is a convention of a thriller movie because of the setting of the house, they have set the house in the middle of the countryside surrounded by woods which gives us the sense of fear because there is no one located near by. It is also effective due to the the fact that you cant see it due to the misty weather, which makes it more mysterious for the watchers.

In this scene they have made it more mysterious for the audience because they have covered the objects in the room with white sheets, which we typically connect with ghosts. Therefore it creates suspense for the audience as it makes them uncertain or whether or not there is someone else in the room with them.

The use of the mirror shot is a convention of a thriller film, the screenshot shows a good example of how it is used. It is a good way to use it as it creates suspense for the audience because as Nicole Kidman’s character looks into the mirror at the door behind her in the mirror we except something to suddenly pop out from behind the door.

Another way in which The Others has used a typical convention is the use of the foggy weather. This is a good mise en scene and effective convention to use because this also creates tension as we can’t see the surroundings around the character and we are uncertain on whether something is going to suddenly appear and therefore senses danger, fear and uncertainty.

Another effective convention in which they have used within the film is, the effective use of the character walking up an enclosed and dark stair case this is a good convention and effect because it creates the feel of danger and being unsafe because they have used the use of light effectively as it shows us that the outside is the safer place to be. It is also effective because it creates the feel of mystery and tension as we can’t see who the character is and whether they are evil or not.

This screenshot shows a good use of lightening because it shows us that the house is unsafe and the outside is safer because they have made the inside of the house black which indicates danger but the outside is white which indicates safety. Therefore this is a good use of the light contrast I was talking about earlier on in the PowerPoint. This is also reflected upon the characters in this shot and throughout the movie because they are all wearing black, which tells the viewers that they are dangerous.