Thriller conventions

Different types of Thrillers

• Action thriller
• Conspiracy thriller
• Crime thriller
• Disaster thriller
• Forensic thriller
• Medical thriller
• Physiological thriller
• Political thriller
• Romantic thriller
• Super-natural thriller
• Spy thriller
• Mystery thriller

There are many different conventions of a thriller for example the main conventions are:

• Low key lighting
• Quick cuts
• Shadows
• Tension in music
• Changes in different angles
• Dietetic sound of breathing/footsteps
• Montage of shots
• Black and white shots
• Protagonist and antagonist

In every thriller there is always an equilibrium (Todrov's Theory) which means that everything will start happy then a problem will occur and disrupt the equilibrium then there is recognition of the disruption then there is a resolution of the disruption then normally its goes back to the start again, however this is usually when there is only one series/episode of the thriller, otherwise it will carry out throughout them all. 

In most thrillers there are red herrings, enigmas and cliff hangers, these are all used to entice the audience into watching the thriller and hook them in. It leaves the audience in suspense and builds tension towards the rest of the film. The low key lighting is often used to create a eerie, scary, tense atmosphere and to allow the audience to interact with the film. The dietetic sound again does the same thing with allowing the audience to interact with the film. The red herrings and enigmas create a false lead to the film and send the viewers in a different direction, therefor they believe something else, however when it changes it allows the viewers to be interested and talk about the film, which will then create a wider audience with loads of different types of viewers ( 4CS's theory) by Bulmer and Katz.