A thriller film is a genre with typical plot situations such as murders, kidnappings

and scandals with conventions of good against evil, the main narrative is led by
the protagonist with occasional points of views from the antagonist; thrillers
consist of a battle between the protagonist and antagonist when there is a
disruption in the equilibrium, it is battled out till the new equilibrium sets place at
the end. The aim for a thriller film is to keep the audience alert and on the edge
of their seats, they are known to promote intense excitement, suspense, and a
high level of anticipation, keeping viewers in the dark to excite them with plot
twists so its hard for them to predict the endings. Dramatic Irony is also used
frequently in thrillers, to allow the viewers to know more than the characters
themselves, particularly between the battle of the protagonist and the
antagonist. Although the genre can be referred to as simply a thriller, thrillers are
also most known to be submerged with other diversions, i.e. Psychological, Crime
and Sci fi thrillers, ranging from a broad mix to entertain all viewers and to also
have the basic guideline for the plot from an institutions point of view.
Thriller Genre Convention Mind map
As part of my research for my AS media course, I am set the task of producing a
3-5minute opening sequence for a new fiction film with the genre set as Thriller.
In order to complete this task to a high standard, I needed to research in depth
the Thriller genre and its conventions, I, myself am not a fan of the thriller genre
and do not watch these type of films, this is why its very important for me to use
research as my point of focus, research is crucial for me as I will be relying
heavily on it for both the identifying the thriller genre and when it actually comes
to making the opening sequence of the film. Below I created a mind map based
on the genre thriller and what conventions are included from typically films, I
enjoyed creating this as it got me into the thriller genre, and by researching in
depth, and it allowed me to think what it takes to make a high standard thriller
film. I did this because I wanted to get into this element and research fully what I
needed to know, particularly the editing and sub-genre for the thriller, I found out
many things and even got to put more research into existing films released.
After finishing this mind-map, I realised so many key conventions that need to be
considered when planning up a thriller sequence intro, particularly the Mise en
scene as it explores all elements of the thriller genre, particularly the settings,
characters, props and outfits, I want to do more in depth research into the
conventions of thriller and by also including my own in depth research into
existing thriller films in the industry too.
I strongly think that theorist Rick Altman has a big influence on my mind map,
his theory proposes the Semantic, Syntactic and pragmatic approach where key
conventions are all included, so what audience expects to see when watching a
specific film and how that narrative follows, this then leads to how audiences
take this either being passive or active, it allows audiences to have a better
perception of films and genre, Altman has had a key influence on my thriller
research so far as it gets you to think about the expectations needed to be
included to create a thriller and how audiences understanding will be affected by
this.
Another
genre theorist is Steven Neales Repetition and Difference Approach, where
rather having the same plot every time, genre can contain both repetition and
difference to target audiences, so predictable endings are receive positively by
particular target audiences however he also argues that being different and
adapting over time is also essential to the success of the genre so audiences

wouldnt get bored of the same plot every movie. I find that Neales theory links
in closely to Altmans and I find that using both his and Altmans approach, I can
work on creating a successful thriller opening, especially as Neale touches upon
having the predictable codes and conventions in appealing to the target
audience so they can instantly recognise the genre.
Last theorist is Steven Neales Repetition and Difference Approach where he
explains that his genre theory approach takes place in four stages and this is
how the genre develops over time, these four stages are experimental, classical,
parody and deconstruction here these four stages go through a circle of changes
during the film industry.