An essay on Thriller film codes and conventions

Codes and Conventions of thriller films                                                        Liam Bolland

I will mention the codes and conventions that occur in thriller films. I will mention mise-en scene, editing and sound. I will use examples of thriller films to back up the points that I state.

The settings in thriller films often differ but in a lot of thriller films the same techniques with the setting are used. For example for car chases in thriller films car parks are very common or dark tunnels to create tension and build suspense for the audience. Nighttime is common for thriller films and on the streets to again build tension and create meaning for the audience. Claustrophobic places such as planes, stairs or underwater are common for thriller films to generate a response from the audience of being slightly scared towards the current scene and imagining putting themselves in the shoes of the protagonist. “Snakes On a Plane” and “Flight plan” are examples of this as they are set on planes.

The two films “Snakes On A Plane” and “Flight plan” which both have a claustrophobic-like setting.

Costumes in a thriller are normally modern and real to life costumes, which would be worn today. Tracksuits or jeans and a shirt are typical of thriller films to convey a sense of realism to the audience, also known as verisimilitude. “Eden Lake” is an example of a film which involves youths who chase after a soon to be married couple. “Eden Lake” portrays realism in that the costumes worn by the youths are tracksuits, which would be seen worn on the streets today. The colour black is often used to give a hint to the audience as to who the antagonist in the film or scene is. Black is also a fairly intimidating and frightening colour when worn fully on someone, which adds to the tension of the film.

The Terminator wearing black for intimidation.

Props in a thriller film often consist of harmful weapons either used by the villain or used in certain scenes. These weapons often consist of guns, knives and other weapons used to fight with such as swords or baseball bats. The weapons are used as signifiers sometimes to make the audience recognize which character is in the scene, for example the Terminator wields a shotgun and the Bride from “Kill Bill” often wields a sword. The most common use of weaponry in a thriller is a gun. Guns are very frequently used in thriller films, often in shots guns are used to show dominance and power for a character and in some cases guns are just shown and fired without the character doing it viewed to the audience to keep the audience guessing who shot it, otherwise known as an enigma code. Guns also help the audience recognize certain characters and give them a self-pride as guns often make the audience remember past incidents that have occurred with the characters. For example Jack Bauer from “24” carries a Pistol and Clint Eastwood’s character “Dirty Harry” wields a 44. Magnum.

Jack Bauer and Dirty Harry wielding their usual weapons of a Pistol and 44. Magnum.

The lighting in thriller films is often very dark. Hard lighting is often used in thriller films to show shadows of objects and people for effect. The shadow effect from hard lighting gives a sense of intensity from thriller films which the audience experiences. Although soft lighting is often only used in romance films, if it was to be used in thriller films, which occasionally it is, a sense of binary opposites can be portrayed. Soft lighting is used to fill the scene which is often used for romantic clips, however it may be used to trick the audience into believing that the current scene is happy, and then twisting it into a brutal or horrific death scene for example. The binary opposites would be the goodness and romance from the soft lighting opposed to a possible frightening thriller film that they can occasionally be shown in. Chiaroscuro is used n a lot of thriller films which gives a sense of illusion through the light against the dark, but it is also aesthetically pleasing to the viewers.

The codes and conventions of character movements in thriller films often signify the characters in the scene. For example The Terminator again never runs, which in itself tells the audience that he is fearless. Running often is used in thriller films when the antagonist is after the protagonist, which often occurs in chase scenes.

Editing in thriller films is often very quick. As chase scenes occur often in thriller films, editing is very quick to create suspense throughout the scene. Title sequences are also often shown with very fast camera edits to get the audience to feel the intensity of the upcoming movie. An example is the title sequence in “Seven”, it is very fast and slightly sinister in that no characters are viewed and nothing in individual shots is easy to see due to the quickness of the editing. Font in thrillers is often white and plain to convey realism and purity in the scene; “Memento” is an example of this.

The title of “Seven”.

Non-diegetic ound in thriller films often differs depending on the sub-genre. In horror-thriller films the non-diegetic sound is often Orchestral and eerie to give off the scary effect to the audience. In martial arts-thriller films the non-diegetic sound is often funky to give the cool impression of the main protagonist, whether it be Jet Li or Bruce Lee for example, to the audience. Diegetic sound in thrillers sometimes consists of narration, which depending on the type of scene gives a different feel to the audience. Sounds effects, which are also diegetic sound in thrillers, are often jumpy to the audience, which creates shock and attracts more people in to concentrating on the scene.

In conclusion I have mentioned the codes and conventions of thriller films through the use of mise-en scene, editing and sound. Thriller films in general try to give a frightening and mysterious response to the audience, which is portrayed through all of the aspects mentioned.