What Is A Thriller Film

There are many conventions that make up a thriller film and make the audience want to watch on they are also used to scare and make the audience think. Here are just some elements that do this:

• Enigma - This is a the mystery that happens within the film and is always used in a thriller.
• Representation of characters - Victims in thriller films are usually represented as weak and helpless but also the victims are normally female.
• Violence - There is always violence within thriller films. For example the killer may attack the victim by using their fists.
• Dramatic Irony - This is where the audience knows there is a killer behind the victim but the victim doesn't know. This is used within thrillers to make the audience think they know more than the victim.
• Intensity of sound - Volume goes up when something is going to happen and goes down when something is just about to happen. In thrillers all volume is parallel to the images.
• Lighting - Low key lighting is used to create shadows, thriller films also use this technique to create suspense so the audience doesn't know what is beyond the darkness. Whereas High key lighting is used in thriller films to show happiness or irony.
• Editing - Slow editing is the main type of editing in thriller films as is creates suspense for the audience as they know something is about to happen within the film but they don't know what.
• Iconography - Thriller films use iconography to show the audience which characters are good and evil, they are also used to show when the victim is going to be attacked.
• Sounds - Non-digetic sounds when there is a sound and you cannot see where the sound is coming from within thriller films this creates tension as the audience doesn't know where the sound is coming from. Also there is digetic sounds this is where the sound can be seen coming from an object.
• Setting - Many thriller settings are the same, they're a dark, unknown place. Thriller films use this to create an eerie atmosphere for the audience to watch it and know something at some point is going to happen.
• Narrative - Again many thrillers have the same narrative aspect to their film where a helpless person is somewhere by themselves and weird and eerie things start to happen, then they get attacked by the killer.
• Themes - There are three main themes in every thriller shock, surprise and suspense these themes engage the audience and make them frightened.

The opening sequence of Saw 1 has many conventions of a thriller film. The enigma within this clip is a man waking up in a bath in an unknown place it's dark and eerie, this effect has been created by the use of low key lighting. When the man steps out of the bath there is an intensity in volume to show that he is scared and frightened as he doesn't know where he is. The director has used this type of lighting as it creates shadows on the walls and this means the audience doesn't know whether there is anybody else within the room and again creates an eerie atmosphere. The he uses a non-digetic sounds when another voice of a man is telling him what to do, however the audience doesn't know whether the sound is coming from the room or from outside the room. Then when the lights are turned on the man is dazed and the director shows this by using a shallow focus and a blurred camera he also uses a high key lighting. When the light is turned on the setting is revealed, the setting is a mysterious bathroom that is extremely dirty with many pipes around the walls of the bathroom, the setting looks like it has been used for tortures before as it looks like there are remains of other peoples blood on the walls. The two men