Conventions of a thriller film

The conventions of a thriller film

It is difficult to state a clear definition of a thriller as thrillers cross over many different genres, however the single most recognizable characteristic of a thriller is a obvious one- it has to ‘thrill’ the audience. The plot has to be scary and exciting but not as scary as a horror but the characters are at great risk with a fascinating story line. The film is constructed in a manner that makes the watcher really want to know what is going to happen next.

There are many different formulas for a thriller, other than that most thrillers follow on of the few common narrative structures. For example, they may use the Todorov theory where the narrative structure is composed of three main parts: order and normality then something happens where disorder occurs such as a super villain and finally everything gets restored to normal because a super hero comes to save the day.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFtYmWb9FQA  (copy and paste url if link doesn't work)- Spiderman 1, this follows the Todorov Theory

Many examples such as Spiderman, Batman, Super Man etc., and these films all follow the same story line.

Thrillers can also be divided into countless categories, i.e. action thriller, spy thriller, psychological thriller, military thriller and the list goes on. It is easier to recognise a thriller than to describe it due to the countless categories.