The conventions of a thriller

The conventions of a thriller

Mise en scene
Low key lighting. This will be a dimly lit scene with lots of shadows. Often used to make a location or character seem shady or untrustworthy. The use of dark settings make the audience unaware of where they are.

The costumes used in a thriller for the killer will be very dark colours such as black. These will be used because they create an negative atmosphere and they are harder to see, this makes the audience feel nervy about trusting this actor. The victim will normally wear casual daily clothes; this will connect to the audience and add to the thoughts that the character was taken or killed on a normal day. Lastly the detective will wear a high status costume such as a smart suit.

A thriller will use a variety of different props which will add to the scene and tell us as an audience a story which the detective discover.

Characters
In a thriller there is normally always three main characters; these will be a criminal, a victim and finally a detective.
The criminal will normally be a strong, young looking male. This is to show the the higher status of the victim and dominating figure.
The victim is typically played by a young female. This is because it shows the innocence of the victim and typically thought of as a weak figure.