What is a Thriller film?

As our coursework is to create a two minute opening to a thriller film, it's probably best to actually know what a thriller is.

Thriller films can be defined as films that create suspense, tension, excitement as the primary elements. These attributes work together to really draw the audience in, and make them glued to the screen with amazement; the tension doesn't allow them to turn their attention elsewhere. Thriller films particularly play with the audience's mood; such as making them feel anticipation, uncertainty, terror, anxiety and so on.

The main certain conventions of the thriller genre is things like quick camera cuts, tense and/or eerie music, complex characters, low levels of lighting, plot twists and an overall gritty, or unsettling tone. Thrillers can be seperated into sub-genres such as: crime thrillers, action thrillers, psychological thrillers, political thrillers and so on. These are all your typical thriller films but with a different overall direction; the substance of each sub-genre is different.

A prime example of a thriller film is Shutter Island. This films includes all of the conventions I have mentioned above,along with a clever plot twist. Thriller films also are made to challenge the viewers intellectually; and not spoon feeding them all the information. This film also just does that; it challenges as to how well they're paying attention and doesn't spoon feed them with information. As well as lots of eerie and tense music in the film, the tone of the film is very unsettling and impacts the audiences mood to make them feel anxious.