Conventions of a Thriller

A convention is a way in which something is usually done. Conventions in media pieces define what genres are given to this media pieces. For instance if a film possess the conventions of a typical comedy than its genre is comedy. Of course this means that each genre is set by certain significant conventions. The conventions of a thriller are mainly that a thriller has to create tension and suspense throughout its storyline to capture the attention of the audience. Other conventions of a thriller although still aid in defining a film as a thriller are not necessarily present within every thriller and are most likely purposefully not used in certain films. Anyways the most significant conventions of a thriller are low-key lightning, tension-building music/sounds, quick cuts, shadows, changes in the angles of shots and a protagonist that is at the mercy of the antagonist at some point of the film. If a film possess all of the following characteristics and more it’s main genre is a thriller. That is unless there is another genre even more prominent than that of a thriller within a piece. Additionally if a film possesses only some of the following characteristic its sub-genre can be defined as that of a thriller. And lastly if a film portrays some of the following characteristic more than others, and posses some characteristic of other genres then it can be defined as a thriller with a sub-genre such as psychological, crime or drama.