What are thrillers?

• Thrillers: A genre of film that uses excitement, suspense and tension as the main elements. Thrillers usually contain a mixture of mystery and violence within it's story line
• Music: In thrillers you are able to expect music which builds up tension and increases suspense within the main scenes. The music is often just instrumental so that you are concentrating solely on the movie it’s self rather than the well known song you know playing in the background. The music is more often than not repetitive this is used throughout the film with different peaces of music being played at different times. This is a story indicator as to when a particular scene is happy, violent, mysterious etc. Different speeds of music will be used for different scenes. Music will be fast in a more intense scene such as a chase and the music will then slow down and become more ominous in a scarier scene which contains violence.  The different characters such as the ‘good’ and ‘evil’ may also have different music so you can differentiate between them when they come into view. 
• The Characters: Thrillers usually have one main protagonist and one main antagonist this is too allow the audience to clearly differentiate between the good and the bad in the film. The main antagonists usually has the persona of a psychopath and often leads the protagonist into danger. 
• Setting and Storyline: The settings for thrillers are often urban cities such as New York where the story line often follows an almost hide and seek chase of the characters through the busy streets. Often there is also many ’bad guys’ living within the city which the ordinary citizens don’t know about.  The settings can also be set in rural areas where the story line includes characters that are hiding or where a mysterious murder has taken place.There is usually a mysterious murder or disaster at the start of the film which is set as the plot throughout the film. The film usually includes a car chase which is considered an iconic convention of a thriller which entails both sides chasing one another in order to retain something which is theirs or too get something they want; cash, jewellery, paper work etc. 
• Camera Work: The camera work and speed changes depending on the story line. The introduction of a thriller is often shot slowly and in either much detail or as little detail as possible both creating tension and suspense for what is too come. The Camera speed is often fast during the film this helps put the audience in the film as they feel they are having to keep up with the character. Long distance shots are often used and panning of the surrounding area to create tension and atmosphere as it has the audience looking out for the ‘bad guys’ and trying to spot things in the area just like the character is. There are often close ups too of certain objects such as a weapon, a car or a certain person - this is usually done when that object or person is a vital part to the story and something or someone to look out for later on in the film or to create suspense from the outset. 
• The Colour: The usual colours in a thriller are ‘cold’ colours, this is done to create a cold an unwelcoming atmosphere which allows the audience to feel the way in which the character would feel. Certain colours such as grey are used in an urban area to match the busy background of sky scrapers. Colours such as red and black are used to make the audience aware of the danger and darkness ahead in the film.