What Is A Thriller Film?

Codes&Conventions:

Themes&Settings -

- Urban/cities     - Modern Setting   - Crime   

- Paranoia   - Betrayal   - Real life problems   

- Greed

Characters -

- Protagonist VS Antagonist   - Sidekick   - Love/sex interest   - Victim

- False Hero   - Stereotypes   - Minor Characters   - Comic relief

Narrative -

- Murder   - Twist in the plot   - Mystery 

- Protagonist threatened/captured    - Chase scenes    

- Clues   - Gun fights/violence    - MIND GAMES

Effect on audience -

- Tension    - Suspense    - Fear

- Shock    - Excitement 

Technical Codes -

- Camera shots, angles and movement    - Editing, cuts/fades 

- Sound   - Colour&lighting, often cold and dark colours.

All of these codes and conventions are important when identifying a thriller film. The use of each of them are used to make the audience feel a certain way to the events happening. For example, the use of mind games are a common convention of a thriller film. The effect mind games have on the reader are shock and suspense and since thrillers are often based around real life scenarios, it allows the audience to relate or even wonder how they would feel in that situation. Thrillers use the characters of a Protagonist and Antagonist in a narrative however, the audience is never really sure of who the antagonist is, which adds to the twist in the plot, the use of the good vs bad is a good convention which allows the audience to understand the narrative clearer. Themes and settings are important as it allows the audience to understand what genre of film they are watching and sets an idea of what may be about to unfold in the narrative. For example, a thriller set in the city or in a local estate as an audience we presume crime or a murder may have happened. If it was a horror thriller and was set in the woods, as an audience we would presume someone is lost there, is being chased and clues will lead them to their answer. Colour and lighting are important as it sets the mood for the audience, thrillers often focus around dark lighting and cold colours such as greys and blues. This gives an erie mood and the colours are often associated with mist or cold evenings, which in a thriller film would add tension or suspense. 

Representation Of Women In The Media

Women often suffer from a narrow set of representations in the media such as a housewife or a mother or often as sexual objects. A narrow range of women are presented in the media, they are seen as: slim, usually white, young and they are the ideal image of beauty (to have perfect skin, hair and bodies.) Women are show to have domestic roles in the media for example, and advert trying to sell a cleaning product would often have a woman in the domestic role of  a housewife using the product to clean her home. The use of putting women in these domestic roles almost begins to form the idea that this is the 'norm' of what women should be in today's society. Women are also portrayed as sex objects, they are made to look appealing to attract a certain audience. They are often exploited and sexualised when advertising mens products, this is through the use of the male gaze. The male gaze, being a theory by Laura Mulvey, suggests that the image we see as an audience has been presented through the eyes of what a man will see. For example, when an audience see a woman in an aftershave advert and she has very little clothing on and is seen to exploiting herself, this is for the pleasure of the males, we are looking at the woman through the male gaze. Also in many games, if a female character is given a main role, they will often be sexualised like in Lara Croft for example. She is portrayed as a strong, independent woman but is still sexualised by wearing little or revealing clothing. 

This can be seen as a positive representation as it shows to a female audience that she may be confident with her body and wants to show it off. However, it is mainly a negative representation as it depicts that all women should be slim, white and look perfect. This has a negative on many young girl and can cause them to be insecure and want to change their bodies, it also has an effect on older women as it can cause them to be unhappy with themselves. But despite the stereotypical ideals of women, in todays day and age the representation of women has defiantly improved. Women are now often shown to be independent , stronger and more confident. Although it is still a very little amount, a more diverse representation is being shown also. There are more magazine covers featuring different ethnicities such as black women and also women of different sizes, this has a positive effect on the female audience as it allows them to be more comfortable on who they are.