What is a Thriller Film?

A Thriller film can make viewers feel a roller coaster of emotions such as curiosity, scared or even sad it bends the viewers emotions to its will.  Thrillers are made up of a range of key elements from themes such as; romance, crime and action to countless types of characters such as protagonists to antagonists.

Themes
Thrillers are unique with their range of themes. Most thriller films have a mixture or combination of themes to make the film interesting and engaging. A very common theme in a thriller film is Protagonist VS Antagonist this type of thriller is mainly about a hero (protagonist) defeating a villain (antagonist). To make this theme more interesting twists and mind games are used throughout the film to make it less predictable. In this theme, elements of violence and action is commonly used along side victims and crime to make the protagonist have a reason or a narrative to have a antagonist. For example a potential antagonist could commit a crime such as murder or kidnapping (Themes), the victims lover tends to be the protagonist who saves the day. This layout of a thriller tends to have the victim as a woman (damsel in distress), the protagonist and antagonist as males, this stereotype of a woman needing saving has been used in countless thriller films.


Types of themes in thriller films-
-Protagonist VS Antagonist
-Crime
-Romance/Sex
-Death
-Violence
-Actions
-Chase scenes
-Gun fights
-Fist fights
-Mind games 
-Assault
-Murder
-Fear

This film "Mad Max: Fury Road" has a clear theme of protagonist Vs antagonist. This post apocalyptic based film is about a lonely man trying to survive in the harsh deserts. then his life takes a unexpected turn for the worse and he is captured by his antagonist. This thriller him has a range of themes such as violence.













Editing
In thriller films editing is used in a range of ways. For example editing could be used to suggest who is going to be the antagonist but then it turns out that its another person entirely likewise with antagonists, victims etc.

Colour
Colour is used in a variety of ways, for example to set the scene or to make tension. typically in thrillers white equals purity and goodness, like the antagonist. On the other hand black equals death and evil, like the antagonist this is a theme which is commonly used throughout different types of films.

Lighting
Similar to colour, brightness represents good and darkness represents bad. In most scenes where its dark or even night suggests that something bad is going to happen or its a scene with the antagonist this is opposite to protagonist.

Sound
Throughout thriller films sounds are used to build tension and to set the mood. Sound such as music is a key element in all films, it can play in the background in most scenes to create a atmosphere.