Typical Conventions in Thrillers

Focus
A camera can be in focus or out of focus, focus can be used to disguise certain things that the audience is not meant to see. Something which is out of focus is usually a key part of the film away which would make the whole mystery obvious to the audience. An Example of this is in Da Vinci Code when the man is getting chased having the camera out of focus to disguise the person chasing him.

Motivated Cut
A motivated cut is a cut in which a character is looking somewhere where the audience wants to look this cut can be used to create suspense as the audience wants to know what the character is looking at. An Example of this is in Da Vinci Code when the girl is looking at the wall with the photos on by having a shot on her face with her looking at it this makes us want to look at the wall and wonder what is on it.

Shot Composition and Framing
The way the shots are composed can make hide certain factors of a film for example if someone is killed then the killers face will not be shown to create mystery. An Example of this is in The Usual Suspects where the Killers face is not shown, this adds to the mystery of who he is and what he has to do with the storyline.

Musical Score
Musical score can be used to set moods for example a Major key usually means that something happy or good is going to happen while a Minor key usually means something sad or bad is going to happen. The Musical Score also can reflect action on screen. An example of this is in Jaws where the music gets louder and faster when the person is getting attacked. Also in the Da Vinci Code there is low slow sustained music when the man is getting chased this shows something bad is going to happen in this case he gets shot it also adds to the suspense and mystery.

Props
Props are essential as they give the audience a visual incite into something such as if someone is in a detective cloak it connotates that the setting is a crime scene or there is a mystery to be solved. An example of this is in Se7en where there is police tape and a dead body this shows the audience that it is a crime scene.

Setting & Lighting
The setting shows alot about the film as does the lighting, Disturbing places are usually Dark while Friendly places are usually light. An Example of this is in the Da Vinci Code where the scene is shot with dark lightning this emphasises the fact that something bad it going to happen and darkness obscures the audiences vision.

Close up
A close up can tell the audience alot about what is being close upped this is because you can see people facial expression so see what their reaction is also it may be used to intentionally show the audience something on an object that was never noticed before. An example of this is in Death Note where there is a close up of the hand writing on the paper and then after there is a scene of someone dying this makes the audience wonder what  the comparison is between the hand writing and the deaths.

To make our film successful we need to consider all of these techniques.