Our thriller trailer uses conventions from other thriller films to introduce characters and setting without revealing too much of the plot. Key conventions we employed included using dull colors, dramatic camera angles, isolated locations, mysterious villains, and a tense soundtrack. We were inspired by trailers for films like "Taken" and "Memento" in our stylistic choices. While adhering to thriller conventions, we also aimed to challenge expectations and leave some mystery for audiences.

1. Our teaser trailer was between one to two minutes long, we decided this due to
typical thriller trailers being this long, we also believed this would be long enough
for us to introduce key parts like characters and the setting but not give too much
information away. When making our thriller trailer, we followed certain codes and
conventions to help make our film look professional and also challenge forms of
real media products. By researching thriller trailers, soundtracks and genre, it
helped us to be able to have more knowledge about the film industry before
starting. the first thing we analysed was thriller trailers, and the codes and
conventions they followed. We found that in a thriller trailer especially, the
narrative was very important in order to engage an audience. We looked at some
trailers for our favourite thriller and physiological thriller films such as 'taken',
which were inspired the most by, 'Law Abiding Citizen' and woman in black etc.
We also looked at different theorists so we could choose which one our trailer could
aim to follow.
Thriller
Trailer

2. Our thriller trailer uses conventional thriller titles as a way to introduce and
inform the audience on our genre, we got influence from many psycological
thriller trailers that we watched and analysed, such as ‘berlin syndrome’.
we used dull blue grey colours as they reinforced the dark theme of thrillers.
we also included inter- titles initially however we decided to remove them as we
thought our trailer would be more effective if we followed todorov's theory of the
narrative not being so clear cut.
How our thriller
trailer uses and
develops conventional
thrillers: Titles

3. In preparation for our trailer we looked at how the thriller for ‘taken’
used dramatic camera angles such as close ups p.o.v etc to create more
tension. After adding dramatic camera angles to our trailer during
editing we found that this helped to develop and helped the narrative
move along.
How our thriller trailer
uses and develops
conventional thrillers:
camera angles
We found that camera angles could be used
effectively to show relationships between two
characters, therefore we used this technique in our
trailer during our establishing shot.

4. An isolated location is a factor that we decided we needed to include in
our final trailer therefore we chose the woods where the two characters
were fighting away from civilization and environment this typical in
psychological thrillers. Dark settings shadows used to our
advantage.
How our thriller trailer uses
and develops conventional
thrillers: Location/Setting
The Gift

5. Villains in psycological thrillers usually look normal and don’t sand out
by wearing casual clothes fitting in with the theory we had that, most
psycological thrillers are set in an urban and modern settings. In
addition the identity of the villian is usually hidden and kept a
mystery influenced from 'I know what you did last summer’.
How our thriller trailer uses
and develops conventional
thrillers: Costumes

6. we gained most of our inspiration from watching psychological thrillers such as
the film ‘die hard’ we found that the film ‘die hard’ follows todorov’s theory, and
therefore we decided to somewhat follow the setup, of there being a state of
equilibrium, then a disruption of that order by an event (in our case the
daughter getting kidnapped.) followed by a recognition that the disorder has
occurred then an attempt to repair the damage done by the disruption. and then
a return or restoration of a new equilibrium. However, our sequence somewhat
challenges this theory as the equilibrium does not get restored.
How our thriller trailer uses
and develops conventional
thrillers:
Narrative/Storyline

7. During genre research we found that the thriller genre has a tendency to be very
diverse in its storylines and narrative structure, which means that the trailers do not
always follow a specific structure, or adhere to certain conventions. Whilst there are a
lot of similarities, the main selling point of many of thrillers is an original plot, perhaps
with a twist at the end, therefore we tried to make our storyline as enticing as possible.
Low key lighting and muted colours are a common convention of thrillers, as seen in
Shutter Island, which uses them to convey the unsettling setting of the film, and to
show the audience that it has a very dark and disturbing plot line. This lack of colour
also shows the mystery in the story.
How our thriller trailer
uses and develops
conventional thrillers:
Genre

8. In our trailer we subtly introduced our characters and left some as a mystery we
used this as an effective way to intrigue our audience and give them an enigma. we
also used close up shots with inspiration from the trailer for Memento which also
uses a lot of close ups, both of the face and body of the main character, we found this
effective way to stress the characters emotions and feelings about the current
situation.
How our thriller trailer
uses and develops
conventional thrillers:
Characters

9. Tense and often eerie music is another convention of the thriller genre, with all
three trailers using it to great effect. They match the tones of the music with the
editing for the trailer, meaning it flows very seamlessly and is actually a very good
tool when choosing what to draw attention to and when. Shutter Island couples this
with fast cuts which show the audience enough to intrigue them, but not so much as
to give away plot, sometimes the cuts are so fast that it may take a second or third
watch to catch what has been seen. In our trailer we used the speed and volume of
our soundtrack as an effective way to assist with building tension for example it
started off very quiet and steady paced at the beginning but by the end it was
evident and fast
How our thriller trailer
uses and develops
conventional thrillers:
Soundtrack