Genre: Thriller

Some conventions of thriller include:  

•   Quick cuts
• Lots of camera angles 
• Music that gives tension
•  Lighting often high key lighting to emphasise shadows and two sides to a character.
• Often told the story from the Killers POV- allows it to be more menacing
• Use of Flashbacks.
• Use of Black and white
• Use of montage which helps pass time and elongate the storyline.

The primary elements of the thriller genre:

• The protagonist(s) faces death, either their own or somebody else's.
• The force(s) of antagonism must initially be cleverer and/or stronger than the protagonist's.
• The main storyline for the protagonist is either a quest or a character who cannot be put down.
• The main plotline focuses on a mystery that must be solved.
• The film's narrative construction is dominated by the protagonist's point of view.
• All action and characters must be credibly realistic/natural in their representation on screen.
• The two major themes that underpin the thriller genre are the desire for justice and the morality of individuals.
• One small, but significant, aspect of a thriller is the presence of innocence in what is seen as an essentially corrupt world.
• The protagonist(s) and antagonist(s) may battle, themselves and each other, not just on a physical level, but on a mental one as well.
• Either by accident or their own curiousness, characters are dragged into a dangerous
• conflict or situation that they are not prepared to resolve.
  Examples:

•  Psycho (1960)
•  Snakes on a Plane (2006)
• Rebbecca (1940)
• The Shining (1980)