Conventions of action/thriller

In our film, an action thriller there are a few conventions that you would expect. In this type of film you would expect a lot of action. The action you would expect to see in an action thriller would be fistfights, gunfight, car chases  etc.

In order to make these scenes realistic and interesting, props such as guns, fake blood and obviously cars would be used. Explosions are also a key part of action films, explosives may be used in order to show the detonation of bombs that may be used as a key action feature or storyline feature. Explosives are often used to trigger things like bullet holes.


Costume would not be a big issue in action thriller films, any costume would be acceptable in these films however the condition of the clothes would need to change in the action scenes. The costumes would need to rip and become dirty/full of blood in relation to the action that is being shown.

Action thriller films generally all follow a similar storyline. The storyline you would expect to see form these types of film would follow a protagonist who would be the main character. You would see this character face some type of problem that he/she must over come to complete the task or goal that has be set for/by them at the start of the film. You would also expect to see a 2nd main character who is the exact opposite of the main character that the story follows, also know as the antagonist. This character is often, in action thriller films, the obstacle that the protagonist must overcome. As action thriller films are a hybrid of action and thriller you would expect to see scenes that build suspense and tension. A way in which the storyline may acieive this may be by giving the protagonist a limited amount of time to overcome the obstacle or add an unexpected turn of events like the protagonist becoming injured. Additional characters may used in these types of films to help the protagonist/antagonist. A good example of a typical storyline with typical characters would be James Bond Skyfall. It follows the characters James Bond who must protect the MI6 by tracking down and eliminating Silva, who is becoming a threat to the MI6.

In our type of film there aren't many conventions relating to location. Action thriller films can be fit into any type of location. However there are certain type of scenes that you may associate with a particular location. For example you may expect to see a chase scene in a busy city like New York that makes the chase more dramatic. Some people may say they would expect to see fight scenes in dark scenery where there are many things that can be used as weapons.

Action thriller films have a certain style. They are filmed and edited to a certain style that makes them recognizable. The main conventions of this style would be the pacing of the shots. From an action thriller you would expect a wide variety of shot pacing. In the action scenes you would expect fast pacing to make the action flow, but also you would expect some scenes that have a fairly slow shot pacing to help build tension. It could also be said that action thriller films use a lot of dark lighting to help hide things so the audience can be surprised and to also show the contours of the face to give dramatic effect.