Thriller Similarities

There are many similarities between thrillers. For example:

Mise en scene; Usually uses dark colours, low key lighting and tends to be contemporary. It is also usual placed in a busy town or quiet area. Most of the scenes are usual within the victims home; as this is were people tend to go when they are upset or scared.
Sound; Usually the pace is fast into a dramatic and loud creshendo or silence. Thrillers use silence to build tension and get the audience concentrating on sound effects such as squeaking, banging or odd noises. The music in the background is almost always instrumental and tends to be non-diagetic to create an ambient within the scene and make it feel more dangerous, tense and edgy.
Character types; There is always a victim and villain (or several of each) within a thriller. The victim is almost always innocent caught in the middle of something and the villain tends to always be some kind of psycho. However during the main part of the film the villain maybe an 'invisible threat' to the characters but can sometimes be visible to the audience. Also most films have members of authority IE. the police or they have a neutral character (one that is not involved) that the victim confides in. Both male and female characters can be either a victim or a villain.
Mood; Using all the above generally makes a exciting, edgy and chilling thriller that may contain aspects of fear, sympathy and anxiety from the audience. It also makes the suspense within the film and the enigma that keeps the audience intrigued and 'on the edge of their seats'. Some scenes make the audience feel uneasy with the use of, for example, watching a character get killed or their dead body's.
Main ideas; In all thrillers and most films there are always twists and unexpected happenings. The film may be following a trail but then some kind of betrayal happens and the audience is back at square one trying to guess all over again, what is happening? Most thrillers make the victim have no idea whats going on. They maybe oblivious to certain relationships, crimes or plans of revenge that are happening or obviously going to happen. All thrillers tend to be based around the idea of murder or crime that the victim has to find the culprit for. Sometimes the audiences knows more then the characters and there fore are shouting out at them what to do or not to do. However it maybe the other way around and the audience are gripped by the question of 'Who is it?'. These are the 2 main ideas: 1) The audience nows the villain and 2) They don't.

So the overall aim of a thriller is to keep the audience intrigued, curious and on the edge of their seats right untill the very end. To fill them with fear, excitement and sometimes sympathy but more importantly for them to be willing the next vital piece of information. Generally prompting them to ask the questions: What happened? Who did it? and most importantly, Why?