To get an idea and understanding of thrillers I looked at the introduction to The shining (1980)
I looked at the micro elements to see how the genre (thriller) uses them.

From the very beginning, the music straight away is slow and gives a wary atmosphere to the action the audience can see. The music is low pitch which gives it a daunting feel. This reveals the genre as it sets the feeling for the audience to be thrilled.
Music is used in thrillers to work in rhythm with the action to give a more powerful effect.

The overall colours the audience can see from the introduction are dull and dreary which reflects how the movie will be possibly be sad, scary, etc.

The establishing shots at the very beginning are all similar which indicates the genre will be thriller by the lonely, isolated areas. Establishing shots a commonly used at the beginning of Thrillers to show the location clearly therefore the audience can see where the movie will be set.



When the car appears in the crane shot it allows the audience to have a big view of the surroundings of the car. The music changes slightly when the car appears which reinforces the audience to take knowledge of the car. The sound effects became louder and stronger when the camera gets closer to the car which emphasises to the viewers that the story will involve the car.
Overtime, the tracking shot following the car becomes faster which builds up the tension because from the micro elements we can tell something is going to happen to the car which therefore represents the genre.


A pan shot is used in this part of the film to show the location more closely for the audience. Also, the pan shot is slow which reinforces the creepy feel they want to achieve and also gives time for the audience to study the area. A pan shot can represent the genre of thriller as it can be a way of revealing a object, character, etc cleverly to give a thrilling effect.



There are dissolves used to change between each establishing shot. A dissolve is useful as it helps the clip run more smoothly other than a harsh change between two pictures. They are used in thrillers to help represent the genre as it keeps to the slow, wary mood the audience can see with the rest of the clip so everything is in a slow rhythm and it matches with the other micro elements.



The lighting in the beginning is diegetic as the audience can see the natural light shadow on the trees. This makes the movie feel even more isolated and give the location a lonely look as there is no extra elements added. Non-diegetic lighting is more popular in thrillers as it emphasises a certain aspect in the clip for the audience. However, weak lighting is common aswell as it hides areas and gives it a wary, eerie atmosphere.



Half way through the beginning, the location and sound change to lead onto the main storyline.
This is used in Thrillers to move onto to explain the story of what will happen. The original beginning shows the audience of the main location of where the main scenes will be and they will know that that location will be back during the movie.