The Importance Of Tension In Thrillers

(play this while you read)

Tension is an element of film which is greatly used in thrillers, but also many other genres like action and horror. Tension will help create a feeling of suspense and uncertainty within the audience whilst watching the film.

Tension can be built very easily, for example in the film ‘Witness’ by Peter Weir there is a murder scene consisting of a young boy and toilets. The child witnesses a murder and is struggling to lock the toilet door, this common fear helps the audience relate to the child’s situation. As the music builds so does the speed of the shot reverse shot from the child confined in the toilets to the murderer checking each toilet. The use of music helps build tension because as the music gets louder so does the panic level and adrenaline within the audience, this is like excitement and anticipation waiting for a crescendo.

Enigma

The use on an ‘enigma’ in film can be very effective in creating tension, this is because the audiences minds will wander and create the image of a character in their minds. A non-thriller example is in ‘Jaws’ where there is so much enigma and suspense created around the shark that when you finally see the shark it isn’t scary at all. Another example of an ‘enigmatic’ character is Bill from Quentin tarnation’s Kill Bill where simple props like rings and boots can create assumptions about a character before they are seen, and in Bills case… a bad one.