How do these certain thriller films create suspense?

Cape Fear, 1962

The antagonist, the convict, seems to have a sly and mischievous atmosphere surrounding him and he constantly seems uneasy. An example of this is when he is constantly looking over his shoulder. He also seems frightening and creepy when during the court case he takes a seat at the back making him seem sly and devious. He also wears a bright white suit which completely disorientates the viewer as normally the “bad guy” is placed in a darker and colder colour. But the colours have been reversed which adds to the viewers uneasiness.

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, 1962

The slowly increasing pace of the music when Blanche is about to reveal her food hit’s a climax when the food is shown makes the viewer placed in a position where we become further startled by what the close up shot of the “food”. This shot is gruesome and you really feel the emotions of Blanche. Then to add to this Jane’s shrieking laugh in the background is menacing and impacts the viewer because of this.

Fatal Attraction, 1987

From 0:14
This scene is suspense filled straight away because you can hear the noise of the pot boiling. The viewer can already distinguish that something is going to be in the pot so its suspense filled until the viewer finds out what it is. The parallel editing featured shows the connection between the boy going to see the rabbit and his reaction with that of the woman finding the rabbit in the pot and her reaction. The woman shrieks with terror while also the boy cries due to losing his rabbit. Emotional stuff.

The Silence of the Lambs, 1991

This scene is filled with suspense throughout. Through the majority of it you are placed in “Buffalo Bill’s” perspective viewing Clarence. This adds to the feeling that you are almost featured in the film. Also when he reaches for her and is extremely close with night vision goggles on you are shown how close he really is to Clarence. You can clearly see how frightening it is for Clarence because of how she is unable to see and is frantically trying to feel around herself so she can have a hint of where to go. She is breathing extremely heavily showing how frightened she is. No music is featured which adds to almost being in the film. It constantly builds up tension until finally “Buffalo Bill” is featured in a slow motion shot where Clarence shoots him several times. It is extremely tense because “Buffalo Bill” shoots at the same time and the viewer is left to await who has been killed.

The setting for our preliminary task

We have found a perfect place to film our task in the school. Perfectly set-out in a basement, we all started to think of a thriller introduction almost straight away. I took several pictures which will help the group as a whole to think about when deciding on a plot and storyline for our thriller introduction. All the photos I've taken show in more detail how perfect the design is for a thriller intro and we will use it to the best of our ability. The pictures below show the setting of where our introduction will take place.

Preliminary research

In today's lesson as a group we researched other media students projects and took many ideas from them. We understood what to avoid and what to include from the other students for the best possible outcome of our task. Many groups we researched used match on action with the turning the handle of the door and then seeing them walk through the door. Many have used his and we are going to try and move away from this and make ours more exciting and unique. A technique we saw which we are going to try and avoid is that of people wearing school uniforms. We want to make our preliminary task seem more professional and we are going to make more of an effort with the mise-en-scene of the costumes we use. Also we need to find a place in the school whereas it is hardly noticeable that we are in a school environment. This will also make are project stand out from other students and show the effort we have placed into the task to help it to be a larger success. 

The Shining - A psychological thriller

The Shining relates in many ways to other psychological thrillers. A psychological thriller is a sub genre of a thriller whereby the director uses elements that relates to the mind or the processes of the mind. They are mental rather than physical in nature. The main characters are usually more reliant on mental resources instead of physical strength to overcome their issues. There are many different conventions featured in “The Shining” that relate to the thriller genre and help make the film a more tense and suspense filled great. A film that is extremely disturbing but yet compels the viewer to see more. Kubrick made sure that this film would be perfect in all respects and made no mistakes. He understood how to capture the audience and how to really disturb them with chilling and menacing moments. The whole film including the camera movement, shots, angles and sounds all combined together with such perfection that the audience is completely inhaled in the intense, exhilarating madness that is “The Shining”.

The soundtrack in this film relates to other psychological thrillers such as Alfred Hitchcock’s, “Psycho”. The music in “The Shining” seems to have a huge effect on the audience due to the constant music playing and the overall constant disturbing scenes. The extremely eerie atmosphere that the non-diegetic sound creates is discordant. It completely controls the viewer and they feel disturbed by the weird and generally frightening sounds that are being created. While the music is being played the audience can hear the strange sounding music and it is completely unique. No other film is created with such perfect timing of music and just generally perfect music for the scenes. The scenes are completely changed (for the better) with the music as it is used collectively with the scene making the scene have a larger impact on the already disturbed audience.

The whole setting of the “The Shining” may not be in a confined space. But a claustrophobic feel is created as a result of how the characters are completely isolated from the rest of society in a huge hotel in harsh weather conditions. There is no possible way for the family to escape and they have to live with each other peacefully for many months. But obviously this is not the case and there emotions and psychological consciousnesses really make the audience feel the characters struggle to escape and even the audience feel claustrophobic as a result. You feel completely involved with the film and feel disturbed and horrified at such instances when Jack tries to kill his wife (Wendy) as she has tried to escape from the mentally insane Jack but finds there’s no way out. The audience are completely distraught with what Wendy must be feeling and her emotions in the film rub off on the audience. The feeling of confined spaces is a typical convention of a thriller genre.

How the camera is used throughout the film is spectacular, it manipulates the audience with quick zooms, tilted angles and a hand held camera to create tension and visual distortion. The sense of danger and panic was conveyed by the camera as much as it was my the narrative elements in “The Shining” showing how all the different devices work collectively with such impact onto the audience. Kubrick uses the stedicam shots throughout the film creating a elegant and fluid sense of menace. This contrasts with the majority of thrillers which use a more distorted and frantic style of filming so confuses the audience when Kubrick uses this technique. Confusing the audience helps them to feel even more disturbed as it is out of context to the scenes. An example of this is when Danny is riding his tricycle around the hotel and then he acknowledges the two twins. A truly terrific visual scene. Kubrick’s editing in both the classical and montage style heightens suspense, creates dramatic tension, and suggests Danny’s psychological state.

In conclusion to this highly prestigious psychological thriller, all the different techniques Kubrick uses are all to enhance the audiences emotions and general uneasiness. Without the perfectionism is Stanley Kubrick and the constant takes of the film to make it just right are all beneficial to the final product which leaves the viewer constantly anticipating and in a unusual position of suspense. A lot of the typical thriller conventions are used but in a completely unique style making the audience feel like they are controlled emotionally by the scene taking place. The eeriness of the film creates a disturbing and frightening atmosphere which helps to makes the audience feel more involved and psychologically thrilled.

Group blog.

On 21/10/2011 we decided on a group and made a group blog. This group includes Ed Smith, Francois and myself. We are considering changing our name but at the moment it is called "The Fellowship". The group blog was set-up due to the fact that we are starting to focus on our practical assignment

Understanding some of the main camera techniques

Match on action

This refers to film editing and video editing when the editor cuts from one shot to another view that matches the first shot's action. This emphasises continuity of space and time by matching the action of the preceding shot with the continuation of the action. The audience can easily distinguish what is happening in the scene through this continuity editing technique. So an example of this is in the film, "The Lord Of The Rings The Two Towers" when the archer fires his arrow in one shot and then in the next shot it shows where the arrow has ended up.

Shot/reverse shot

When the camera switches between one character and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character. It makes the characters seem like they are looking at one another. This helps the audience to understand what is happening as all characters are being shown in close proximity with one another in different shots. My example in the film "Snatch" shows this continuous dialog between both the "pikeys" and "tommy" and "turkish".

The 180-degree rule 

This is when two individuals in one scene filmed within 180 degree arc. This helps the audience to understand where the characters are in the scene when they are constantly placed in the same left/right relationship to each other. If the camera passes over the imaginary axis connecting the two subjects, it is called crossing the line. The new shot, from the opposite side, is known as a reverse angle. This can cause confusion from the audience as they may not be able to understand where the characters actually are in relation to one another. The 180-degree rule is shown in this example on "Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones".

Gollum has a debate with his good half, Smeagol, about the Ring and the hobbits, which ends with Smeagol sending Gollum "away".

Thriller sub-genres

What are the sub-genres of thriller films?

• Conspiracy thriller

Character confronts a large, powerful group of enemies whose true extent only he/she recognizes. An example of this is the film 'The Da Vinci Code'.

Crime thriller
This Consists of both a crime film and a thriller film. It offers a suspenseful account of a successful or failed crime or crimes which normally focus on the crimals. Crime thrillers are usually more action that psychological aspects which is the opposite compared to psychological thrillers.Central topics include serial killers/murders, robberies, chases, shootouts, ransoms, captivities, heists, revenge and kidnappings.

An example of this is the film 'Reservoir Dogs'.

Erotic thriller
Consists of both erotica and thriller. An example of this is the film 'Dressed to Kill'.

Legal thriller

A sub-genre where everything revolves around the courtroom, whether it be in or outside. An example of this is the film 'The Runaway Jury'.

Political thriller

In which the hero/heroine must ensure the stability of the government that employs him. An example of this is the film 'Seven Days in May'.

Psychological thriller

In which the conflict between the main characters is mental and emotional, rather than physical. Characters usually become involved in a conflict or situation that they are not prepared to resolve. Suspense is usually created by psychological thrillers often comes from two or more characters preying upon one another's minds. An example of this is the film 'Taxi Driver'.

• Rape and Revenge films
  
  Focuses on thriller elements such as suspense, tension, some action and fast-paced scenes. An example of this is the film 'The Last House on the Left'.
• Supernatural thriller
  
  In which the film brings in an otherworldly element mixed with tension, suspense and plot twists. Sometimes the hero and/or villain has some psychic ability. An example of this is the film 'The Sixth Sense'.

North by northwest commentary

We created the narrative on North by Northwest by selecting the scene we wanted to use with the narrative and then removing the original sound from the movie and exchanging it with my own voice explaining the conventions of a thriller genre that are used in the scene. The research we made on thriller conventions helped us to use our recently gained knowledge on the commentary we placed over the top of the scene. Thriller conventions are becoming almost obvious to see now, due to the research we have done. This helped us to create the narrative easily and quickly as the conventions were easy to spot.

 We did this whole process by using iMovie which helps you to remove the sound and upload your own sound to the scene. Even if you make mistakes you can edit them out by using the program easily and we had no problem creating the narrative. We didn't seem to have any problems with the editing and re-creating the narrative over certain parts due to background noises and distractions. We also had a word document open at the same time with notes on the scene that we had collected which helped us to speak elegantly and fluently throughout the time period of the scene without forgetting any key conventions.

Analysing three different title sequences of thriller films.

The audience never really give any credit to the title sequences of a film even though some are spectacular and actually have a large effect on the audience even if they don't realise or appreciate it. In this blog I will be taking you through two great title sequences.

The opening titles of "Rear Window" are based in two colours, black and white. Both of these colours have a large impact on the audience as they contrast with one another. The bland and dull colours create a mood, which a film using other colours cannot achieve as well for the simple reason that colour can tend to overwhelm the viewer. These colours linked with the music played in the background adapts very well with one another and from the beginning of the film you can already acknowledge what sort of film it is going to be. It has a lasting effect on the viewers as that linking with the colours helps set the mood even further.

Another Alfred Hitchcock movie, "Psycho" also uses the same effect on the audience to help them to get into the mood of what is to come. The fast paced orchestral music makes the viewer already controlled and sets the mood. The audience become aware of how this film is going to be from the title sequence and the contrast of colours and music. Its just generally wild and frantic. The text is coming down randomly and moving around constantly which shows instability. This could relate to Norman Bates split personality later on. The music is also unpredictable with a heavy dramatic effect of the string instruments being played at a very fast pace. It is dark, discordant and full of suspense.

Typical conventions in the thriller genre.

There are many typical conventions featured in many thriller films for many reasons. A thriller film consists of creating tension, suspense and shock to the audience. This is created in many different ways including camera positions, angles, movements, shots, music and lighting.

 

Alfred Hitchcock is considered one of the most highly rated film directors of all time due to understanding how to create such suspense. For example in the film "Psycho". From this clip you can see many ways of creating tension in a short period of time which has a larger impact on the audience.

 

 

• Music : Fast paced and normally orchestral.
• Silhouettes and shadows : Are what give a thriller the enigma and mystery for the audience. It creates eeriness and tension.
• Knives : Typical weapon used in thrillers. When you see a knife you immediately associate it with somebody about to get brutally killed.
• Confined spaces : This leads for the audience to feel the characters struggle and you feel chlostrophobic as a result. You really feel the characters emotion as they try to escape.
  
•  Obtrustive editing and quick shots : Accentuates the feelings of suspense and tension.



"Psycho"



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Timeline research