Sound

Insidious Clip Analysis

Sound can be a very powerful element within a thriller film. Sound is very important as it creates a mood for the audience, but also can also contribute towards a better understanding for the audience of what is going on or even what could be expected.

One of the sounds I identified was 'on screen' sound of a spinning ceiling fan. The sound that is made by the fan conveys to the audience that the old lady can feel a presence around her. The use of this device is to create suspicion by the anonymous creature that cannot be seen by both the characters or the audience. Due to the unknown creature being currently off-screen makes the audience open their imagination for what it may be, as the film features around a lot of abnormal ceatures and characters.This is conventional because it builds up anxiety within the audience as it foreshadows bad events to come. Due to the sounds, the audience have expectations that something or someone is going to appear suddenly. This builds up tension and the fear of the audience, keeping them on the edge of their seat.

Another sound that I analysed within the clip was 'non-diegetic', which consisted of background music. The sound is high pitched and very eary, almost like a frightening jingle which builds awareness and scares the audience of what is to come. This particular soundtrack is used to build tension within the scene to portray to the audience that something bad or unexpected is going to happen. This is conventional to a thriller film, as the aim of tempo changes are to give out mixed emotions to confuse the audience.

The third sound to which i discovered was a 'diegetic' monologue of "What is it?", furthermore this connects to the first device of the on screen sound of the fan mentioned previously. The mother notices the old ladies awareness of the strange presence in the room. This is conventional to the film as it confirms for the audience that there really is a presence in the room, but also indicates that it's more than likely that something bad or frightening is going to happen. The audience response to this sort of tension would make them very anxious and weary as they are not sure what to expect due to the enigma.

To conclude, sound can be identified in six different ways, with three being stated above. Sound can make an audience understand a scene and a characters emotion or feeling. It is a key feature when wanting to build a particular atmosphere; for example ,when non diegetic sound plays with an up-tempo, eary tune it foreshadows bad events to come and builds tension within the audience.

Cinematography

 

Orphan Trailer Analysis

Cinematography is important to a thriller film, as it builds a relationship between the audience and the characters, through emotion and their actions. This itself creates an understanding of the film, enabling the audience to be drawn in.

One of the shots that I identified was a ‘point of view’ shot. In this particular shot it shows one of the nuns of the orphanage and a married couple looking through a gap in the door viewing an orphan, before walking in. This shot views a child isolating herself from the other orphans in a room and painting. It shows that there is something suspicious about the child to why she may not want to mix with others and do normal ‘childlike’ activities. This ‘point of view’ shot is conventional to a thriller film as it creates tension, an enigma and makes the audience question the child; there’s something not normal, as her maturity does not match her age. This could lead to the audience coming to some sort of conclusion to what’s going to happen next with the expectation being that her identity is false. The audience begin feeling uncertain of her character.

The second shot I detected was a ‘close up’ shot. The camera is zoomed up on the orphans face smiling innocently as she introduces herself to the married couple. This shot stereotypically looks as if she is a perfect, well behaved child that any parents would want to adopt. For the orphan, her first impressions are everything. This is conventional to a thriller film as the audience can see that she is the perpetrator with typical pale white skin and dark hair, which is a classic narrative within a thriller. With her abnormal choice of accessories; velvet fabric that’s fastened around her neck creates mystery to the purpose of it being there. Typical thoughts of the audience being that she’s hiding something, making her seem secretive.

The third shot I chose to analyse was a ‘mid’ shot. This singular shot portrays that the orphan, Ester overlooking her new sister, Max. This image foreshadows that something bad is going to happen to max. This is conventional as the setting is all very predictable; pitch-black room with a thunder storm occurring outside, flashing images of Ester in a white gown; supposedly the colour of innocence. This creates contrast. This scene relates to most features of a conventional thriller with the setting, sound, cinematography and mise en scene. The audience begin to worry and sympathise for Max's safety as they feel harm may come to her in time.

Within this piece of work, it has taught me that the choice of camera shots is vital witinin a thriller film in order to grab the audience’s attention and create understanding. Through my analysis of Orphan I found that the ‘point of view’ shot was the most interesting out of the three. I felt this way, as for me being the viewer, it built numerous emotions such as suspicion and made me question the orphans character. Drawing in an audience’s emotion, I feel is vital as it creates vivid understanding, and I will focus on this aspect when I come to making my own 2 minute opening for a thriller film. Analysing these three shots has taught me how they all individually work, which will again help me as it’s something I can look back at and compare to my own.

Editing

Strangers Analysis

Editing is the way in which a film is put together by the use of shots. Editing builds emotions which connects the audience and creates understanding. Editing is the major feature that makes a thriller run smoothly and create various effects.

The first editing style I analysed was 'slow editing'. Slow editing is when clips are juxtaposed together at a slower rate to create suspense. In this particular editing style it shows the women walking to the door, while an anonymous character knocks. The slow edit makes the audience believe that her slow movement is contributed by her hesitation to be close to the door. It adds tension as the audience are curious to know who it is at the door. This is conventional to a thriller film as it creates mystery due to the audience questioning themselves.

The second editing style that I identified was a 'reaction shot'. A reaction shot is any shot in which a subject reacts to a previous shot. It portrays the women checking the window in another room after leaving the door, which was being knocked on by the unknown character. This unseen character had supposedly left the scene as clear footsteps are heard to fade into the distance. The purpose of this shot is to reveal her emotions- nervousness, as she fears the character has not actually gone. This is conventional as it clearly connects the audience to her emotions which make them feel a sense of sympathy, as they imagine themselves in her position.

The third editing style I analysed was a 'linking shot'. A linking shot is where a number of shots are linked together to add emotional impact. Within this shot her fireplaces fire starts to produce smoke which triggers the fire alarm. While standing on a chair trying to reset the alarm, it unclips and drops to the floor creating a bang, at the exact time as another loud knock at the door. This shot creates high levels of noise to create a jumpy atmosphere. This is conventional as the sounds created, with numerous things happening at the same time builds tension for the audience; this is because the audience begins to struggle on when to look as they feel something suddenly going to jump out.

The final editing style I analysed was a 'jump cut'. A jump cut shot is when the film suddenly focuses on something. The camera is focused on the two large, wooden doors in the middle of the shot, as the mysterious character knocks. This scene continuously goes back to the doors as it seems to be the main focus of the scene, with sound being added each time. The purpose of this shot is to build intuition that something’s going to come through the door at any moment. This is conventional to a thriller film as it constantly keeps the audience on the edge of their seats waiting for this mysterious character to reveal itself.

To conclude, I found that editing styles were hard to pick up on as their aspects make the film run so smoothly. The importance of understanding why each editing style is used is something I learnt; as I focused I tended to pick up on it more easily. Analysing each of these editing styles has shown me how I use them to portray different emotions and create interesting effects, to which I will use in my own thriller.

To make your analysis more detailed you need to expand on the points that you are making on conventions by considering the hidden meanings of the film. Finally add a video link/screenshot to support the points that you are making.