Year 13 Thrillers

During lesson time we watched thrillers which had been made by previous years that had been set the same task, we then gave each thriller an estimation of what mark we thought would have been awarded. Our group found this to be a particularly helpful activity as we were able to see what uses of sound, cinematography, mise en scene and editing were effective or not. It was also very interesting to see what ideas and concepts people had previously come up with while we were in the process of looking for ideas and inspiration.
Things that we thought were effective:
In terms of sound
-Soundtrack which varied in pitch and volume in order to play on the audience's emotions by creating tension or excitment
-Stings as they drew attention to important action and startled audience
-Diegetic and plenastic sound such as footsteps or metal (knife, sword etc)
-Minimal dialogue as it tended to add too much reality or storyline, rather than placing focus on the action
In terms of editing
-Parallel editing successfully created inigmas through portraying two different events which are linked to one another
-The 180 degree rule as it is the opening of the thriller, where characters are being established, and therefore should not be confused
-Cuts and match cuts maintained continuity between shots
-Rapid editing played on the audience's emotions by exciting and thrilling them
-Fading between shots was visually effective
In terms of cinematography
-Close ups and extreme close ups created suspense, particularly with facial expressions
-Wide shots were very effective if the setting was, also for establishing shots
-Hand held movement took away smoothness and added excitement/suspense and involved the audience with the action
-High and low angle shots were successful in establishing which characters had power or were in a vulnerable position because it is the opening and the audience do not know the characters yet
-Zooming was sometimes ineffective and looked slightly unproffessional
In terms of mise en scene
-The iconography of weapons such as guns and knives
-Masks were visually appealing and created fear and inigmas
-The use of NVC tended to be more effective than dialogue
-The most effective settings tended to be in damaged buildings or open spaces (eg a field)
-Ordinary houses were less effective for creating suspense in an unfamiliar and visually thrilling setting, however did help to create a believable storyline
-Low key lighting created an eerie setting
-Black and white colour effectively portrayed a change in time or a dream etc

We hope to use this information for our initial ideas and audience questionnaires so that we can build on this and hopefully use what was successful and don't use what wasn't for our own thriller to make it as effective as possible.

Jade Smith