Music and Sound In Thrillers

The music in thrillers is fairly significant. The sound used adds to the effect the motion picture will have on the audience. it adds different feelings and emotions, sometimes a feeling of suspense and keeps the audience's eyes glued to the screen. Isn't that what you want as a producer of a film? Therefore from these various analysis's I will be able to assess the different types of effects and types of sound os used in thrillers.

Inception

orchestral music that gradually gets faster- to increase suspense and the build up to a climax. 

then deep bass music to also add to the feeling that something dramatic is going to take place.

the slow eerie music makes the audience feel more sucked in into the film, making them want to watch more and start to think ahead of themselves of what might happen in the film next, or even start to predict what the climax will be about and how it will end.

The Conjuring

The sound used in the trailer starts off as diegetic sound, of a happy family just enjoying life. but as it goes on there is soon no sound and then a gradual eerie sound is used to create suspense and a lump in your throat. This built up to the suspense and makes the audience want to look away but not being able to because they want to see more. 

Insidious

This trailer has a minimal use of sound, though this a lot of the time adds a greta effect. The simplistic use of ticking perhaps means that its trying to build suspense and bring you to the edge of you seat. 

Analysing the sound in thrillers has helped me because i have been able to determine that the use of sound is to generally create a feeling of suspense and edge, making you want to know what will happen further. The use of sound is generally in my opinion is what binds the film together and what keeps the audience engaged. 

Saul Bass

Saul Bass was an American director that was most famous for his title sequences in media. His most famous work was from 'The Man with a Golden Arm' by Otto Preminger's in 1995

Analyisis will be up soon:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGnpJ_KdqZE
The title sequence is simple, made entirely of a plan black background, with white lines across the frame creating a cut out effect. The white against black makes a dramatic impact, perhaps giving the impression of a dramatic film.It creates an eerie effect, giving the sequence a tense mood from the beginning. Also, at first the lines appear to be random, with no sense or pattern to them, creating a confusing design that may confuse the audience and hints that the rest of the film may be strange and confusing.Right at the end of the sequence the lines blend to make an arm, showing that the lines are actually symbolising veins within someones arm, giving hints towards a character in the film whose arm is involved, generally connotated with the idea of injecting drugs into the veins.This instantly creates a darker mood and gives the impression that the whole film will have a slightly darker atmosphere.The soundscore for this sequence is highly contrasted to the images as it is quite an up beat jazzy piece. However, this could be quite ironic as it shows the way that a heroin addict feels as though they are happy and feels great when they are on the drugs, when in reality it is ruining them.


He also designed the title sequences for 'The Big Knife' 'The Seven Year Itch' 'Carmen Jones' 'Bette Davis' 'Attack'
 He created a cinematic revolution. When he created his title sequences, they weren't just the fist two minutes of a movie. He wanted a reaction out of his audience.He wanted to know people would feel something, that the first two minutes of the scene would set the tone of the film and plant the seed.



These are the simplistic logos that Saul Bass designed in a simplistic yet creative way.

Survey Analysis

From our survey results we found out that the majority of participants were female and 13 and 17.
52.63% liked the genre comedy over any other genre. However if they were to watch a thriller, our results told us that 63% of people like thrillers and don't mind watching them, however there were 15% of people who completely hated them. Furthermore we were told that 80% prefer cliff hangers. I'm my opinion I think this would be because it keeps the audience engaged with whats happening throughout the film, and to also make sure the film has an effect on the audience post watching it. When we asked what peoples favourite thriller film was the majority of the answer ranged from 'Pulp Fiction, 'Sinister', 'Insidious' and an indian film called 'Talaash' however the most preferred one was 'Psycho'. The type of music that people thought added the most mystery to an opening sequence of a film was a mysterious type of sound. In my opinion i think this would be because it adds a sense of suspense. To add to the suspense the public decided that an abandoned building would be perfect for a thriller.
The idea of a thriller is that it makes the audience will jump when something unexpected happened. and this is what the majority of people preferred 'Jumpy scenes'. Finally to finish off people generally prefer to have a mysterious opening sequence. To conclude I think it is for them to be engaged and 'sucked' in so that they can't stop watching even if they want to!

Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock's first ever films were silent movies. His silent films were called:

• The Lodger- (1926)
• The Ring- (1927)
• Easy Virtue- (1927)
• Champagne- (1928)
• The Farmer's Wife- (1928)

In his interview that I found on our media blog Hitchcock spoke of how he created emotions without sound, and working with what he had. For example in his film The lodger, in one scene they needed people in the mansion to know someone else was there. In a normal motion picture with sound, non-diegetic sound would have been used to highlight someone else's presence. However in a silent film Hitchcock had to use a clear ceiling with a man walking on it, so that the actors below would look up and realise someone is there.

Hitchcock's directing methods have created an impact on directors today. He created codes and conventions and a starting point for the genre of thrillers. Hence the reason that today hybrids and sub genres have been created, so that the film industry doesn't become repetitive- therefore leading to the industry never dying out.
The whole idea eventually comes back to the one point that genre is the main starting point for everything and for the industry to evolve genre must evolve too, which leads to the creation of sub genres and hybrids.

Thriller Sub-Genres



Sub-Genres of Thriller:

Action thriller: This uses mostly physical activity to build tension and suspense. As a traditional action film would have, an action thriller would contain motion and action including; races; fights; physical stunts; and overall a sense of danger. Examples of this type of film include; Die Hard; The Bourne Identity and Taken / Taken 2. 

Psychological thriller: These types of thrillers would most likely be a book of film. As well as the usual thriller aspects, this type of thriller would use mystery and drama to create the suspense and tension. The protagonists and antagonists will have to rely on their mentality. This type of thriller will emphasize the psychology of the characters and focus on their mental emotions. Psychological thrillers because of their nature will sometimes cross over into the horror genre. Examples of this kind of thriller include; Memento and Rear Window.

Conspiracy thriller: This normally includes a hero or heroine who are stereo-typically investigators or journalists - they always find themselves within a powerful organisation. The antagonists in the film will try and contain the organisations as a a secret through wither propaganda or lies. These people are bought down by the protagonist. Examples of these thrillers include The Bourne Ultimatum and The Game.

Crime thriller: This is the hybrid between a crime and a thriller film. These films often focus on criminals and their activities. Crime thrillers normally emphasize the action. they also include a psychological aspect. Crime thrillers will usually include; murder; robberies; chases; heists; and high intensity violence. Examples of a crime thriller would include Inside Man, Seven and A Perfect Murder.

Political thriller: This genre looks into the stability of the government. commonly used scenarios include the US government and their elections, also, the prevention of world wars occurring. Examples of these films include State Of Play and The Contender.

Religious thriller: This type of thriller connects to plots which have been influenced highly by religions. These films normally uncover the good and bad parts to religions; particularly in Catholicism. It normally focuses on the journey to uncover the truth. Examples of this kind of thriller include; The Ninth Gate; Angles&Demons and Devils Advocate.

Techno thriller: this looks at the manipulation of technology and looks at the technology taking a prominent part in the film - this can include mankind being taken over by robots. This sub-genre is purely focused on fictional narratives. Common themes linked with this type of sub-genre include action, world wars and science fictional occurrences. Examples of this film include Terminator; The Matrix; iRobot and The Thirteenth Floor.

Supernatural thriller: This genre is filled with tension and suspense. It will have an unexpected twist at some point in the film. Either the protagonist or the antagonist (depending on the narrative) will have a supernatural gift. This sub-genre is closely linked with religious thrillers. It will normally include; alien life; demons entering the human body and possession. Examples of a supernatural thriller include Fallen; The Others and The Skeleton Key.

By looking at various types of thrillers it has enabled me to understand there are many types and ways to create a thriller and that each one has its own type of criteria to follow in making it a certain type of thriller. It enables me to see that there are many options to look at when it comes to creating an opening scene, it doesn't necessarily have to be a stereotypical thriller one would think of.

Continuity Editing Task First Cut problems and resolution 11/12/13

After we created the the shot list and main idea for our short piece, we started to film it. However along the way we realised it was not as simple as it looked. Following the specific requirements, is slightly more challenging. For example the shot reverse shot proved to be a slight problem, in terms of the technique you used to film it.
There are two ways you can film a shot reverse shot. One way is by stopping and restarting the recording from different angles, the second way is by just positioning the camera in the middle and turning the camera left and right. Initially we tried the method where the camera was positioned in the middle, however the problem we were faced with was being able to cut the conversations in a way that the shot reverse shot was clear and meaningful.
Therefore our final decision was to re-film the scene by stoping and starting the recording.

Problems we have faced so far:
There were a few other minor problems that we faced and they consisted of setting the camera up with the tripod, trying to match on action a scene, however it did not work completely as we only had 2 shots and a match on action generally works better with 3 shots and finally a filming issue whereby in the background a classroom door was open, when it needed to be closed for the scene to flow correctly.

What we are going to do to resolve these problems?
To get the match on action editing technique to work we are going to film another shot from a different angle.
To get the scene to flow correctly we are going to take extra notice that the backdrop is set to fit the scene.

Problems- 

After watching the final cut, we concluded that we had a few problems. 

our first problem was that towards the end, the camera had cut off one of the actors head, half way through, the person manning the camera realised and moved the camera slightly to fit the persons head in. This as a result to not having a controlled camera which as an affect can decrease our mark significantly. 

Secondly our shot reverse shot was not shot from the right angles. The camera needed to be further away. 

Finally our use of match on action used three shots as needed- to represent the characters travels in a quicker way however didn't actually show the character sitting down, it just cut straight to us sitting down- therefore resulting in the shot not being clear. 

Solutions- 

To fix these issues we are going to conduct a second shot whereby we will take extra precautions with the use of editing in terms of the match on action and making each stage completely clear. In terms of camera use we will ensure the shot is properly framed each time we stop and start the recording to prevent any further errors. 

Feedback

Our teacher has given us some feedback about our video today and we are going to address the problems when we re-shoot and re-edit within the next few days. He told us that out 180 degree angle was fine and we had applied it correctly. The match on action shot that we had applied, we had used the dissolve transition rather than a straight cut, from the feedback we were given, we have been advised just to cut as we have been told to definitely not use the dissolve effect. The third shot of our match on action shot told us that we should show the characters sitting down so that we are continuing to track the movement of the characters. Before the characters enter the scene, we have been advised to have an establishing shot, we have decided to ether have the camera looking at the door for a few seconds or we will stand the camera far away from the door so the establishing shot shows a lot of the background and then we will slowly zoom into the door to show that something important could be happening in the video. With our teachers advice we found problems with the characters sat outside the door, and we couldn't see the mothers face when she was speaking, as our shot reverse shot had failed later on in the video we are going to keep that part how it is apart from filing the last clip as the sons head was cut off at the top. The shot reverse shot is going to be filmed outside the classroom from each point of view of each of the characters.

My evaluation of the first cut

When starting the first cut of this editing task, my initial thoughts were that by researching where people went wrong in the past, I would be able to prevent those mistakes. However this was no as easy as it looked. The attention to small details needed is essential. For example the simplest of things that the camera needs to be a few centimetres left or right to be able to fit the SRS shoot criteria.

Continuity Editing Task (basic instructions)

We have started the basic editing technique task. In this task, our basic goal is to create a shot list for our short piece lasting no longer than 90 seconds.

This task has some specific requirements. They consist of:

• not breaking the 108 degree rule- this is where the camera may not cross the invisible straight line. 

The 108 degree rule is basically an invisible line that shows the spacial relationship between characters on scree, this is generally used when it comes to a conversation. A shot like this makes it easier for the audience to follow and understand the order of the conversation. Here is a diagram to demonstrate:

• including shot reverse shot 
• include a variety of camera angles 
• the use of editing to make sure the continuity of the scene is clear
• more than one location
• interaction between others
• non-diegetic sound

This is our first attempt for the shot list:

The person manning the camera is Chelsea Wilson 

The actors are myself (Priyanka Chawla), Aman Dhillon and Luke Maye's

Film Noir-REDO

Film Noir is is a cinematic term that describes a hollywood crime drama.


Thrillers also use Film Noir, which means it is in black and white and the use of lots of shadows.
Film Noir enhances the gloomy murder mystery type of tone.

work in progress