Target Audience Results - Miss Miller

The research was carried out to find out what type of target audience our thriller film is going to fit well with. These results will help us to create our opening scene by finding out things like the type of characters - so It suits the target audience and so they can relate to the character/narrative. Our questionnaire will also help us to know what type of sounds they would like to hear in the thrillers.
The questionnaire results will help us create the opening scene by knowing what the majority of people want, so we can then produce a opening scene that people will actually like to see and be entertained by.

In this question 60% of people were 18+, 25% were 15-17 and the smallest amount we interviewed were 12-14 at 15%. The majority of our people interviewed were either 18+ or 15-17, so this helped my group and I decide to make our rating for our opening scene as 15. So that all the answers from the other questions would be aimed towards those two age group options. But I will decide this age rating after seeing the next question.

Most people answered that they would like to see 18 movies the most at 53%, 15 rating was 35% and 12 was 12%. Even though the majority of people chose 18 thrillers. I want to do a 15 rated thriller, simply because we can have a larger audience by doing this, instead of restricting it to 18+. Also, It would be harder to produce a 18 age certificate movie for us as it would require much more gore and suspense. And we don't have all the equipment and special effects to do this.

As thrillers are mostly watched by males we did most of our research/questionnaires towards them, as the market of thrillers is aimed at men. This helped us to think more into the narrative to try and make it relate to a man's position. To make him feel terrified and on the edge of his seat. After this question I have realised that our thriller is going to be aimed at men mainly, but then also have scenes that woman can relate to, as woman watch thrillers too.

Majority of people said that the would want to see hidden identity (55%) Hidden identity creates enigma(mystery) So this tells us that the audience like to be surprised and shocks. And they want it to create suspense, and to most probably keep them guessing and interested in the thriller- going to definitely include the theme of hidden identity. 23% said chase scene, as we know that the chase scene is adrenaline rushing and exciting. That's why we are also planning on including the chase scene in our opening scene. To back the audience nervy and scared.

Most people said they would expect to see a murder, 30% of people said they would expect to see a victim, and the rest said either kidnap or other. In my own opening scene of a thriller I am going to include a villain and a victim to show the connotations of evil and good, also because It's just what you expect to see and it's typical in the thriller genre. I will also include a murder in the opening scene focusing on costume and make-up in this scene for more realism. And for the audience to be terrified and anxious by the goriness. I won't be including a kidnap as that's not the story of our narrative.

Most people said they do like sequels (65%) and (35%) said they don't like sequels. We are going to make our thriller a cliff hanger so the audience don't feel like the film is over, and then want to see a very good continuation of the dramatic narrative.

The distribution of answers to this question are not one over the other, they are all very similar. So I have decided that we will most probably decide for ourselves which sound fits each scene best, with these different types of sounds in mind (suspense sound, tension building sound etc) All to entertain and scare the audience.

45% victims, 25% heroes, 15% murderer and 15% other. I am going to include all these characters in my thriller as It is possible. But in my opening scene I'm not exactly sure if the hero will be shown that soon on or not. This is because I don't want to remove enigma for the audience, and don't want it to be too conventional to a typical thriller that quickly, everything happening in the opening scene. And in the opening scene I want a murder to happen, so I could possibly have the hero attempt to save the victim, or come at the wrong time. But the hero would not be the hero in the opening scene, due to the plot taking place too quickly.

It was quite surprising that are results showed that only 25% wanted celebrity actors in thriller films. The majority wanted random people or someone there ages. I realised that this was most likely because they themselves can relate to the character and possibly form a emotional relationship with them. This is why I want to use a random person or someone similar to our audience's age.

50% of people chose a dark location, A dark location creates tension, suspense and shock. We can easily accomplish dark lighting/low-key lighting, so we will incorporate this in the thriller. Also, we will choose from either the busy location or isolate location. But the isolated location got a higher percentage of 25%. But It just depends on if we can find a isolated location to shoot at, If we did it wouldn't be a house it would have to be somewhere like a forest, park etc. 

The sub genre options for this question were crime, horror, rom-com, sci-fi, gangster and action. The top two were crime and horror. So we have taken it in mind to include either a investigation, full of twist and turns and mystery, or a very scary deep story to terrify the audience(horror). But as they had the highest percentages of 35% and 15% I feel they are the most suitable for the audience to watch and to produce.

All the answers for this question were equal, so we decided and did a estimated guess on the narrative our audience would like. A cliff hanger, a cliff hanger would be suitable as we want it to be turned into sequels and for that to happen a good cliff hanger needs to be in place; making the audience want to see more.

The last question was 'what would you like the purpose to be?' A huge amount of 70% said that they feel that the purpose of a thriller is to scare the audience. Which is true, 15% said to educate. Whilst the 10% entertain and a low 5% said to inform. I want to scare the audience and that is my goal for the thriller to really make the audience scared by a fictional movie, by using different conventions and methods.

One of the open questions carried out was what characters would you like to see in a thriller and why. The answers we received were mostly about victims, saying that they want to see victims because they create a sense of empathy and make them feel sorry for the victim. Also another open answer we got was really helpful, is why they want a hero. One said 'I want a hero in a thriller because I get scared very easily, and need a character to feel as if they can stop the gory scene' This helped me know that before the hero enters the scene tension needs to be increased to make the audience trust in the hero to save the day/the victim.

I really found a lot of things useful in this research, the gender and age groups/certificates really helped me decide on my age certificate by doing this I have a guideline of some of the things I can and can't include in my thriller. I also found all the questions relating to the narrative of my thriller useful as it allowed me to alter some of my narrative to fit what my audience want, to scare them. I will incorporate my results into my opening scene by breaking it down into a spider diagram/plan with all the majority answers, as this questionnaire allowed me to condense information down into choices for the audience. So this has given me a guide to what I need to include, to not then include everything that can be in a thriller. If I had to carry out this research again I would have questioned a lot more people in different areas the increase the validity of my results. I would have also tried to do equal amounts of questioning on female and male, as It would of made my results a lot more reliable.

(Click on the hyperlinks below to be directed to my vox pops questionnaire or questionnaire results)

VOX POPS

QUESTIONNAIRE RESULTS

Group Narrative - Miss Georgiou

A narrative is a spoken or written account of connected events; a story. The purpose of a narrative is to tell a story to the audience and to gain and hold the viewers interest; narratives are also used to entertain the audience.

My group and I sat down and discussed our ideas for a thriller film. We then explained to one another what we think the audience would like to watch, who our target market is for the film, How explicit our individual ideas for a thriller would be and the rating we would probably put on our ideas for a thriller. We did also talk about different themes and conventions that would be in our thriller ideas such as Hidden identity, low-key lighting etc. We then talked and said the strong points in each of our thrillers. This then allowed us to see which one would be the best idea for us more to actually film.


Group Member 1 - Blessing Dada

My narrative is going to include a main character who is the mysterious character and other characters that are all very similar. The story is that the myterious girl turns up to a sleepover that she's not invited to. The other girls and apprehensive about letting her in, but in the end they are forced to accept her in.

At first they are having fun, everything is fine. Then it gets to the time when the girls have to sleep the lighting becomes dark (dark setting, low-key lighting) To create suspense. And music starts playing to create tension. Then things start to happen, and the uninvited guest is accused of doing all these strange things but It turns out not to actually be her. So a turn in the plot will be shocking and suprising to the audience.

Group Member 2 - James Craddock

My narrative is going to consist of two completely different characters that end up in the same situation and have to find a way out of trouble. My idea is going to show how different peoples abilities can work together to save not just their own lives but those of others as well.

Some advantages of my narrative would be that it includes a hidden identity, this is going to create tension and suspense for the audience as the film progresses. The narrative is going to be based on the two known characters and the one mysterious character that the audience do not know. One disadvantage to the narrative is that the use of the hidden identity may be used in many other films as it is a key convention to a thriller film. 

Group Member 3 - Ellie Holt

For my idea I wanted it to be based on a troubled young child, who believes he hears voices in his head but his family think his making it up, this then leads to the death of the child. But the murder is unsolved as it is not a suicide killing. So the family begin to research into the child things to resolve the murder, and see weather he did hear voices in his head or it was a ghost.

The advantages of this narrative is that it involves hidden identity, as the audience are unaware to what has killed the child. Also the narrative being based on a young child will cause the audience to engage as they could usually relate, also feel vulnerable for the child. The disadvantages of this narrative is that it is stereotypical for a child to hear voices, as this is what would usually be what happens in a film not an adult, meaning the audience will feel like they have seen it before.

How does the opening sequence of Halloween, inform the audience of the codes and conventions of a thriller film - Miss Georgiou

The purpose of this opening scene is to inform the reader in a mysterious way to make the audience want to continue watching other interesting scenes to answer the questions the audience have. The opening scene of a  thriller film is very important as that will grab your attention to make you interested in watching the whole film.

EDITING
In the opening scene of 'Halloween' there is not much editing techniques used.

During the opening scene we the audience do not notice a lot of cuts due to continuity as it gives smooth editing, maintaining the whole narrative. In the opening scene there is timing of shots, timing of shots is simply the speed of the shots. The opening scene is smooth until it gets to the scene where Michael is stabbing his sister the timing of shots increases. This relates back to a typical thriller as during the murders, the pace always increases for extra emphasis. To increase excitement and suspense for the audience.

In the opening scene there is a jump cut, a jump cut is 'a cut in film editing in which two sequential shots of the same subject are taken from camera positions that vary only slightly this type of edit gives the effect of jumping forwards in time ' - Wikipedia. We see this when the boy comes out of the house to when his parents see him near the vehicle. This is used to quickly get to Michael. To quickly find out how the parents are going to react to him holding a knife dripping with blood, and to quickly find out who the mysterious murderer is, as he has a mask on, his identity is hidden (Hiding his identity creates enigma). This relates back to the thriller genre as jump cuts are used to 'abruptly communicate the passing of time' - Wikipedia, which this scene did. This is good for the audience as they don't have to wait for boring scenes, to see the surprising scenes.

CAMERA ANGLES
In the opening scene the camera zooms into the suburban house in a shaky, handheld camera motion. As the zooming in doesn't look as if the lens is focusing, you can tell its a person with a camera walking towards the house. This zooming in Informs the audience that someone is out there, walking towards the house. The zooming in also allows the audience to get a larger view of the house.

 As soon as the person/camera gets closer the camera stops, and watches into the house through the front door, showing that the mysterious character is watching the people in the house. This leave us wondering why the person is just looking and not approaching the door. 

Right after this the camera starts to pan around the house to get a better view of the characters in the house. The camera then pans left round the house, then jerks back to the right. This now has definitely informed the reader that someone is watching them as the camera changing direction showed a decision, which a person would make.

 The camera then goes back to the front of the house and is at a low angle looking up at the house. We see the lights turn off, so we start to realise that this character is creepy as the mysterious person is following and watching the people in the room, trying to figure out there location in the house.

 The camera also zooms in when the boy reaches for the knife in the draw and when he reaches for the mask, revealing to the audience that something dangerous is going to happen and these are objects that are going to be involved in the murder. When the murderer kills the victim the camera goes into a high angle making the victim seem vulnerable. Finally, towards the very end of the scene the camera zooms out into a high angle, showing that the scene is coming to an end.

SOUND
At the beginning of the scene when the credits are rolling we hear the sound of children talking in a chanting type of way. Which is non-diagetic, the sound of the children is played over a mysterious sound. But we realise the children are only trick or treating. However, I feel that this sound is trying to say some children are harmless on Halloween and are only dressing up and pretend to be evil characters. But then there's some that aren't doing it for fun, and are really evil characters. This sound relates the this whole scene. 

When the boy starts to get closer to his sister we start to hear her humming, this is a contradicting sound as humming indicates a sign of happiness. But, the boy is furious at something the audience don't have information about. This sound allows the audience to know how each character is feeling. Tension is also built up to the frames where she's humming, as there is a high pitched noise which has been playing since Michael was outside.This show's how he is feeling, angry.  When she's killed we the audience remember this joyful humming and start to somehow sympathise with her.

This relates back to a typical thriller as sound is sometimes juxtaposed to create contrasting effects of maybe different characters, different positions the characters are in or different emotions. Which allows the audience to maybe by sympathetic as well as terrified, as the scene is tense.

CONVENTIONS
In the opening scene when the boy is walking round the house/bushes to get to the window the setting is really dark, sometimes It would almost look pitch black. These scenes are very suspenseful as the audience don't know what Is going to happen in this darkness or who's out there as it's pitch black. When the villain finally makes an entrance into the house the lighting is still dark, there is low-key lighting. This low-key lighting 'tends to heighten the sense of alienation felt by the viewer' - wikipedia. 

There is also loud out of tune music which builds up suspense as I said in the sound section. The Iconography used in this scene is a knife, these are typical to see in a thriller as the audience know It's a dangerous item, and it's harder to watch someone die even though it's acting, with a knife; Has a lot of goriness.

Also there is a blonde young victim, this is typical to a thriller as they are used to show vulnerability so the audience can have a connection with the victim because they then feel sorry for them as there is nothing they could of done to avoided the situation. This type of character comes across as very innocent in films.

Lastly, every good thriller has to have the element of shock, suprise and suspense. When you suprise the audience It makes them seem secure. You also can add loud sound and a different noise the audience's ears aren't use to, to make them jump and shock them, keeping them on edge. Building up tension towards a climax. These three S's contribute to making a good thriller film.

NARRATIVE
In this opening scene the narrative creates enigma this is because a child is used, as we didn't expect it to be a child firstly as the eye level of the camera at some points seemed like a man. Also we didn't expect it to be the victims brother. In this opening scene the audience have a lot of questions that the scene hasn't asked. This keeps the audience wanting to see more than just an opening scene.

The narrative is also set on a stereotypical night 'Halloween' As we know what its associated with again it builds up a lot more of enigma. The setting of the narrative is in a suburban location making the audience feel more anxious, as the location seem's a bit scary, has a lot of trees and a bit secluded even though they have neighbours.

When his sister's boyfriend leaves the boy and guy look at each other and don't communicate which is quite odd.This can maybe mean that the guy doesn't really care about the boy.

At the end of the scene the parents arrive, looking very confused  whilst the boy is staring blankly ahead, standing there with the knife with blood on it. This makes us assume that this boy is quite scary. Also the couple in the beginning are very stereotypical teenagers, that couldn't find Michael but were oblivious to everything going on. 

The sequence of this film informs the audience of the conventions of a thriller by building up to a plot through tension. Starting off from a house to someone looking into the house at the other characters. To the killer getting into the house to the victim, killing them, then coming out. The sequence is very simple but very suspenseful. 

This analysis will assist me with planning my own thriller by the way the areas of different topics involved in a thriller film are broken down into paragraphs. So It will be clear for me to include some of these points in my own thriller clip. Also in this analysis there are a lot of points that are conventional to thrillers and a lot of points that show what the audience like and why the like it. These are the things that will help me plan my own thriller. 

By Blessing Dada

Inspirations for Opening Scene - Miss Miller

In this essay I will be discussing different elements which have been in the clips of thrillers I have previously analysed. And writing what and how it has inspired me to do something similar in my own opening scene of a thriller. I will also be writing how it has inspired me and why including that specific element is going to increase the quality of my thriller opening.

 An inspiration is 'to give someone the enthusiasm to do or create something' http://www.macmillandictionary.com

Sound
I have taken ideas and inspiration from a range of films to help me know what I want to include in my own thriller opening scene. I want the music to be slow and peaceful to keep the audience in a serene mood. I  have taken this idea from the thriller 'Silence of the lambs' Where Hannibal Lecter is listening to on-screen, classical music. This allowed the audience to stay relaxed and instantly shock the audience by changing the music as soon as the narrative has a turning point. I also want the sound to be on screen, diagetic sound, coming from a radio or another object.
   More inspiration that I have taken for my opening scene is the sound that was used in the thriller 'prom night'. The music played was very dramatic, the pace was increasing as the killer got closer to the victim. So It allowed the audience to feel nervy and on edge. I am going to take ideas from this chase scene as it gave the film a high level of anticipation; This high level of anticipation will make the audience nervy and excited.

    

        This is the radio from 'silence of the lambs' this is the type of sound I am inspired to include, diagetic.

Characters
I have been inspired to use certain types of characters for my thriller opening scene such as young female blonde victims. This is because they are more vulnerable, and seem weak on camera. They also are much easier for the audience to connect to as the audience may have the view that the victim is innocent and then have emotions of sadness for the character, also with the emotion of terror. Mixed emotions will cause a good reaction from the audience, entertaining them. I was inspired to use this type of character from watching clips from the films 'scream 1,3,4' All involving young characters and blonde female victims being murdered in the opening scenes of the films. This is what I want to do in my thriller because it adds innocence with murder, so the audience can sympathise with the character, but also know what's going to happen soon(death).

Iconography

Relating back to the characters I want to use and where I got that inspiration from (scream 1,3,4) All of these opening scenes used phones to introduce danger to the narrative/scene. That is also what I want to do to introduce the killer, through his/her voice. This will hopefully scare the audience and entertain them as it creates suspense and enigma. This is why I want to include it in my own thriller because the prop has a lot of impact. The sound I'd like to have as the killers voice has to be non-diagetic and have sound effects, to have more impact on the audience - so they know clearly it's the killer as soon as he/her speaks.

       Another prop I'd like to use in my thriller is a knife, the knife indicates pain and it's much more intense and intimate than just using a gun. Also with guns, it's quick to kill the victim there isn't as much of a chase scene. They are also a lot more scarier than guns, they seem to draw more feeling of suspense to the audience. Knives also make the movie much more 'thrilling'. The film that has given me this idea is all of them! But mostly Halloween, this is because the impact the one kitchen knife had on a victim was huge, the screaming, blood and special effects was very immense; this adds a rush of emotions, anticipation and more goriness, that's why I want to include a knife as a prop in my thriller.

Camera angles and shots
In my opening scene I want to use an establishing shot as the opening picture, this is so the audience can really find out where the scene is set. I was inspired to do this from the film 'Halloween' as it showed us the location then instantly zoomed in. I also want to include close ups to show emotions/facial expressions of the victim, i gathered this idea from 'the devil inside' as it was more of an emotional scene, faces needed to be seen close up so the audience can connect with the characters. I want to use a two shot when the victim is trying to escape from the killer, I want to do this so the audience can see how close the killer is to the victim and if the victim has a chance of escaping - I got this idea from the opening of scream 4.

There are many other shots and angles I would like to use like high level when zooming out to end the end of that opening scene. And also low angle to make the killer seem bigger to show that the killer has power, this would be after the killer kills the victim.

Costumes
For my own thriller I have been inspired by two costume looks for a female victim. Firstly, a very feminine woman dressed quite girly with bright clothing. To show how full of life the character is. I was inspired to do this from the film scream 3. This will allow the audience to somehow assume that she's vulnerable. Not just from her costume but because the girl would be young and blonde. Indicating vulnerability to the audience. This relates back to a typical thriller as they usually use blonde girls who are young to portray the victims.
(As said similarly to the character section)

However, I could do a different type of costume for the victim, quite plainly dressed. This will indicate that the character is a regular person as many people in the audience are classed as 'regular' people , they can relate better to the character. Also it may cause the audience to be anxious and paranoid, wondering if this could also happen to them. Even though the film is all fiction. Relating back to typical thrillers as they like to use people who are like the audience so they can have an emotional effect on the audience.

Feminine Victim

Plainly dressed characters from  SAW V

       

         These are most of my inspirations for my own opening scene, I have included all these methods which are in typical thrillers to entertain the audience and keep them on edge, to make them want to keep watching but to also be terrified by the amount of suspense/tension included in my opening scene. Also in my opening scene I want to create enigma by the use of sound, tension music. I also want to create enigma by making my film quite confusing where the audience know what's going on in the plot but don't understand why. I don't want to make my plot too confusing, but to just drive away from the obvious thriller; Meaning you don't know when the murder scene is going to take place. During my opening scene it is also going to inform people, but not too much information. Otherwise, the ending would be known by the audience, so I want to keep the audience wanting more than just an opening scene.

Research into the history of thriller films - Miss Georgiou

In this essay I will be looking into the history of thriller films, and how they have evolved over the years. A thriller is 'A genre that revolves around anticipation and suspense, the aim for thrillers is to keep the audience alert and on the edge of there seats'(Thescriptlab.com) I will also be researching on the jobs people have done that have contributed to thrillers, and have been successful.

Thriller films have evolved over the years, The quality and tension it causes for the audience has changed even more. The thriller film 'gun crazy' came out in the 1950, the film is only in black and white and the only camera angle is a two shot in the back of the car, so we know there's just a camera at the back in present thrillers there are camera's from all different angles of the characters location, but we the audience still don't see them. The quality is also not as good the sound quality isn't as clear, also the goriness of killing's isn't really intense no blood nothing. There's no shock for the audience or tension. This is because during those decades you couldn't show the actual killing.

The next film 'I saw what you did' a 1960 horror still in black and white, there are more angles used and more sound is used for effect. The film creates tension and surprise we as an audience can also connect more with the victim probably because we see more close ups of her killing. Also we see blood, but comparing to the thrillers of today there is still not any view of the stabbing, we can't actually see it which minimizes the amount of terror. But we can definetley start to get more adrenaline rushing excitement from how fast paced and gritty it is. With the 1950s-1960s films being black and white it really decreases the realness to the film as life is not in black and white so its much more unrealistic, so its harder for us as an audience to relate to the film.

 In the 1974 film silent night Bloody night there is a use of commentary non-dieagetic sound in the film, the sound used also relates more to whats going on to the film increasing tension and suspense for the audience. Low-key lighting is used more increasing the intensity of the film, its more gory, much more graphical and bloody;the actors seem to be acting better than the older films. They seem to have more emotion, this emotion is allowing us to feel as if it's real and play on our moods and make us anxious.

The 1980 film dressed to kill has many more camera shots, close ups, two shots etc. Better editing styles, cinematography and its much more mysterious, so we don't actually know whats going to happen compared to the older films. The sound used isn't just the off screen sound but we can now start to hear footsteps and smaller body sound movements. Showing that the quality of production and equipment is getting better and updating. There are also more characters involved not just the main characters this again makes it more realistic for the audience to then make us feel like its real. It's also more confusing and has more of a detailed story line than just a killing, it's more difficult for us to know what's going on, it has much more enigma. The music is also fits in better with whats happening,the pace increase's as the character starts to panic which again creates excitement and pace for us, making us scared and making us prepare for what is going to happen next. You can also see much more of a use of panning, showing that they can hide the camera's better now.

In the film reservoir dogs in 1992 it drives away from the typical thriller by using a less suspected killer Its more of a brutal killing from a normal man.There's stronger language which helps us to know who the character is more. There's much more interaction with talking etc. Not just a quick killing, this makes us more anxious of when the killing is going to happen. The film also makes us stay looking at the screen as there's much more going on, so it's much more entertaining for the audience.

The 2002 thriller 'Wise girls' there's a bigger cast there's much more on screen sound, again its more heartfelt and there's much more of a story line. The low-key lighting is starting to produce shadows, making it much more intense. Its much more gory and the blood is also shown up close. The strong language is much more frequent and more emotions except for scared are shown,such as angry, happy etc.

Lastly the film insidious in 2010. There are more hidden meanings to things, I am noticing jump shots, mid shots which all signify things. We can see clearly where the music is coming from, colours of the film aren't black and white or coloured but are just plain and dull mise-en-scene.There are more sounds going on at once. There are more hints on what is going to happen next, the goriness also doesn't come straight away. Suspense is built up till we see anything violent/graphic. This has more of an impact to the audience.


From this research I have discovered that over the years thrillers have updated themselves to connect more with the audience, create more of a reaction from the audience and to make it more of a experience than just another thriller. Even though they still show the conventions of a typical thriller. But they do all these extra things, which then add up to make the audience nervy, anxious and scared. Even though the audience are blatantly safe. Thrillers have evolved for the better to entertain us more and shock us. The quality, story lines and actors have all improved to play on the audiences emotions.

By Blessing Dada

Research into Sound - Miss Miller

                                 

Research into sound 

Sound is used in film to heighten a mood, provide us with information about the location of a scene, advance the plot, and to tell us about the characters in the story. In this essay I will be analysing different elements of sound identified in the film prom night the scene where Lisa is being chased by the protagonist. I am researching sound to find out the effect it has on the audience and what sound is conventional in the thriller genre. This research will assist me with planning my thriller to help me know what will have a positive and negative impact on my audience.

                                 

In this scene there is diegetic sound. Diegetic sound is 'sound whose source is visible on the screen or whose source is implied to be present by the action of the film'(Filmsound.org). Diegetic sound in this scene is the classical music the source is the radio. Classical music is played from the start of this scene.  For the audience this is peaceful music, so it keeps them calm and relaxed; the audience become familiar to this sound and this keeps the audience serene. When Hannibal stops being a good prisoner the sound changes to non-diegetic, sound effects are then added for dramatic effect you can see this at (2.23).

 As soon as Hannibal handcuffs the police officer it changes to lower more edgy sounds. For this sound to be placed here plays on our emotions and is shocking for the audience as its unexpected. 

The switch between calm to tense music is so quick it shocks us as we weren't expecting much to happen at this point. This allows the audience to get more understanding of Hannibal and we see it is done here by displaying that Hannibal has two personality's one a very calm. relaxed,well spoken man(wee see this by the classical music) and another a scary, vicious character(we see this by the sound effects). The audience can assume he has mental problems. 

This relates to a typical thriller as sound is used to create excitement and shock; But can also represent the characters personality or inner darkness.

At (0.42) we hear the keys clanking, the focusing/zooming in on the keys at the beginning of the scene gave us a hint as

we again hear the same sound of the keys at (2.47) when the police officer is trying to escape. 

So to me this gave the audience a hint of what was going to be the ending of this scene. 

This sound is also diegetic sound as its part of the film, it's also on screen sound. 

at (2.47) it shows how anxious the character was to get to safety, as he couldn't control the keys. A typical thriller always shows the anxiousness of the character by using an item or objects in this case it was the keys to remove the handcuffs, in maybe another it could be the lock on a door. In quite a few thrillers a key is used this is because a key symbolizes 'freedom'. But by showing the anxiousness of a character in thrillers allows the audience to connect with them and feel anxious as well. To make them wonder if the character is going to survive.

Another sound technique used were sound effects, off screen sound. This was used for the police officers footsteps. Footsteps in the thriller genre create enigma and rhythm. By using footsteps in this instance created mystery and made the police officers seem superior. For the audience I feel that footsteps create tension and pace as they don't know what's going to happen next. This suspense causes the audience to feel adrenaline and wary of what is going to take place in the scene. 

There were many other sounds in this short scene but a lot of the sounds were from the police officers equipment like the spray, cane, handcuffs. All these items produced different sounds, which fit in to the scene. I think these sounds were used to show power that has been exchanged from the police officer to Hannibal. I think It relates back to a thriller as the tables always change in thrillers meaning the roles switch. And that's what happened in this scene. It went to sounds of speech of the men being rude to him to being on the floor screaming. All these sounds showed the audience how quickly power changed between the characters.

In this essay I have found out that sound plays a big role on finding out who the character's are. I found out that sound also adds more impact to the film making it more tense and shocking. Sound in this instance also helped us to find out subliminal meanings of different parts going on in the scene.

By Blessing Dada

Research into Conventions of the Thriller Genre - Miss Miller

Conventions of a Thriller 

Conventions of a thriller film are elements that are in a commonly associated with the thriller genre. For e.g. Flashbacks, a lot of flashbacks are used to let the audience know some truth in the plot/story line of the film but to not know all of it, this creates mystery.

In this essay I will be researching into the thriller conventions used in the film Prom Night. The scene I will be analysing is where Lisa is getting chased by Richard Fenton, Donna's former teacher. In this clip it has alot of suspense and tension which is built up by the use of conventions.

The music was tension music as It had a eerie feel to It. Using this upbeat eerie sound for this particular scene increased the pace. Whilst being accompanied with timing of shots created pace and acceleration for the audience. It also made the audience much more excited and on edge for what was going to be revealed on coming frames. Typical thrillers use sound for all these reasons, to control the feelings and reactions  of the audience. 

All the the tension music impacted Lisa's death. As the sounds built up to a tragedy. Music played a big impact on this scene as It really tied in to what was going on and the music was compatible with the event.

(Lisa from Prom night)

The second convention I picked out from this clip is the chase scene. The chase scene does connect with what I said with the music/sound but to watch the chase scene without sound It still has impact on the audience. The typical chase scene in thrillers involves the villain walking slowly to catch the victim whilst the victim is running away.    Which is what we see in this situation; Lisa is dashing around, sprinting, tripping over and has no control or power. Whilst the villain Mr Fenton is calmly strolling which to the audience come's across as 'power' and 'authority' over Lisa's life. The chase scene also has a large amount of different angles and timing of shots to again increase the pace; Making the audience anxious and nervous for what they think will come (murder scene) 

 The chase scene has a very similar impact on the audience as it creates pace and acceleration. The audience then feel excited and nervy towards the film. 

(Lisa and Mr Fenton)

In this clip I also see props which is 'Iconography' Iconography is a visual art which Isn't just there for nothing but it symbolizes something and has a meaning that relates to the film. Thrillers use iconography for a visual effect, it has a impact on the audience by alerting them that something dangerous is going to happen. Causing the audience to be scared for what is going to come. 

Iconography used in this scene is the knife. In any thriller you always have a sharp or dangerous object typically a 'knife' or 'gun' but not always. In this instance its a knife, A knife is used as it creates gory sounds, actions have to be made so senses can be connected. Something like sounds will impact the audience as gory sounds and actors sounds will increase the terror level of the film. This can cause the audience to sympathise with the victim as its a scary action to watch. 

Finally, I'm going to analyse the Shadows with the low-key lighting. In this clip there are A lot of shadows, It really wakes up the audience as you see a shadow and wonder If that's the killer - Mr

Fenton or if its an object because in the basement there were quite alot of shadows made from the blinds and other objects. Shadows in this instance were trying to represent Mr Fenton's inner darkness. Shadows in thrillers are used to create enigma and tension. The effect of shadows was successful in prom night as It was very mysterious and increased suspense. Shadows can cause confusion for the audience as we don't know where the killer is. However the confusion has a positive impact towards the film as the audience become nervy and anxious. 

To conclude, Conventions of a thriller show different meanings to an audience but at the same time entertain the audience and keep them wondering. Conventions are used to build up shock,suspense and tension for the audience to carry on watching. Conventions of a thriller are not done because they have to but they are done all for the sake of the audience and to make it more realistic and much more frightening.

By Blessing Dada