The Village – The start
You can instantly tell ‘The Village’ is a thriller by the
lack of music, this makes the audience anticipate something bad. They are
instantly sitting on the edge of their seat with both eyes glued to the screen.
As soon as the credits have finished the acting starts. When watching, questions
are shooting out of the audiences head. Who is he? Who died? How did they die?
Questions at the start of a thriller are normal. The uncertainty of the
situation brings up feelings of anxiety. You would normally see this in any
thriller.
When the film starts there are shadowing effects being used.
The shot is inside the forest and its dark and menacing. This could be
reflecting the monsters that are apparently inside the wood. When the camera
cuts from the credits to the acting, we can see that it is an overcast day,
this is a use of pathetic fallacy. There isn’t any use of bright, positive
colours throughout the first sequence; this is reflected in the mood as someone
has died. The use of sound is very important in the sequence too. When the
credits are running, there is ominous music being played. As the credits go on,
the music gets louder and louder. This is done to build suspense. When the
credits finish, there is no non-diagetic sound and it is very quiet. The affect
of this is to make the audience anticipate something bad happening. The setting
of this thriller is an old fashioned village surrounded by a forest. The
setting is promoting ideas of vulnerability. This makes the audience believe
that something bad is going to happen to the people in the village. Everyone in
the opening sequence is upset, this is because someone has died. This gets the
audience pondering the cause of this person’s death.
At the start of the first sequence, the loud ominous music
that’s used for anticipation got me on the edge of my seat with my heart
pumping like mad. It got me guessing what was going to happen next and why the
music was so frightening. The narrative was gripping and left me desperate to
find out what was going to happen and how it was going to end. This was because
of the mystery and the uncertainty of what was going on. The facial expressions
of the characters made me worry for them. Why were they so upset? What
happened? Uncertainty is used in every thriller to keep the audience’s
attention fixed on the film. This is what happened to me.
The use of titles is significant as the old fashioned font
reflects the situation of the characters who are in an old fashioned setting.
The words are in the centre of the screen. This could possible mirror the small
village that is in the centre of the forest where the monsters apparently are.
This could highlight the vulnerability of the people inside the village. The
writing is also white text on a black background. The use of light surrounded
by darkness could echo the good people in the village surrounded by the evil
monsters. This also promotes the idea of vulnerability.
Rear window – The
murder
It is easy to tell that this film is a thriller as there is
no non-diegetic sound. The lack of music exaggerates all sounds that is picked
up by the camera. This makes sure the audience are already in suspense.
Everything seems to be at status quo, balanced. But the quiet lets the audience
know that something isn’t right. The very normal setting suggests that
something out of the ordinary is going to happen. This keeps the audience
guessing and sucks them into the film. You normally find these characteristics
in all films of the thriller genre.
It is night time in this sequence. This is pathetic fallacy
being used again. The darkness I being used to foreshadow future events. This
technique is used to give the opening sequence an ominous feeling. It keeps the
audience on the edge of their seat, estimating what’s going to happen. The main
character has a broken leg and can’t walk. This suggests vulnerability as he
can’t run if in danger. It is common for the protagonist to have some
disability in a thriller. In the village, the main character is blind. The use
of vulnerability also raises questions, how did they get this disability?
What’s going to happen to them? Weakness’ make characters target’s which
suggests they will come into close contact with the antagonist. There is no
music in this sequence at all. This is used to build tension as it’s a little
too quiet so the audience are aware that something bad is on the horizon. In fact,
there is such little sound that the only other noise that someone makes is the
woman at the end of the sequence that is killed by the protagonist. The terror
of the scream from the woman sounds exaggerated due to the lack of sound
beforehand. This gives the viewers a huge shock. When there is no dialogue, the
shot type is normally a long shot. The use of a long shot makes things seem
smaller and more defenceless. This factor also shows vulnerability. This also
suggests to the audience that an antagonist could be on his/her way to reek
havoc. This keeps the audience wondering what’s going to happen next and who’s
in danger. All the props imply that everything is at status quo but the
audience are wise to this as they can tell by all the other conventions that
something is wrong. This adds to the anticipation.
When first watching this sequence of rear window I felt very
uncertain over what was going on or what was happening to the characters.
Everything seemed to be at status quo. There was a couple having an argument
and she leaves. Yet I also had feelings of anticipation while watching the
sequence. This was due to the lack of music, so whenever there was no dialogue,
there was a tense silence. The scream came as a shock although I was
anticipating something. The fact that it seemed like a completely mundane
situation added an element of surprise.
Psycho – Shower
sequence
It isn’t difficult to tell from this sequence of psycho that
it is a thriller. The lack of music in the first half of this sequence adds an
incredibly high level of anticipation and nerve wrecking tension. The only
sound that is heard in the first half of the sequence is the shower. You’re
left wondering what’s going to happen to the protagonist. Question marks are flying
out of the audience’s head, the main one being “what’s going to happen to her”.
You’ll also notice that the protagonist is a woman, Alfred Hitchcock, the
director, didn’t decide this by accident. The fact the she is female suggests
vulnerability, so the audience can guess that something bad is going to happen
to her. The levels of anxiety created by seeing the shadow of the antagonist
before the murder are just too much to bare for the audience. This film being a
thriller, the audience can probably guess what’s about to happen when a man
with a knife walks into a bathroom where a woman is showering. All the typical
conventions in a thriller movie.
The scene is set at night time, the film makers are using
pathetic fallacy to mirror the situation of the protagonist as what she is
about to experience is very dark indeed. The use of darkness and light is very
significant as the victim thinks everything is fine as you can see she is happy
on the screen when taking her shower. Everything around her is lit, this
represents her happiness. When the audience first see the antagonist, they
notice he is a very dark figure who has interrupted the light. Evil has
interrupted the good. The film makers have also used dark and light after the
protagonist is dead. The pure, white bath that had clear water running through
it has now got impure, darkened water running through it. The change in colour
is the victim’s blood. This highlights the horror of the death of the young
woman. Notice that throughout most of the sequence, the protagonist is in the
middle of the camera. This is almost like a reverse POV shot. The film makers
might of filmed her this way so that as its from her point of view the audience
shares her fear with her. This makes the sequence even scarier.
When watching this sequence myself, I found it quite scary.
I new something was going to happen to the protagonist and it seemed to take an
age to get to the actual murder. The way Hitchcock created this tension I was
feeling was by focusing on everything that the protagonist did. So every second
that went by you expected something to happen. He also created tension by using
sound, or a lack of it I should say. When the only thing you hear is a shower
running, you are on the edge of your seat waiting to hear something else other
than the shower. When you hear something other than water hitting the surface
of the bath tub, you begin to wonder what’s going to happen. You then see the
dark figure and then you know how this sequence will end.
