Thriller Sequence Analysis

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.