thriller clips

in our media lesson on the 16th December 2008 we brainstormed the different sub genres in the thrillers. we came up with these sub genres: thrillers with action-Speed, romantic thrillers-What Lies Beneath, Fatal Attraction, psychological thrillers playing with the audiences mind, innocent other-run-plots- Fugitive, Stealing someones identity thrillers, super natural thrillers and comedy thrillers. we then watched six thriller clips from the films 28 Days Later, The Shining, Arlington Road, Arlington Road (clip 1), Arlington Road (clip 2), Collateral and What Lies Beneath. while watching these clips we had to analyse and take down notes on the following: Lighting, use of the camera(movement, angle, distance), Music(sound effects,soundtrack), editing, setting and location.
We were given two tasks to do in relation to the clips we watched in the class.
The first task was to choose a clip from the 6 we had watched and write and account of the suspense is created.
The clip which I'm going to write about is Arlington Road (clip 1). I chose this clip because, as I have never watched this film before the suspense caught me more than the others.
Lighting- the lighting which was used was natural lighting and also brighter lighting to show the boys point of view as he is fainting. As the lighting is brighter then natural lighting in his point of view the suspense is created because the audience will be asking questions about what’s wrong with him and what has happened to him.Also as the lighting is bright because it is set in the American Suburbs, it brings out questions on what bad/negative experience can happen because it seems they are in an ordinary street, with an ordinary boy and an ordinary day.The camera movement in this clip starts off with an unfocused long shot with an object coming towards the camera. As it is unfocused this creates suspense because we don’t what it is coming toward us and make us question what it is. The next shot is also an unfocused shot but this time it is a close up of the feet of the character. The character is walking into the camera and the camera slowly moves back. As this is still unfocused this would make the audience feel they are in suspense because it is the second shot and still haven’t seen a focused shot, and may be screaming at the screen, and asking what’s happening why is it all blurred.The shots are slowly focussing however the next shot is a long shot of the boy walking in the middle of the street the next shot which is extreme close up of the boys eyes are faded together so you can see the clip of the eyes slightly on top of the boy walking, and then the second shot focuses more but still is slightly unfocussed. The camera moves like it is moving with the boy. This creates suspense because the audience still doesn’t know why he is walking on his own. We also get point of view shots from the boy and see what he is seeing, the audience finally get to see what he is seeing and may get a hint on what is happening. As everything is still slightly unfocussed audience may realise that he is fainting.
The shots which are taking from the boys point of view we see things brighter and unfocused because the boy is fainting and also the camera is moving like him. Panning, tracking also used this shows the movement of the boy. There is an over the shoulder shot used of the man driving the car. This creates suspense because the audience can’t see him and what to know who he is and also they may figure out that he is driving on the same street and they may be shouting at the screen to go help him or to not to go that way. They have a close up of the boys face with the car behind him this creates suspense because the audience don’t know if the cars going to stop or not and may scream at the scream to slow down. When the man finally comes out of the car a low angle shot is used while he is running toward the boy, this creates suspense because this is when the audience find out what is wrong with the boy. The camera pans around the boy as if we are watching from the man’s point of view this may make the audience a bit squeamish. The camera pans around them both, with a medium shot this creates suspense because it may show how the man is feeling dazed and confused. The camera following the car when the man is taking the boy to the hospital the camera is panned and shows the speed also as it faced paced it’ll get the peoples heart beating faster which creates tension and makes people think if the man will get to the hospital in time.
The editing used in the beginning were slow motion this creates suspense of what happens next, the audience are eager to find out what happens next. There is also a quick white flash used as a point of view of the boy which happens very quickly and can make people jump on their seat. The cuts in the middle of the clip are fast and snappy this creates suspense because they are fast. also the are over lays used to show what he is seeing because he is faint.
The music and sound during this clip is very eerie. There is also faint young boys voices which creates suspense because it is not very often you would here young boys speaking like that, it also in his head which helps us know what he thinking about. The music is also fast paced which make people sit on their edge of the seat because they want to know what happens next. Also it creates pace is in the car chase and suspense, if they reach the hospital quick enough.