Thriller Music Analysis (PART 1)

Soundtrack 1: 

The start of this soundtrack made me feel very tense, as if i was waiting for something to happen; there was a build up. The rhythm did not change which also added to me feeling tense. As the soundtrack moved on different sounds and beats were added. This resulted to the tracks volume slightly increasing. I think this soundtrack could be suitable for a thriller as it would make the audience be sitting on the edge of their seats as it's very tense to listen to. Also i think that this soundtrack would work well for someone waiting for something to happen. This is because it would it clear to audience something dangerous is suddenly about to take place. If you listen carefully in the background you can slightly hear a 'tick tick tick' sound which comes across rather high pitched. This, to me, almost sounds like a clock ticking. This also adds to the tension and emphasises the fact someone is waiting for something to take place.

Soundtrack 2:

This track straight away makes the whole atmosphere dark and terrifying. The very low, gloomy and bassy notes bring a chill down your spine. Also the rhythm is not the same throughout, almost as if it's trying to make you jump as you are looking out for the next sound. At around 1.45 to tempo suddenly changes to a much more rapid pace. Also a violin is added, a large contrast to the the low notes we heard at the beginning. I find that this soundtrack is perfect for a thriller. It brings a lot of emotions to the table. It makes your emotions gradually build till they reach to a uncomfortable level where in a way you don't want to listen anymore as you know something spooky and chilling is about to take place.
As the track moves on, the volume very slowly increases until about 3.40 where the volume is at it's loudest. This made me feel very nervous and even though i was only listening to the track i could almost picture what was going on in my mind; widens your imagination.
I think this soundtrack would work well for a chase scene and also a scene where someone is about to be murdered/attacked and they are trying to get away and hide. However when the musics volume is at it's greatest and the tempo is at it's fastest, this made me feel as if I'd been caught by the killer.


Soundtrack 3

Out of the three soundtracks i would say this is my favourite. For our thriller opening we want it to be modern; so teenagers can relate to it. When i first listened to this track it automatically made me think of all the films we have been influenced by, for example misfits. The soundtrack comes across modern but also has a slight twist to it to make it seem spooky at the same time. The opening to the soundtrack is very simple; only one instrument, then gradually different sounds/instruments are added in. This results to the volume increasing. This made me feel very tense but also at the same time it made me fill up with energy and i almost felt excited. In the background throughout there is a very low bass sound, with a constant rhythm. i found this extremely effective as it slightly connected with my heart beat which added to me feeling nervous and tense.
This soundtrack, to me, would work well in a thriller. The beginning sounds like someone is on a mission; on their way to do something very important. Maybe on their way to find someone/ save someone important. Even though the soundtrack is very upbeat and the tempo is rather rapid, i almost feel slightly emotional while listening to this track. I could see this being used in a scene where someone has just been murderd or killed in someway, and their best friend/lover has just found them. Using a lot of different sounds could come across as too much, but i think it has worked very well.

Thriller Opening influences

Below is the trailer for the film 4321. I find that this film is a good example of what we want our Thriller opening to be slightly like. It's modern, fresh and teenagers (aged 15 and above) can relate to it. There are some scenes in this film which i think will be good to look into for our opening. 4321 is aimed at teenagers aged 15 and above (a 15). This is the age limit we want our thriller opening to be aimed at as well. This is another reason why i think our group can relate to this film for our thriller opening.





In our opening we want a party/rave scene; teenagers can relate to this. I think it's a good start to our opening as it's up beat and has a lot of energy. Also it will emphasise the contrast between the party upbeat scenes to the scenes where someone is getting attacked. Below is a clip from the film 4321. The first 40 seconds of the clip is a good example of what we want.                            

Thriller Opening influences 2

The series Misfits is also good for our group to look in to as i find that it is also modern and different. It is a good example of what our thriller opening will slightly be like. The main characters in Misfits are all teenagers; this is what we want. I find that our target audience can relate to our thriller opening more if our characters are around the same age.
In the Misfits, the situations the teenagers get themselves into are mostly every day problems teenagers face today. However there is a slight twist to the situations to give the whole thing more of a chill to it.

Below is the introduction to Misfits. In the introduction you are slightly introduced to each character. As you can tell, the characters are teenagers as i have said before. Straight away you can see they are just the every day teenagers. This is exactly what we want for our thriller.

practitioner case study yasz

3 top tips i learned from kyle cooper :

• you can use the title sequence time to advance the plot
• make sure it sets an expectation for the film
• use the titles to add to the tone of the film

se7en

i think these titles will been see as so revolutionary because of many different things, the first is the way the credits are hand written, it fits in well because on the titles you can see that the antagonist has a writing journal

at the beginning you can see the villian putting together some very gruesome documents, because the villian is not introduced in the film for a while him being in this title sequence with our you seeing him is defining a relationship between him and the audience. because you dont see him for ages your already straight away in his head which means when you do finally see him the tension is more intense.
the soundtrack for the opening puts the audience on edge Scratched imperfect lettering jump across the screen.

thriller screen shot conventions

SCREAM
vunerable, helpless, female victim, big house, there is no high key lighting in the rest of this scene


INCEPTION
daylight from outside used, lots of water and a gun, got the main character and his antagonist



NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 2010

female victim, she is a main character, low key lighting. i wanna no what is going on



PYSCHO
female victim, in the shower so vunerable, shadow male antagonist

this opening definitely creates tension, suspense and uncertainty, they have done this by using different lightening, shot types and music. this opening has kept me captivated in the film and has not become boring, the criminal in this has definitively made the genre what it is, this opening has left me wanting t find out what happened to that man, and i put myself into his shoes as i was watching it.

CSI NY season 8 episode 11

The first 2 minutes are how we would like to do the flashing between normal life and the killing. i followed really well aand the camera techniques were really interesting i really wanna film many of the camera shots like this. the scene seemed real because it went from a very quite family meal where the conversation is really awkward. if you stop at two minutes you really wanna no why they were invaded and why the conversation was really awkward. with ours we wanna leave it on a cliff hanger as well.

this is the killing part of the scene as you can see she is really vunerable.

this is when it is their normal life when they are just sitting eating as a normal couple

adulthood

we quite like the party scene in the beginning of the film and they way it came across. it wasnt shown as cheap or tacky and we quite like the gangsta vibe from the party, i also like the way that different shots have been put next to each other and you get more of the party in a shorter time.

Thriller opening Ideas

As a group we have decided a few different ideas over the past couple of days. We have now come to a conclusion what we are going to be doing.
We want our thriller opening to be modern, and different to any other typical thriller. We want teenages (aged 15 and above) to be able to relate to our opening.
It would open with the party/rave scene. This scene would be very energetic; lots would be going on. The location of the party scene would be at Alyssa's house. Obviously it would not be a proper party, with alcohol. The whole party would just be acting, and we would get permission from Alyssas mum before we film. We would use people from mine and Eloises drama class with their permission of corse. We would inform them of what they need to do, and what our opening is all about so they get a clear idea. We want the party scene to come across as natural as possible, the last thing we want is it to come across fake and over acted. Yasz has said that she would film the party scene, while me Eloise and alyssa would be involved in the party; mixed in with the crowd.
While the party scene is taking place, there will be quick flashes to the scenes where someone is getting murded. However, you will not actually see the person getting killed, we will just make it so you can hear the person scream, and being thrown to the fall, and for an example, seeing the persons face looking up at someone screaming 'NO' and 'GET AWAY FROM ME'. We don't want the murder scenes to be too cliche.
There will be a contrast between to party scene and the murder scene. We find this will come across very effective, as it will build tension throughout as each scene will get shorter and quicker. We want the murder scenes to have a slight link to the party scenes, for example, in the murder scene when the person gets thrown to the floor, when it flashes back to the party scene, someone will fall over in the party while dancing. I find doing this, will make the audience be on the edge of their seats, as want to know what is going to happen next.
Towards the end of our thriller opening, the party and murder scenes will go a very rapid speed skipping from party scene to murder scene very quickly. Then everything will stop, including the party music and the person getting murded screams. Either me or Eloise will walk in to the room where the person got murded ( as it will be one of our friends ) after being at the party. The last shot will be a reaction shot of me/eloise as we have just seen our friend dead on the floor. However you will not actually see the person dead, as we find it would be more effective to just see mine or eloises reaction.

As for the credits, they will be shown in the party scenes. We want the credits to come in to the beat of the music, this will help everything flow better. For example, when the bass of the music is very loud, the credits can shake like when you feel your whole body shake to the bass of the music.

video ideas

 i really like the idea here of not knowing who the person is and whaat gender they are we are just following their night out and what they get up to the camera only focuses on their feet and on their hands so we there is still no clear idea of who they are.

Foley Test Yasz

i really enjoyed putting the sound effects on top on this scene. think trying to get the right sound effects on top of the right moments really improved my skills and accuracy. i didnt want to put to much effects at the same time because then there is to much happening and sounds very jumbled up. i think many of the sounds i have put on fit really well and work with the scene

Foley Test

Today's lesson, we were asked to create a sound track for the clip shown above. It is a clip from a Thriller; as this is what we are studying at the moment. To create the sound track, i used a variety of different sound effects. For example, window breaking, dog barking, traffic, people chasing, door slamming etc.
Above the thriller clip is a screen shot of my work in progress ( Final cut ). As you can see, on the left hand side are the different sound effects, i dragged the one i wanted down to the time line.

Doing this exercise has taught me a few new skills. I have learnt how sound effects can be very effective to use if you're making a film; they bring everything together ( more interesting). Also, i have learnt how to sync up audio and video and now understand that it's worth investigating the use of sound effects for my own project.

time line of the panic room opening

Our group created a timeline of order of credits in the film opening of Panic Room. We analysed how the credits enter and the type of text also the impact off the credits.

Limitless

As you can see, above is the trailer for the film Limitless. Unfortunately I could not embed the actual opening of the film, however below are a few important screen shots i want to talk about.

 In this screen shot you have an angle shooting up to show the height of where he is standing.

birds eye view to show the height of what he is thinking about jumping

close up of the feet

The way the opening is edited is very effective to watch. You want to find out what will happen next. Even though the opening is fairly short, you find out a lot about the main character and his life style. For example, one of his lines is him explaining why he is standing on the edge contemplating killing him self and why there is people banging at his door.

dexter opening title sequence

this is the beginning of dexter. we quite like how the food and how he is making it is representing killing someone. and then he just causally walks out after wards.

other remakes of jack the ripper

BBC sherlock holmes
we took at look at some of the remakes of the jack the ripper story because we quite liked the idea of something like that. the BBC one sherlock holmes is a new drama which is recreating the jack the ripper




interview about their vision of the programme. they wanted it to be very similar to the actually story line of jack the ripper




the film sherlock holmes




sherlock holmes interview



these ideas are reallly goood and really helping me

Prelim

thriller conventions

the conventions of the thriller genre invlove editing and sound. eg camera angle changes and quick cuts , music that gives tension. it can also be to do with lighting, such as the use of shadow. mirrors and stairs are also good conventions of thrillers.
most thriller i have seen have the credits done over a black creen with some non diegetic music playing in the background to set the scene. it is also common for some films to start with a particular event before titles such as terminator 2 and limitless which all show a clip of what the film will be about. another convention of titles is that usually the most important film companies or actors in the film are shown first in the credits. 
tracking and pan shots are commonly used in the beginning of thriller films, an example is the bank heist scene in the dark knight where the camera tracks in the group at certain points.
the most typical shot used in thriller films seems to be the close uo, greatly used in both films se7en and kill bill to build suspense and mystery in the beginning.
another thing that is quite common is the low levels of framing and high angles at certain points, the high angle is used mainly to show those in a powerful position but they might also be used such as in terminator 2 with the first arrival of the terminator shown to be in control and having most of the power. there seens to be a main characters in the beginning which seems to have the majority of power and this is shown through the camera angles.
the general location used in the thriller movies i have looked at depends on the story of the movie themselves and because of that theres a lot of difference in location. lighting is a key aspect used in most films.

ideas

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in this as media thriller opening i found i looked at the first 2 minutes and i quite liked some of the ideas they had such as not showing the guys face but showing his hand against the shower door. it made me jump and that is what i want to achieve from our thriller.

this one definatley desevres a grade A because the camera work and editing is really good

What Is A Thriller?

"A thriller is a book or film which is designed to keep the reader or viewer on edge with suspenseful and sensational action. Thrillers have also been produced in the radio, theater, and television media. This genre is incredibly large, and thrillers often overlap with pieces of work produced in other genres; mysteries, for example, are often thrillers. Many people find thrillers very enjoyable, and they appreciate the fast pacing and complex plots associated with this genre."

Introduction

We are group U1-45 and we are going to be making a thriller opening sequence. The members in our group are Alyssa Smith, Emily Huelin, Yasz Webb and Eloise Fuggle.