How has my Research informed my Planning?

Several thrillers that I have researched have influenced the development of my opening sequence in the planning phase, as well as my primary and secondary audience research.
Firstly, in Task 1 I researched three thriller posters, for "Shutter Island", "The Dark Knight", and "The Silence of the Lambs". These three posters provided inspiration for a variety of different aspects in planning. Firstly, I found the conventions in the poster for "Shutter Island" to be very effective - the combined use of portraying mystery and the connotations within the poster, i.e. split personality, secrecy and concealment created a very eerie and strange atmosphere that I wanted to emulate in my thriller planning, through use of plot and mise-en-scene. In the "Dark Knight" poster, the character is very conventional to the genre, wearing all black, which is commonly associated with evil and darkness- however other aspects of the poster suggest the character is actually the hero, such as the low-angle shot to indicate superiority. This is something I thought I should include in planning; that the character was an enigma, to make the audience question his moral standings. I thought this was a very important aspect of the thriller as it would maintain the audience's attention and add to the plot depth - this is something that I discovered from my primary research to be very popular with my audience.

For my Task 2 I explored three title sequences - these would be the most important to reference considering I am tasked with producing an opening sequence. I looked at "Seven", "Skyfall" and "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and found things I would endeavour to use and also things I would not include. In the title sequence for "Seven", I particularly liked the font used for the titles - the handwriting was written in a 'sketch' type manner and then in a typewriter-esque font. This made me think that clearer titles could be juxtaposed with slightly less neat fonts to create an effect of disruption and an almost disturbing atmosphere. I also thought that the mise-en-scene in this opening sequence was very effective, cutting to several objects for very brief periods of time, some of which were indistinguishable to me - I thought this was a very good technique for confusing the audience and was the inspiration for the "flashback" idea in planning, that the action should be broken up by brief flashes of documents, photos, maps and places to disorientate the audience. The use of sound in the sequence for the "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" had the greatest influence in planning for me - the loud bass noises and strange sound effects ensured that the audience's attention was captured for the duration, and sound is a very important aspect of any scene so it is important the soundtrack is appropriate. However the title sequence for "Skyfall" did not offer much for planning, I thought it was far too complex and long to attempt to match it, although the fonts were clear and easy to read which I think is also beneficial as the information is clearly conveyed to the audience.

In my third task I studied three scenes from thrillers and looked in depth at a particular aspect in each. "The Dark Knight" and "The Others" both informed my planning with regard to characters - in The Others, the lead character [Nicole Kidman] is portrayed as a vulnerable, through both her costume and the narrative - this is conventional of thrillers to portray females as more vulnerable and to a sense weaker than their male counterparts. However in the scene she also shows some signs of strength. This informed my planning as I thought it was important to have a woman, in a similar, outdated costume to portray vulnerability - I then thought it would be even more effective to have a young girl in this situation to conform to thriller conventions. By contrast in the Dark Knight scene I looked at the portrayal of the antagonist - although I wanted the antagnosit to be speechless so that absolutely nothing can be given away about his persona, the character of the Joker helped influence the costume design in a way; I decided it was important to maximise the element of fear in the audience. The Joker's actual face is concealed by make up and we are never aware of his true motive in the scene, something I could use in my thriller: i.e. "why is the character there?". I also looked at "the Box" scene at the end of Seven to analyse sound. This influenced my planning as the scene made good use of silence to build suspense and then very loud, startling noises to capture the attention of the audience, something I want to include in my thriller.

I have mainly detailed how my audience research has informed my planning in their respective posts but to clarify and summarise, I discovered that my target audience preferred films with a good, complex plot and an effective cast in a film, and preferred action and adventure to a stand-alone thriller. Combined with my secondary research, where I found thrillers were mainly successful in the last year as a sub-genre, i.e. they were mainly action, science-fiction etc but had elements of or could be classed as a thriller, I decided that in my own piece I needed to include elements of the action/adventure genre to engage my target audience.

Thriller Construction - Lesson 2 & 3

In our 2nd lesson after filming, we were missing two group members so we had to slightly change our plan for the lesson - Ellie and I experimented with the LiveType software and managed to discover various fonts that we could use for the titles, the production company logo and the film title. We settled on the production company being named "Inertia Productions" as it sounds very mysterious and perhaps threatening. These are the different styles we shortlisted:

A screen shot to show all of the footage on iMovie before editing

We also went through all of the footage to review it, deleting unneccesary or bad takes on the iMovie software. We then experimented with Final Cut to see if we could rectify specific areas to prevent a re-shoot, which would be difficult considering Jacob (The Detective) had a hair cut a few days after we finished filming. We used some basic filters and effects such as Brightness and Contrast controls and discovered we could change these clips to make them more suitable, or not include them, as we had plenty of footage to work with.

When the rest of the group returned, we discussed the fonts we had selected but would need to see them in the correct placement to make a decision. Then, after Ellie and I organised the clips on Final Cut, we all began to edit a rough edit with no transitions, just to have a vague idea of how the sequence would flow and what changes to the planning edit we would need to make.

Thriller Construction - Lesson 1

After shooting the majority of our footage, we used our double lesson to refine our footage and decide which clips we were going to keep and which we didn't need. We all did this for the first hour, and in the second hour myself and Beth finalised our clips on iMovie whilst the other members of the group were busy with another task. We have around 10 minutes of raw footage after deleting the shots we did not need. Overall, we are happy with the shots, and before extensively looking at our footage in the editing process, where we will decide whether or not we need to re-do certain aspects. Discussing it with Beth, she feels as if we have everything we need, although I'm not certain the ending scene will work. However we have managed our deadlines and therefore if we do need to re-shoot any section it should present very few problems. We also decided how we were going to manage lesson time from now on. I raised the issue of the soundtrack and introduction animation for the production company needing to be completed, and the film title. I proposed bringing in my laptop so I could utilise my music software for the soundtrack although ultimately the soundtrack will need to be fine-tuned around the edit. These issues and discussions should hopefully become clearer after the next lesson.

Thriller Planning - The Cast

This is a post to detail the cast of our thriller opening sequence and why we have decided to cast them. Refer to the previous posts on Casting and Character Profiles.

On the left is a picture of the actor that plays the main role, the Detective, Beth's brother, Jacob Warne. Although we wanted the Detective to be nearer the age of 30, Jacob looks a lot older than he is, and at 6'4" he has the right build for the role, tall, with an average, slightly more slim build. Also he was available most of the time as he didn't have any employment commitments, just University. We have dressed him in a long, high-collared coat to match the character profile of the Detective; typically in films such as "Shutter Island" and "Seven", this is a typical Detective costume, shown by comparing it to the image of Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman in the top right. We decided he was right for the role after producing a brief script for him to act out, mainly to see if he could recreate the correct facial expressions, stances and reactions we needed of him to show his fear and anxiety in the opening sequence.

Next is the actress for the girl, Charlotte Adams, and she is played by my sister, Ellie Weston. Ellie is 13, which enables us to match thriller conventions such as portraying young girls as vulnerable. We thought the costume for this character was very important. The character is portrayed as psychotic through the Detective's eyes despite her innocence, and so in order to make sure Ellie was right for the role we needed to make sure she could replicate blank expressions and off-putting stares for her brief appearance at the start of the sequence. We also needed to ensure the costume was correct for this character - through studying films such as "Orphan" and "The Others" we knew that the costume needed to be old fashioned to create an eerie effect, by contrasting modern clothing with older clothing helps to disorientate the audience and create confusion, as detailed in the character profile. She draws a lot of parallels with young girls in other thriller films, remaining as expressionless and emotionless as possible to not give away anything about her character, as in "The Ring" where the character is portrayed as almost lifeless. Contrasting these expressions with the costume creates a very eerie atmosphere where the audience cannot decide if the girl is the villain or victim, creating an enigma, conforming to thriller conventions.

Above are images of the three actors to play the Shades in our opening sequence, from left to right: Josh Marshall, Elliott Doyle and Nathan Harding. Nathan was used throughout but we only needed Josh and Elliott from the forest onwards. Little acting capability was needed from them so we cast the actors on their build, and as you can see they are all a similar height and build, and are all dressed in black (Josh changed into black trousers during filming): this creates the effect of there being multiple, identical Shades, adding to the confusion. They are dressed in all black as black has connotations of darkness, evil and mystery, all typically associated with the villain in thriller films. This makes it clear to the audience that these characters are the villain. They are more of a presence in the film, occasionally taking slow, menacing steps towards the Detective. We dressed the Shades almost identically to the Detective as, although it is not fully revealed in the opening sequence, the Shades are a symbol of his guilt, and in the process this creates an enigma to their identity, as to whether they are real or not, or if they are a cover up for the truth - later in the film it would be revealed that the Shades are in fact a character the Detective has made up, as in fact it is him who has kidnapped the girl - this red herring is similar to in "Shutter Island" where the main character invents many characters to cover up the truth. This also adds to the plot which I found from my audience research, is preferred to be more complex to leave the audience thinking and engaged.

I believe that the casting decisions made were effective as each actor matches the character profile we had for that role and allows us to match thriller conventions through the narrative, the costumes and the acting throughout our opening sequence.

Thriller Filming - Day 4

The 4th day of filming included the remaining shots, which were the Detective running through the forest whilst being pursued by the Shades, an encounter with the Shade and then the Detective stumbling into a field where he is confronted and cornered before the end of the action.

For this section we required all three of the Shades: Nathan, who we had previously used on Day 2 and Day 3 of filming, as well as Josh and Elliott. All of these actors had similar builds and so when dressed similarly in the dark they would appear the same.

We slightly changed the planning edit in this section by removing the transition from the urban area to the forest area. We thought this could easily be achieved by using a flashback, and then suddenly the action is in a different location - this would help to induce confusion in the audience and maintain the fast pace we desire in our opening sequence. This also allowed for more time to be spent in the forest or for the confrontation scene. We managed to get a variety of shots in the forested area which we are very happy with, however we need to review the footage in lesson to see if there are any scenes we need to re-do before our deadline due to brightness or maybe the action in the shots. Despite this we have enough footage to get a rough idea/edit of our thriller opening sequence and can focus more now on the other elements that will make up the sequence.

Thriller Filming - Day 3

Last night was Day 3 of filming. As previously mentioned, our filming deadline was extended until next week, giving us more time to film. Last night was going to include the majority of the remaining scenes, but we only had myself and Ellie available to film, so we decided to finish the street and alley sections. This meant we were finished up to shot sixteen of the planning edit before the action moves onto the field area and forest. We decided that we will film this at the weekend when we can film at a twilight time and then adjust the brightness as otherwise we would be filming in complete darkness. We shot a few extra shots such as a close-up of the Detective as he turns to flee from the Shade in the alley, and have decided to place the Shade in some shots where the audience may be able to spot him, but the Detective does not and so the action continues as normal. The next filming section will take place Saturday, involving the expanded cast with the extra Shades, and shots up to and possibly including the confrontation in the field, depending on how much can be filmed in the window between partial darkness, sunset and complete darkness.

Thriller Filming - Day 2

Last night was the second night of filming, where we would tackle the opening of our sequence to around halfway. Firstly, after we returned from sixth form, we went back to our homes and assembled whatever we needed to bring with us to the shoot. I nad to assemble the cast, and so briefed my sister, Ellie, before walking to Beth's where we would meet and wait for Jacob to return from University. After he got back we got the characters in costume and met Nathan, who was playing the Shade and was already in costume, en route to the location we were filming at, which was the street in Thrope Marriott (The Cains).

 Pictured here are all three actors. I will create a blog post with our reasoning for casting them soon, most likely in lesson time when not reviewing footage. On the top left is Nathan (on scene), in the centre is Ellie (who plays Charlotte Adams) and on the right is Jacob (not in costume) who plays the Detective. See Thriller Planning - The Cast for further details on the Cast.

We filmed up to shot eleven on the planning edit, and attempted a few extra shots in different orders as practice - arriving at the conclusion that they needed to be shot in daylight to prevent them from being grainy. We managed to capture all of the footage we required from that night, including walking down the street, meeting the girl, and the first Shade encounter - we filmed a few extra shots not detailed in the planning edit also that we thought may be of use, but ultimately stuck to the planning edit.

An image of myself filming

This is a picture that Beth took of me setting up the camera ready to film a scene in the street. Ellie, (Charlotte Adams) is in full costume standing infront of a streetlight which created a mysterious and spooky atmosphere. In the backround you can see Jacob (The Detective) being briefed on his role - Beth had already spoken to Ellie about what she had to do at this point. We did face some difficulties in filming - for instance, we were filming at around 6:30, when many people would be returning home from work, and there was a constant stream of cars coming in and out of the street, making filming very slow paced as we had to stop filming each time or move the camera out of the road. Similary pedestrians or dog walkers caused similar issues as they would be in the shot at any point on the street so we would have to wait for them to pass. Towards the end a car parked on the corner of the roundabout which we had to avoid to prevent a continuity error, but we did this well, and ultimately finished with a scenes looking like the image shown on the right, of Ellie looking very eerie, mysterious, and out of place on the street corner.

In today's lesson we discussed what filming would take place tonight. Most of the group can't attend so it may just be me and Ellie seeing what we can film in the circumstances. The deadline has been extended until Monday 16th so we could film any extras on Saturday/Sunday afternoon, and we also decided not to re-shoot every scene in daylight as we are happy with the way the first version went.

G321 Task 3 - Thriller Scene Analysis - "The Dark Knight" (1 of 3)

"The Dark Knight" Thriller Scene Analysis:

"It's Simple. We Kill The Batman."

"How is the antagonist represented in the scene?"

I will be exploring how one of the most infamous characters in the thriller genre, The Joker, is presented in the scene in "The Dark Knight" where he is introduced to the mob during their meeting.

Firstly, "The Dark Knight" was directed by Christopher Nolan and released on 18 July 2008 (USA). The production companies were Warner Bros., Legendary Pictures and Syncopy, with a budget estimated to be $185M and a gross profit of around $533M as of February 2009. The intended target audience of the film would capture a wide range, mainly containing those who have read Batman comics or seen previous films, but also those who enjoy action-packed thriller films, or a potentially younger audience. The audience received it very well, with countless 10/10 user reviews on IMDb, with titles such as "Surpasses the hype" and "Certainly dark - worth the wait".

The scene begins with the sound of estranged, drawn out, and menacing laughter for a few seconds as the men sitting at the table, who appear to be divided into two sides from the start, one side formally dressed, the other not so. At 0:06, an over the shoulder shot identifies the source of the laughter to be coming from a man walking towards the table, yet we do not see any of his clothes or facial details as he covered by darkness, suggesting a character who is secretive and prefers to remain hidden, representing him as a mysterious, indistinguishable character - the audience would react by questioning who this figure is. The laughter then seems to become sarcastic, and then the camera flips so we see the characters face for the first time in the scene. We instantly recognise that his face is covered with makeup in such a way to present him as menacing and somewhat delusional, with the blacks around his eyes and red around his mouth to form an eerie grin. The make-up also helps to conceal facial expressions and de-associate him from the "normal" people in the scene, suggesting independence and anonymity. As we see him, he confidently chirps, "and I thought my jokes were bad" - this insult shows him to be a confident character, who can simply stroll into what appears to be a crime lords meeting and mock them. This confuses the audience from the offset. Almost predictably he receives a violent retaliation from who we assume to be a leader of the group due to his authoritative tone and the camera focusing on him repeatedly, as he says, without showing emotion, "gimme one reason...". The mysterious man's response to such a vivid threat, "How about a magic trick?" seems so unordinary a response, any usual character in such a situation would likely panic, yet this clown-like character seems dominant and in control with his friendly response.

As the men respond to this absurdity, the Joker flips this impression of insanity that we immediately assume as he shows his power, and smashes the man down onto the pencil, promptly removing him from the equation. Yet he immediately resumes a friendly persona when he exclaims, "Ta-da!", but the way in which he talks, with pauses in his sentences, i.e. "it's..ahh..it's gone" hints at an unstable character, inducing fear in the audience as the character is unpredictable. Immediately we are presented with an enigma in the representation of this character, one regarding his sanity. This theme continues throughout the scene. The Joker once again resumes his taunting of the men ("You ought to know, you bought it") to provoke a retaliation once more, yet this time, after proving his authority, the men are less hostile and wish to hear his proposition.

"The Joker" is immediately represented as unstable but confident character, but then proceeds to show a much more sincere tone when explaining the faults in the criminals work. He is represented as some kind of fool, to tell these powerful men what they're doing wrong would be considered a strong insult, yet the men seem nervous to react as they are unsure of what the response will be; the deranged look created by the make-up and costume makes him seem insane, yet the way in which he addresses them is sincere but condescending: "What happened, did'ya balls drop off?". A key section that reveals part of his character is when the criminal leader calls The Joker a "freak" (1:03). This causes some unsettlement from the other characters but the Joker doesn't show any signs of retaliation, he repeats his last sentence in a slightly more drawn out way before moving on; he shows no sign of breaking from his  persona. He receives more and more sincere and questioning looks from his audience as he goes on before he sighs, "The Bat-man", with a clear separation in the name and eye movements that hint at despise towards the character. This reveals a lot about the Joker as a character, as to his motives and his persona; it reveals that he does have anger within him despite remaining calm when threatened and giving little emotion away. When the Joker continues to address the thugs, he speaks in an authoritative and confident tone, i.e. "as for the television's so-called "plan"" which represents him as a powerful character who knows precisely what he is doing, reducing the fear in the audience as they begin to realise the motives of this character, but contuning to worry them due to the power this man possesses. He re-iterates this by breaking from his monotonous, sincere tone when he says how Batman will make the man "squeal" and how he knows a "squealer" when he sees one, and so not only mocks the man for his plan but for his strength also, and considering the fact he is relatively anonymous to the thugs the sequence conveys him in a sincere manner.

However, when asked for his plan, we see this sincerity in a different manner. The line, "It's simple. We, er, kill, the Bat-man." is greeted by a chorus of laughs and the criminals seem to lose their respect for the Joker at this point; we can only assume from the laughs that this is deemed to be an impossible task, yet the Joker does not show only signs of breaking, he remains serious. This further enhances the representation of strength of mind, but also, insanity, as he is deemed to be this by the rest of the room at this point, shown in the response, "If it's so simple, why haven't you done it already?" which is spoken by one of the suited men in a very condescending tone, to show the disapproval, but the Joker remains sincere and confidently retorts with "If you're good at something, never do it for free." This is a very important sequence in analysing the representation of the Joker as the dialogue here and the Joker's actions and tone solidifies the representation of the Joker as a probably insane man who strongly believes his own ability and plans, with a tactical mind set - a perfect persona of a madman for an antagonist.

We really see this madness in the Joker's character at the end of the scene. First he asks for half of the cut, which is greeted by a round of laughter, then we hear one of the men say "You're crazy", which is the impression the audience is given throughout the scene. The Joker quickly replies with "I'm not" in a very bland and dull tone, showing a hint of disgust towards the men who don't seem to acknowledge his criticisms and advice, enhancing this representation of a tactical mind set, and confidence is shown again when he insults the presumed leader's ability again, provoking a strong reaction. The scene concludes with more madness as the Joker swiftly stands holding a pin, connected to several grenades on the inside of his jacket. This representation portrays him as a unstable character and a threat, causing everyone in the room to react. Yet he maintains his calmness as he speaks "let's not blow this out of proportion", and reveals the grenades he carries on his person, surprising the audience. The man shows visible anger and questions him, and when the Joker bluntly replies with "Yeah.." it shows nerve and once again confidence in his own ability, that he can walk in and steal from the thugs and get away with it. He completely ignores the death threat, hinting that he knows it won't happen, and leaves his "card", a plain Joker card, conveying his insanity one final time before he comically leaves the room.

In conclusion, the combination of costume and make-up to create an estranged, disturbing and indistinguishable character with the Joker's authoritative tone, confidence to insult and criticise and unpredictability in the scene, the Joker is represented as a very unstable antagonist throughout the scene through various techniques and through the narrative.

G321 Task 3 - Thriller Scene Analysis - "The Others" (2 of 3)

"The Others" G321 Thriller Scene Analysis: The Piano Scene

"How are women represented in the scene? Consider the stereotypical representations of the thriller genre such as the femme fatale and the victim."

"The Others" is a thriller/horror/drama film directed by Alejandro Amenabar, and was released on 10th August 2001 (USA). The film had an estimated budget of $17M and by February 2002 the most recent figure for box office returns was $209M worldwide. It was produced by Cruise/Wagner Productions, Sociedad General de Cine and Las Produccienes del Escorpion S.L. It's target audience would be more geared towards older viewers or those more interested in dramas and mystery films. The audience received it well, with a variation of reviews on IMDb, from 8/10's with comments such as "Subtle, genuinely creepy and... SUBTLE" to 10/10's simply exclaiming "Chilling!"

The scene commences with a woman [Nicole Kidman], curled up into a ball on the floor, sobbing into her arms. Although the audience is unaware as to why (just from this scene), it immediately portrays her as a vulnerable character, which women are typically portrayed as in thriller films. We can barely hear her say, "John, where are you?" in the opening few seconds, showing fear and a longing for re-assurance, further enhancing this notion of vulnerability and weakness. However, she then appears to stop crying, and glance up, showing shock and fear, as we hear a piano begin to fade in. At this point we are unaware as to whether this is the soundtrack or if it is in the scene. However, as the woman frantically scans the room, we assume the piano is in the scene, and is the cause of the woman's fear at this stage.

The scene goes dark and at 0:32 we see the woman emerge in a night gown holding a candle. Firstly this helps to give an idea of time period for the scene, but more importantly it portrays the woman as lost. Contrasted against the darkness, she may appear quite confident and powerful in a normal setting, challenging typical representations, yet her costume means she is represented as the typical "weak" woman in the scene. The candle light here adds to this effect as it dimly lights her in the scene, creating an eerie atmosphere, and we cannot see if there is anything in the darkness in the scene, leading to the audience developing concern for the woman. Sound is also used to create effect here, with the main sound coming from the piano for which we assume the woman is searching for and the creaking of the floorboards and staircase, which is one very conventional of thrillers, and two aids the notion of fear for the woman's well-being with the growing suspense. As the scene changes we hear the heavy breathing of the woman, conveying her fear and vulnerability on a more personal basis.


Once again, the representation in the scene flips, as at 1:08 we see the woman to be carrying a large gun. Her stance in this still would suggest power, calmness and control over the situation, yet prior to this she seemed frantic and nervous. This would be associated with the typical power connoted with weaponry. This challenges typical representations, and this fluctuation between control and vulnerability adds to the confusion created by the mysterious piano in the scene.

At this stage, the piano grows louder, enhancing the mystery and hence suspense, as the woman enters a room where we presume from this development in the music, the piano is located. As the woman reaches for the door handle we hear her breathing again, flipping the representation back around again; she is once again portrayed as vulnerable. The sound now completely cuts and the piano stops playing, as we hear the door slowly creak open. This use of sound, or lack of it, also helps to represent the character, this could show her as confused, shocked, or even delusional - was the piano playing at all? We see the character as a victim, typical of stereotypical representations.

As she strides into the room holding the gun firmly, she challenges conventions. Going by stereotypes, surely the potentially dangerous task of investigating a mysterious, perhaps paranormal happening should be the responsibility of a man, not a woman? Although it challenges this notion, it actually enhances the vulnerability aspect as the audience does not expect her to be in that situation - she seems nervous holding the gun, not authoritative, causing the audience to fear for her wellbeing. When the door closes behind her, the scene changes to a close up of her face to further convey confusion to the audience.

The music begins to pick up again from this point and the woman frantically dashes to the piano to close everything up, to stop the piano playing, showing a lack of control and fear, conforming to the fact that it is stereotypically expected for a woman to not be in control in such a predicament. By contrast, when she locks the piano and turns away, she seems powerful, as the key has the connotation of stopping something by force, i.e. the noise will be stopped. She returns to her stance holding the gun to further show that she has in fact contained the situation - this challenges the representation again.


In the next scene though, the doubt as to how the scene actually portrays her is confirmed. Up to this point there is a succinct alternation in conforming and challenging the vulnerability associated with women and whether or not she is a victim or not. As she opens and closes the door, she appears very confused. Then, so suddenly it causes the audience to jump, the door slams in her face, almost comically, sending her reeling backwards. This violent act against the woman immediately shows how she is a victim to the strange goings-on in her house, the confusion caused by them and hence her vulnerability - as she falls, she drops the gun, connoting a loss of power and control. The sound picks up and the door handle shakes, and she jumps to the door. She screams, "Mrs. Mills!!", showing her fear, and this conforms to the stereotypical representation as she seeks help. Another, older woman, presumably Mrs. Mills, comes bounding down the staircase, saying "What's wrong madam?" Being the second woman in the scene, she is immediately portrayed as weaker due to her age and hence strength, (she seems very frail), and her obedience to the other woman i.e. "Madam" shows how in the heirarchy of that house she would be lower. After obtaining a key, they dash back to the piano room, the speed further displaying their fear, as the woman mumbles, shocked, "Oh my God" as she finds the piano, that she locked, to have re-opened - this would have a similar effect on the audience, who would be surprised by this and would question how this has happened. Similarly to the dropping of the gun, this would connote a lack of strength as whatever she is up against had the power to break the lock, showing the strength of the anonymous villain in the scene.

Overall, the piano scene in "The Others" displays signs of challenging the stereotypical portrayal of women in thrillers as inferior, yet overall the main character [Nicole Kidman] is seen to be a victim in the scene, with the narrative presenting her as immensely vulnerable and lacking in strength. She shows signs of power and control through using objects that have connotations with this, yet without them she is presented as alone and weak, causing the audience to fear for her for the duration of the scene. The concept of the "femme fatale" is not relevant in this scene.

G321 Task 3 - Thriller Scene Analysis - "Seven" (3 of 3)

"Seven" Thriller Scene Analysis
"If you kill him, he will win."

"How is sound used to create suspense and other effects in the scene?"

Arguably one of the greatest ending scenes in thriller films is the ending from "Seven". Seven (or stylised as Se7en) was directed by David Fincher and was released on the January 5th 1996 in the UK. Produced by New Line Cinema and Cecchi Gori Pictures, it had a budget of approximately $33.3M and box office returns of $316.4M Worldwide. The audience for "Se7en" would be a potentially younger audience due to element of the thriller/action, whereas the crime and psychological aspect would attract an older audience as well. The audience received it very well, with plenty of 10/10 user reviews on IMDb, with summaries such as , "Modern masterpiece" and "Possibly the greatest murder story ever." I will be focusing on how sound is used to create suspense and other effects in the final scene, where there is a showdown between the protagonist and antagonist in the middle of a desert.

The first sound we hear in the scene is a diegetic sound; the sharp flick of the pen knife. This noise, over the silence of the rest of the scene, quite literally cuts the tension with a knife; a very tense atmosphere is created from the offset. For the opening ten to fifteen seconds we hear nothing but the sounds coming from the location, such as the caw of birds and the sound of the wind, enabling the audience to have a better understanding of the setting for the scene, and the sound of the knife cutting the box. This creates the effect of a calm but suspenseful atmosphere.

A very important part of the scene is the sound in the dialogue. It helps to show the stance and motives of each of protagonist and antagonist. At around 0:24, the dialogue in the scene starts, with a very calm voice saying, "You should be very proud". He is greeted by the explicit retort, "Shut the f*** up you piece of s***" - this difference in the tone and choice of words of the characters creates the effect of a clear separation in the motives  of the individuals and hostility towards one another.

The scene returns to the man at the box [Morgan Freeman], and once again there is very little sound here, which creates the effect of placing the audience in the scene itself; they only hear what the characters can hear. After the man jumps in shock at around 0:31, there is a long period of silence - the lack of sound here helps to emphasise a section important to the plot, perhaps startling the audience. Suddenly, at 0:40, we hear the diegetic sound of helicopter rotors, as it matches the action in the scene. Helicopters themselves would be associated with action and the audience then links the start of the helicopter rotors with the start of the action.

Also at this point is the start of a non-diegetic sound which makes up the most part of the sound in the sequence. A low frequency "dun" effect is created, that matches key movements in the scene, such as at 0:47 where the man turns his head back to re-inspect the box. Coupled with a whining effect as a backing track, the soundtrack here builds the suspense and has the audience questioning - what was in the box? The sudden noise could also startle the audience and cause them to focus on the action to a greater extent as it would catch them off-guard. This creates the effect of curiosity and captures the attention of the audience. The noise repeats in a regular pattern i.e. there are equal intervals between the sounds. This creates the effect of an almost "ordered chaos" in the scene. At 0:55 speech plays an important part, as when the man says, "California, stay away from here, now, now, whatever you hear stay away. John Doe has the upper hand." he slurs the clauses together and speaks in a worried, fretful tone, inducing many effects on the audience - what has caused this panic in his voice, and why does John Doe have the upper hand? This further intrigues the audience to watch the rest of the scene.

From 1:00 onwards, speech plays a very important role in the narrative and conveying emotion. We hear the man shouting, "Put your gun down!" as he runs back over, whilst [Brad Pitt] tells the bald man, (who is first shown in this section with a low angle shot to perhaps show power and superiority), almost painfully, to "Shut up". This further conveys his hostility towards this man and from his tone the audience can tell that he holds a position of dominance over this man. We may have been able to tell this from his body language and stance but the speech in the scene helps to emphasise and clarify this. However, the bald man's voice seems calm, as if to suggest he has the control in the scene. The difference in tones of the characters causes the audience to make several different assumptions about the plot, and hence builds suspense as to the revelation as to what has actually happened. This confusion is further aided by the confused tones of the characters in the scene, with the suited man saying, "What you f***ing say?" and the man in the helicopter saying "What the f***..." this creates the effect of the characters being just as clueless as to what's happened as the audience is. The non diegetic sound of the "dun" and the whining effect continued, becoming more regular (about 2 seconds between each noise) and louder too, to heighten the suspense, the regularity could show how everything is beginning to come together to form a conclusion in the scene. However, from 1:41, the sound effect stops, which creates the effect of an emphasis on this particular section of the dialogue, implying something significant will occur. A moody, dark score accompanies the section, suggesting a bad revelation to come, and the man speaks with absolutely no emotion in his voice to convey a dark, misguided character. The music seems to reach a mini-crescendo as he calmly speaks, "I took a souvenir. Her pretty head." This would surprise the audience as the speech is emphasised here to signify a revelation.

This section is dominated by the continuation of the dark soundtrack and panicked dialogue between the two men [Pitt and Freeman]. The man who was at the box tries to reason with him, to get him to put his gun down, whereas the other man calmly continues, almost taunting him. This could be a representation of the man's conscience, the voice of reason contrasted against his rage. He exclaims, "What's in the f***ing box?!?" showing anger and distress through his voice. When the man says, "He just told you." he seems confident yet mocking, provoking a sincere response of "You lie!". The contrast in voices here and the way in which the words are spoken are a huge part of the sound in the scene and contribute to creating suspense and emotion in the scene, causing the audience to fear for the man who is clearly traumatised by this. At this stage, the non-diegetic sound returns, suggesting another period of action in the scene is commencing, with the interval becoming slightly shorter, quickening the pace of the scene and creating an "on-edge" atmosphere. The 'guilty conscience' effect is enhanced here with the other detective saying, "He wants you shoot him!" to try to reason with him to calm him down, yet the mysterious man continues to subtly taunt him, causing him to spiral out of control in anger. The strain in his voice when he yells, "Tell me she's alright!" makes the audience pity the man and creates a very emotional aura in the scene, which continues to grow shown by the distress in his voice when he yells, "No!", accompanied by the notes in the soundtrack becoming lower to show sadness and anger. The isolated location here also helps to portray his mind set at this stage, he has two options, to side with either one of the men, with nowhere to go. This is clearly shown where the other detective stands in between him and the antagonist. The taunts grow to such an extent that the other man lashes out, the sound of contact clearly emphasised over the growing whine in the background, which reaches a crescendo and dies off to show the importance in the dialogue to follow. The non-diegetic sound is very loud here to further add to the levels of suspense, suggesting something is about to happen, and the sudden silence of the man after his outburst also shows the significance of what he just said. When he says, "Oh.. he didn't know." he sound very sarcastic and condescending, to portray him as the 'evil mastermind' in the scene. through use of sound. At this stage, the soundtrack picks up, as the detective looks upwards in despair. The crescendo in the backing track here shows a culmination  in the dialogue to indicate a revelation and creates the effect of the suspense being temporarily paused to allow emotion to be conveyed.

  After this section, there is a prolonged period of silence in the dialogue, as the scene is dominated by the soundtrack. It accompanies the action on screen to create an atmosphere of sorrow; the strings in the soundtrack evoke pity and sadness in the audience, as the previous section of dialogue informs us that the antagonist has murdered his wife and killed her unborn child, evoking the sympathy of the audience. After about 20 seconds of the man alternating between holding his gun in a stance to indicate he is going to kill the man and backing away, to show this split conscience, once again the other detective sincerely asks him to give him his gun showing morality, and the sincerity in his voice when he says, "If you kill him.. He will win." helps to create the effect of suspense by implying a huge decision is about to be made in the scene - emphasised when David shouts, "Ah God!". This dialogue helps the audience to gain a better understanding of the character's psychology. At this stage, the non-diegetic sound returns, to show the action is resuming. After a quick flashback of a woman's face appears in the scene, the whining effect grows in loudness and pitch, enhancing the suspense, suggesting to the audience the action will reach a conclusion. We then hear the diegetic sound of a gunshot, and the sound matches the action on screen to clearly indicate what has happened. The gunshot stands out over the soundtrack to show their importance in the narrative - this also causes a surpirsed reaction amongst the audience, who could possibly be shocked by this culmination of events in the film. The scene then cuts back to helicopter and we hear the loud noise of the rotors with some panicked voices, coming from inside the helicopter, which creates an effect of confusion as to what the action taken in the scene will mean. The non-diegetic "dun" stops, and we then hear another 5 gunshots, at irregular intervals, which would indicate chaos and not order, and the whining effects' pitch has grown to a screeching loudness to perhaps show there will be a consequence to the shots fired at the antagonist to murder him in revenge. There is no dialogue during this section, which adds to the shock and confusion created by the scene's aftermath. At 4:27, the helicopter rotors return, but are quieter than the soundtrack, implying that the action is coming to a close. The man on-board the helicopter says, "C'mon set us down!" - the helicopter landing would suggest action in the scene/film is ending creating a sense of closure for the audience, but the tones of the men on-board the aircraft suggest that the story is not over for the two detectives, as the scene ends with, "Somebody call somebody!" being spoken, indicating to the audience that there will be an aftermath to the scene.

To conclude, the closing scene of "Seven" uses a combination of non-diegetic sound and variation in dialogue to great effect to create suspense and convey emotion, with diegetic sound being used to match the action in the scene to help indicate the action to the audience. The variance in the tones of characters conveys more about their emotions and mind set than their actions do for the most part and therefore helps the audience to get a better understanding of the characters in the scene.