Sound are used in films to heighten a mood and it provide the audience with information about the location of a scene in advance the plot also tells the audience about the characters in the story.
Sound is also used to create a response from the audience it is the most important micro elements.
There are two types of sounds in films, diegetic sound and non diegetic.
Diegetic sound refers to all micro elements that comes from the sources that we see on the screen, including dialogue , doors slamming, footsteps the sound can be on or off screen.
Non-Diegetic sound also refers to all the micro elements that come from outside o fictional world we see on screens, including the musical score and sounds effects for example the screeches in the shower scene in Psycho this was used to let the audience know that shes in the shower as that would clear for the audience that we can straight away that shes about to have a shower.
Voice overs on screen sound can be seen where its coming from and for example radio we can see clearly on our screen that where the noise is coming from without no doubt and as well as a car sound we can first hear the sound of the engine.For example in this screen we can hear where the noise is coming from as batman is in isolated place with joker we hear the neturel voice but as the audience we can clearly tell where both the character.
There is another element that is called off sound screen with this one we can hear the sound but we cannot see where the sound is coming from but this makes sense the film world from example traffic sounds and coughing noise the audience are able to tell straight away what object it is by the sound. A example this is scream we can hear the person on phone talking but the audience can't see the person on the phone we can only hear the person on the phone whose responding at the female victims this allows the audience to straight way picture into their heads as the audience only hears the voice it create this tension which makes the audience frightened for the poor female victim.
Parallel sound is when you hear in film what is expected for example a scene with children playing on a beach the parallel sounds would be laughter, talking and the sea screaming and phone call. for example we were to watch a thriller film and we are about to witness the murder it would accompany some dark , fast tempo music with actions.
when we hear sound that doesn't associate with the event on the screen we would call this contrapuntal sound for example if we were to be watching children playing on the beach we wouldn't use fast pacing as the style would not go together.
Clearly in this scene we see children playing together in the field the style of music that is used on this scene is steady pace which this is marking the moment of the children as the audience are aware of something terrible is going to happen.
Cinematography is looking at the way the shot is framed and how the angle is taken in and how the movement of the camera are taken in all these things give the audience a different representation of the character this allows the audience to respond in certain way while watching a thriller films as the audience why see a close up shot that is when it shows the character's emotions.
This is a close up shot this is used to show the characters facial expressions and also this image only focus on the face because this allows the audience to see the characters reactions and see what are they capable of as in this shot it mainly focus on the face as the character is looking directly into the screen this makes the audience concerned about this character.
camera angles.
This is high angle shot.
A high angle is when camera is looking down.
This is an example of high angle shot because the camera is looking down as the protagonist is trying to rescue the lady, has he looking down this shows that the victim feels powerless she can't do nothing at all therefore she is relying on the protagonist to help her from the captivation, this high angle makes the audience feel sorry for her as she is looking up to the protagonist to her as she can't take it any longer.
This is a medium shot because it generally includes the body from the knees and waist up.This image shows the waist and arms it shows the body language of the characters as they body language shows that they are enjoying each others company, this makes the audience feel interested between these character as the way they are standing it create excitement the audience can't keep the eyes away from them as it is mind blowing.
long shot includes an amount of picture within the frame which roughly corresponds to the audience's view of the area within the proscenium arch of the legitimate theater, this allows the audience to see everything in the scene to get the idea of the location as the image shows the area on the image.
This is a extreme close up which is a minutely detailed view of an object of a person, an extreme close-up generally includes only his eyes or mouth. This image makes the audience feel sympathy for the character as she is staring directly at the audience as she is now hopeless as the camera is focus on her facial its emotional.
This is a extreme long shot it panoramic view of an exterior location, photographed from a great distance often as far as a quarter mile away.this clearly shows the area from far a way distance this emphasis everything in the scene.
Establishing shot is usually an extreme long shot which is offered at the beginning of a scene or sequence providing the viewer with the context of the subsequent closer shots, this shows everything on the scene it doesn't hide nothing at all it allows the audience to see ever details of the shot.
Low angle shot is photographed from below this shows whose more dominated and powerful as the camera is low it shows the character long big and strong this straight why gives away to the audience that this character is in power is brave because of the body is high up.
Crane shot is taken from a special device called a crane, which resembles a huge mechanical arm. The crane carries the camera and cameraman which can move in any direction that is needed to move for example if the character wants to run away the crane then follow movements.
This is a point of view shot which is taken from the vantage point of a character in the film its also known as the first person camera as in the image it focus on the character holding money on his hand he seems surprised he doesn't know if he should take the money or not, this shot also gives the audience a chance to see what decision the character will decide on.
Zoom shot captures the emotions or sometimes it gets it away from the camera as in this image the man is trying not to show his emotions as the audience could see that the emotions is there but it doesn't want to be shown on the scene as the character face different way.
A genre is a way of categorizing a particular media text according to the content and style for example when putting between a horror movie and a thriller which can deal with the similar subject matter it looks the same for example lots of action set at night but belong to different genre ( a horror films takes the audiences into supernatural place where as thriller mainly focus on reality).
what is a thriller?
A thriller is genre that revolves a sudden rush of emotions, excitement that drives the story sometimes at costant chilling pace thrill. It keeps the audience cliff hanging at the edge of their seats as the plot builds towards climax, a thriller is usually villain-driven plot whereby he or she presents obstacles that the protagonist must overcome.A common theme in thrillers involves innocent victims dealing with deranged and most the time children involve sometimes elderly are featured as well.
Example of thrillers.
Tittle : Psycho
Genre: Thriller
Narrative
Marion steals the money and decide to leave the town On the road, she pulls over to sleep and she is awoken by a policeman who detects that something is wrong. The policeman lets her go, but upon arriving in another town,Marion pulls into a used car dealership and hastily exchanges her car for another one. driving during a rainy night she pulls up to bates motel that has recentlyl lost business due to the diversion of the highway the proprietor youthful but nervous Normans Bate invit her for a light dinner in the parlor then Norman starts talking about how his mother is mentally ill, but he becomes agitated and bristles when Marion suggests that she be institutionalized.Then the conversation reduces Marion decides to return back to phoenix and return the stolen money,Marion later on takes a shower in her room, during which a shadowy figure comes and stabs her to death. Norman bursts into the bathroom and discovers Marion's dead body. He wraps the body in the shower curtain and cleans up the bathroom. He puts Marion's body in her car and sinks her car in a nearby swamp.
The common subgenres are crime thrillers, psychological thriller erotic thriller and mystery thrillers and another common thriller is spy genre which deal with fictional espionage an example of thrillers are Psycho the horror and action genre often overlap with the thriller genre, the thriller tend to be pyscholocal, threatening,mysterious and at times it involve larger scale villains such as espionage and terrorism, comedy thriller and political thriller and actions thriller is also part of it
Example of thrillers.
saw is an example of thriller.
Saw is a psychological thriller which plays with characters minds and the audience always want to know whats happening when watching a psychological thriller.
Mirror is another example of thriller which involve a protagonist try to save the day by deafeating antagonist and must of the time the antagonist initially are always cleverer or stronger than the protagonist.
The common themes of thrillers.
The common themes of thrillers is usually guilt, revenge, obessions spying , death and love this then follows by the narritive mainly dominated by protagonist point of view.
The common themes involve kidnapping, pschylogical thriller themes like stalking deathtraps, minds games and crimes,
Codes and Conventions
Thriller films mainly focus on editing and sound editing , sound on thrillers tend to be fast paced and quick cuts this is to create sense of tension and suspense, tension is very important when it comes to a thrillers , the colour black and white are also conventions of a thriller which brings in more dark and sinister feel to the movie.The lighting are also conventions of thrillers they are exaggerated by the use of the colours black and white in thrillers mirrors and stairs are used quite often they are mainly used on psychological thrillers.
The codes are generally fast paced camera angle changes which add that extra tensions and mystery to the thriller and thrillers usually have great deal of actions, cinematic landscapes and city capes or sometimes mind capes for example Psycho thrillers can be very dramatic even when it focus on someone's mind mainly in psychological thriller.
Music always helps to build up tension and the use of lighting helps to create shadows which gives the thriller mystery usually we see huge part of the thriller from the killers point of view which allows the thriller to be more menacing , there's a lot of flashback to help clarify the develop of the story these are all used to keep the audience interested and constantly enable them to think.
Response from the audience.
Thriller creates a chilling response from the audience it make the audience feel intimate and scared after watching a thriller this can mainly be because of the image of the people blacking their eyes, faces out with pens ideas of victims or targets there's a sense the antagonist planning something as the audience would what want to ask themselves questions what is going to happen but the questions doesn't stays on the audiences minds.
Overall this coursework has helped me understand how thrillers films are made and how different elements help make a good thriller movie for example the location are massively important when producing a thriller and also studying this course actually allowed me to see things differently for example when watching a thriller movie how the camera angles are used and the editing, the code of conventions helps make a good thriller film.
