What is Suspense? (1st lesson)

In the introductory lesson to making a thriller sequence we looked at opening to films that build suspense and the definition of suspense.
Suspense is an emotional build up to something that someone is unaware of, it is an apprehension about what is going to happen, an exciting anticipation of an approaching climax.

In ‘No Country For Old Men’ suspense was built by the open atmosphere the loud voice over and the lone police officer with a dangerous criminal. Suspense is built because the officer and audience are unaware of what could happen with the officer and criminal.

In ‘Seven’ suspense was built by the images that appeared on screen, photos of blood and other gory stuff. This is a tense moment because viewers don’t know if something else will appear that will let the viewers know what the films about.

‘Panic Room’ builds suspense because the opening shot is daylight and dramatic music with the actor’s names appearing on screen. The viewers don’t know what else will appear on screen.

Photo Shot activity!!!

This medium shot image is demonstrating passion between a male and female. The setting of a small lift adds tension as its a closed space, it allows 'passion' to be demonstrated more effectively. The strong use of a medium shot also allows us to see the facial expressions of both people, this means we acknowledge their emotions and have a clear understanding of what is happening. The body language of the two also helps represent passion as almost everything is touching. I think this is a very good shot representing passion.

Photo Activity

In this lesson we was using cameras to experiment with different types of shots and camera angles in preparation for our film title sequence. The following shot is titled “Claustrophobic”, In this shot we wanted to focus on a group of people crammed into an lift and focus on one person feeling uncomfortable and claustrophobic. This shot works well because people will automatically look at the boy in the middle because he has eye contact with the camera whereas everyone else is looking normal. The camera focuses on the boy’s facial expression and the mise en scene of the crowd around him indicates to people that he feels crammed in the lift. The background is also very effective because the camera could only get what was inside the lift making the picture appear much smaller

Photo Activity

The following shot is a wide shot of a mysterious scene.

In this shot we see a young girl on the phone and behind

her we see a boy with a hood watching. Although this is

not an original shot it is a good way to show mystery. I

believe this shot works very well because the girl is

oblivious to what is going on. I also believe that it represent

Mystery, due to the facial expression on the boys face. The

scene looks as if the boy is stalking her. This shot also looks

mysterious due to the boys body language and the mise en scene

used. By the shot being in a empty hallway it creates an mysterious

and strange atmosphere. In addition i believe that the shot was

effective and demonstrated a mysterious atmosphere.

My favourite thriller film opening?

My favourite film opening is for the film “The Silence of the lambs”. The film is a psychological thriller which was made in 1991 and directed by Jonathan Demme. In the film, Clarice Starling, a young FBI trainee, seeks the advice of the imprisoned Lecter on catching a serial killer known only as "Buffalo Bill". However Lecter is in prison because he is Cannibal.

I like the film opening for silences of the lambs because I found that it created a lot of suspense and made the audience want to watch the film. The first shot we see is of an airy Smokey forest. Straight away this got me intrigued and made me ask myself questions. Another reason why I got intrigued is because they have unusual airy music playing throughout the opening scene making the target audience believe that a climax is going to happen already. In addition you see a young woman running through the woods. This adds to the whole thriller theme and makes me wonder if she is running away from something/someone or were she is running to. I also believe that the camera following her from a birds eye view very slowly creates a stalker atmosphere. I liked this opening because it did not have a lot of special effects init like all the majority of 21st century films have in it. I also believed that it worked very well because all the editing was clear cut and was smooth.

The Shining

In last weeks lesson I watched ‘The Shining’, a physiological thriller directed by Stanley Kubrick. ‘The Shining’ is about a man called Jack who takes a new job as a caretaker of a hotel for the winter, Jack and his family move into the hotel and strange things start to happen. Jack eventually ends up going mad and tries to murder his wife and child, but in the end his family escape and he is frozen alive.

There are a lot of suspenseful moments throughout the film; the suspense is built up through a range of things. Sound helps to create suspense, because it creates tension in the most dramatic parts of the film. The eerie orchestral music gets louder in the scariest parts of the film, for example when the head chef comes back to the hotel after he fears Jacks wife and child are in trouble the music increase because the audience and himself are unaware were Jack is hiding with the axe. This is a suspenseful moment because Jack could jump out at any moment.

Mise en scene creates suspense because there are a range of props that leave the viewers apprehensive about what they will be used for, for example when Jack threatens his wife with an axe and when Jack’s wife threatens Jack with a bat.
The camera work is successful in creating suspense because of the various movements and angles. In one scene Jack’s son is riding his bike around the empty hotel the camera is on a floor level following the bike, this intensifies this scene because viewers feel like there on the boy’s level so whatever jumps out at him will also jump out at the viewers.

Overall suspense is very effective through out the film because viewers are apprehensive and excited about the unknown approaching climaxes. The emotional build up leaves the viewers feeling as if they were in Jack’s wife and son’s place, which essentially makes the film more scary/thrilling.

How is suspense created in “The shining”?

In today’s lesson I watched the film “The Shining”. This was the 1980 psychological thriller film directed by Stanley Kubrick. The film was about a man called Jack, who takes a new job of looking after a hotel for the winter while it is closed. Jack moves into the hotel with his wife and his son and that is when all the strange behaviour starts to happen. Jack`s psychic son “Danny” sees horrific things of what happens in the hotel. The hotel is haunted and is built on an old Indian burial ground. In the end Jack goes crazy and tries to murder his wife “Wendy” and his son Jack.

Throughout the movie suspense is created in many different ways. The four main ways
that suspense was created by using the four different elements which are; camera, mise en scene, sound and editing. In one of the scenes, Jack violently hammers down the bathroom door with an “axe” trying to get to his wife. This scene creates a lot of suspense’s due to the fact that each time the door is getting hammered we can see Wendy’s reaction to it. This scene creates a lot of tension and keeps the audience glued to the film, due to the fact they know a climax is going to happen soon. The banging on the door is also very effective due to that fact that it makes the audience sit on the edge of their seats and want to know what happens next.

Sound also helps to create tension within the film. It does this by playing airy music in the background throughout the film. Then at key moments it makes the music a lot louder to create the sinister effect. This happens in the end scene were jack is chasing after his son in the outside garden maze. As he gets closer to Danny the music gets louder and the paste of the music increases and becomes much faster.

On a whole I believe that suspense is showed many different times throughout “The shining”. In addition I believe that without suspense being used in the film, it would make the film less effective and make it harder for the target audience to understand. Below is a link for the film, it is a part of the film were I believe that suspense is showed very well.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TVooUHN7j4