For this task, I looked at a previous media student’s thriller movie and analyzed it against the given criteria, looking to see why the grade it received the grade that it got. This is helpful to us as current media students as we can see the areas in which we gained marks and pick up techniques and basic ideas for our own thrillers when we make them, we can learn from the previous student work.

I have chosen to analyse the piece ‘MEGAN’ as I believe it was very successful in meeting all of the criteria and I found it very profesionally made, I was very inspired and intrigued by this piece and hope to be able to maybe create something close to this standard.

Here it is:

In order to analyse the thriller, we were given a success criteria which is below:

Holding a steady shot

There are several examples within the piece that display a steady shot, for example in the very beginning when there are snapshot shots of different rooms in the house, you can tell that these have been filmed with the camera securely on the tripod, giving the film are more  professional look as the camera isn’t shaking. It could be used to convey the stillness and peace of the house at the beginning, a contrast from when things begin to become more sinister, which then a range of different frames will be used to creste this sense of unease.

Framing a shot

A wide variety of different camera angles are used in order to convey different atmospheres to the audience. One good example of a specifically effective camera angle is when the camera is focused in on a close up shots to specific areas of the girl when she becomes distressed by the events, for example, there will be a clip of the main action and then it will cut back to a close up shot of her hands grabbing at her hair in distress, focusing us in on this so we can gather the fear of the situation.

Variety of shot distances

The variety of shot distances is a stand out feature of this project. There’s several quick close up shots of things such as the girl’s face and the door handle rattling however most of the shots of the man are further away, more long shots, so that way, his identity remains a mystery but we are given a huge close up on the effects he’s having in the woman, yet we don’t know really anything about him which creates an element of mystery which is key in a thriller film.

Appropriation to task

This thriller opening is extremely professional, a tense and mysterious atmosphere is created throughout, the acting from the two characters is extremely professional and I feel as though it is very successfully fulfilling the task brief. We have the stark contrast from the distressed innocent woman to the dark and scheming man which creates an believable and gripping plotline.

Mise-en-scene Selection

All aspects of mise-en-scene seem to have been carefully and purposefully selected in order to create an extremely effective and professional looking thriller. The average, everyday setting of a normal house starkly contrasts with the sinister events that are playing out, it comes as a shock to the audience however makes it more relatable for them. This is also the case for the costumes of  the woman and the man, the woman wearing very comfortable looking, casual clothing such a slippers, and the man wearing purposely all black clothing, signify again the innocence of the woman and the dark, mysterious nature of the man. The lighting also is very bright when the woman is getting on with her mundane tasks, such as mopping the floor, however when things begin to turn sinister with the man, the lighting becomes far more low-key, heightening the tension.

Editing for meaning

This thriller is also very cleverly edited to display the story which we can tell is in chronological order as we as an audience can see the woman getting more and more distressed throughout as the man comes closer. We get snippets of the woman alone in her distressed state,these clips being in black and white to show the miserable state she’s in, all the colour faded. These black and white clips are then edited amongst the coloured clips of her being watched by the killer therefore it’s edited to almost show an insight into her mind  as we see the events playing out in chronological order and then clips of her in fear are edited throughout this, displaying more clearly the killer’s effect on her.

Shot transitions 

There are some shot transitions displayed within this opening, for example when it changes from reality to the black and white visions of her, there’s a fade transition used to show the change from reality to her mental state. It creates a sense of tension, as the fading means it quickly becomes another image therefore when it cuts so quickly some times you are left in suspense, not sure what’s going to happen next.

Sound with images 

There is creepy music throughout the entirety of the thriller which almost resembles somebody screaming, perhaps representing the woman mentally crying out for help. This tense music is also accompanied by specific sound effects in places for example, when the camera is on a close up shot of the woman, there is a sound effect of her breathing as if she’s been shocked or she’s in fear, showing her fear and building tension as we uncover the story. Another example is when the foot slams loudly, this loud sound effect over the already eerie music is tense and shocking, and fits in perfectly with the scene.

Using Titles 

The titles are rather simplistic within this thriller however I think it’s effective within this case as the visual style of them fits perfectly with the theme. The titles appear in a quite a small font at the top of the screen in different shots however every single first letter of each title is in a red colour which seemingly signifies the blood that is shown repeatedly throughout the opening, show the sinister atmosphere of this thriller, killing is involved.