Thriller Reviews

The Catalyst



This is a very strong opening to a thriller film, it contains many elements associated with the thriller genre. The editing is very distinct and accurate accompanied by the use of a wide variety of shot techniques. There is good match on action at the beginning where the mysterious black-suited character is breaking into the house and this is continued up the stairs on the way to the bedroom. The use of effects such as the sniper effect used companioned with the heavy breathing suggests focus and builds tension as the audience anticipate that the characters making the transaction will get shot. The cross-cutting of the editing after this of the man running and the villain is effective as it displays the emotions of both at that present time. The non-diegetic sound mixed with the diegetic sound of the character running is efficient as it helps create suspense and build up the essence of a chase. When he arrives at the car and the driver is unconscious, the audience feel tense as they do not know where the villain is, when he begins to strangle him from the backseat, the editing speeds u between the villain and the runner and therefore this helps the audience feel more shocked and on edge to find out whether he will escape death or not. The title becomes relevant with the child who he tells to be quiet in the backseat is revealed as it suggests that he will be in pursuit of the villain. The McGuffin is also established with the micro chip that is found on the floor near the car. The last image of the villain walking away is effective where it is partnered with the non-diegetic and irregular sound.

Despite this, there is room for improvement. Firstly, the scene was too long which may question how much of an opening it actually is. Also, shots such as when he produces the gun in the bedroom could have been divided into more shots to view the action from a wider variety of angles.

Waking up



Waking up is also a very strong piece of media text to represent the start of a film, however, the work entertains many attributes of a thriller trailer rather than an opening to a film. This can be seen in the pace and speed of the action, correlated with the narration and constant non - diegetic music within the film which creates the atmosphere of a trailer rather than an opening to a thriller film. The speed of editing is relatively at a quick pace and there is not much variation in the length of each shot which does not slow down the action and allow essential aspects of a thriller opening such as tension to increase as the audience are not allowed to relax and experience this action as they are watching intensely to keep up with the action as each shot quickly changes to the other. It can come across to the examiner that this group is attepting to cram in too much action in too little time and thus suffers from adopting the persona of a trailer rather than a thriller opening. Despite this, other features of the production are very effective in relation to the thriller genre. The black outfits of the characters in pursuit of the main character contrasted to the purity of the white T-shirts of the main character gives indication of the position that the different characters have in the film, with the characters in black being the established enemy. Furthermore, the ident used is very powerful with its bold white font contrasted to the black background with a strong symbol that is related to the text.

The Watched



This is another good example of a thriller opening. The title is thick, white and bold and effective when contrasted to the black background, similar to Waking up, although it could be percieved as simplistic. However, this film can lose marks based on location and setting. Where it is set in a school, this can imply a lack of effort in finding a location to film and means that the members of the group took an easy option in using the grounds of the school. However, this is only one interpretation, a school is a symbol of security, safety and innocence and the the fact that an anonymous and mysterious character dressed in black and suspicious clothes has breached the barrier of the school could be a way of showing that the character suspicious of being "watched" is now vulneerable and her safety has been impeeded. Furthermore, the non-diegetic sound in the background over the action is effective as it sounds extremely menacing and unclear, thus making the audience feel uneasy. This is key and meets the criteria of the thriller genre. Despite this, there is a lack of diegetic sound throughout the piece which helps the production adopt the style of a film and provide a wider variety of effects for the audience and help them further understand the action; an example of this could be an explanation on why the character may be watching the other character. Moreover, there is a wide variety of different shot types and angles which gives the film flavour, companioned with strong variation in shot lenghts. They have used Point of view shots appropiately, and long shots to help show the character being followed. Dissolves have also beeen utilised to portray time moving forward. All of these different factors put together makes this piece of media text very suspenseful and tense as the audience anticipate what will happen to the vulneerable victim as she is followed.