Sound in Thrillers

Sound in Thrillers

Sound in thrillers is a key point into making the right atmosphere. All genres of film have different types of atmosphere so need specific sounds and scores to make the film more entertaining to watch. When creating a score for a film it’s important to make sure that it matches the tone of the film, having a successful score makes the film more effective. In this blog post I will look at several films which all use sound successfully in different ways.

In the film ‘Psycho’ a piece of music is used which was so successful that it is still famous today. The key idea of this score was to create tension and a build-up which lead usually to a confrontation between the antagonist and a protagonist. One of the most famous examples of the violin screech was the infamous shower murder scene. At the beginning of the scene there is no music at all, simply the sound effects of Marion Crane tuning on the shower. This earie silence is unsettling and already leads us to believe that something untoward is going to occur. This use of silence continues throughout the scene as Crane steps into the shower. Each movement, whether it be opening the shower curtain or turning the shower on, seems to be empathised more making it seem a lot louder.

As the character begins to shower, we slowly see a figure make itself more visible by moving closer towards the shower. As they come closer and closer we begin to fear the worst. Once the tension has built all the way to its peak, the figure rips the shower certain open, cueing the horrendous scratching violins. This deafening noise combined with the violence on screen provides a chilling and terrifying scene to watch. The camera then rapidly changes to different angles of Norman Bates stabbing his victim. The close up of her face shows the terror that she is experiencing which when added with the violin screech only makes it harder for us to watch the scene.

The loud violins continue for what feels like an hour and as they begin to soften, Bates runs away leaving us to watch Crane slowly die. This is accompanied by the same violins, but with a much slower pace.

The music eventually stops dead as the victim dies. The score matches well with most of the scene. The high pitch violins creating tension and horror when the victim is being stabbed. The violins then getting slower and slower to show that Crane is dying and then again back to the sound which was at the start of the scene, silence. We hear the shower running again and see blood going down the drain which then concludes this gruesome scene. This simple idea of just screeching violins proved to work very well. The music in itself made psycho very popular and the score is still extremely famous today. This shows how effective a score can be, as this scene went down as one of the most famous in film history.

In this next film, the use of sound is extremely different to the use of sound in Psycho. The film ‘Sixth Sense’ the final scene has proven to show one of the best plot twists in film history. But this scene would have not been anywhere as near as effective without the use of a clever and well thought out score.

The scene begins with dialogue between Malcom Crowe and his wife Anna Crowe. It starts with no score or backing music as the main focus is the conversation in which they’re having. This is significant as the conversation is the reason that Malcom Crowe finds out the tragic truth. Having no backing track at this point meant that when Malcom’s ring rolled across the ground, the sound almost seemed deafening.

Once Crowe lifts his hand up and realises that the ring is his, the score begins. The score is accompanied by the little boy Cole voice as the scene in which we establish the child can see dead people repeats itself. The music is crushing and almost sinister as we as the audience start to get ideas into what is happening. The film then cycles through many scenes which points towards the ultimate truth. The music continues to play and at certain points heightening to make it more dramatic. The music then takes a sinister turn as Crowe starts to stubble up the stairs with his eyes fixed in the cupboard underneath them. The music the builds again as Crowe comes to a stop with his back against the wall.

The truth has now definitely been revealed and he is trying to come to terms with it. The score is incredibly dramatic and emotionally which is very effective for the audience as we also begin to realise what is happening. The music then stops and we hear a gunshot, this almost confirms our fears as the camera pans out and reveals Crowe lying on the bed in pain. Dialogue then takes over before the gun wound is revealed and the music starts again. This begins to pull at the audience’s heart strings.

As the music fades away again, the close up of Bruce Willis’ (Malcom Crowe) face paints the picture as his death is now inevitable. The final piece of the score used is now used to send the audience into tears as the orchestra plays a dramatic and sad final section as Malcom Crowe fades away from his wife. The use of the orchestra in this scene was very successful in making the audience feel emotional. But it also accompanies the huge plot twist in which the audience would have just witnessed making the scene even more dramatic to watch. Again, this scene in the movie is now still very famous as the music is the main thing that makes the audience upset. Without the score to play over the scene it would have been completely different and may have not been as successful as it was.

Initial Ideas .

Thriller Openings

Thriller Openings

The opening to a film can be the most important part. The key to a successful opening sequence drags the audience in and captures their attention. If the opening is boring poorly made it can turn the audience away and not setup them up correctly for the rest of the film, or worse make them stop watching.  First impression is key as humans we quickly come to a decision about whether we will enjoy this movie or not. In this post, I will be looking at a strong opening sequence in a film and evaluate what they do which is successful.

The idea of an opening scene in thrillers could do a variety of things. For example, it can be used to confuse or scare the audience whilst building suspension at the same time.  Often these scenes can be uncomfortable to watch, which is what they are designed to do. For example, in the physiological thriller, ‘Silence of the Lambs’ the opening scene includes a shot in which the camera is moving around a forest. The only thing accompanying this shot type is an unsettling piece of music performed by an orchestra. As the camera continues to show more and more of the forest plain back credits appear right in the centre of the screen introducing the actors who are involved with the film. This simple idea of an opening scene doesn’t allow us to see anything into the movie’s plot which creates a sense of uncertainty.

The camera then comes to a fixed point where the first character is introduced into the film. The female character is seen to by climbing up a hill using ropes attached to the top of the hill. This again will confuse the audience as we have no indication into why she is climbing the hill. Once she reaches the top the camera continues to follow her closer introducing more detail into her looks. This gives us a more intricate view on this so far unknown character. As the scene develops it becomes clear that the women is on an assault course of sort. This reveals more information about the character but again doesn’t give us a clear image into why she is here or why she is on the assault course. The idea of mystery and not giving to much information away is rampant in the opening sequence to the film. This build of uncertainty is key to how the directors of this film want you to feel. The purposeful use to mystery creates a tense and successful opening scene. It intrigues us and makes us more likely to watch the rest of the film to find out about all these different uncertainties.

Once she reaches the top of the hill the music continues to play whilst she attempts the rest of the course. The music comes across as very sinister and creates a tense atmosphere as the camera tracks the female character. The music leads us to believe that something bad is going to happen as the women is alone in the woods. Though nothing does happen, the score does a good job of leading us to believe it will. The score is probably the most important piece in this scene as it’s plays the biggest contribution to the horrible atmosphere of the sequence. It also adds another layer of confusion as we have no idea why the lady is there or why the music sounds so sinister. The tone of the film is hugely set by the score which was written by Howard Shore who also wrote the music for big blockbuster films such as ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘Lord of the Rings’. The music is effective as it adds another layer to the scene. That being a sense of danger and tension. This builds as the scene develops.

The location in which the scene is set it very vaguely presented to us. At this point in the film we have no idea as in to why we are introduced to the lady here. As the scene further develops another character is introduced. We learn a few things about our other character just by the few lines of convocation they have. Firstly, we learn the name of the character we have been following for the past minute or two and we establish the she must be a part of the FBI as the man who passes her a message has a hat reading ‘FBI’ on it. Also, we understand why she is on an assault course as she must be training to become a FBI agent. Just by having a small fifteen second conversation with a new character we find out lots of different types of information and are slightly more introduced the female character now known as Starling. This conversation is key to the development of the film as we move out of the opening scene.

The last bit of the scene is Starling running into what we assume to be the location of the FBI training camp. As she runs into the building we see dozens more people in the shot. Only a few seconds ago Starling was running an assault course by herself with no one else to be seen and now as she heads back to the centre building more people begin to appear. This is a big hint into Starling’s character as it seems that she prefers to work alone. This also happens throughout the film as when she meets Hannibal Lector (The serial killer in which the film is based on) she seems him alone many times, which could be dangerous. We get the idea that something must have happened in her childhood to make her want to be alone as it’s a familiar theme throughout.

In conclusion, the key to a successful opening thriller sequence is a sense of mystery. You don’t want to give away too much information about the characters or the plot of the film but you want the audience to be introduced to the tone of the movie. The ‘Silence of the Lambs’ does this very successfully as it uses very vague shot types to entice the audience but not give away anything about the identity of the character or the focus on the plot. Also towards the end of the opening scene it begins to develop the main character by introducing a few pieces of key information. This was important as it allows us to learn more about the character. 

Motifs in Film

The use of motifs in film is not uncommon and hasn't been in either past or present film. The idea of motifs ranges from specific meaning to certain items to just the simple case of familiarity. Some are used to signify a change in film or alert the audience of an event in which is awaiting its occurrence. These simple and purposeful objects, scores or phrases allows and audience to increase their familiarity with the move but also helps reveal the underlined message of the film. In the case I am going to use the film 'Women in Black' to explain the re significance within film. The film 'Women in Black' frequently uses dolls to create a creepy atmosphere. Though at first sight the dolls seems fairly harmless the deeper meaning in which they're used to show empahises the eerie atmosphere in which the film creates. The director decided to use close up of dolls but also feature the in the background of many scenes as a direct attempt to scare the audience. The constant use of dolls in the background doesn't't always draw our attention but by using them so much meant that the viewers start to feel that they're always there. It's almost like they become another character of the film as the become so familiar to us. It also develops our understanding of the narrative as the girls who died in the house, were using the dolls just minutes before they jumped to their death. Once the three had jumped there is a close up shot of the dolls face which heavily links with the three girls. This frightening shot just after such a distressing scene only adds to the chilling atmosphere that the audience is exposed too.
 Woman in Black has a lot of undertone meanings and uses lots of different objects to signify certain things. But the high use of dolls in the film is something that can't be missed and definitely adds to the feels scary mood. Dolls have been used throughout horror-thrillers as a particularly creepy object. Though they seem very innocent many horror directors have changed our opinion on them with films such as Chucky. This persona of dolls created by past horror films is used to the makers of 'Women in Black's advantage as though we never see them move they show a huge suggestion of possession in the house. The dolls dirty and worn look shows the dolls are fairly old and have been in the abandoned house for a long time. The idea that the dolls are one of the surviving objects suggests that the dolls are possessed as they have survived for such a long time. There are many dolls situated around the house which feels like they're watching every room. The watch that they have over the house makes for an alarming viewing.