Planning: Planning cinematography, sound and editing - Mrs. Quinlan

Introduction

I have considered using different sound for my thriller opening using common conventions and my own analysis. It is very important to consider the sound to be used in a thriller, why to use and the effectiveness of this sound and what it may do to the audience. Sound is a very important micro-element in thrillers as it does justice to the theme and the current scene, it adds to it and furthers the audience understanding of what is happening. Different types of sounds are noted in thrillers and they have been identified and categorized because of what they imply and how they affect the scene and film, this is good for the film as it draws the audience in using just sound, a thriller opening can have no dialogue and just sound and an audience can be able to draw something from that.

The sound(s) I plan to use in my thriller opening are the following –

Off-Screen 

Off-screen sound will be used when the audience is introduced to the main character as the antagonist to show the mental torture they are going through. 

Using Logic Pro X I will create sound to ensure the audience understand it is not coming from anything on screen and it is not in the line of sight of the naked eye. I have chosen this specifically as I can use LP to ensure the sounds are of the highest quality and match the mood of the scene. This is common in thrillers to show the rising tension in a scene that something is about to happen.

On Screen

On screen sound will be used for when the main character is training and practicing with his entrepreneur for what he wants to do with him and is a very important scene in the opening and the prop used for training will be highlighted when being used to single out the specific action as if to make the prop an iconography in the opening allowing the audience to see where the sound is coming from. This is a common convention using on screen sound to show the audience where a noise may be coming from such as in Watchmen an on screen sound was the TV that the victim was watching.

Contrapuntal

Contrapuntal sound will be used when the two characters are seen walking away from the crime scene near the end of the scene, this will be used to make the audience think ‘oh this seems like nothing is wrong here’ but really the sound will be used to hide their actions and cover up the fact that they had just committed an act of some sort. This is a good way to give the audience an idea of what type of characters they are, the main characters physical and intimidating mixed with the entrepreneurs’ cheekiness to show that there is definitely something wrong there.

Non-Diegetic

Non-diegetic sound will also be used and is the key sound in the opening as it is not part of the film world and consists of things such as sound effects, soundtracks and voiceovers, which is good for the opening as it draws away from using the sound in a recording. Muting the irrelevant sounds from the recording and creating my own sound is a good way to experience the different effects I can add to the scene using sounds and also add my own theme behind the sound and if I wanted I could add a voice-over as if to depict the life of the character in third person.

Conclusion

From what I have learnt and researched I have thought about the sound to be used in the opening thriller carefully and have looked at other thrillers to see how they used it and added different themed effects to their scenes and if they used it at all. I didn’t put it but diegetic sound could also be used for the opening as a way to give off the creepy effect the character has shown and by playing music from an old radio or CD player to maybe show the audience that this guy is a weirdo and very weird serial killer adds to the common conventions seen in other thriller movies.