Sound Effects

Today I focused on sound effects that can be use in my work. I searched the Internet for 'Royalty Free Music Downloads', this then came up with a website named http://www.incompetech.com/. This was a website that provides music and sound effects that can be used in productions with no added prices, this will allow me to include dramatic effects that will build suspense which is crucial to meet the criteria of the Thriller genre. I downloaded various tracks that I thought would go well with my piece as I thought the more that I had the easier it would be to look through them and find one that is suitable to what is happening at that moment in our footage.

Conventons of the Thriller Genre

In and out of lesson I have been studying the genre of thrillers as much as possible, I have been examining the main conventions of them whilst mainly focusing on the first two or three minutes as that will be part of our main task.

Through examining these I have come to the conclusion that thrillers follow a few main conventions, my findings are as follows:

Sound and editing play a large part in creating the suspense and panick that successful thrillers cause. An example of this is quick cuts between cameras and angles, also awkward music and sound effects can create an atmosphere although classical music can also do the same.

Sounds that are non-dijetic also create an atmosphere as it leaves to the imagination of the audience what exactly is happening, if there is just a black screen with credits but screaming can be heard it asks questions in the mind of the audience. This also follows the basic conventions of thrillers as the opening of the thriller should ask questions in the mind of each audience member.

Thrillers also usually pay close attention to lighting, large, dark shadows can create an overwhelming feeling for the characters. The colours black, white and red appear commonly throughout many thrillers, this can be seen in the movie 'The number 23' and I expect to us this in my film.

There will be other conventions that I will address as time goes on however for now these are all of the cconventions that I have learnt.

Title Sequences

I have found these to be a very important part of the film making process, there is a general order that the opening credits that is followed roughly by most films. These are in this order because it is a familiar sequence for the audience as well as it is generally accepted that the Producers/Directors are more important than the cast therefore should come first.
The order is as follows:

A "Producer's name" production
A "Director's name" film
Main actor's name
Main supporting actor's name
Plus two other supporting actor's names (in descending order of importance)
Casting by...
Music by...
Costume designer
Editor
Production designer
Director of photography
Story by...
Screenplay by...
Directed by...
Film name

I plan to follow these whilst producing my media coursework as closely as I can, although where there is included thing like costume designer they will be left out as we don't have one. This will effectively shorten out opening credits but will allow us to work more with them and allow us to use more effects.

Introduction

This is the beginning of my A-level blog, from here I will post regularly on my findings and ideas on the topic that I have been given. The theme that we have been given is that of thriller, I will talk about the conventions of thriller, mainly by focusing on the opening of them and how they are shown and presented.