Evaluation Activity 5

A typical thriller tends to use specific camera shots in order to emphasise and create tension, such as:

·         Long shots- introduce the audience to the surroundings, which would normally be eerie and where the action is going to take place.

·         Close up shots- which also create tension, either used on a person’s face to show emotion or on an object to highlight for a reason you would later find out.

·         Hand held/ following shot- which suggest someone is being followed.

·         Jump shot- this is regularly used within a thriller, at a stage where there is a lot of things happening. Usually put with dramatic music or added noises which add to tension.  

·         Dark settings/ lack of lighting- used in thrillers to surprise you as the audience watching, the dark makes people look more intimidating and scares others.

·         There are not as many graphics- unlike horrors thriller tend to use less graphics, tends to be more visual and psychological.

·         Music- tends to be played in the background of scenes, which is non diegetic. This creates tension and helps determine the mood by the genre of music.

Here are some clips from the film which Eva and I produced, which fits to the conventions of a thriller.  However I think we challenged them, by using a school setting even though it is targeted at an older teenage audience.