Research into editing styles - Miss Georgiou

Editing in Thrillers

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3nIw30hn4U

Editing is changes that have been made to a film to make it more flowing and better to watch. Editing is important in thriller films because it lets the film produces create suspense scenes easily and lets the create dramatic build ups. The film I will be analysing is "Silence of the lambs". I have picked the scene where the convict escapes because it shows some clear editing techniques.

The first editing technique I noticed was suspense. You can notice this right at the start of the clip when the camera sweeps over the tape recorder playing music. The calm music is supposed to make the audience think that nothing bad will happen in this clip and that the music is only to sooth the convict. As the audience we know that this is not the case. Calm music in thriller films is only creating tension leading up to a big occurrence. As the audience know this it makes them tense and curious about what is going to happen next. This technique pulls the audience into the film because they want to know what is going to happen.

The second editing technique I noticed was slow editing. This is clear when the convict is walking towards the police officer. You can tell that the clip has been edited to make it slower because each step the convict takes, he gets slower and slower. This technique builds tension on the audience because they know that the convict is going to seriously harm the police officer. This makes the audience experience feel sorry for the police officer because he is stuck and he has no way of escape. This technique is common for a thriller film because it is a easy way to create tension and it a easy way to lead up to a big climax.

 

The third and final technique I noticed was the times of the shots had been made faster. You can see this technique clearly when the convict is hitting the police officer with the bat. Each time the convict strikes the officer it becomes faster and faster. This is to add emphasis on the character to show his emotions clearly. From the clip being sped up it shows the audience that the convict is experiencing anger and that he is getting his pay back on the police officer. This technique shows the audience a characters true feelings and it also creates a sense of power for the convict hitting the officer.

From looking over these editing techniques, it has given me ideas to use for my thriller clip. I will be able to use some of these techniques to create tension on the audience and also to grab the audience and drag them into my storyline.