Xx evaluation of past thriller productions xX

In my opinion, the opening is very effective, as it begins with an extreme close up of the girls eyes, followed by quick cut shots to her feet and hands supported by digetic soundscapes of feet curling, hands sweeping and sheets tearing. The mise en scene here is off the girl wearing a ragged white dirty night dress, this adds to the caution and uncomfortable nature of this thriller, adding to the audience’s uneasiness.
When the close up occurs of the girls eyes moving around, it makes the audience feel suspense and tension in addition to uneasiness as we are unsure of what is making the mysterious moving and banging sounds. The black out afterwards also contributes to this and makes you want to watch on.

When the titles appear they are of a simple colour such as black and white, this adds to the thriller as the colour is so basic and therefore not giving any clues about what is to come. They are also titled upside down causing distortion for the audience. This was a good choice made by the group and adds to the theme of the thriller.

Trembling sting of violins are heard also during these titles adding to the suspense and tension.

A close up of the girl’s feet is then seen; portraying the character as ambiguous as no long shot of the entity of the body has been seen and therefore no audience/actor connection can be made. The mise en scene of the walls are bare, there is nothing warmly to the house making the audience feel uncomfortable and scared. Additionally the colours are extremely dull, such as greys.

There are cut shots from the girl’s clean hands to dirty hands, representing that she has obsessive compulsive disorder and feels that her hands are never clean. This is portrayed through an extreme close up of her eyes looking terrified whilst washing herself, causing the audience to feel anxious. This is also portrayed through the close ups of the two brushes, as it shows her picking up the dirty brush representing to the dirt she feels inside.

She begins to cry, adding to the intensity as well as the red blood contrasting to the bleak dull walls, meaning the redness stands out and so has a dramatic effect. When she places these hands on the mirror and smears the blood on them the sounds effects of a machine can be heard giving the affect of the sound of hand scrapping down the mirror when friction is present.

When she sees the mud, boils, and blood on her hand the music and sound changes to a deep drum, in rhythm including pauses from the trembling strings; adding to the intensity.

When the girl enters the bath of water she enters slowly causing suspense and tension as the viewers watch in anguish to know what will happen next.
The thriller ends on a cliff hanger as she is drowning in the bath, the thriller being the question of does she die or survive as the ending is dark. The strengths are that tension is held throughout this piece as I wanted to continue watching. The sound effects and camera and editing work also contributed well to the piece.

A disadvantage is putting the title at the end and in such small font I think it did not add to the thriller and did not have a big enough effect.
It should have been at the beginning and in a dripping motion such as wording coming down vertical, to create the effect of water.
Overall I feel this was a strong thriller as suspense and tension was maintained.




The opening of the credits, are distorted as there are items hanging. I believe it to be to glass causing reflections and therefore distorted lighting.
The establishing shot of night and rain adds suspense and tension as generally in thrillers deaths and murders occur at night, as characters become ambiguous through poor lighting. The rain also contributes to the dullness; the rain is not physically seen at the beginning however the digetic sound of heavy rain drops adds to this effect.
The Mise en scene shows a girl wearing pink pyjamas, this makes her look vulnerable and makes the audience feel a connection as they sympathise with her innocent look.

When the over the shot angle of the ambiguous hooded antagonist is seen, this causes suspense as the audience are unsure as they do not know who they are.
This builds anxiety when she walks downstairs and out the door, as she walks out there is a cut shot to the antagonist, who’s only eyes can be seen portraying him as ambiguous and evil and therefore suspense is built.

When they meet you can see the girl and the hooded man starring at each other. Tension is held here, as the viewers want to watch on to see what will happen. The film ends with a twist as they kiss each other.
The tile “crush” then appears supported by a sound effect of glass smashing for an effect of the word crush, creating the effect of the title “crush.”

I found that this thriller built in suspense, especially towards the beginning as well as when the protagonist was seen. I felt the ending was a slight let down and did not find it to be an effective ending. I felt it also moved slowly, and this decreased the thrilling ness.
Overall, I felt drip had a better story line as well as maintaining the suspense and tension.
The ending also had a more dramatic effect and made me as a viewer want to watch on, as a cliff hanger was used here.

Overall, they were too very good Hurtwood thrillers that inspired me towards mine, and showed me how to build suspense throughout my own thriller.