Comparing Conventions of Two Thriller Openings

Comparing Conventions of two thriller Openings

The two thrillers that I am analysing are Exorcism Of Emily Rose (EOER) which is a Supernatural Thriller and Law Abiding Citizen (LAC) which is a gory thriller. I will be comparing both these thriller on their similarities and differences of their conventions.

In EOER it starts off with white captions of writing fading in and out and the last caption says ‘based on a true story’ which is conventional of a thriller to be based or inspired by true stories because it creates an intense atmosphere for the audience. The sound in this caption sequence is of a non diegetic exorcism mixed in with an eerie consistent noise throughout and this is also conventional of a thriller to have chilling sounds at the start to get the audience enticed. After the captions the film carry on the eerie sound but drop the exorcism sound and this still has the audience captured in an intense atmosphere. The camera shot is a close up of a wooden post in the countryside with barbed wire running through it across the screen and it is unusual of a thriller/ horror not to have an establishing shot. They do the same in LAC because they start with a close up of a child’s hand. At the end of the shot the movie title appears in red and this adds to the intense atmosphere. The font is gothic which is conventional of a movie to inform the audience that this movie is a thriller. The next scene is an establishing shot of a an isolated rugged house in American countryside sometime on a winters morning with an overcast view of the sky in the background with fields and this is conventional in a thriller to have an isolated house because it tells the audience that anything can happen here. A man in this shot starts walking towards the house in this shot in a black trench coat and a 40’s style hat with black smart shoes which is round the age of 55-65, the camera then cuts to a mid-shot of him knocking on houses door and there is no one in, the man looks unnerved. They have made this scene carry an intense atmosphere with the music of the non-diegetic eerie sound with an occasional chime sounding which gives a chilling effect, this is conventional of a thriller to make a chilling by using music and the music does make this scene otherwise it would be boring. After this the man walks away from the house after having no answer and after a few steps pauses and looks at an isolated barn and then has a close up of a creaking rusty metal wind pointer in a shape of a cockerel which is on top of the barn. This scene is also unnerving for the man and the audience and they have done this with a mixture of diegetic and non-diegetic sound of trees rustling, chilling whistling wind and a non-diegetic eerie sound still carried out and this is conventional of a thriller to have slow tempo editing at the start but is accompanied by chilling eerie sounds to set the mood for the movie so the audience are not comfortable in their seats.

In LAC it does a similar technique as EOER and does not have a establishing shot at the start but in this opening it doesn’t have one at all and this is very rare in any movie. The first scene is very calm and relaxed in LAC and starts off with a close up of a child making a necklace and in the same room is her dad doing his work and they are having a natural conversation with a shot reverse shot. All the sound in this scene is diegetic and the setting is a typical happy middle class American family in a house at night in a chilled atmosphere, which is created by the child in her pyjamas and the father in a casual jumper and trousers. This is conventional of a thriller to have a calm atmosphere at the start of the movie but the producers of EOER have gone for an unsettled theme for the start to entice the audience and so they have used two different techniques. Next there is a knock at the door, which gets more and more impatient and so the father goes to answer it as his wife is busy in the kitchen and told him to so he leaves the child in the room unattended. This creates a sense of danger just by the sound of the knocking on the door and this is conventional of a thriller to build an intense atmosphere by a doorbell or knock at the door and they have done the same in EOER. The father opens the door and the camera shot view is from outside a person standing at the door and then you see a man hit him on the head so the atmosphere has completely changed and the editing now has become faster paced, music has been added to match the atmosphere which is fast paced. This is typical of a thriller to have juxtaposing moods to get the audience out of their seats and in EOER they have not made a juxtaposing mood they were building a long suspended mood. Then three men enter the house in typical criminal black clothes the camera then cuts to a match on action of one of the criminal’s cable tie his hands together and after the lights get turned off which is parallel to the mood of dark violence. This is conventional of a thriller to have a lighting matching the mood of the scene, they have done the same in EOER as they have given a slight grey filter to the camera. After this the father is on the floor getting beaten by the baseball hat with diegetic sounds of the crunches of contact from the baseball bat hitting the father also there is a sequence of fast paced shots of hits to match the atmosphere and they have done this so the editing will match the music in this scene and also to intensify the atmosphere.

To conclude both films have a lot of conventional aspects to them and are similar in many ways but they have both used different techniques to create intense atmospheres.