The Usual Suspects (Bryan Singer, 1995)

In a lesson, we were told to make notes on the thriller The Usual Suspects  (Bryan Singer,1995) Making these notes will give us a better understanding of what factors are involved to make a thriller:

• Antagonist, the criminal. With this, there is usually reinforcement of the law e.g - Police officers
• No vibrant colours used, dull contrast
• Slow takes, establishing shot used in the opening sequence pans from left to right very slowly to maintain tension
• Classical music is used. Strings being played at high or low pitches is daunting. Nothing is ever really upbeat, creates suspense
• Dim lighting, shadows and various other horror movies elements are used in thriller filming
• Low key lighting creating mystery
• The opening sequence is used as a sort of mouthwatering prospect to grab the audience's attention. It does not give any of the storyline away, also keeping the audience thinking.
• Quick changes in tempo and pitch in the music focuses on an immediate change of mood or to indicate that something is going to happen.
• Contrast of scenes that differ from mise en scene, lighting and sound - highlights changes.
• Tends to be that there isn't really any attention focused on any ambient sound, only in certain scenes to create an effect. e.g dog barking whilst silience occurs for intimidation. Main focus is on dialogue throughout.
• During dialogue, slow zoom ins on characters' facial expressions to portray their emotions to the audience and creates more intimacy.
• Shot reverse shot and over the shoulder shot are often used during dialogue.
• Cuts of the shots are done in time to the music and beats of the music. When tempo changes, the camera cuts to another shot. This represents a sense of realism to how the person watching would react in that situation by looking around them.
• Don't show the entire enviroment in some shots as playbacks are a common use in thrillers. This compares to pieces of the puzzle being put together towards the climax of the film. Pieces that have been left out on purpose but evidently are there when shown at the end.