Planning Editing - Miss Gorgiou

Editing is very important within a thriller film, it creates interesting visuals for the audience so that it is more engaging for the audience, editing techniques also makes the narrative or a concept easier for the audience to understand and follow. Without different editing styles the thriller sequence would be less entertaining for the audience meaning the sequence would not serve its full purpose. Editing styles help to provoke shock, suspense and surprise which are all elements that are conventional to the thriller genre. They also engage the audience by helping them build relationships with the characters which keeps the audience uncertain of what is about  to happen next.

The first editing technique that we identified was the montage. We will use this editing style when the antagonist right at the beginning of the sequence. There will be various different shots taken of the stalker highlighting picture of the victim. This will emphasise every movement he does, giving it the effect that he is targeting someone. This will suggest that he has a well thought out plan and is sure this is what he wants to do. The fact that it will be rapidly edited shows the antagonist is methodical because he has throughout out his plan step by step. The montage will also show pictures of the girl, the audience will emphasise with the girl as they know she is oblivious to what is going on building a relationship with her.


We have also decided to use filters in our sequence to create several different affects, the dark lighting in the abandoned room this will create a creepy, disturbed affect in relation to the antagonist. Dark lighting is a connotation of the antagonist as we know he has a dark side and is evil as well as his identity being hidden for most of the sequence. This creates suspense as the audience does not see the identity of  the antagonist therefor creating suspense as they will wonder who he is and what relation he has with the victim. It also makes the audience wonder and fear what he is capable of when he eventually captures the victim. We are also going to use a red filter over the antagonist when the antagonist is watching the victim from afar. This will depict danger and caution which will create suspense as the audience know he is getting ready to attack her. The colour red also has connotations of blood and murder which foreshadows the death of the victim. This is conventional to thriller films as blood and fear is usually presented with the colour red. The audience will see the filters unlike the victim. Therefor they will understand what event is going to take place next causing them to feel sorry for the victim and in turn build a relationship with her.

The next technique that my group have agreed on was the reaction shot which will be used when the antagonist raises his weapon in order to kill the girl. The first shot will be on the murder weapon (the knife) after the victim has tried to escape and has failed the reaction shot will then be of the victims face as she knows she is hopeless and there is no way of escaping. After they try and fight it out as the victim tries to escape after not succeeding, the antagonist will pin her down. The reaction on her face will show her hopeless emotion she then knocks the knife out of his hand, this movement will prove that the antagonist is not in control for one and his power has been taken  by the victim.The audience will feel a sense of urgency, and encourage the victim to not let him get hold of her and fro her to keep on running in order for her not to be harmed or captured again. However they know this is unlikely as it is conventional to thrillers for a victim to always be caught as they try to escape.

Finally, we decided to include the kuleshov effect. This is when twi shots are show together to imply something that the audience did not spot first hand. In our sequence, we will show shots of the killer inside the abandoned room, with his weapon, shots of him planning which suggest to the audience that he is the killer. All these weird elements added together could show to the audience that he is planning to kill the girl. In the first shot we will see a timeline of photos of the girl there will be many images of her when she was younger, of her walking around the hallways at school and also of her at parties. This implies to the audience that the stalking has been taking place for a long time and that this girl is his next victim.

When creating any of our camera shots, we have to make sure the camera is placed at 180 degrees so that it does not break the 180 degree rule. This is a very conventional thriller editing technique as it helps the audience so that they do not get confused. 180 degree rule is very important when editing thrillers as if the audience notice something is not quite right they will get bored of the film and find it hard to follow.  We used these different techniques as by varying them it will help create a successful thriller that is conventional to the thriller genre that will help out target audience to stay engaged throughout the opening sequence. The use of a jump cut will set the pace of the sequence and build tension for the audience this keeps the audience unsure of what they are about to encounter. By planning the different editing techniques it has enabled me and Nojus to plan the music that we will be using to the individual editing techniques.

To conclude in my sequence, the editing techniques I have chosen are primarily because it will crete the most suspense for the audience and will create large amounts of suspense until the ending of out roping sequence which will scare he audience. Editing builds up  tension especially slow editing which signifies that something bad is about to happen. Editing creates a sinister effects towards the thriller genre and will portray how weak the victim is. The killer will seem intimidating to the audience which builds a relationship between the characters and the audience.