Research into editing - Miss Georgiou

Editing is used in thriller films to create shock and build up suspense foe the audience. It helps the audience to understand what is going on during the film and makes them aware of who the victim and who the antagonist is. Editing techniques make the film more exciting and more thrilling as techniques such as slow editing create suspense and fast editing makes a killing scene seem more dramatic. Editing can be used throughout the film and is used to get the right timing. Editing helps build up tension as it makes the audience aware when the antagonist is approaching and this builds up suspense within the audience. The audience need to become intrigued in the film and editing helps to do this by creating suspense and making the audience jump when they least expect it. Editing is also used to create themes of shock, surprise and suspense as it helps to create dramatic tension and leave the audience wondering what is going to happen. Editing is also used to control the emotions and reactions from the audience as fast editing gets the audience more excitable while slow editing is used to create more tension within the audience.

The film strangers is about a couple who live in a isolated house in the middle of no where. The couple soon get some unwanted visitors who plan to kill the couple. During the film, the couple try and find ways of hiding from them but are unsuccessful and the "Strangers" manage to kill the the husband and a friend of the couples. The wife is left with wounds all over her and the film ends with her trying to stay alive.

In the film, there is a scene where the strangers get hostage of both the husband and wife and they stab both of them. The scene also shows the women trying to get away at the end and making her way towards the ringing phone.

In the scene, reaction shot is used when the masked antagonists bring out the knife and the camera shows the wife suddenly crying and screaming.
This is conventional because it shows that that the two victims are scared and they know that something bad is going to happen to them as they can both see the masked people holding the knife.

This creates suspense as both the characters and the audience know they are going to get stabbed and so the audience are left waiting to see when they get stabbed. Typically in thriller films, the character always reacts to weapons being pulled out and this shows that the murder was unexpected and the characters didn't know about the killer. Reaction shot is also conventional to thriller films as it makes the victim seem even more vulnerable as it shows that they can't do anything about it and they are shown as helpless. This engages the audience as they feel nervous for the characters because they know the victims can't get away and they are left in suspense as to what is going to happen to them next. This creates shock and suspense for the audience.

Shot reverse shot is also used in this scene and this is shown when the camera shows the masked people and then back onto the victims. This is conventional as it represents the more powerful characters. It also shows the victims as vulnerable as they are held hostage while the masked people are looking down on them. Shot reverse shot also creates a mysterious scene as the masked people aren't talking which creates suspense as to who is actually under the mask. This is conventional to thriller films as the killer always hides their identity and this creates tension within the audience as they would want to know who the killer is. Shot reverse shot is conventional as it shows the difference in characters and implies who are the victims. It also shows how much power the antagonists have over the victims and make them seem helpless and vulnerable. This engages the audience as they don't want the victims to die and they are intrigued to find out what happens between the characters. The audience are put into the victims shoes as the camera looks up at the antagonist in the victims point of view and so the audience feel just as scared as the victims do. This creates an element of surprise and shock for the audience because they can relate to the victim and so whenever something sinister happens this affects both the audience and the victim. Shock is also created as the audience feel threatened by the killers and so become more relateable to the victim and this creates shock as when something bad happens to the victim then the audience feel their pain and feel sympathy towards them.

Jump cut is shown when the masked people take off their masks and the camera focuses on all the masks lying around. This is conventional in thriller films as typically before th killer strikes, they take off their masks to show their identity. However the camera hasn't shown the killers and this creates suspense as the audience are still waiting to find out who the killers are. The jump cut makes the audience focus on the mask which intrigues the audience more as now the victims know who is going to kill them. The jump cut also distracts the audience from looking at anything else in the scene and this is conventional as it shows what is important in the clip. This is conventional in thriller films as the camera always focuses on weapons such as guns or knives which are used to kill the victim. This engages the audience as they are intrigued to know who is under the masks and they would want to watch the rest of the film to find out if they see the killers. Shock and suspense is created for the audience because an enigma is created and the audience don't want the victim to die. The audience feel threatened by the killers and this creates an element of shock for the audience when the killers take off their masks but can't see their faces. It creates a more tense moment for the audience as they know that the situation has now turned serious and the victim is about to get killed. This also shows an element of suspense because the audience are left wondering who the killers are and whether the victims know them or not. It makes the audience carry on watching the rest of the film to see whether the killers are actually revealed to the audience.

In the scene, linking of shots is used when the wife gets stabbed and the camera shows the garden and the outside of the isolated house. The camera focuses on the empty road and trees. This implies that the house is isolated and that no one is around which is conventional as it shows that nobody can hear you scream.
The empty roads relates to how the couple is alone in the middle of nowhere which is shown as the perfect spot for a murder to take place. This is conventional to thriller films as in thriller films, the victims are always in an isolated area so that nobody can get help when the person is about to get killed. It also represents how the victims are helpless and how they are vulnerable because nobody can hear them scream. It also makes it the ideal place for killers to strike their victim as they are trapped which makes the antagonist more powerful and have more chance of killing the victim. This engages the audience because they feel sympathy towards the victims as they don' want them to die and it creates tension as to whether they are going to die or not. The audience also feel sympathy towards the characters as they know they are helpless and there is nothing that the victims can do to save themselves. This editing technique also helps to create shock for the audience because they now know what the killers are capable of and the audience start to wonder whether the victims are going to die. The audience are left in shock and are also surprised as they begin to feel even more threatened of the killers as they know that the killers are capable of murdering someone. This gets the audience on edge as they feel as though they are the victim because they have built a relationship with the victim and so they understand how the victim is feeling and can relate to their emotions and reactions.

Finally, slow pace editing is used when the girl wakes up and hears the phone ringing and tries to make her way towards the phone. This is conventional as it shows that the victim hasn't died yet however the audience wonder how the victim is still alive due to the amount of blood left on the victim. The slow pace editing foreshadows her death and shows that her time is running out as she is struggling to make it to the phone. This engages the audience as they are surprised she is still alive. However she is shown as weak and helpless and the audience wonder whether she is going to die or not and this builds up tension as they don't know what is going to happen to her but are left on edge as what is going to happen next in the film. The audience are also intrigued as they want to know whether she makes it out alive and if anyone is going to help her and so they carry on watching the film to see what happens next. This editing technique creates shock for audience as they are surprised she is still alive despite the amount of blood on her. The audience feel sympathy towards her because they want her to survive where as they want to the victim to die.

To conclude, editing is used to create surprise, shock and suspense and it helps the film to create tension within the audience. Different editing techniques make the film more dramatic and scarier which creates unexpected jumpy scenes for the audience. Editing techniques are used to outline important features within the sequence and make the audience focus on certain objects to create more tension. It also outlines the victim and the antagonist by using linking of scene techniques and by using timing of shots. These editing techniques are used to create elements of shock and surprise and help to make the audience jump. Editing is conventional in thriller films as it makes the thriller films more unexpected but also makes the victims seem helpless which creates suspense within the audience as to what is going to happen to the victims during the film. In my sequence, I would include linking of shots as this means that the audience can understand what is happening in the film but also get an idea of how helpless and vulnerable the victims are. This engages the audience as the audience begin to feel sympathy for the victims as they know that they are helpless. I would also include jump cut as it helps the audience to focus on certain things in the shot such as a weapon or a person and this also helps to build up tension as the audience know when something bad is going to happen and so they feel suspense as to when the killer is going to strike.