Planning Sounds - Miss Miller

In thriller films, sound is used to build tension and suspense in order to engage the audience in the scene and make them feel on edge. My group needed to plan the sound we wanted to use to enable us to complete our thriller opening within the deadline set. Sound is what makes a thriller film scary or 'jumpy' and so will play an important part in the making of our thriller opening.We needed to make sure that we matched the sounds used with the images on screen, and as we had already planned the cinematography my group wanted to use, it was a little bit easier to plan the sound.

Silence
Silence is often used in thrillers as it helps to build tension which is conventional. I thought it would be good to incorporate silence into our thriller clip to build the suspense. Therefore decided to have periods of silence after the underwater fight scene which includes a lot of noise so the transaction is noticeable. This is effective, as it contrasts from the loud tension building sounds played in the fight scene, into the immediate silence that would show the girls shock having remembered this flashback. By having this silence for a period of time, it may overwhelm the audience as they begin to reflect on what has just happened, which should make them feel nervous and create a tense atmosphere for the rest of the clip. Not only is this atmosphere created conventional, but it also allows the viewers to connect with the girl as they begin to worry about her well-being.

Non-diegetic Sound
Non diegetic sound is any music or sound that is added on after, such as in the editing stage. We needed to explain to our viewers how the little girl got in the water during the underwater scene. Therefore we decided on a blackout, which we joined with a crescendo of sound effects. Firstly, you hear the sound of running footsteps, followed by the sound of heavy breathing playing over the top. This would end with the sound of a girl screaming, ending with the splash of water, ready for the underwater scene. This helped manipulate the audiences senses as they can only imagine what is happening through the sounds, due to not being able to see anything making them feel on edge and possibly nervous.  This is conventional as it will mean the audience experience the full effect of the thriller, and will be more shocked at how it ends. The reason for adding the crescendo before the fight scene, was to create an enigma as to what is going to happen to the little girl.

Parallel Sound/ On-screen soundWhen the sound and the images on a screen complement eachother it is parallel/on-screen sound. My group decided that we will use parallel sound at the beginning of our thriller opening; this is when the little girl is walking through the forest and you hear the sound of leaves crunching beneath her feet. We will use this sound as it allows the scene to start straight away, as it allows the audience to have pure focus on the girl walking. This is conventional to the thriller genre as everything the audience hears that matches with what they see, which will make them feel nervous and on edge. This will help them to connect with the little girl by drawing the audiences attention on the girl who is portrayed as being innocent, which may make them feel nervous for her as they are scared something will happen to her, this is enforced and emphasised through the parrallel sound they hear.

To conclude,  our group now have a good idea as to how the cinematography and sound will match, giving us more time to focus on the editing of the clip. By having planned the sound we are going to get our sounds from the website freesound.org. The sounds we chose to use are conventional as when in sync with the images, the sound will be the main aspect that will build up suspence and tension which would make the audience feel on edge throughout.