Marking Another Students Work

The thriller begins with a close up of a man’s eyes looking scared. He’s saying the words ‘no’ to indicate that he is in trouble.

There is a pleonastic sound of a gunshot and the man’s head falls out of the camera shot. A picture is then revealed of a girl with a circle around her face and the word ‘NEXT’ is written underneath in red pen. The red indicates danger and shows that she is in trouble. Non-diegetic music is played in the background along with non-diegetic ambient sounds such as rain falling on the floor. Rain is often seen in thrillers as it makes them appear darker and gloomier, creating a good atmosphere for a thriller.

We then see a girl talking on the phone using diegetic sound which raises questions as we don’t know who she’s talking to or what they’re talking about as we can only hear one side of the conversation. The non-diegetic music is still playing in the background, it is a slow song that is being played on the piano and is quite gloomy which fits with the atmosphere that the rain brings.

The girl is wearing a bright, yellow coat which stands out from the dark, dreary brick backgrounds. The yellow can also represent happiness, which is ironic because of the depressing atmosphere of the opening. She is then followed by a figure in black who blends in with the background. This shows that he is unable to be seen, therefore she doesn’t know he’s there or that he’s following her. A range of shots including long shot, mid shot and close ups of key aspects such as a foot walking in the same place as the girls, indicating that she is being followed.

Fades are used for a few of the transitions to show a passage of time when the girl is walking. Her movements are also slowed down at some points to help build suspense.

The girl is then seen entering a house and turning the light on. This light indicates the safeness of her own home, unlike the outside streets. Again, some footsteps are shown to walk in the same place as the girl was to show that she’s being followed. A close up is used to show that this is a key moment as we know the following is going to come to end soon. The follower’s black silhouette figure is then shown in front of her door which creates mystery as we don’t know who this person is. A close up is shown of his finger pressing the doorbell, representing another key moment as she is about to lose the safety of her own home by opening the door to him.

 As the girl opens the door, creaking sounds are heard. Creaking doors are often related to thrillers as they are creepy sounding and create tension within the audience. A non-diegetic heartbeat sound is shown in the background. This creates even more suspense and builds more tension as we don’t know what’s going to happen. The door is opened slowly to continue the building of suspense.