Planning editing styles. Miss Georgiou

This post will be looking the different editing styles my group has used in order to create our thriller film. Editing styles are important as the editing allows you to create how the audience feels. If you want to give them a sense of panic then the editing will be fast and jumpy. However if you were creating something clear and continuous you would us continuity editing.

The first editing style is the fast fade away to blackout which we use at the end of the scene. This is when the frame just fades into nothing. We are using this technique as a cliff hanger as a sudden end always keeps the audience guessing. This also adds to the overall suspense that the audience are feeling. If your thriller gets people talking after it has ended, its means people are thinking about it and you want that long lasting effect that a cliff hanger created by fade gives you. Films like saw tend to do this often.

The next technique I would like to talk about is shallow focus. This is when the camera focuses from one single point in a frame to another. This is used to show importance. For the audience, this allows them to only focus on one object or character without actually being able to see what is going on in the background. This can provoke fear within the audience as they could anticipate something is going to happen. This is used in many thriller films.

Another technique is shot reverse shot. This is when the camera switches from one person to another. This shows the audience that people could be talking to each other but are in different places. In our film, this will be the switching back and forth between me and Lucy. This technique is used to somewhat immerse the audience with the characters. Making them have feelings for the characters leading to a greater shock when something bad happens. A good film this was used in was house on haunted hill. All the characters were in different places however you became to be aware of where each one is thanks to shot reverse shot.

The final technique i would like to talk about is a jump cut. This is where the camera immediately cuts to another frame. This could be used to show panic or importance of the situation that is occurring. This can add a lot of suspense to the audience as constant jump cuts can create panic and tension.  This type of editing can leave people on the edge of their seats. A film this is used a lot in is insidious.

These four editing techniques and more have been incorporated together to make our thriller film. I feel with these now in places we can really lead the audience into thinking they are somewhat part of the whole scene to really give them a fright.

This is a screen shot we have taken from our editing phase: