'Hysteria'

In class we looked at some examples of other student's thriller openings. I have chosen to analyse the film 'Hysteria'

Firstly the titles in 'Hysteria' are in front of a red light. This couyld be a warning light as the colour red is usually associated with danger, blood, murder etc. other colours used in the title sequence are black and grey, typical of the thriller genre, which foreshadow the film as being dark, scary etc.

This film had precise match on action when the girl walks out of the back door. Also the film had good close up shots of certain objects such as the shed handle, and also the girls face to create tension and dramatic effect.

The way the film is edited gives sense of the character being preyed upon as high angle shots and other shots such as in the bin. The use of these shots makes her a victim who appears to be followed or stalked.

The film also uses important generic themes such as scary music, a dark setting, a character alone in a house etc.

In addition the film uses non-diagetic pulsating sounds to create suspense and tension. However there needs to be more diagetic sounds to make the thriller more realistic.

The mis-en-scene of the film is effective as it uses dark lighting and is set outside. However when the character is inside the light is too bright which is not typical of a thrilelr film.

In cocnlusion I believe 'Hysteria' was a successful film opening as it used some key elements such as dark settings, scary music etc, however it lacks the feel of a thriller as it leaves out things such as diagetic sounds and leaves in bright lighting.

Bradley x