Editing Research and Post-Production Editing

Editing Research and Post-Production Editing

Thriller Editing Conventions

• Quick cuts
• Montages
• Fast paced editing
• Low key lighting
• Tension music that is initially slow paced
• Diegetic sound of breathing which can be non-diegetic too
• Close ups and extreme close ups
• Shots aim to hide antagonists identity, therefore shots of their backs, shadows or silhouettes are used
• Jump cuts to confuse the audience at the start
• Continuous editing to help the audience understand what has happened towards the end
• Cross cutting to build tension

Our Editing

Post-Production is a key aspect in making a film opening professional, and this is the reason we spent so much time perfecting our editing.

The use of a cross dissolve to separate the initial clips of the drone and the pan of the empty field, created a smooth transfer from one scene to the next, allowing for us to set the scene to the audience. As shown in the screenshot above, we added credits to he beginning of our opening by adding text with a smooth intro and outro to appear on top of the drone shots and pan at the very beginning to introduce the creators and actors of the opening sequence. 

Then for the majority of the rest of the opening, we used quick cuts to change from one shot to the next to move the storyline along and add to the audience's confusion and tension. for all of these clips, we used the colour board to dull out the clips and create a more mysterious atmosphere.

Towards the very end, we made use of simple white and black backgrounds to show the gun being shot as a flash, leading into the title 'Disturbance'. This simple technique allowed us to create a dramatic, harsh ending to the opening sequence, which leaves the audience wanting to find out what happened, and therefore carry on to watch the rest of the film.