1. Alex Preston
Reflective Analysis
My extended step-outlines were based on the psychological thriller genre; this can
be seen in my deliberate use of microelements in my extended step-outlines. This
use of the microelements conformed to the conventions of the genre, such as the
low key music to build tension and suspense and restrictive close-ups to build
tension as the viewers field of vision was obscured. This allowed the scenes to
convey the feelings that are traditionally associated with psychological thrillers, such
as fear and trepidation.
The use of camera allowed me to establish the location and the overall mood of the
film. The mixture of long shots of Maggie and the obscured shots from inside the
house looking outwards towards Maggie at her car; this allows the audience to see
the isolation of her house and the unknown presence watching her. Throughout all
of these scenes there are shots that are voyeuristic in nature ensuring the audience
knows that Maggie is being watched. In later scenes when Maggie is trying to escape
from the masked man, I used stedi-cam to put the audience in her shoes, and tried
to give the audience a glimpse of the fear and isolation she experiences throughout
the scene. When she locks her self in the bathroom, a high angle long shot was used
to symbolise her isolation and utter desperation as she fights to survive. This shot
was also used to give the audience the ‘fly on the wall’ view, this in addition to the
use of stedi-cam gives the audience Maggie’s predicament from two perspectives,
adding to the bond the audience will have developed for her over the course of the
movie.
My use of sound in my extended step-outlines allowed me to create an atmosphere
of angst and trepidation, commonly seen in psychological thrillers. In the opening
scene I used sound perspective to emphasise the movements Maggie makes towards
the house, such as her footsteps and her breath. This gives the audience the feeling
that she is alone. The ambient sound of the birds singing and the wind blowing, is
commonly seen in horror/thrillers, giving the audience a sense of safety. Following
Todorov narrative theory the exposition implies that the equilibrium is balanced and
shall be upset in later scenes; the last scenes of the movie will show that it has been
re-balanced with similar ambient sounds i.e. the birds singing. In later scenes when
she is fighting for her life there is music playing, heavy rock, to add to the danger she
is feeling. But the music abruptly stops when she locks the bathroom door, lulling
the audience into temporary sense of security. But when the action starts up again,
the music does not, as the audience should be focusing on Maggie as she slowly
breaks down mentally. This could not be done effectively with heavy metal in the
background. There is sound and visual motif that is seen throughout the movie, this
is used to showcase Maggie’s understanding of her dark childhood, this allows the
audience to understand Maggie’s progression without too much unneeded dialogue.
The sound motif itself, is of children laughing and then crying; this is used because
children are a taboo subject for violence. They are effective in psychological thrillers
as they instantly evoke an emotive response from the audience of anxiety and dread.

2. Alex Preston
The use of editing in my extended step-outlines allowed me to create a range of
emotions on screen to demonstrate my knowledge of the thriller genre. The pace of
editing changes drastically from scene to scene, for example in the opening scene
the pace is quite slow as it is establishing the plot and the location. Throughout the
movie Maggie hears unexplained voices and sees unexplainable things. Post-
production effects are used at this point to add the sound and the visual effects for
example a yellow tinge to the screen to show that the images depicted are from a
different time period. The sound of the children laughing has been enhanced, adding
an echo and a pitch change to sufficiently envelope the audience the in disquieting
past of the house. This acts as a motif for the audience as when seeing the effects
they instinctively know that it is a flashback of Maggie’s distorted past. In the later
scenes when Maggie is fighting to survive against her unknown attacker, the pace of
editing is very quick, to add to the fearful and dangerous nature of the scene. When
Maggie is locked in the bathroom the cuts correspond to the assault on the door,
this is used to showcase the power and physical strength the attacker has. The
masked man assaults the door with an axe, a match on action is frequently used to
show him using the axe and Maggie’s reaction. This is vital as time passes, Maggie’s
notion of the outside world slowly stops as she has a psychotic breakdown.
In conclusion, my use of microelements allowed me to create a sequence that
conforms to the conventions of the psychological thriller genre with a creative twist
that makes it my own. I also used my knowledge of microelements to evoke a range
of emotions from the audience throughout the sequence, such as angst and
trepidation. Tension and suspense has easily been created with my deliberate use of
microelements; such as my use of camera in the last scene, the stedi cam was used
to build tension as she tries to escape from her masked attacker.