Planning Editing Styles - Miss Georgiou

Planning Editing Styles

Introduction

Editing styles are important to include within a thriller film as various editing styles produce various effects. For example; a fade out, which is where the screen fades to black, is often used to represent the end of the narrative or scene whereas the Kuleshov effect, which is when two shots are put together, would be used to give the audience a third meaning.  The inclusion of editing styles within a film sequence aids in the production of conventional audience responses such as shock, surprise, suspense and assist in engaging the audience and establishing a relationship with the audience. 

Editing Styles

Jump Cut -
A jump cut is "an abrupt transition from one scene to another." Within our group we have decided to use a jump cut in our opening sequence when Gemma (the driver and 1st victim) has walked off on her own to find help while her friend Holly is left alone in the car. The camera will jump from one character to the next even though they are both in different locations. The effect of this editing style is to highlight to the audience that the girls have separated from each other and are now both on their own and therefore vulnerable. This causes the audience to feel tension as they are able to presume its a bad idea for the girls to split up as they are aware of a third presence following the them whereas the girls are not. This we hope will create suspense, a conventional audience response of the thriller genre. 

Reaction Shot -
 A reaction shot is "a portrayal of a person's response to an event or to a statement made by another." My group and I have decided to use this editing style within our thriller opening sequence when the first victim, Gemma, is murdered. The reaction shot will depict the characters facial expressions as she is being attacked by the antagonist. The effect of using this editing style is to produce an audience response of shock and horror as the audience witness the character being murdered. We, as a group, wanted to include this as we felt it was conventional of a thriller and it would cause the audience to feel sympathetic towards the character as through showing the characters facial expressions it is made explicit that she has been stabbed by the antagonist. 

Slow Editing - 

Slow editing or slow cutting is "a film editing technique which uses shots of long duration." Myself, Chloe and Miranda have decided to include this technique in our thriller opening sequence when the antagonist is seen by the audience walking away from the murder he/she has just committed. The effect of using this editing technique is that it highlights how the antagonist is calmly and slowly walking away and indicates to the audience that the antagonist probably has mental health issues as he/she is able to act so relaxed after carrying out such a brutal act. This would be conventional to the thriller genre and produces shock and suspense as this is the first time the antagonist is actually shown in the sequence. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, as a group we have decided on using these 3 particualr editing styles because we believe that they are effective in fitting the conventions of the thriller genre. The use of including editing steles within films is to make the film interesting and exciting for the audience without any editing styles the story would  possibly not make sense and become dull and boring for the audience to watch. Editing is highly important in thriller films, especially, because its the editing styles in addition with other aspects of film such as iconography and sound that enable the film to emit shock, tension, enigma and suspense. We have decided to use these three editing styles together in order to accumulate apprehension and shock throughout as well as to keep the audience on the edge of their seat anticipating what it is that will happen next.