Wednesday 2 November 2011

'Witness' scene analysis-how Peter Weir Utilises thriller conventions.

At the beggining of the scene,the audience hears the soundtrack that has an eerie /spooky effect on the scene.It's especially effective when the young boy is looking up at the angel whilst the panning camera shot is used,as it builds suspense .The next shot the audience sees,is the relatively long shot of the mother and son sitting down in the station.The choice of shot utilises the thriller genre by showing how alone therefore vulnerable they are to any potential danger.Also in this shot we notice the vanishing point.
The vanishing point is the door too the toilet which the boy approaches.Vanishing points in thrillers tend too be where a significant turning point occurs,For example in witness,The murder takes place in the toilet.

When the boy walks into the toilet there is a slight low angle shot on the man already in the toilet,this represents the difference in power between the two characters .The colour scheme of the toilet utilises the thriller genre due too the bleak dark colours.Just before the murder takes place, the audience notices the enigma ,it is a man who's face isn't shown throughout the whole of the murder scene.This conforms too the thriller genre.Soon as the man gets attacked,Another soundtrack is played,it's very frantic and adds too the suspense and struggle of the killing.


When one of the two killers draws a knife out of his pocket.There is a close up of his hand holding the knife,This adds menace to the clip and frightens the audience.


The iconic shot of the young boy looking through the parting of the toilet door is fantastic at building suspense and anticipation.The parting of the door is just enough that he could be seen by the killers, which from the audiences perspective makes the boy very vulnerable.

1 comment:

  1. Remember to post this analysis of "Witness" under the label G321 Research into Thrillers.

    Your analysis is a little short, but it is an encouraging start; your focus on enigma and the vanishing point is useful. Your target is to develop your analysis focusing on costume, sound and positioning of characters and objects, for example when one of the killers draws his knife the shot is made more effective with a close up of his hand and the knife, this adds menace to the clip.

    Jonathan do a spell check please!!!!

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