Holiday H/W 2: Conventions of a Thriller

In most thriller movies, the director tends to build tension and suspense through sound, editing, camera and mise en scene. One movie that does this exceptionally well is 'Final Destination 4'. This, epic gut-tighting, franchise gradually drags the audience on the edge of their sit by the lovely and nerve-racking tension it brings to the table. One scene I'd like to focus on is when the lady is trapped in the Car wash. The camera purposely uses a close up on the pipe and water when she is entering the car wash. It builds a great deal of tension because, as an audience, we would be assuming these close up elements are going to be the cause of her death. Minutes later, when the water is pouring into the interior of the car, the camera tends to use tracking on the water entering the car. It is safe to suggest that the tracking of the water pouring from the pipe is rather enjoying the pain it is causing and has no desire in stopping. The soundbridge and cross-cutting of the two scenes creates the suspense. From it, we instantly assume that there are coming to her aid, leaving the audience thinking that she might not die. It is also used to show the comparison of the atmosphere, it shows the characters coming to her aid out in the sun, with rich colours blooming and surrounded by sweet mother nature and on the other hand the lady in the car is surrounded by darkness and is about to meet her end by mother nature- Ironic.  When she is on the phone to her friend, the sound really does set the atmosphere and builds the tension immensely. The voice on the phone seems to sound very frantic and cautious of her well being, the fact that you can barely hear the friend's voice builds more tension. It suggests she's alone, alone and in danger of dying if she doesnt escape. In addition, the non-digetic sounds in the background gets the old adrenaline up. It is upbeat and uses a great deal of dynamics adapting to the feelings of the victim. With the mise en scene, the directors and producers were really set on making the environment look as evil as possible. It chooses dark colours for anything that was environmental like the black car and grey pipes to show it was the villian. Whereas they chose light colours for the victims like pink and blue to illustrate their innocence and purity.

Here's the clip below...Enjoy!