Analysis Of Saw, Jaws and Psycho

The thriller movie genre focuses most of its time on screen building suspense and tension among its audiences. This is done quite often through not only the cinematography etc. but also providing by the viewer with an enigma or “red herring” in order to keep said viewers engrossed in film due to the desire to find out the unknown.

A prime example of a movie that adheres to this is the movie “psycho” when the young, defenceless woman is attacked in the shower. We are shown the woman with high angles (to show that she is feeble and weak) and the attacker with low angles (to make him/her seem big and intimidating). We are also left unable to see the face of the attacker which once again creates and enigma for the audience, who is the assailant? Will he strike again? The idea of an elusive killer that could be posing as a normal person is terrifying to an audience as it throws into question the intentions of the people that they think they know. Of course this is all part of the charm of the thriller genre and one of the reasons people go to see it is to be shocked.

Perhaps one of the other most important things to make a thriller movie successful are the scores that are played in the background during the movie itself, probably the most famous example of a film with the ability to build tension among almost any audience is the score from the movie jaws. The steadily increasing tempo of the music is pleonastic as it mimics the increasing heartbeat of the victims in the movie and the music builds to a crescendo gradually. This is amazingly good at building the anxiety among the audience as they are waiting for the shark attack to take place and the longer they are left to wait the greater their apprehension will become.

One of the most powerful tools to any producer in instilling feelings in his audience such as fear is the characters in his film. What they look like and their expression and demeanour can say a lot in a film. For example in the movie SAW a lot of just the first movie was more like a thriller then a horror movie. In the shot bellow you can clearly see the look of anguish and hopeless desperation on the actors face. This creates a sense of dread within the viewer as they acknowledge the reality of their protagonist’s position and realise the necessity for drastic action, which in this particular film can only mean self mutilation.

It is however important, particullarly in films such as saw, to realise the differences between thriller movies and horror movies. In the first saw film much of the movie is similar more to a thriller rather then a horror becuase a lot of the violence is implid rather then displayed on screen. The movie was focused more on building tension and anxiaty among it's audiences rather then trying to repulse them and horrify them with blood and gore. Although the two genres are similar to each other in some respects it's is important to clearly define which the film is.