Sound plays a big part in building this suspense. In every single extract and trailer I watched their was music cleverly used to place the audience on the edge of their seats.
For example; from the classic Hitchcock film 'Psycho', the use of the classic and memorable music that plays whilst the lady is being stabbed is a great way to create an intense atmosphere.
Psycho (Hitchcock, 1960)
Another example of a thriller that I analsyed was 'The Sixth Sense' (Shyamalan, 1999). The opening sense of The Sixth Sense was done in a very clever way. The use of music was very subtle but still managed to build suspense, without the audience even realising. The use of the camera work and mise-en-scene in this opening was fantastic at building suspense. When the light comes on at the start of the action, this shot is a great way to keep the audience of the edge of their seats. The brightness grips the audience right from the start. This carries on when the audience then sees the woman walking down the stairs in the background. This simple shot creates suspense in such a simple way. The audience is left asking so many questions; what will happen next, who is this woman etc. Near the end of the opening scene, when the woman and her husband enter the bedroom, their is a close up shot of broken glass on the floor where the window has been smashed open, and the use of the silence where the audience can only hear the phone line beeping creates immense suspense and is a great way to keep the audience gripped.
The Sixth Sense (Shyamalan, 1999)
Another brilliant example of an amazing thriller is Law Abiding Citizen (Gary Gray, 2009). What makes this such a great thriller is that fact that mystery and tension is kept throughout the whole film. Right from the very start the audience is gripped and left asking questions. The lack of knowledge about the main character leaves him a mystery to the audience. This shadiness of the main character is very eerie and this is what builds the tension throughout the whole film. The unique and extremely clever storyline is also one of the key elements that makes this film such a great thriller. The audience never knows what is going to happen, or how Clyde (the main character) has managed to do such things. The amazing plot twists keep the audience constantly interested and wanting to know what is going to happen next. I personally feel that Law Abiding Citizen is one of the best thriller films (and films in general), because it is so clever and always keeps the audience wanting to know why Clyde has done certain things, how he has done them and what he is going to be doing next.
Law Abiding Citizen (Gary Gray, 2009)
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