Thriller Soundtrack Research

To help us decide what music we should use during our thriller opening, Felicity and I decided to listen to the soundtrack of other thriller openings and see what type of music was used during these.

First, we looked at the soundtrack to 'The Sixth Sense' (Shyamalan, 1999), composed by James Newton Howard;

The music in The Sixth Sense is very low and droned. This is great at creating suspense. The sudden change in music at 39seconds made us jump which, hopefully, it would do this for the audience as well.   I think that this is a very good choice of music as it builds tension and enigma, which is key within thriller films. The slow tempo also helps to build tension and keeps the audience on their seat.


Next we looked at the soundtrack to 'Law Abiding Citizen' (F. Gary Gray) composed by Brian Tyler;

This soundtrack again starts off very slow and quiet. It then starts to get louder and quicker, this indicates when the action is about to start. The instruments and software that are used in this soundtrack are great at creating the suspense and setting the tempo of the film. However, this piece was made with a 52-piece hollywood symphony orchestra, and due to limited funds and resources there is no way we will be able to make a piece of music like this.