Movie research: The Silencing!

                  Hello my enthusiastic friends! In today's blog I will be talking about the movie research me and my group did for the final task. The first movie is the silencing. 

  This film featured a wide variety of elements and conventions I had found in my previous research on the thriller genre. 

    For camera movements, angles, and shots, I identified a wide shot, establishing shot, aerial shot, two-shot, pan, three-shot, tracking, medium close-up, point-of-view shot, eye level shot, over-the-shoulder shot, Dutch angle, 360-degree tracking shot, tilt, zoom 

    For the general elements and conventions of the movie, most of the film takes place in a wide open, desolate urban landscape, and uses lots of diegetic sounds to indicate eerie sounds off in the distance like leaves crunching or whistling to build suspense. It also used the abrupt transition from silence to loud sounds to startle the viewer. Eerie and suspenseful music was also heavily used throughout the entirety of the film. 

    It employs the use of low-key lighting and dark lighting throughout most of the film in action-packed scenes. 

    Props are used to create symbolic items like the weapons the killer uses and red herrings like the initials on the spear that lead you to believe the weapon belongs to a different character in the movie. 

    Makeup is used to create gore and injuries, especially when there is increased combat between characters. 

    As for conventions regarding the motives, actors, and overall character traits, the main antagonist is a regular, unsuspected person in regular costume, there is acting that misleads the viewers as well as acting with emotionally intense delivery. The main character faces desperate high-stakes situations as the pacing due to editing changes abruptly from slow to fast to startle viewers. Cat and mouse dynamics are also created between the antagonist Dr. Boone and the main protagonist Rayburn as he tries to get closer to the truth and Dr. Boone's actions continue to toy with him and the second protagonist. Dr Boone is a hidden antagonist with a hidden agenda, which is an extreme reflection of thriller conventions. There are plot twists throughout the film and at the end, with the protagonist facing near-death experiences. Costuming disguises the antagonist at times, and there are scenes with harsh weather that disorient the view. 

    In this movie, I really enjoyed the pacing and symbolic props they chose to include. The setting was also very scenic and beautiful, especially in the opening sequence where they really emphasized the solidarity and isolation of the great outdoors. I also liked the included plot twist, and how you would not have been able to guess it was the doctor until the very end when the film started to show all of the incriminating clues and bits you may have missed earlier. 
Something that did not appeal to me was the red herrings or lack thereof. The ones they chose to include were interesting but felt rather pointless in the end. Additionally, while the plot twist was good, I disliked how it lacked an explanation of the antagonist's hidden motive or motives. I feel like the fast pacing of thrillers hinders their ability to tell a full story and explanation. 

The journey isn't over yet! Till next time my enthusiastic friend's!