Detailed Analysis of Thriller Clip

In class we watched thriller 'What Lies Beneath'. "The wife of a university research scientist believes that her lakeside Vermont home is haunted by a ghost -- or that she's losing her mind" (via)

Throughout the film there are many aspects such as, camera work, editing and sound; these all add to the tension and suspence of the movie.

The screen prints below show the scene where Claire is walking down the stairs backwards. While walking down the stairs there are close ups of just her feet, this creates tension because as an audience we know that something is going to happen, the silence and the creaky staircase adds to the suspence. When she steps on the blood, there is a loud noise created by the keys of a piano being violently slammed down. This is then visually followed by a high angle shot from the top of the stairs, the camera then swings round down the stairs to Claire's point of view to then show Norman on the floor in a pool of blood around his head.

At the very beginning of the clip Claire is in the bath, she is paralyzed. This part of the clip the audience are worried for the saftey of Claire. The camera shows close ups of Claire and her face and we can see struggle on her face. The camera then moves to her feet to then show her toes struggling to pull a chain the camera then tilts down to show the plug and then the audience then understand what is going on; she is trying to pull the plug out so she won't drown. The use of the silence apart from the running water makes the bath tub scene very eerie.

In this clip there are many times in which sounds are played to add to the mood. These are the point in which they occur:

3:27 - 4:29 When Claire is getting/falling out the bath to getting the phone; There is an ominous drone
6:46 - 7:11 Claire walking down the stairs; keys of a piano violently being slammed down upon.
8:22 - 8:27 Norman's fingers moving; sharp loud noises.
8:33 - end of clip Norman's eye opening and Claire running out of the house;
theme music.

The use of having the sounds/music in intivals allows the audience to get comfortable and then it makes the audience jump out of their seats because all the while there is no music playing so it makes them very edgy and uncertian of what's going to happen next.

The clip on which this blog is based on can be found below. The screen prints provided are also from this clip.