Research into Editing - Miss Georgiou

Research into Editing

I think that Editing is very effective in thriller films as they engage the audience and keep them on the edge of their seats. This can be seen when films use reaction shots. Reaction shots are used to let the audience see the facial expression of the characters due to the previous scene. Another editing terminology is, Linking of shots which is used to show the audience various different shots which all link together to create emotional impact towards the audience. The film that I have chosen to analyse is"Saw7". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKa3l96nfnY 

Editing can be seen by the audience through, the editing technique, jump shot. This is evident when the audience watch the camera turn to the man in the car, then to the other man standing up with a hook in his mouth and finally to the woman on the floor with a tyre over her head. This editing technique was used to show how vulnerable all the characters in the torture chamber are, which shows the audience that the antagonist is overpowering and is of no match to the victims, thus being defencelessly tortured. This engages the audience because they fear for the characters whether or not they will all make it out alive. This also creates an enigma, which is conventional to the thriller genre because the audience question whether the victims will come out of this alive. This is conventional to the thriller genre because it gives the audience the sense of shock that all the victims have been captured and tortured all at once.



Linking of shots can be seen in "Saw 7" this is evident when the audience see four different shots of the man who is glued to the car seat trying to press the button, the woman on the floor with the tyre spinning over her head, the man screaming with a hook in his mouth and lastly a shot of the clock counting down to their deaths. This editing technique was used to build up tension, suspense and also exaggerate how they're all on the verge of their deaths. It also exaggerates the vulnerability of all the characters, which scares and engages the audience because they fear for the characters. This helps the audience build a relationship with the characters because they sympathise for the characters as they are seconds away from dying, which is conventional to the thriller genre because the audience are able to forebode death to appear in the near future. This is conventional to the thriller genre because the victims are exposed to the threat of death, which is common to see in a thriller film because the audience expect to see the victims defenceless.


Timing of shots can be seen by the audience when they watch the three shots which were edited slowly of, the two men and the woman screaming and crying as the time on the clock ran down to zero. This shot was used to show the expressions on the characters faces which were shocked and scared, this shows the audience a major gap between the power of the antagonist and the victims as they are helplessly defenceless. This editing technique also creates tension and suspense as the slow editing lengthens the time of their deaths. The slow editing can also mirror the antagonists torturing methods as being slow and painful. This helps the audience build a relationship with the characters as they fear for all the characters because they're edging towards the end of their lives. This is conventional to the thriller genre because there is a sense of death upon all the victims and also because the audience are able to see how powerful the antagonist is over the victims.

Another editing technique can be seen through, reaction shot. The audience can witness this when they watch the time run out and the tyre begins to fall on the face of the female victim, seeing the reaction of fear and worry on her face. This shot was used to show the reaction and facial expression of the girls face; terrified and defeated. This shows the audience that she is vulnerable, defenceless and about to die as she screams for her life, which is conventional to the thriller genre because the audience are able to see a damsel in distress. This creates shock and surprise as the audience didn't expect for her to die because the audience are commonly used to seeing the victims win over the antagonists. This helps the audience build a relationship with the female character as they sympathise her demise, which was indeserved. The audience can then build a negative relationship with the unknown antagonist because of his torturing methods. This is conventional to the thriller genre as the victims have been exposed to death, leaving the audience to mourn her death. 


To conclude, this has assisted me to further understand the different variety of editing techniques which I can use in my short sequence to help build suspense, tension, shock and surprise. In my short sequence I will try to use the editing techniques, timing of shots, to slow down or fasten scene so that the audience become more hooked onto the film and experience escapism. Jump cuts so that the audience can witness different shots and angles, ultimately engaging and surprising them. Reaction shots to allow the audience to discover how the characters are feeling through the cinematography technique, which is very effective as it engages audiences because they relate to the characters through their emotions. I hopefully aim to include all of these into my thriller sequence so that it makes it very engaging and conventional to the thriller genre.