Shot Reverse Shot

Shot Reverse Shot is a filming technique in which one character is shown looking at another character and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character. The characters are shown facing opposite directions so the viewer assumes that they are facing one another. 

An example of shot reverse shot is shown in this video clip.


For information on 180 degree rule see Dann Stamp's blog and for information on Match on Action see Beth Funnell's blog. 

Preliminary Task Evaluation

For our preliminary task, we did an interrogation scene of  '6 way's to kill your husband (or wife)', I think our scene worked quite well and that it looked quite professional. I feel that our match on action edits worked very well and I think that they continually flow. I feel that we kept to the 180 degree rule pretty well and that it always looked quite professional. The shots and angles were well framed and I feel that both actors were always in the shot at the right place. I feel that it does look convincing as a conversation,  although there are some gaps in between the two characters replies at some points, I think that this looks quite convincing still as there may be pauses in speech during an interrogation scene as you wouldn't want to say the wrong thing as it is being recorded.

To improve our scene, I think that we would need to change the first shot as when he is opening the door, you can see somebody else walking past the room which may not look very professional although I don't think that it was too obvious in our scene and it might not have mattered that much as it gave it a more natural look. At some points I felt that you could hear some background noise which could have been removed to improve our piece and also at the end, there was a jerk in the camera which could have been changed to improve it.

Over all I feel that our piece was reasonably good and I felt quite proud with our piece.

Preliminary Task - Our Interrogation Scene Video

Beth's AS Media: Preliminary Task - Our Interrogation Scene Video:
This is our interrogation scene for our film named '6 Ways To Kill Your Husband (Or Wife)'
Worked with Beth and Dann.

Preliminary Script

Preliminary Shotlist

Shot 1 - Long shot - Match on action
Shot 2 - Close up - Match on action
Shot 3 - Wide shot - High Angle
Shot 4 - Mid shot
Shot 5 - Close up - Match on action
Shot 6 - Mid shot - Match on action
Shot 7 - Medium Close up
Shot 8 - Extreme close up
Shot 9 - Wide shot - low angle
Shot 10 - Medium long shot
Shot 11 - Medium close up
Shot 12 - Close up

Preliminary Storyboard

History of Thriller Film's Research

Thrillers have changed a lot throughout the years, one of the first thriller films was silent and the second famous was released in sound but also silent. In the 1950's Hitchcock added Technicolor to the films, the films now included glamourous stars. Later on, Thriller films became more violent, viscous and explicit, they became more tense and had deeper story lines. Thriller's from this decade are mainly psychological ones that deal with obsession, domestic violence, revenge and mentally ill characters.

Beth and I each played a part in doing this task.

Iconic Sounds connected with genre

A lot of pieces of music or sounds that are used in Thriller films, start off with a loud distinct noise that the audience recognises, it is often a loud bang or a slam in a door. It then quite often goes into a piece of music that is quite fast and quite often the piece of music sounds like someone is running, maybe away from someone as this is a frequent convention from a thriller film. It gives the audience the idea that something bad is going to happen or has already happened and that character needs to get away. The music sometimes slows down but has sudden noises which makes it seem like the character could be trying to hide.The music sometimes picks the beat back up and we can just hear certain sounds such as breathing, dripping water or footsteps.

However, some pieces of music that are used are quiet pieces which are soothing but they have a beat to them and the beat is consistent throughout that whole piece of music. This type of music can have the opposite effect and the audience may feel as everything is very calm and relaxed and then if something that makes the audience jumps suddenly happen, this music may pick up this freight as the audience weren't expecting it. Slow music is sometimes used when I character is hiding but wouldn't be used during a chase scene. Most of the time, in Thriller films, classical music is used.  

The type of music that is chosen can cause a lot of tension and create the whole atmosphere. 

Iconography of Genre mood board

This is my Iconography Thriller mood board which shows some of the conventions that are in a Thriller film.

Typical Synopsis

This mind-map shows the characteristics of the Thriller Genre, it also shows the sub-genre's of thriller and explains some of the typical thriller synopsis for the sub-genre's.