For our film, we have decided to focus on the crime/thriller genre. My last film was more comedy-oriented, so I was not entirely in my element this time and wasn’t really sure what to expect. It was best to start researching and looking more into the genre to see what we should include in our opening to get our vision across. I mainly wanted to see the key elements of the genre and how editing would play into achieving them.
I thought back to any films that fit this mold and instantly thought of both Nightcrawler and Drive. I think these films encapsulate what it takes to be a thriller while also having crime elements to them that can come in handy when creating our film.
Nightcrawler (2014) directed by Dan Gilroy
This film Nightcrawler centers around a sociopathic character named Louis Bloom and his journey as a cameraman that turns obsessive to a dangerous degree. This character wants nothing more than to become famous and successful and will get there no matter what he has to do.
This film sets up a visual and editing style that I normally see and think of when relating to thrillers. Things are dark and hard to see which keeps the viewer on high alert in times where suspension is trying to be built. Even when normal activities are going on there is still a melancholy feeling to the way scenes are portrayed to keep the viewer uncomfortable. That is something the film does very well and translates to the editing. The film is, at moments, hard to watch as you want the scene to end and cut away to something else or the next event, but it usually lingers for longer on the harsher and harder-to-watch scenes to increase that tension or cringe feeling. Moments like Lou's partner getting shot and Lou moving a crash scene around the height of the scene like you expect them to but instead linger on.
Drive has similar elements to Nightcrawler but also has its own aspects that I found fascinating. For one the idea of playing around with the audience's expectations is played with a lot more in the film. These are only intensified by the way they are edited.
Scenes from Drive (2011) of a failed robbery attempt
In the robbery scene, we have the main character Driver waiting for people to come out with the money which emulates the beginning of the film. In that situation Driver had to wait on one of the robbers and it kept cutting between him and the door to build up suspense due to the time constraint they had. Here there is something similar with Driver waiting for another character to come back that is edited somewhat similarly as it cuts from him waiting and staring to the point of exit.
Before, things turned out somewhat fine as the other robber was able to make it to the car but this time things go completely sideways in the blink of an eye. It seems like things will go fine again as Standard starts walking out until suddenly, he gets shot. The way the scene replicated the beginning messed with the audience's expectations of how things were going to go. Even more so, Standard's character was built up throughout a heavy portion of the story just for him to be the first to die in the film without warning. The film built itself on the idea of a getaway driver being a part of robberies but that was simply a red herring to what in actuality is a revenge plot. Nothing could have prepared you for this moment as it denies expectations that it previously set up in its opening and narrative. With a similar event playing out and being shot and edited in a similar way, the audience expected a similar outcome. However, it's this moment the story completely twists into something else.
This happens once again in the film as you assume that after the failed robbery and chase scene that follows you have room to breathe that the previous run time of the movie was mostly filled with. However, there is only more action that happens as Driver and the other robber are attacked. He harmfully gets answers out of the robber, and it seems like the suspense has gone down. But through editing, the shots are slowed down, and we vividly see the extreme death of the other robber and the tension is back to 100 again.
Analyzing these two films helped me learn what to expect and the key details of thriller movies. These are most specifically the fact they should be building suspense, tension, and uncomfortableness within the viewer and denying the viewer's expectations which can be heavily impacted by editing. Things seem to go normally until suddenly something unexpected happens like Lou's partner's death or Standard's death. Timing is key when it comes to creating suspense which is evident in the use of rhythmic editing and shot length in the films. To produce that feeling so closely tied to thrillers, the viewer should either not have enough time to think or too much time on one specific subject. It should ultimately mess with the way the audience perceives events. You can cut clips and pack them together such as the chase scene in Drive does in order to create tension as Driver has to think very quickly to exit the situation. On the other hand, you can increase the length of scenes through slow-motion or just decide to create a cut later in the clip to have the audience see something that creates discomfort like the movement of a dead body or the impact a weapon has. Editing in a similar style to what you did before like in Drive can also create expectations and allow you to deny them as the viewer sees a familiar situation but is met with a different outcome. Denying expectations prevents the movie from feeling stale and repetitive.
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