Synopsis of Thriller Film (by Becky Fermer)

Film Synopsis

Duration: 2 mins 6 seconds

The overall summary of our thriller opening is to build up tension and suspense in which we want our film to impose. We start off with an editing technique of crosscutting, between two characters and locations, in order to create anticipation. Our male character is a mysterious person, whose identity is never revealed throughout the entire film opening. The viewer is only able to see close-ups of his hands and shots of him from behind. This was inspired from one of our research thriller openings “The Usual Suspects”. We felt that this set dark and curious impressions on the viewer.

The Usual Suspects Opening Scene

• There is series of cross-cutting between the two characters at the beginning, where we see the female character leaving her workplace, getting into her car and driving off to her house. Meanwhile, in a different location and time, we see the male character preparing a strange and isolated room, equipped with pieces of ropes, knives and torn sheets, presenting the viewers with a series of wondering questions. What is he doing? Who is he? Why is he there?

Example of Cross-cutting editing in The Silence of the Lambs

•  The two characters finally meet, when the female returns to her house, to find a body in the middle of her lounge floor. However, the viewer never gets to see who it is, as the body is hidden under a blanket, before our female character is gagged with chloroform.



Close-up of Kaiser ("The Usual Suspects") who's character
is never revealed throughout the entire opening.



•  Following on from this, we see a fade to black, leading to her waking up in the room in which the audience are familiar with from the beginning. This results in the viewer suspecting that the man is up to something, and wondering what the female has to do with any of it.

The final shots are close-up frames of the girl being tied to a chair, before being gagged. The film ends on a cliff-hanger, where we see a tracking shot of the male’s footsteps walking up the stairs, in order to leave the room. We then cut back to the female character again, whose body language appears scared and horrified for her life. The lights then turn off, as we hear an off-screen sound of the door slamming, to reinforce the man leaving the room. As this shot ends, we cut straight to black, before our title “Cellar” appears on screen.