Planning Editing Styles - Miss Georgiou

Editing is very important within a thriller film, as most of the suspenseful or tense atmosphere is derived from editing of the film. The way that specific shots are put together is integral to the atmosphere of the thriller film, as is sound editing - appropriate music, sounds and editing is key.

Firstly, we will include slow editing in most of the sequence to create a tense atmosphere. This will draw the audience in and engage them. The audience will suspect some sort of shock or surprise, but will be unsure when this will happen. The slow editing prepares them for this. Secondly, we will include fast editing when showing the flashbacks. This will create excitement, and the audience will be curious as to what is happening. The fast editing will also create a sense of action and possibly fear, especially when used with the flashbacks related to the 'bride' killing the 'groom's family. Slow editing is very conventional to the thriller genre as it is one of the best and most effective ways to create tension.

The Kuleshov effect will be used when showing the flashbacks in relation to the groom's parents. The shot of the red 'X' through the parents' faces and then the following shot of the 'bride' walking up to each parent holding a knife will imply that the 'bride' has already killed both parents, and is reminiscing over this while looking at the photo album. This alerts the audience to the death of the 'groom's parents without actually having to show any death/violence - the murdering is implied via the Kuleshov effect. The Kuleshov effect can be popular within the thriller genre as it adds a sense of mystery and slight confusion to the atmosphere.

There will be jump cuts throughout the opening sequence to create focus on a specific object or person. For example, when the woman picks up the photo album, there will be a jump cut to the photos inside. This will ensure that the audience knows the importance of this object. Jump cuts are conventional for films, especially in the thriller genre, as it is common in thrillers for the scene to constantly cut to objects that are or will be important to the narrative.

These editing styles are quite typical to thriller films. The slow and fast editing in tense and action-filled parts of a film (respectively) are widely used throughout the thriller genre. They create the appropriate atmospheres for specific parts of an opening sequence, and in a film in general. This is the reason that we will include these types of editing in our thriller opening sequence. Also, jump cuts are frequently used in the thriller genre, as they help the audience focus on a specific part of the scene, which may hint at certain aspects of the future plot. For instance, if at some point in the thriller, someone will get stabbed, there may be a jump cut to a knife beforehand. The editing that we will use in our thriller will appeal to the audience because, although it is seen in most thriller films, they will still be engaged with the plot due to the editing techniques that we will use.