The happening Review

The Happening

The first 5 minutes from the thriller ‘The happening’ are action packed and full of suspense. The use of camera shots and transitions used within the opening sector of the film appeal to the audience and give off a great first impression of the film.  Also, I noticed that the non digetic sounds are greatly enhanced. For instance, when the knife gets plunged into the woman’s neck, it seems a lot louder than everything else in the cut-scene. This is because it adds suspense and is there to shock the audience and make them jump. Also, the sound of the bodies crashing to the ground is enhanced for the same reason as the knife. 

The eerie non digetic effects of the wind blowing  gives an indirect impact on the audience in the way that heavy wind is typically linked in within the thriller/horror based genre. The angles of the camera greatly shows the effects of the wind on the characters faces, which gives the audience a clear indication that wind is present. Weather deems to be a great convention within the thriller genre as it creates the ‘eerie’ effect that is popular within the genre. Weather also reflects on what is happening in the scene, for instance if the scene seems sad or angry, the weather would reflect on it and would be dark, cloudy, raining etc.

My personal favourite still frame is the image of the bodies falling off the scaffolding, mainly because it is a unique camera angle (Worm’s eye view).  The music played over this is string, orchestral sounds which again, typically denote with the horror/thriller genre.