Detailed anaylsis of thriller clip.

What Lies Beneath.

What lies beneath was one of the first openings we had watched so that we could get the sense of what and how a thriller opening can be effective. I straight away could tell that What Lies Beneath is a supernatural film because of the opening clip. Tension, anticipation and suspense were all mixed together to draw the audience in. The use of camera shots and tracking contributed to these elements by zooming in on the bathtub with a long shot and the pace was very slow to highlight the secrecy and keep us on the edge of our seats. The scene was very uncomfortable and unsettling because the audience were not sure what was going to happen next, even though this may sound like a negative, it actually emphasised the mystery making us want to know more.

Moreover, the sound, music and shouting is the typical choices, what we would expect to heard from a scene of a paranormal thriller allowing the audience to have a sense of uncertainty and therefore predict a false plateau. At the beginning when the title appears theres a sound sequence which builds up setting an abnormal atmosphere of thrill. Like most movies, there are soundtracks in the beginning of their film, making them sound quite eerie, almost as if we know that something dangerous is about to happen, a sort of warning to the audience. The constant notes being played make the mood seem that there is more tension and that it is approaching to the main climatic part.

There's no dialog being used in the trailer so it engages the audience in suspense. There is hardly any diegetic sounds being used but this also grabs the audience's attention as the only thing we can hear is the main character and what they're focusing on.


Editting plays an important part in the opening. The title of the film appeared on the screen in the effect of water. This could be done in order to give the audience an insight of what the film would be about, hence the name 'What Lies Beneath'. Suddenly we see the actress' face appear from the water giving the audience a sense of shock. The face is closely zoomed and only focusing around her making her the focus. In my opinion, the fact that her face appeared from under water could possibly be foreshadowing her death or have a subtextual meaning that the audience don't know about.