INNOCENCE - STUDENT THRILLER ANALYSIS

Before creating our own thriller, my group and I decided that we should further research thrillers at a low budget, student level. Not only would this give us a clear insight into the transition from a Hollywood film to a student thriller, but perhaps aid us in the process of generating ideas regarding the filming and editing for our own production.


I searched through Google, You Tube and past students’ work at my old school, and found that ‘Innocence’ grabbed my attention the most. Although it is an older production, and the technology a little dated,  the clearly presented storyline greatly captured the chilling atmosphere vitally important when creating a successful thriller.

The production shows its age mainly within the titles. The technology available today, wasn’t around in 2005.  Therefore the titles are minimal and symmetrical. As a result, they weren’t realistic; this is something to consider when creating our own titles. However, the group had chosen to use a white font against the black background, reiterating Strauss’ theory of binary oppositions i.e. good vs. evil. The San-serif font used, created a psychopathic and ‘documentary’ feel, perfect for the production. I did not understand the choice of ‘invented’ film studio ‘J2GD’ and its relevance to Thrillers. In our production, we should create a  company seemingly apt for the production of films of a horror/thriller genre.


When the credits start, piano music plays instantly, which created a foreboding and ghostly atmosphere for the film. This music remains throughout the two minutes. When the image first appears, the sounds used were reflective of screeching and groaning.  This created tension and drama from the beginning. At this point, strings are also introduced to the classical music.

A fade from black is used to show a long establishing shot of a young girl running in a field. This image was shown in slow motion, which, combined with the girl, immediately presented the audience with a chilling and distressing image. It also presents the audience with enigmas such as ‘Why is she there?’ and ‘Who is she?’, exacerbating the concern the audience  feel for her safety. She is smiling, which is completely incongruent with the music, suggesting something terrible is about to happen to her.

She is wearing pink and purple, typical for a girl of about 7, and her feminine hair flicks behind her as she runs. This image is continuously presented to the audience for approximately 40 seconds, before the title ‘Innocence’ is shown. Straight cuts, tracking shots, slow motion, and various shots (from medium close up to long shot) are used to connect and complement this selection of shots.

The slightly blurred image presented throughout the tracking shots, which can be merely down to the age of the filming technology, only enhances the ‘home video quality’ that creates the eerie and unsettling feeling surrounding this film. This section of the film  has a "point of view" appearance, as if being filmed by a family member.

A medium close up of the young girl smiling and giggling, exaggerates and stresses the gut-wrenching feeling that I certainly felt as an audience member, when watching this. This is again reiterated, later in the same section, at the close up of the young girl sitting in the grass.

Tensions are built, directly before the unveiling of her terrible, imminent future, by a crescendo of string instruments introduced into the music. This technique, birthed from Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’, is extremely prominent throughout all thriller films, and is perhaps something we should research further for our Thriller.

Once again, a straight cut is used before a medium close up of the young girl, facing away from the camera. She slowly turns, this time without smiling, in a ghostly and haunting manner. On this turn, a choir of phantom-like and unearthly voices are introduced into the music. The image shakes and blurs until it is finally black and white. It is at this point that ‘Innocence’ appears, in the same font as previously used.

This beginning is highly simplistic, yet extremely effective. When watching this production, these first few clips immediately jumped out at me as something I would love to try out for our thriller, as I think it perfectly captures the chilling and confusing opening, common to many Hollywood thrillers.

After this sequence, the attention now moves to a dungeon-like room. The chiaroscuro lighting creates deathly and shadowy projections on the wall. The camera pans to reveal the whole width of the room. It falls upon a large wooden table where candles, ropes, brown glass bottles, and other seemingly torturous objects are placed. There is then another straight cut to a white, stone staircase, where again enigmas are created: ‘Why are we here?’ A single candle is placed on each step, and overlay titles, in the same font, gradually start to appear. A faceless. black figure slowly and precisely walks down the stairs.

Quickly, we then move to a shot of the girl running into the forest, looking over her shoulder as if chased. This sudden interlude subtly suggests to the audience that these two images are connected, but they are not sure why. I love the hand held quality to this clip as it really captures the feeling of a person following.

We then suddenly change back to the image of the man walking down the stairs, however this time his back is to us. This not only gives the audience a variation regarding angles, but allows the ‘criminal’ to remain anonymous.