Past Student Thriller Analysis

Past Student Thriller Analysis

Channel for Past Student Thrillers:- http://www.youtube.com/user/robertclackmedia/videos?flow=grid&view=1

The Routine:- http://www.youtube.com/watchv=qNxP9HjpivQ&index=2&list=PL643A575553997720

The plot of this video is that the main character goes about every day in a kind of routine (hence the title). However, one day, there are things that are out of place, e.g. his right slipper is in the wrong place, there is blood on the knife he usually uses to cut his apple everyday. It soon comes to light that someone is out to get him and put him out of his usual routine. Eventually, the main character is knocked out and kidnapped by the mysterious man.

What makes this video unique is that, after showing his routine once, they reuse the shots used the first time for the next few times to show that this routine is repeated everyday.

Night Walker:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MU-b322M8w&list=PL643A575553997720&index=8

The plot of this video is that the main character is walking normally through the streets at night on her way home. Relatively normal things happen at first like the main character calling her mum, saying she'll be home in 5 minutes, and a man asks her for the time. However, the main character is then followed into a small road and kidnapped by a mysterious man.

I like the set-up of this video as a Thriller film. It uses a tense but ambient vocal song in the background (Wait for Me by Moby), the video is set at night, so it is dark (save for the lampposts) to emphasize anxiety and suspense to the viewer as usually, bad things happen when you are out alone at night and the credits sway or sweep onto the screen like smoke to portray a mysterious sense in a way as absolutely anything could happen at night.

Watch Your Back:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5L0aifQENSc&index=14&list=PL643A575553997720

The plot of this video is quite vague. It shows a man first walking up a flight of stairs to what might be his apartment and then walking through a neighborhood and a local park. However, it seems that he is being followed by a mysterious man wearing a mask. All the while, there are several sudden shots throughout the film showing photos on a wall, each showing a man in a certain location. It could be speculated that the main character was caught by the mysterious man as the camera (the P.O.V of the masked man) is shown rapidly zooming in on the back of the main character before the screen goes black. The final few shots show the man with his mask revealed to the viewer.

I also like the set-up in this video as a Thriller. There is suspenseful music playing in the background, the shots occasionally switch from normal colour to greyscale and back and there are 2 Jump Cuts when the main character enters the park that turn into Dissolves to very faintly show the characters last two positions and convey a sense of suspense and mystery. The editing is erratic to convey anxiety to the viewer, constantly switching between scenes with the main character, scenes seen through the P.O.V of the antagonist and shots of the photos on the wall. The narrative also seems to be non-linear due to the main character, at one point, walking up the stairs to his apartment and then suddenly switching to him in the park. I also like how the Company Ident Sequence of this film (A J-PEC Production) was created in a way that made it look like a major studio that would be the kind of studio that would produce/distribute this film.