Music In Thrillers

Music is generally an important factor that must be considered carefully for all movie genres as it is able to literally 'make or break' a film through the good or bad use of music. Despite all movie genres needing well thought-out music throughout, thrillers are in need of extremely well thought out music in order to keep suspense high and tension tight. I will be analysing several pieces of music that are featured from some popular thrillers.

Psycho

In Psycho, the music used is a very high pitched screech-like sound in a musical way to create suspense. The notes change constantly between high and low pitch, creating an uneasy tension in the theatrical atmosphere. Psycho's soundtrack became very popular and became one of the most popular soundtracks that people analysed. The composer of this popular piece chose to use high pitch to put further emphasis on the 'eerie' effect it creates. The music is set at a fairly upbeat tempo, meaning that the tension is built up much faster when compared to slower pieces of music. The composer chose to use violins for this piece, giving the notes high pitched screeching sounds to add to the eerie effect. Violins are often used to create suspenseful music as well as,typically, the piano.