Sound and Music in Thriller Films

Panic Room:

Silence at the beginning causes suspense and tension making the audience become captivated. At the beginning there is a slow non-diegetic made up of brass instruments. Then in the middle of the opening sequence it became faster creating a creepy atmosphere. It was also contained a ticking clock which could indicate that time is a key issue in the film. There were also ambient sounds of traffic and other city sounds.

Catch Me If You Can:

A soundtrack is played throughout the opening sequence using non diegetic sounds such as instruments including a saxophone, trumpet, violin and xylophone. The music increases in speed as the character is getting chased. Overall, this makes the opening sequence have a parallel sound.

Se7en:

This opening sequence has diegetic sounds as well as non diegetic sounds. Diegetic sounds include cars, scream and cutting his finger. Non diegetic sounds involve the soundtrack which contain the instrument of drums. Lyrics are used at the end where a short lyric is sung. It mainly includes sound effects.