In order to find the right sound I needed, I had to listen and find out what sort of sounds mystery thrillers have in their sequences. Looking at the movies I’ve been using the whole time (Murder On The Orient Express, Crooked House, Kaahani, Sherlock Holmes, Murder At the Gallop, etc.), this shouldn’t be too hard of a problem at all.
Looking at the 1974 Orient Express, their title sequence had mostly non-diegetic sound, as it only outlined the crime actually taking place rather than showing the evidence itself and the silence and suspense of it all. No ambient sound was really used, most likely to show how stealthy and quiet the criminal had to be to commit the crime in the first place. The soundtrack behind it has high pitched noises mixed with bass to create a suspenseful and high tension atmosphere, since a crime is taking place at this time. It gives the sequence a more suspenseful feel to it since its such high stakes for the criminals to actually complete the crime they’re aiming for.
In the newer 2017 version, there are plenty of different sounds from ambient to diegetic to non-diegetic to on-screen and offscreen and if I were to list all of that it would be enough for one post. Unlike it’s parent movie, this version has much more dialogue included in the title sequence to introduce the main character, Herucle Poirot. So in order to introduce our character, it would be imperative to use these techniques to introduce our own detective, Rebecca. There is only a soundtrack during certain parts of the sequence where there is no dialogue necessary, like when the little boy ran to get more eggs, so we included certain soundtrack sounds under dialogue parts and where there is no dialogue anyway.
Crooked house has few sounds that are extremely obvious, like the footsteps, the faint sound of the syringe, and some mysterious coughing in the back. With the creepy soundtrack in the back and the few diegetic sounds that are heard throughout the first two minutes, it creates a suspenseful and mysterious atmosphere and the audience isn’t sure what to think about it at first. We wanted this same sort of feeling, except the audience would come to figure out that the scene is a murder, but not who did it and or who’s observing the scene. Taking this kind of inspiration led to our sequence being easy to apply sound and be able to create the feelings that makes the most sense.
Sherlock Holmes, the 2009 version, starts out with Sherlock running from someone or something, and it’s not completely clear why. A lot of ambient sound is used here and mixed with certain diegetic sounds, like his breathing, his footsteps, him tripping and whatnot. Though this film is more geared towards action and adventure, it still has the original feeling of mystery we kind of want to go for. Not too much inspiration was taken from the sound, but more the plot of the sequence as the detective, Sherlock, is introduced through a creative way.
Into The Truth 