Thriller Film Inspirations - Miss Georgiou

An inspiration is something that gives an individual an idea or inspires/makes them...

We need inspiration when creating something of our own because it gives us ideas for our narratives as well as allowing us to see the codes and conventions used and what has previously worked and not worked in previous products, making them successful or unsuccessful. We can take inspiration from many different mediums such as films and television programmes, videos on the internet .....

I have taken inspiration from other thriller film scenes, trailers and opening sequences. I have researched and analysed a variety of thriller films from 1940 to present day, annotating the development of the thriller genre and different codes and conventions used in many of them. I understand what makes a thriller scene successful and unsuccessful and how conventions create certain effects on the audience. 

First, I researched the BBFC and age certificates of several different films. I learnt that The BBFC is an important organisation that allows the audience to have a clear understanding of the appropriateness of the film before watching it. We will need to give our sequence an age rating as it will help our audience decide if they think it will be suitable for themselves or their family. Classifying my film at an age rating of 12A or below would be unsuitable for our thriller sequence as there would be too many guidelines to follow and that may limit the themes we could touch on in our sequence, making it less effective.  Because of this, my group has decided to rate our film at 15. We have decided to follow the guidelines of this age certificate because they permit the use of strong violence, gore and aggressive behaviour.  I will incorporate these ideas into my own sequence by...whilst making it my own by...

Next I analysed the history of the thriller genre, annotating films from 1940 to present day.

Hannibal Lector

The inspirations I have taken from this are that psychological thrillers with elements of crime and mystery tend to be very successful. Psychological thrillers create suspense because they create a theme of enigma. This builds suspense because the audience is made to keep guessing and question what will happen next. For example, Hannibal and Silence of The Lambs are two films that are based

around a cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter. The audience are scared of this character as he is dangerous and unpredictable. This creates dramatic tension as the audience want him to get caught before he harms anybody else. The viewer begins to care about his victims and therefore in scenes where they are put in danger, they are worrying and hoping that they will survive. This makes those certain scenes more intense.

A Victim in Silence of The Lambs

I will incorporate these ideas into my opening sequence by including themes such as plot twists, action and psychological fear in order to create suspense, excitement, fear, shock, surprise and tension in the audience. I also learnt that characters who are creepy or disturbed are more frightening to the audience as they are unpredictable. This further helps to build suspense. As well as plot twists and shocking story lines, 'jumpy' and shocking scenes provoke a fearful response in the viewer. So I will make sure the antagonist in my opening sequence is unpredictable, creepy and aggressive like Hannibal Lector but I will turn these ideas into my own by giving him a different background story and making the narrative different so even though both characters have the same effect on the audience they still very different from each other.

I will also take inspiration from the way protagonists and victims are presented in The Silence of The Lambs and Hannibal. The victim in my sequence will appear ordinary so that the audience can relate to her. She will also be presented as vulnerable and innocent so the audience will feel sympathetic. Because the audience believes they are similar to the victim they imagine themselves in her position and therefore feel more empathetic towards her and worry more about her safety.

My third post was about Mise-en-scene which refers to all of the characters and objects in a particular frame. All of the aspects of Mise-en-scene create a dramatic effect for the audience as all shock, suspense and surprise is provoked in them. The inspirations I have taken from this post are that using an every day setting, regularly seen iconography and a victim who wears casual clothes makes it easier for the viewer to build a relationship with them. This is because they can relate to them and makes them imagine themselves in her position. This keeps them engaged and more fearful because they believe it could be happening to them instead.

I will incorporate the costume, hair and makup ideas into my opening sequence because the victim in my opening sequence will be wearing a white dress similar to the one in The Conjuring as this will portray her innocence and vulnerability. I will also take inspiration from the lighting and colour in this clip as I plan to use low-key lighting and shadows to create suspense and enigma.

I also researched cinematography in a modern thriller film 'Insidious' From this I have learnt what effects different camera shots and angles have on the sequence and audience. For exmple using a high angle shot will make the subject appear vulnerable and belittled while using a low angle shot will portray dominance and power in the subject. I plan to use both of these cinematography techniques in my thriller sequence to emphasis on the different roles of the amtagonnist and victim and focus on there relationship. I will use high angle shots to show that the victim is weak and vulnerable and I will use low angle shots to show that the antagonist is the most dominant.

Sound can have as much of an effect on the audience as the images, especially in the thriller genre. I researched this further, analysing a thriller sequence from 1980 'The Shining.' There are several different types of sound that can be used in my opening sequence such as non-diegetic. In 'The Shining,' non-diegetic sounds used include a screeching high pitched sound. I may use this in my own sequence as it increases anxiety and suspense in the audience which will  therefore keep them engaged. Diegetic sounds such as a loud bang are commonly used in the thriller genre and can been seen in thios clip when the antagonist hits a door with an axe. The loud sound disrupt the eerie music or silence that was occuring before the bang to portray how the antagonist is disrupting the setting. Because of this. I would like to use a loud banging sound in my opening sequence such as a slamming door because it would highlight to the viewer that there is a threat as well as shocking them.

I identified and annotated several different editing styles in a sequence from 'Sinister'. One inspiration from that video clip is the use of timing of shots. In one part of the scene the shot is slowed down to create suspense because there is a character behind the man and the audience knows but he does not. I plan to use this technique in my opening sequence by speeding up some parts of the sequence and slowing down others. In the same post I analysed a jump cut whereby a young girl suddenly appears, shocking the audience and making them jump. I will incorporate this editing technique into my thriller sequence to provoke shock and fear in my audience.

The last research post I created entailed annotating different conventions of a thriller film. I watched a scene from 'Scream' and took note of the conventions of a thriller film that were present in that video clip. The killer had his identity hidden which is typical to a thriller film because it keeps the audience guessing and therefore creates suspense and keeps them engaged. the antagonist in my opening sequence will be wearing a mask to hide their identity because it creates enigma and mystery. The antagonist's signature murder weapon in Scream, is a knife. This will be the same in my sequence because as soon as the knife is shown to the audience, the antagonist is focused on as a potential killer and murder and danger is connoted.

 

My research was useful because it helped me to gather inspiration and gain ideas for my narative. Various inspirations from each post have made my sequence better because they have shown me what has been successful and unsuccessful in a variety of thriller films.