Thriller film inspirations - Miss Miller

Before creating a clip, it is a good idea to think about everything that has inspired you from things you have previously watched. It helps you to gather your ideas, and possibly expand on some ideas of your own to make sure they create the best effect. We can take our inspirations from anything, such as books, TV programmes, films, pictures, narratives in general (such as those used in music videos) etc. An inspiration is anything which you thought was good and gave you some ideas; it can be anything.

I have taken my inspirations mainly from other thriller films as this is related back to the task of creating our own thriller opening.

When looking into mise-en-scene, I analysed a clip from the film Asylum, called “Leave me alone” I have learnt that thrillers don’t always need any iconography or many different settings, and sometimes by keeping everything simple, you can create the best effects. This will help me in creating my own thriller clip as it inspired me to plan to keep the majority of the conventions simple, such as only using one location, so that my viewers don’t feel overwhelmed unintentionally by all that will be used in the scene.

I plan to use this idea in my thriller opening by only having 2 settings, which are a forest and a river, and 2 pieces of Iconography which are a rose and a scarf. The forest is conventional to thrillers as it is isolated from everything, meaning the victim will be unable to get help. The river can be found in most forests, and suits our narrative. Not a lot of thriller films use underwater clips as this can be tricky to film and so by including it, will make our thriller film unique.
In most thriller films I have seen, the victim is always stereo typically a female dumb blonde girl. I didn't want to follow this stereotype and thought instead I could use other elements of mise-en-scene to clearly portray the victim. The iconography of the scarf will emphasise the youth of the girl, due to its pretty pink design. This is the same for the everyday appearance of the girl, in a pink dress, looking natural. This is a clear way of presenting the victim to the audience, instead of copying what every other thriller narrative does, but still keeps it conventional.

When looking into Cinematography, I looked at the clip called “trying to kill me” from the film Red Eye. I have discovered that a specific camera angle/shot can be used in a variety of ways to portray a certain character.For example, a high angle shot would normally be used to portray the victimised characters, but in the clip I analysed, the high angled shot was used to show the week side of the villainous character.
This will help me when making my own thriller opening sequence as it will remind me that I don’t have to use cinematography in the stereotypical way certain shots are used in the thrillers. Some of them can be used in another way but can create suspense and provoke a response from the audience, and this may also make my thriller more original. As well as this, it inspired me and gave me an idea to use in my thriller opening. The idea is to use a particular shot such as a high angle to always portray a specific character (the victim), so that the audience will associate the same feelings towards this character every time this angle is shown in this way. 

When looking into editing,  I analysed the different editing styles used in the clip called “Here`s Johnny” from the film The Shinning. I have concluded that the most common styles used in the thriller genre are jump cuts and slow editing. For example, slow editing is a quick way of building tension, which allows you to manipulate your viewers as they can experience a variety of emotions. Jump cuts are used to make the audience suddenly focus on something. The use of them inspired me as it gave me the idea of using jump cuts to focus on the little girl walking through the forest, but will also speed up the amount of time it takes to show this. This should help to keep the audience engaged and interested. This, along with my understanding of other editing techniques, will help me when making my own thriller clip as it has made me realise that editing is used to make the film run smoothly, which is something I am aiming to do.

When deciding on my individual narrative, I thought about all the inspirations that I found from the films I have watched. For example the film prom night inspired me due to the hidden identity of the killer and the film 'the strangers' inspired me because of the low-key lighting and cinematography used to portray the victim. These films inspired me and gave me ideas as to what I could include in my opening thriller clip.  
        

My idea is about a child having a nightmare where she dreams about being in a park on a swing, happily playing, before the killer takes her. I would set this in a detached house surrounded by forest as this is stereotypical of any thriller films. I would use cinematography such as high and low angled shots to portray the child as the victim. (Inspired by The Strangers) and the music and sound effects to build suspense. I would keep the killers identity hidden (inspired by Prom Night) and would try and create an enigma to leave the audience guessing
For example, I would use one main piece of Iconography such as a teddy bear/ scarf that belong to the child, which was with her when playing on the swing. When the child wakes from the nightmare, all would seem well again, but to create an enigma, I would use a zooming in shot through the bedroom window to the park where her teddy bear/scarf would still be. Completing this post has helped me think about everything that inspires me in thrillers films which allowed me to create my individual narrative. This helped me when planning my groups narrative for our opening thriller clip as it gave me a place to start, where I could elaborate on my points and ideas and create a better narrative involving every ones ideas. 

When deciding on what age certificate we should give our thriller opening, we looked into the BBFC and compared the contents of our clip to those in well-known films. 

 The BBFC stands for the “British Board of Film Classification, and is important to the film industry as it is in charge of classifying all films. Its job is to protect the public from content that is unsuitable for their age group, and to stop children seeing explicit images that may harm them. It also allows parents to make informed viewing choices by acting as a guide. The BBFC classifies films, video/DVD`s trailers, adverts and some video games.

This post allowed me to research and gain an understanding of the film certificates to help me in choosing my target audience for my narrative.

The certificates include;

U (universal) – “Despicable Me”

PG (parental Guidance) – “Scooby-Doo the Movie”

12 – Sherlock Holmes

12A – (children under 12 can see this film at cinema, with an adult only)

15 – The Hangover

18 -Se7en

Having researched into all of the above age certificates, I  decided my target audience would be a 15 rating as strong violence is allowed as long as the film doesn't focus on the infliction of pain/injury. This would suit my groups narrative as the underwater fight scene resulting in the girls' death seems violent, but there is no focus on how she died etc and so is suitable for a 15 rating.

To help me decide on what worked in a thriller film and what didn't, I looked into the history of thriller films and focused on how they have changed over the years.
Thrillers films are those which have an element of pure suspense, excitement and tension. When researching different  thriller films, I noticed that they have changed and developed a lot over the years. Looking back on earlier films they seem somewhat unrealistic compared with what we see know, but this is due to the development in technology.

Having researched into thrillers films varying from the 1940`s to  the present day, I have discovered what has worked well over the years and what has not. For example, the most successful narrative used since the 1940's is obsession. This will help me when deciding on a narrative for my thriller opening sequence, as I will base my narrative on a similar theme. This  should help to create suspense in my opening as it has already been proved to have been successful.
This research inspired me to use a similar theme of obsession in our group narrative. The idea in my groups narrative, of the several flashbacks and the enigma created from not knowing who the killer is or why he killed the girl, makes it seem like he was obsessed with killing this girl, and also suggests that the girl was obsessed with finding out how she died.

When looking into the conventions of the thriller genre, I analysed a clip from the film "House of the end of the street" called "the basement scene". This post allowed me to use all of my knowledge of the conventions of a thriller film in the single post to show my understanding. I talked about the different types of sound used, cinematography, editing and aspects of mise-en-scene such as low-key lighting and  costumes, hair & make up.

This post helped me gain some ideas as to how I can use these conventions when making my own thriller clip. For example, I could use a high angled shot to quickly show my audience who the victims are, without wasting too much time. I learnt that sound is what makes any clip have an effect on the audience, as without it, the images are not scary. This post  helped me realise that I can use as many or as few of the conventions of the thriller genre in my own thriller clip. It inspired me to be courageous with the decisions we make, so that as long as we can justify why we used them and what effect they create, then anything can be used. 

When looking into sound, I looked  into how it is used to build tension and suspense in order to engage the audience in the scene and make them feel something. Having researched into sound, specifically  looking at the clip from " the panic room" I have discovered that sound can be used to help create an understanding of the scene for the audience. It helps add meaning to an image which without sound would not have the same effect. This will help me in creating my own thriller clip as it will make me think about why I have used a particular sound and the effect that it has. I could also use a sound appropriately to ensure my viewers understand how a particular character is feeling. For example using a slow tempo soundtrack to show the character feeling sad. What inspired me from the film 'the panic room' was how effective the sound was, but also how the images matched the sounds used. This helped me as I want to make sure that the images and sounds match so the best effect can be created. 

When looking into opening sequences, I looked at other films openings to gain some ideas. The opening sequence I analysed from the original film "Halloween" filmed in 1975, was good as it used most of the aspects I thought should be in a thriller opening sequence.

Having gone into detail about the narrative, cinematography, editing. sound, the representation of characters and the overall conventions used in the clip, I concluded that you can use as many conventions in a thriller opening sequences as you wish to, and you shouldn't  limit yourself to only using stereotypical  conventions such as the  low- key lighting. This opening sequence  inspired me and gave me some more idea for my own thriller clip. Thinking about my own narrative, the setting of the detached house surrounded by forest is the same for my narrative, and so I will be definitely be keeping this if I am to use my individual narrative as my final clip. The clips use of hidden identity all the way through out inspired me as even after the possible identity has been revealed, the  audience  are still  not convinced. This gave me an idea that perhaps I don't have to tell the audience who the killer is at all, and instead I can leave my opening clip with a big enigma which will leave the audience guessing. I can do this by showing, or inferring that the little girl died, but not giving anything more away as to who could of done it, or what their motives were.


Researching all of the elements listed above was helpful as it gave my group and I time to gather our thoughts and decide which ones worked best etc. We can then use these newly thought ideas to create a new storyboard, ensuring this one creates the most effect on the audience. Looking at my inspirations gave me many ideas as to how to make my thriller more conventional, but also how you can adapt certain elements such as the portrayal of victims, in your own way, to make the thriller unique.