Inspirations - Miss Georgiou

Inspirations 

We need inspiration before we create something to gather external ideas other than our own to broaden our knowledge and familiarity of the 'something' - in this case, the thriller genre. To also get inspiration from others means that we can gather further insight as to what is expected from thrillers - conventional features. We can take inspiration from other thriller films that intend to create the same effects as to what our own film will want to. I have taken inspiration from successful thriller films such as 'House At The End Of The Street' and 'Shutter Island'. 

Firstly, in my post for cinematography, I looked at a sequence from 'The House At The End Of The Street' which have given me many reasons to be inspired. In the clip I analysed, there were many point of view shots and handheld movements (as unclearly shown screenshotted to the left). The use of these shots were inspiring as they created the shock and suspense that they are intended to create as well as building strong relationships between the characters and the audience. These shots will be incorporated in our opening sequence, however, in a slightly different way. The point of view/handheld movement of someone running through a forest will be very similar to what we will use and the point of view shot will not be made so obvious to the victim as it is in this clip. I found that these shots helped to create shock, suspense and surprise, therefore making them conventional to the thriller genre. The point of view shots in-particular made the audience feel more empathetic towards the characters as the audience are made to feel like they are in the same situation as the characters themselves. Moreover, the audience feel more of an impact when something bad happens to the character as they feel empathetic and in the same situation as the character is in. We will include point of view shots from our victim as well as the antagonist. The victim's point of view shots will make the audience feel empathetic towards this character and more like they are in their position. Whereas, the point of view shots from the antagonist's perspective make the audience feel tense and suspenseful as they are unable to see who this particular character is. This makes the audience feel scared for the victim as they also do not know who is 'stalking' our victim. 

I have also gained inspiration from my mise-en-scene post where I analysed a clip from 'Shutter Island'. The use of all five elements of mise-en-scene were used in specific ways to create a tense and eerie atmosphere throughout the sequence - I particularly liked the use of lighting. It was low-key throughout most of the clip (as shown in the screenshot to the left) bringing this negative mood down on the scene. The lighted match is the key light in this scene and having this being the only brightest source of light makes the sequence a lot more unpredictable as this key light could go at any time. The audience are made to feel on edge as they cannot see everything as clearly as broad daylight would demonstrate - this is what we intend to make the audience feel for our opening sequence. Furthermore, I was inspired from the way particular character's appearances are slightly distorted as the lack of light doesn't allow for every intricate detail of them to be seen. This makes the audience feel more unknowing of the character as their view of them is restricted to an extent. Therefore, the lighting in our sequence will be inspired by the effective use of lighting shown in the 'Shutter Island' clip. We will be using low-key lighting throughout our sequence to create an 'on edge' feel within the audience and a tense, negative atmosphere - staying also conventional to the thriller genre.

Secondly, I was also inspired by the choice of setting (as screenshotted to the left). It was very conventional to the thriller genre as it is an isolated one which creates a relationship between the characters and the audience as the audience fear if and how the characters are going to cope. The way the setting is enclosed creates a sense of entrapment and fear for the characters. This will inspire my own thriller opening sequence as we will have an isolated setting where the characters will experience a feel of entrapment and this will be reflected onto the audience. I feel that the use of a setting such as this one will help contribute to making the relationship between the characters and the audience stronger as the audience will feel more worried and sympathetic towards them. Having an isolated setting is conventional to the thriller genre because in thrillers there is usually at least one character who manages to get into trouble and cannot escape from somewhere and so an isolated setting allows this to occur. We will be inspired by having our sequence set in a forest as this is an isolated setting that we can also easily access and can build a narrative with too. It will also create a sense of normality as there are forests all over the country and so all audiences are familiar with this type of setting.

Furthermore, I have taken inspiration from my sound post where I analysed a short clip from 'The Shining'. There were many uses of different types of sound in this clip - non-diegetic, diegetic and parallel for example. I have mostly been inspired by the non-diegetic soundtrack as it was eerie and screechy making it unpleasant for the audience to listen to - it is played from the start (0.00) to the end of the clip (2.07). This makes them the audience feel quite uncomfortable and gives them the feeling of being on edge as tension is built up. The soundtrack is also parallel sound as it compliments the actions in the scene which I think is really effective as it engages the audience a lot more, creating emphasis on certain particular actions. I will take inspiration from this and make sure that the sound in our sequence will compliment the actions that are taking place in the scene, so this therefore covers two types of sound through the use of one sound. It's also conventional to the thriller genre as it creates suspense and leads to a surprise or shocking action. In my own thriller sequence, from inspiration from this research into sound, a non-diegetic soundtrack will be included in order to build tension and create suspense and an eerie atmosphere throughout my whole sequence.

In editing, I analysed a clip from 'Saw 4' which very much inspired me. There was a high use of editing in this clip creating much variation throughout the sequence. Particularly, the montage I found very effective (as shown in the screenshot to the left). It created emphasis on the message portrayed in the scene and became the main focus for the audience, therefore with this significant image being made memorable to them. Inspiration will be taken from this from the way that we will include a montage in our film to build up tension and create emphasis on certain images in our sequence. This will also ensure conventionality to the thriller genre, as suspense, shock and surprise will be created from the use of it. We will use it in ours when the victim is reflecting on the past events of the sequence where she originally found a picture of her pinned to a tree. It will be used slightly differently in ours as it will reflect a flashback, however, because we will still be including a montage, it will still demonstrate inspiration from the clip of 'Saw 4'.

This research was useful for retrieving and developing ideas for our narrative from the ability to explore the different ideas in which different thriller sequences display. The variation gives more of a broad view of the different ways elements are included. Each inspiration has contributed something new and different to our sequence giving it ideas that are slightly more 'outside the box' and professional. Taking inspirations from other thrillers allows us to create a sequence that is more accurate and valid to it's target audience. Inspiration from other thrillers gives us ideas that will satisfy our target audience and help to make a relationship between the audience and the characters occur. Furthermore, it will help our sequence meet the criteria of what is conventional to the thriller genre and therefore make ours more successful.