Inspirations

Introduction

We need inspirations before creating something because this helps you to think about ideas that can be used. Also, by having inspirations, it helps you decide what ideas best suit the type of creation you are making. Inspirations can be taken from anywhere. For thrillers, they are best to be taken from other thriller films as these have lots of different ideas and conventions like lighting and enigmas. I have taken my inspirations for my thriller sequence from different films. For example, I will use inspirations from Halloween and Saw 2.

My first inspiration I have is the convention of having a female victim. I saw this in the opening sequence of Halloween when the girl gets murdered by a young boy called Michael. This inspired me because by having a female victim, it makes them look weak and innocent. It also makes the antagonist look stronger as the female is vulnerable. This makes the audience believe something bad is going to happen to the victim as they know they won't be able to fight back. In the clip from Halloween, even though the killer is only a child, he still has a better chance of killing her because she has no strength or weapons to fight back with. As he has a knife, it tells the audience that he will hurt her and she won't be able to anything about it as she is on her own. Using this in my thriller sequence will help the audience build a relationship with the characters as they will begin to feel sorry for her and won't want her to get hurt or die.

My second inspiration is the convention of a hidden identity of the antagonist. I saw this is in the clip from Saw 2 where the characters can only hear a voice. I liked this because it creates an enigma for the audience which keeps them engaged in the film. As a result of this, it means the audience want to finish watching the rest of the film so that they can found out the answers that they are being questioned about throughout. This inspired me because it keeps the audience thinking about what's happening in the film which creates tension as they don't know what's going to happen next. In this clip, even though the antagonist is hidden, he is still dominating over the on-screen characters as they are all doing what he says. This scares the audience as they don't know what the antagonist is going to force them to do next.

My next inspiration I have taken is from the use of mise-en-scene by the characters facial expressions. I have taken this from Woman in Black when the young girls go from playing happily to having more frightened expressions on their faces. This inspired me because it showed me that facial expressions tell the audience a lot about how the characters are feeling and the mood within the scene. Also, it helps the audience build a relationship with the characters because, for example, if the character is looking frightened if they are about to be killed then the audience are going to feel sorry for them. In the clip from Woman in Black, the girls are smiling at the start which means they are happy playing but then they suddenly have more scared facial expressions. This means that they are frightened of the Woman in Black so the audience feel worried for them as they are young and innocent girls.

Another of my inspirations is the point of view angle which is part of cinematography. I saw this used in Woman in Black: Angel of Death when the woman is looking down through the hole in the floorboards at the young boy on the bed. I was inspired by this angle as it helps the audience relate to the character as it shows what the character is seeing so they see it as well. This is also means the audience can get a clearer idea of what the character is thinking especially if it is a point of view angle from the antagonist. I thought that the use of this angle in this clip was good because it gave the audience a better idea of what the woman was thinking and it showed that she was worried about his safety whilst laying on the bed. This also created tension for the audience as they start feeling scared for the boy as he is only young and innocent drawing in his book. I think that the use of this angle is conventional to the thriller genre as it creates suspense making the film scarier or the audience to watch.

My final inspiration is an editing style called slow editing. I saw this used in Annabelle when she goes into the storage room and starts looking around. I was inspired by this edit as it creates suspense which is conventional to the thriller genre because it keeps the audience engaged in the film. I also think that this edit helps the audience relate to the character as the audience have more time to think about what the character is doing and thinking. In this clip, the use of slow editing shows the audience that she can feel a presence there. This creates an enigma which keeps the audience engaged within the film because they want to find out what is happening. This also helps the audience build up a relationship with the woman as the audience are also wondering what the presence is that she has noticed.

Conclusion

The research I have done has been useful in terms of getting ideas for my narrative as it has shown me what the different elements create for the audience like suspense and an enigma. It has also shown me that dialogue isn't always needed to create fear for the audience. Inspirations like the point of view angle and using a female victim have made my sequence better as they make the antagonist look more dominating and the victim more innocent.