Inspirations - Miss Georgiou

Inspirations 

Inspiration is required before we create anything, in this case a thriller sequence, as inspiration is the foundation behind all great creations and ideas. The starting process of anything is always the hardest part, when we are inspired to start/create something it enables us to continue on from that starting point. We can take inspiration from anywhere, be that from things that already exist, or it can come out of the least likely things, and our own experiences. New film ideas will most likely not come from nothing, rather come from taking/incorporating elements from previous films, and altering them into different style of film. This accompanied by fresh ideas can be the inspiration of new film titles. I have taken inspiration from various different thriller titles from different sub genres, by doing so comparing the use of thriller conventions and to what affect they are used within such sub genres.

I have taken inspiration from the film nightmare on elm street, as I have watched many sequences from the film and identified various different types of cinematography and have analyse to what affect, therefore enabling me to consider how I might be able to incorporate this into my own opening sequence. An example of cinematography use that I intend on using in my own opening sequence is the use of a handheld during a chase scene in my narrative, as this is done during the middle segment of "nightmare on elm street". This is as during a scene in the film in which the victim of the narrative is being chased, a handheld camera is used to follow her movements.  This is done to create urgency for the viewer, emphasizing that she is being chased by the jerky movements caused by the use of the handheld, further adding to the urgency. This makes the viewer feel on edge, and feel the same sense of urgency that the character is portrayed as having. I shall follow the same format of using a handheld in my opening sequence, to the affect mentioned, however I shall alter it to make it my own by including it in a longer segment in my opening sequence, creating a more intense feeling of tension from emphasising the urgency, as during "nightmare on elm street" a handheld is only used briefly for less than 5 seconds.

I took inspiration from the film "Inception", as I have watched the film on multiple occasions and have analysed the use of sound throughout the zero gravity fight scene in the film. The sound used throughout the film is conventional to that of thriller films, and uses many different aspects to the affect of creating the main thriller conventions for the audience (suspense, tension, surprise and shock). At the end of opening sequence of my group and Is narrative, after the chase has occured and the girl has escaped unharmed the scene will go completely silent, which is similar to that of "Inception" during the zero gravity scene. At the very end of the scene in which the driver of the van quickly recovers from the fall and drives off, the audio goes completely silent (silence) apart from the noise of rain and the windscreen wipers. This is done to signify to the viewer that it is the end of all of the madness and hectic scenes before this point, and to completely slow the pace of the scene down and to allow the viewer to access what they have just witnessed, and the sound of the rain and windscreen wipers is included to denote to the viewer that the atmosphere and surroundings has changed. I took inspiration from this and intend to incorporate silence at the end of my sequence to the same effect of signalling the end of the hectic scenes beforehand and to show the change in scenery which will occur in the following scene.  However, I will make the idea my own as inception is a different type of thriller and the scene has a high degree of tension and is action orientated, whereas the narrative of my group and I's opening sequence is orientated around an eerie, dark atmosphere, therefore the use of silence after the climax will differ to that of "Inception".

Another film in which I have taken inspiration from is "Se7en", as I analysed a scene from the film when researching the various different mise-en-scene elements throughout thriller films. The narrative of the film has a dark element to it, similar to that of the narrative my group and I have produced, therefore the conventions used throughout should be relevant to use/incorporate into the opening sequence. In my narrative, the majority of the scenes will consist of low key lighting and back light, as it creates an eerie atmosphere which complements the theme of the film. During the sloth death scene in "Se7en",  the entire sequence in which this takes place has a eerie atmosphere due to the only lights coming from the back light from the curtains later on in the scene. This connotes to the reader that someone thing is about to happen, an example for foreshadowing as something bad did happen. In my opening sequence, the lighting in the scene will be low key as soon as the girl has been ditched by her boyfriend. The change in lighting when she gets ditched will connote to the viewer that something bad is about to her, as to the same affect as "Se7en".

Another film in which I have taken inspirations from is "Silence of the lambs" as I researched upon the film and analysed clips from within, looking at  the various different types of conventions , by doing so incorporating all the research on individual convention aspects, showing my understanding of all throughout a segment of the film. The scene follows Torodovs theory, the same theory which my group and I's opening sequence and narrative follows, in which the beginning starts off with an equilibrium, in which everything is calm and under control, emphasized by the background music in the background, which continues to play once the disequilibrium comes, in which the sound becomes contrapuntal. In the sequence, I intend to incorporate however the use iconography, and the focus upon it due to the use of the camera focusing upon it. There are various references to different types of iconography during the segment within the film. The camera zooms into the eye spray and batons which the officers are holding, quickly zooming into a close up shot before focusing on them briefly. The use of focusing the screen on the weapons could connote to the audience that the following scene will contain an element of violence, as they dedicate screen time towards it, drawing particular attention to the items. Showing the officers with the weapons, with the context of the scene (which is of a psychotic killer) could make them build a connection between the police officers and having to prevent violence caused due to the antagonist, as this is a common association with them in films (and the real world) that they are the borders between bad and good.  Due to this, the viewer can create a relationship between the officers and there weapons as representing law and order.   The audience may foreshadow the actions of the following part of the scene because of the reference to violence mentioned previously. This is conventional to the thriller genre as the iconography focused upon is present within other thriller films, and are commonly associated with each other. Creating a connection between a piece of miss-en scene and characters could potentially allow the audience to identify scenes of violence before they occur on screen, by doing so allowing the producer to create suspense and tension as the audience is aware as to what is going to happen, but during the period before this, the scenes will be very tense and suspenseful. Within my opening sequence, the use of a extreme close up and close up will be used while the antagonist of the narrative is just about to get into chase with the victim,  drawing attention towards the iconography within the sequence, to the same effect as in "Silence of the lambs", as both narratives have a dark nature to which and follow the same theory. 

Evaluation 

The research which I have conducted has been very helpful in getting ideas for my narrative as analyzing various different scenes from multiple different sub genres of thrillers, identifying the main thriller conventions throughout and elements throughout the scenes has given me multiple ideas which I can incorporate into my own opening sequence. The various inspirations have made my sequence better as I am going to base the elements used within my opening sequence to that of real thriller films, by do so creating the main thriller elements (shock, surprise, tension and shock) and making it a more realistic feeling opening sequence for the viewer.