Inspirations

Inspiration

As a starting point, me and my group members looked at the opening to thrillers. This was to gather influences on camera shots, setting, narrative and other conventions to help us come up with ideas of our own. Our main focus was psychological thrillers as this is what we wanted to base our film opening on.

Shutter Island (Dir. Martin Scorsese- 2010)

We were rather interested in the psychological sub-genre so to begin, we looked at a movie from this category: Shutter Island. A date was written on screen to set the time period for the audience. The establishing shot began with a ship emerging from a bright white fog. This setting was brilliant as it gave the impression that something bad was lurking and it even gave off a metaphorical message (the brain of a mentally ill person can be quite cloudy and shrouded.) This setting began to inspire us to to create a mysterious setting where nothing is completely clear so the audience's mind is baffled. Also, the bright white suggested purity and innocence which made us want to have a character or place that represented this. Teddy, the main character, then begins to talk to himself in the mirror. Mirrors are commonly used within thrillers so we considered using this somewhere within our narrative. When Teddy and his companion talk to one another, the tone of the film becomes calm and all thought of something bad is lost. It seems natural and normal which leads the audience into a false sense of security. We really liked this idea of placing the audience in a calm state of mind, before something bad happened, so we began to take note and think of ways to use this.  Flashbacks were also used to give hints about the character so we too considered using flashbacks. As they reach the island, a storm is brewing and pathetic fallacy is used to suggest that things are not so nice after all. This idea spurred us on to come up with more ideas about how the weather can represent the characters feelings or the plot.
Another thing we liked was the close-ups on the character's faces. This showed expressions inspiring us to use these type of shots.
At first, the music is rather faint  with loud outbreaks of sound. As they approach the island, the music becomes very loud, suggesting danger. We wanted to use music to suggest danger and safety so we liked how the music was one within this opening.

Things we liked about the opening of Shutter Island and what we want to consider for our film:

1. Mysterious setting which may have a metaphorical meaning
2. The colour white to suggest purity and innocence
3. Mirrors
4. False sense of security and then something bad happens/ hinted at
5. Weather/Pathetic fallacy
6. Close-ups
7. Loud music

Inception (Dir. Christopher Nolan- 2010)
Inception gave us slight influences for our film. Inception starts off with Leonardo DiCaprio washing up on a shore. It seems very confusing and almost dream-like to play with the audience's mind. The dream-like setting influenced us to make some form of bright, dreamy opening too. Then, a young boy and girl are shown, representing innocence and purity. This is also represented through high key lighting. Once again, we liked the idea of representing innocence so we used this to inspire us. Hidden identity is used when you don't see the face of a man (the figure of authority.) This suggests secrecy so we took ideas from this for our own film. As for camera shots, close-ups were used on hands and faces. This showed emotions and suggested the importance of certain objects.
The costumes used within this opening, were suits. This showed authority and status, which we liked the idea of. When there was dialogue, an over the shoulder shot was used. We thought this may be useful to us if we had dialogue within our opening.
Finally, there was very little music. We weren't keen on this as we liked the idea of music within our opening.

Things we liked about the opening of Inception and what we want to consider for our film:

1. Dream-like opening
2. Hidden identity
3. Close-ups
4. Representations of innocence
5. Costumes (suits)
6. Over the shoulder shot

Black Swan (Dir. Darren Aronofsky- 2010)

Black Swan begins with a girl performing a ballet dance. She is in a high key lighted spotlight and surrounded by darkness. This suggests her purity and innocence in comparison to the outside world. Once again, we liked the purity that was presented. She was also wearing a bright white costume to symbolise her innocence and the costume was made from feathers to suggest her vulnerability and delicacy. Close-ups were used to track the feet of the dancer, this suggested that we were going to follow this character throughout the film as we did in the opening scene. The music began slow but soon turned quite viscous and fast paced. This famous piece of music (Swan Lake by Tchaïkovski) helped to suggest that the main character will become in danger. We liked how the music was used within the opening so it inspired us to find the right track for our film.

The opening fades out to black which suggested that the character will break down into darkness, hinting at the psychological element. We were influenced by this and thought of using this within our film.

Things we liked about the opening of Black Swan and what we want to consider for our film:

1. Lighting
2. Close-ups
3. Music to fit the narrative and opening
4. The colour white
5. Costumes
6. Fade

Sucker Punch (Dir. Zack Snyder- 2011)

Sucker Punch influenced us the most. The whole opening begins with a theatre, leading onto a girl sat in her room. The theatre set gives the impression that what is about happen within the opening isn't real (it's pretend like a play) or that it atleast doesn't feel real to the   character(s). Straight away, this hints at a form of psychological opening as it confuses the mind of the audience.

   A young girl is sat on her bed alone. At first, the bedroom symbolises safety for a child but this room seems far from it. The outside light from the lightening flashes about the room and creates a dark, shocking feel. This setting was brilliant as it used binary opposites: safe/danger. The bedroom seemed safe but the dark colours and lighting gave other impressions. This inspired us to want to use lighting to reflect on how the character feels and the narrative. Moreover, the main character had blonde/white hair, suggesting innocence and purity. This colour had already inspired us within Shutter Island so we once again took note and decided it was a significant colour.

  As the opening progresses, close-ups are often used on the character's faces to show emotions. Emotions are important to understand the plot and the characters so we decided that we may need to use close-ups within our film. Extreme close-ups and close-ups were used on weaponry within the narrative. For instance the small letter opener and gun were focused on many times. this suggested that violence and danger were to come, creating suspense.  We liked the idea of a subtle weapon like the letter opener rather than the gun as it questioned whether it was a danger or not. Another close-up used was on the feet running. This was quite effective as it showed her vulnerable side as she had bare feet.

 When the young girl is locked in a room, a zoom is used to show the reflection within the eye (her eye is looking through the key hole.) This symbolises mirrors as they too have reflections  leading back to the conventions of a thriller. By this point, we really liked the idea of a mirror or reflection within our own narrative.

 Low angled shots were used on the strong male figure whereas high angled shots were used on the girl. this suggested that the male was hegemonic and the girl was vulnerable  We liked this idea and thought it may be useful to use. Furthermore, we liked the idea of a dominant male figure and an innocent girl so we decided that these could be our characters.

 A blurred shot is also used when the girl points the gun at the man. The focus on the gun emphasized the reality of what she was doing and took away the thought that it was an innocent girl. This idea was clever and inspired us to use some form of focus change.

 Costumes played a key role within this thriller opening. The girl was wearing pyjamas, representing vulnerability  On the other hand, the male figure is wearing a suit. This showed authority and power showing how he dominates the younger girl's status. This is then portrayed at the end where the older male is listened to and the girl is sent away, showing the power of the man. The status shown through costume had great influence on us.

    Sucker Punch had a plot twist just like the usual thriller. The young girl accidentally kills her sister, which leads her into break down. This completely turns the plot around and shocks the audience.

    The sound was well used within this opening. It began with a voice over which then lead to music. The lyrics of the song "Sweet Dreams" were cleverly used. "Some of them want to be abused" suggested danger of a dominant figure, hinting towards the characters and narrative of the opening. The music also used drums and the pace was quite fast. This created suspense and inspired us to use fast paced music.

Things we liked about the opening of Sucker Punch and what we want to consider for our film:

1. Characters- young girl and dominant male figure
2. Weather
3. The colour white to represent innocence and purity
4. Close-ups/ extreme close-ups
5. Suggestive weaponry
6. Mirror/reflections
7. High and low angled shots
8. Costumes- vulnerability vs power
9. Plot twist
10. Fast paced music

Jaws and Goodfellas

Jaws and Goodfellas was our focus for one reason: the reverse dolly.
We found this shot to be very interesting and challenging  So we decided that we should put this shot within our film.