Inspirations - Miss Miller

1) Why do we need inspiration before we can create something?
2) What clips have you looked at for what micro-elements and how have you taken inspiration from them?
3) How has looking at various clips helped you create a better sequence?

We need inspirations within films to ensure that certain elements in different films can be incorporated into one. Throughout our planning into our opening clip we viewed various films where certain elements were conveyed. We gathered some of our inspirations from films such as; Halloween, SAW, Se7en, Reservoir dogs as we thought they conveyed elements which were conventional to the thriller genre. We intended for our sequence to perceive themes of suspense and tension as their two typical conventions of thrillers.

When we looked at clips from the film Halloween we were particularly looking at the narrative idea and sound techniques used. As we watched the clip we came across a camera technique that we thought was particularly good, as it gave you the perspective of the killer. A point of view shot was used when we saw the villain approaching the two innocent characters and when he is walking up the stairs. The use of a point of view shot would have been to give the audience the experience of the villain, and feel more sympathy for the victim. This is conventional to a thriller as it creates suspense and shock amongst the audience. We also like this shot as it helps build a relationship between the audience and the characters which would keep them engaged throughout the clip. Another feature of Halloween that we liked was the use of contrapuntal sound when the killer is approaching the victim we hear the gentle sound of her innocent humming, similarly in the clip we watched from Reservoir dogs contrapuntal sound is used; when he is torturing the victim. The use of contrapuntal sound would help create a contradicting atmosphere amongst the audience making the relationship between characters and audience more evident, as the audience feels a sense of sympathy amongst all of the happy music. This feature is conventional to a thriller as it creates suspense, sympathy ans tension within the audience. We choose to try and incorporate these features into our own thriller clip because we believe that they would make it more conventional to the thriller genre and also engage the audience and keep them interested. A final element that we incorporated into our film was the idea of using children as he victims, as in the film Halloween we see the identity of the killer at the end being a child but this juxtaposes the idea that he is also the victim as his body could be demented or haunted. We particularly liked this idea as the our main character (the young girl) would be demented and possessed by water meaning that she is driven by her needs.

Our third clip that we chose to use micro-elements from was the clip from SAW. We saw several variations of lighting throughout the clip, and we analysed ever one to see what specific lighting would match our narrative and make it more conventional to the thriller genre. Low key lighting was used in the clip to create tension, suspense and also to add to the whole narratives idea. We would try to use low key lighting as much as possible as it would help establish the genre of our thriller film, and also build a relationship between characters and the audience. A second micro element that we liked from SAW was the narrative idea, that you had to fight for survival and that not everyone will succeed. Finally I picked up on the establishing shot used of the whole room and the keys. I wanted to involve this shot in our clip at the start to give the audience an idea of the location of the film and help establish the urban area and how significant that idea was. This would be conventional to a thriller as it would add suspense and tension to the narrative as it is dark and not busy which would make the audience sympathise with the situation. Furthermore would add to the relationship between both characters and audience as it would make the audience feel more sympathetic. We would like to use the inspirations to make the possessed girl seem more innocent and the low key lighting will add to the vulnerability of the girl making the audience feel empathy towards her, ultimately this will make our thriller more conventional as it makes the audience more engaged throughout meaning they will follow the narrative.

The final clip that we analysed was from the film 'Se7en', here we saw several examples of different conventions used within thrillers. We specifically looked at the opening credits so that we could gauge elements that we wanted to use in out sequence, for example we liked the way in which the names of directors,actors etc were presented. The almost flicked through the appearance, I liked this as it would immediately convey an idea that the film is not steady and simple, but a film which is full of thrills. Also as the opening scene begins we see un human like hands turning over the page and revealing disturbing pictures. Yet it was never actually revealed who the person was, I liked this aspect of hidden identity used as it created a sense of mystery and would add suspense which is typical to the thriller genre. It would also add to the relationship between the characters and the audience feels suspense and of the edge of their seats (tense). Also within the clip basic primary colours were used such as black,red,brown. The fact that only dark colours were used would suggest danger/blood and things associated with death traditionally. It would also give the audience an idea of the type of genre the film would follow. I like this aspect of the opening scene as from the start of the clip the genre of the film was established, meaning that if our group was to use some of the similar micro elements involved it would make our thriller conventional and the audience would feel a stronger relationship between themselves and the film; as they emphasising with the audience.

From researching a variation of clips, we were able to pick up micro-elements and techniques which are conventional to thrillers used. We thought that these were particularly good as they created suspense and tension within the audience and ultimately an connection between both audience and characters. Inspirations are good to use in our clip as they can help give our clip more than one intended meaning and also make the clip more personal to the audience.