Thrillers that influenced our thriller

Se7en



The thriller Se7en influenced our thriller a great deal through the opening scene alone. Se7en has a very eerie opening and uses clever editing and shot types to create this effect. We used the technique of short close ups linked together very quickly to keep an energetic and exciting feel maintained through the title sequence. The titles of this thriller are also very successful, as they are slightly animated and seem to vibrate, there are no black screens either the titles are super imposed over the top of the action to ensure that the opening isn’t to boring or lacking interest. By using the short shots of various items and movements of the characters, enigma is implied about the characters featured and gets the audience to keep guessing as to whom the mysterious character is and his connection with the story. The high contrast editing styles also bring high detail to the shots and create an even more sinister feel. Se7en has a soundtrack placed over the action this provides a mood enhancer and develops the dark and eerie feel. However we didn’t use a soundtrack we used a voice over this links to the thriller opening from the film Layer Cake.



Layer cake


Layer cake uses a voice over to tell the background of drugs. Drugs being the main theme of this film. We took the idea of a voice over and adapted it to fit our thriller opening scene. The voice over is a useful method of describing the plot background of the characters or in our case describe the action loosely. The voice over is a very difficult method as the voice has to be correct to match the character and tone of the thriller. In our case the voice over wasn’t planned particularly well and the voice wasn’t of the right tone to the action therefore making it less effective. On the other hand the voice over we decided to use wasn’t the generic mainstream style an audience would have expected thus making it independent and making the opening more effective in a sense, so long as the audience is expecting an independent style thriller.



L’homme Du Train


L’homme Du Train is a French thriller which heavily features trains, as obvious as this seems. This particular thriller is particularly useful as our opening scene uses trains as a form of escape. L’homme Du Train also has a very intelligent subtle way of defining characters. We choose to use this film opening and took ideas from it simple because it established the main character very early on very effectively. By using extreme close ups of items the character had for example a small box of medial pills. We could use the same technique to develop our characters. We used extreme close ups of items both of our characters had either on their person or in their vicinity. The girl on the train had a glossy magazine telling the audience she is in touch with the social life and very much like any other teenage girl e.g. she is just an average teenage girl, this means that the general young female population can relate to this girl and become closer to the action.



Strangers on a Train


Strangers on a train is a dated thriller in black and white. We chose to use several aspects of this thriller to enhance our own. The black and white style inspired us to use a monochrome tone in certain aspects to add a sinister effect to certain shots and sequences. Strangers on a Train also uses a very effect low angle close up of two characters walking, we took this idea and used it to show two characters walking in different locations but the feet appear to be walking towards one another to give the impression they are being drawn together. The footwear in strangers on a train is also a significant factor in characterisation and tells the audience a lot about the characters wealth and style. In our thriller we used very cheap and common shoes in the youthful population. This tells the audience the characters are young it is also an indication to the target market and who the thriller is aimed at. The low angle close ups of feet are very effective and give out a lot of implications toward meanings and characters

Thriller Planing: Plot Line

Our thriller plot is very basic and easily understandable. The story shows a young teenage girl arriving at a train station and boarding a train, this young girl then reveals her past by using jump cuts to her telling it to a physiatrist. The girl talks about her father and we learn that he is a gangster with a corrupt mind and no sense of justice. The girl is running away from her father after accidently witnessing him murder someone. We are going to use long shots to establish the idea of isolation and use jump cuts to show her state of mind. These ideas are influenced by various thrillers: Se7en gave us the inspiration for using the jump cuts to establish an unstable state of mind. Homme Du Train heavily features trains and connotes the idea of running away which we thought was very successful. Homme Du Train also uses random shots of scenery and noise clips to set up the scene which we aim to use. Strangers on a train is another thriller which we found closely related to ours, I liked the idea of randomly meeting a stranger on a train and then conducting a plan. I also like the way Strangers on a train creates characters and introduces them.

Thriller planning: costume and Props

Thriller Planning: Shot lists

Thriller Planning: Location planning