Influences

I am now moving into the planning stage for my thriller opening and I have therefore needed to consider what has influenced me when it comes to inventing an idea and the concept for my thriller. Many different things have influenced me when it comes to my thriller opening - including films, directors, clips, images, websites, film eras, sub genres and many more. This post will be a collaboration of everything that has influenced me in the ideas for my thriller opening. 

Film eras

After watching many exerts from all kinds of different thriller films, from various time periods my group and I decided that the film era that we were most interested in was the 1930/40 s Hollywood glamour as we felt that this time period produced some iconic thriller films and is not often recreated in modern thrillers and would be an interesting and challenging project, therefore our thriller opening will try and encompass this both stylistically and in regards to the plot of the sequence. As a group we decided that our main character is going to be a woman and is also the main antagonist, images like these are what have influenced what we wish to recreate in our own thriller opening and show exactly what we wish to portray through our character - a sense of danger through her appearance and the use of the colour red. 

Sub genres  

When considering what sub genre of thriller to explore, my group and I thought carefully about what genre would fit our 1930/40 s theme - we decided that a crime thriller would be the most appropriate for what we intend within the plot line for the sequence, as a crime thriller enables us to create a dramatic sequence using a gun and therefore opens itself to a wide range of camera angles and editing techniques to build tension for the audience. Moreover, to keep the authenticity of our thriller opening our group intends to film the thriller opening all in black and white, reminiscent of a film noir so that the use of shadows and light will convey a strong sense of danger and build suspense.  

Films

A big inspiration for my thriller opening comes from the 1940 Psychological thriller 'Rebecca' the use of dark and light is particularly outstanding and is a clear indicator of whether a character is a protagonist or an antagonist - it also is able to convey the emotion of a character through the intentional casting of shadows , Mrs. DeWinter in particular creating an eerie quality to the scene, we will attempt to recreate this iconic style within our own thriller opening. 

Directors

The director who has influenced our ideas for our thriller opening the most is certainly Alfred Hitchcock, the director of the film 'Rebecca' among others, Hitchcock's directing in the 1960 film 'Psycho' is what influenced the selection of camera angles we intend to use in our own thriller opening. This scene uses the point - of - view shot among other camera angles incredibly - increasing tension considerably and the editing used also makes this harrowing scene so iconic, putting the audience in the position of the character. 

Style

Following in the style of the 1930/40 s era, the film 'Gangster Squad', although not a thriller exhibits exactly the kind of style that I would like to use in my own thriller opening, especially the setting of the club and the costumes of the characters as they are very glamorous and would look even better in black and white I feel. 

This image in particular shows exactly the style that we desire for our main character, the use of red too on our character is designed to show that she is dangerous, like this character our antagonist should have red lips and a red dress to really stand out from the rest of the shot  - connoting the importance of the character.

Iconic use of the colour red

Within our thriller opening our group decided that we would like to have the majority of our sequence in black and white with the exception of the red items that our main character would wear and hold, including a red umbrella, the red dress she will wear and if possible a strong red lipstick. We feel that this would enhance our thriller opening and make it eye - catching, moreover the red is designed to identify our main character as an antagonist instantly and to connote that she is dangerous to the audience. Our inspiration came from films like the 1956 featurette 'Le Ballon Rouge' and the 1993 historical drama 'Schindler's list' in both pieces the use of red is both influential and iconic - this is what we would like to recreate in our own thriller opening.  

Sources: Google Images, Youtube, Imdb, Pinterest, theguardian.com/uk, amazon.com