Inspirations- Miss Georgiou

We need inspiration before we can create something to get an insight towards what a particular thing is about, to provide us with more information towards it and how we can make our work even more effective. Since joining this course, I take my information from watching different types of thriller films and seeing what makes what effective, what type of conventions of a thriller make the audience is awe with suspense, shock or tension.

The thriller film 'The Human Centipede,' from my recent post 'Research Into Editing Styles' shows a range of things that relate to effective thriller films which provide me with inspiration. This particular scene is about two female victims, (which make the audience sympathise for them as they are powerless within the scene) and the antagonist (the person torturing the girls.) As one breaks free, the sequence shows a range of different thriller scenes in which fit into the genre, for example, fast editing when she is running away to represent panic within her and fast editing when she is in hiding and trying to be as quiet as possible, it turns to slow to show she feels safer in a room than the open hallway which she knows he is following her. There is also low key lighting with no sunlight going into the house, just with very grey colours to represent danger and to show a depressing scene rather than using bright colour to represent happiness. The iconography within the scene is also very effective as there is use of weapons (needles) putting put into the female victims and dull colours within the house, mainly sticking to the colour scheme of black, white and grey. My interpretation of this was to show that the character of the person who lives in it is very blunt and straight to the point, that is why he goes straight in with his experiment before doing anything else first.

The thriller film of 'Sinister,' from my recent post of 'Research into Sound,' shows a diverse range of sound techniques I found when listening to the clip. I think that using sound within a thriller film is extremely effective as it creates tension, suspense and shock more elaborately upon the audience. The audience become more shocked and eager to see what happens to the victim character, this creates an effective relationship between the characters and audience as the audience sympathise for the danger that the protagonist is in and want to find out if the victim comes out of the situation safe or hurt, physically or emotionally. I think this clip was inspiring as there was no need for much dialogue as it would have ruined the tension that was created from non-diegetic sound. I think this highlights the paranoia that the character of the dad is experiencing and how he only wanted the safety for him and his children without any of these childish games these ghost-like creatures are taunting him with.  Yet is this effective towards the particular genre of a thriller, but also very important, you'll be able to highlight the usefulness of this media technique if you were to watch a clip in which had no sound towards it at all, resulting towards the scariest scene, not living up towards the expectation and not as being as effective as it could be.

I chose to research the method of Cinematography in the clip from the scene from the film 'Nightmare on Elmstreet.' Cinematography was important yet effective towards this scene as it allowed the audience to clearly see panicked or scared facial expressions towards the victims face. Types of cinematography also shows background or none at all, or having it blurred to ensure the audience is focused on the same thing. All these examples are used when appropriate in films to add effect and help the audience understand to create a stronger bond. Cinematography is very important within the genre of thriller films as it helps the audience understand the mood within that particular scene. For example: a victim being panicked, you would usually use a close up or shallow focus to highlight the importance of her emotions and a victims relevance towards the scene to the audience and the antagonist. I think the example of 'Nightmare on Elmstreet,' is very effective as it is a scene in which includes the victim being paranoid and frightened at the same time. By the end of the scene, it seemed to be a surrealistic experience towards the victim character, where she's at the extent of screaming and the whole of her class believing she is crazy due her 'nightmare dream.'

This research was useful in terms of getting ideas for my narrative as it allowed me to see with more understanding towards the reasoning of what conventions make a thriller film effective. The research posts allowed me to gain knowledge towards what type of method is used at a certain point to create tension, shock and suspense. For example low key lighting. These various types of inspirations made my sequence better by allowing me to witness different scenarios within the same genre and help me create my own thriller scene towards what I believe is most effective, for example; the hidden identity for the antagonist.