Research of Genre and Film influences

- The genre of our film is: Psychological Thriller.
- This is a sub-genre of the wide ranging Thriller genre, which can also be closely linked to the genre’s horror and mystery.
- Thriller are usually full of suspense, serious and sometimes disturbing content, they are meant to shock and excite the senses. Psychological Thrillers add elements that can be related to the psyche.
- We chose three films that influenced our ideas and best related to our film.
- “Hide and Seek” directed by John Polson, written by Ari Schlossberg and released on the 25th February 2005. The genre is described as a horror/mystery/psychological thriller, the exact genre’s we wish to convey with our piece. We noted the movies techniques of suspense using build ups of tense music and long camera shots followed by quick sudden actions to encapsulate the perfect level of anticipation, which if we were to make our whole film we would want to demonstrate similar techniques. We also thought the unexpected twist in the plot leading to a switch of focus in the film as the protagonist becomes the bad guy created a direct parallel between our own ideas and the plot of “Hide and Seek”.
- “Fight Club” directed by David Fincher, Written by Chuck Palahniuk (novel) and Jim Uhls (screenplay) and released on 12th November 1999. Described as a action, drama, thriller although does not have the horror element we wish to embody in our own project there are many parallels between the psychological elements of the film, in particular the hallucinations. If we were to make the entire film we could use many of the techniques for distorting camera angles to recreate the distorted head of the protagonist. For our introduction we wish to take influence on the lighting and camera angles for the alleyway seen, distorting light and having fast pace music as “Fight club” includes in the more violent scenes of the film.
- “Scream” directed by Wes Craven, written by Kevin Williamson and released on 2nd May 1997. The film is described as a Horror/Thriller. We wished to learn from the stereotypical horror genre elements of the film. That build suspense for the viewer, two particular influences for us were the setting, in your own home (the way they take away the comfort and safety of your home), the protagonist (teenage girls are the typical victims) and recognisable motifs, for example answering a phone alone at night, leading to come kind of trouble.