We firstly
gathered a huge collection of similar films of the thriller and horror genres
in order to inform our decisions on how to connote our own film's genre,
ensuring that there was constant reference back to films such as One Hour Photo and Single White Female. Both these films informed our decisions on the
mise-en-scene and character behaviour in our opening sequence, such as the idea
of a moodboard from One Hour Photo,
immediately connoting not only the psychological thriller genre through its creepiness
and out-of-place positioning in a seemingly normal teenage room, but also
foreshadowing the extreme lengths that the stalker will go to, in order to
track her target: an idea also seen in Single
White Female, as the stalker Hedy imitates everything from the victim's
habits to her appearance. Another interesting concept from this film was the
perspective of the stalker, as opposed to the victim, which allows the audience
into the mind of the antagonist and is another convention of psychological
thrillers.
Sy Parrish's moodboard was an idea which we wanted to replicate, and clearly connotes the stalking element of our film |
We aimed
to create an instant sense of unease in our opening, and also explored how
sound could also help suggest this. For instance, we limited any dialogue
between the antagonist and anyone else (in our sequence, her brother) to a
couple of lines to amplify her isolation, and thus her motive for wanting to
'become' her victim. Our soundtrack was also chosen to increase a sense of
unease and its "disorientating tape loops and synths" help create a
dark mood reminiscent in other psychological thrillers and horrors. Both the
lack of interaction and uncomfortable soundtrack are also seen in The Machinist, ranked as one of IMDb's 100best psychological horror films.
The Machinist, which uses similar tools to build suspense.
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