Thriller films that have influenced or inspired me in planning my own thriller

Thriller films that have influenced or inspired me in planning my own thriller

I have been thinking about doing kidnap opening which involves a child being taken as a result of an overdue debt for a drug deal, I believe using a child rather than an adult makes it not only more realistic but makes the opening more gripping and leaves the audience wanting more. I have taken inspiration from a thriller film, computer game and the missing. I want to try and use multiple settings to add more suspense and make the opening more interesting. costume wise I'm thinking of using quite modern clothing so its easier for my viewers to understand and relate.

Thriller Films

Gone Girl: As mentioned in a previous post Gone Girl is one of my favourite thriller films.  Gone Girl is a 2014 American psychological thriller film directed by David Fincher and written by Gillian Flynn, based on her 2012 novel of the same name. The film stars Ben Affleck,Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris and Tyler Perry. I think gone girl has given me many ideas about what i want to base my thriller opening on. After watching this film i feel i could take inspiration from it. My thriller opening is going to be about a kidnapping. I want my opening to be enticing leaving people wanting more, exactly the effect Gone Girl had on me. As mentioned above this film is a psychological thriller.  A Psychological thriller is a thriller story which emphasises the abnormal psychological states of its characters and plays on the mind something i want to try and include in the two minutes.

Other media products that have inspired me:

Watchdogs: Watch Dogs  is an open world action-adventure third-person shooter video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal, and published by Ubisoft. Set within a fictional version of Chicago, Illinois, the single-player story follows a hacker and his efforts to seek revenge after the kidnapping of his niece. The open world design lets players freely roam Chicago, which includes the urban city, suburbs, open countryside, and the run-down neighbourhood that surround downtown. I remember being obsessed with this game because it was so addictive. The kidnapping storyline was so intriguing because at parts it was like watching a small movie. In the first part of the clip below you can see Aidan ( the hacker and main character) trying to find out where his kidnapped niece is.

The missing: The Missing is a British-American television drama series. The eight-part series was written by Harry and Jack Williams and directed by Tom Shankland. It stars James Nesbitt and Frances O'Connor as Tony and Emily Hughes, the parents of a boy missing in France, and Tchéky Karyo as Julien Baptiste, a retired French detective put in charge of leading the case. The first series focuses on Tony Hughes, who in the summer of 2006, during the FIFA World Cup, travels from the United Kingdom to northern France for a holiday with his wife Emily and 5-year-old son Oliver. Not long after entering France, their car breaks down, forcing them to spend the night in the small town of Chalons du Bois. One evening, Tony and Oliver visit a crowded outdoor bar, where the quarterfinals football match is being watched. Tony loses sight of his son, never to find him again. Eight years later, in 2014, Oliver has not yet been found, police have closed the investigation, and the couple are divorced. Although Tony never stopped looking for his son, after seeing a recent picture of the French village where a little boy is wearing a scarf identical to the one Oliver was wearing the day he disappeared, and that was specially made for him with a unique insignia, Tony gets back on track, and with the help of retired detective Julien Baptiste, who led the original investigation, he starts to put the pieces together while the police decide to officially reopen the case. In my opinion this is the best TV series i have ever seen its full of suspense and anticipation. At times I found it hard to watch as i also have a younger brother but I believe this shows the power of the series and therefore I felt it was only right to base my opening around a similar idea. Rotten Tomatoes rated the series 96%, IMDb gave 8.1/10 stars and Metric also rated it 85%. This series is truly gripping as it puts into perspective how real this situation or similar ones are for certain people.

Brotherhood: Brotherhood is a 2016 British drama film written, directed by and starring Noel Clarke. It is the sequel to Adulthood, and is the third and final instalment of the Hood trilogy.Ten years on from Adulthood, Sam is married with two children, and working multiple jobs to support them. This is violently changed, as a humiliated Curtis returns from prison, with the aid of a crime boss, to destroy Sam's life and family. This film really inspired me because it was filmed with such a small budget but still topped many film charts on the opening weekend. The trilogy is full of emotion and suspense, something I wanted to try and replicate in mine. I also got my idea about the gang from this film because it showed another side to the British youth and also made the film so exciting to watch. Another technique used in Brotherhood that inspired me was the simple but extremely effective camera angels and shots. There are many of the same shots repeated for example trailing shot which allow us to feel as if we are alongside the character and involved with their situation until we reach the climax where the tailing shot stops. Many close ups are used which allow us to clearly see the emotion and facial expression of each character. Noel Clarke also uses slow motion shots multiple times though this film this allows us as the audience to see what's perhaps happening around the character . It also shows a sense of fear as everything seems to slow down around the character which sometimes means something bad is about to happen this can also be created by the use of dark lighting used frequently in the film.

Ill manors: Ill Manors  is a British crime drama film written, co-scored and directed by Ben Drew, Set in Forest Gate,.The film revolves around the lives of eight main characters, played by Riz Ahmed, Ed Skrein, Keith Coggins, Lee Allen, Nick Sagar, Ryan De La Cruz, Anouska Mond and Natalie Press, and features six original songs by Plan B, which act as a narration for the film. Ill Manors is a multi-character story, set over the course of seven days, a scenario where everyone is fighting for respect., iLL MANORS follows eight  disparate lives, all struggling to survive the circles of violence that engulf them. There is ex-dealer Kirby, who has just been released from prison, thug Ed who will stop at nothing to find his missing phone, troubled Michelle who is just looking for her next hit, young Jake who finds himself drawn to the local gang, Chris, who seeks revenge, Katya, who is desperately trying to escape this foreign land, and Aaron, our main protagonist who is just trying to do the right thing. Like brotherhood this fim was created on a very small budget. This film really inspired me because it showed the peoples different views on the 'flawed' political system and the issues the lower class come across, in particular gangs and the problems that come with them.