RESEARCH: EXISTING FILM THRILLERS

I researched psychological thriller films to find films that are similar to mine. I began looking at The Machinist which is about a man who has insomnia.

The use of this shot from The Machinist (Brad Anderson,2004), is that it forces the viewer to look at the post it note. As he leans down to look at it we become eager to see what he is looking at. I could use shots in my thriller opening to make the viewer look at what the point of the shot is rather than just put the camera on it.

This screenshot is from a film called The Experiment (Paul Sheuring, 2010). I like this shot as it is as if they are being watched and recorded on a camera. This enables us to know that what is about to happen could be significant since not only the views are watching but the people in the world of the film also are. 

This shot is from Black Swan (Darren Oronofsky, 2010.) I think this shot is effective as it is a close up reaction shot and really captures the girls fear. I could use this in my opening sequence.

The above screenshots are both from American Psycho (Mary Harron, 2000) The top one I like as the camera has just tilted down showing a group of weapons that the psycho could use to commit the crime. I like the way that the camera does this to almost show what he is thinking. The second camera angle is effective as the camera is on focus on the man that is about to have some sort of harm done. The use of black gloves suggests he is evil and this
creates suspense as we want to know what happens to the victim.

This image is from We Need to Talk About Kevin (Lynne Ramsay 2011) The reason that I would want to recreate a shot like this is because you can see her in the reflection of the camera. Simple words like this are effective as the audience want to know what it means. Having her reflection in the computer also gives a different view shot.