Famous Influences on the Thriller genre

In this post there will be information regarding famous influences on thriller movies.

Christopher Nolan

Christopher Nolan was born July 30, 1970. He is a British-American film director, screenwriter and producer. He received notice after directing Memento, which he wrote and directed. After directing Insomnia, Nolan came up with his latest film Inception. Inception was an original screenplay by Nolan, a heist film set in the world of "shared dreaming." Nolan co-founded Syncopy Films with his wife.

After the success of The Dark Knight, Warner Bros. contracted Nolan to direct Inception. Nolan wrote and directed the film which was described as "a contemporary sci-fi action set within the architecture of the mind".


Examples of his work

Inspiration

The main inspiration behind Nolan is that his entire thriller films treat the audience with respect by assuming with have the intelligence to un-pick his complicated storylines. Furthermore while being a contemporary director he chooses not to complicate his camera angles and seems to choose the most appropriate angle for each scene. In continuation while dialogue plays a crucial part in all films it seems like Nolan only uses speech when entirely necessary and in order to give the audience clues. It would be foolish to believe we could emulate anything close to a Nolan picture but we will try to implement some his director features to make our opening sequence.


Saul Bass

Saul Bass was born May 8. He was a graphic designer and filmmaker, best known for his design of film posters and film title sequences.
During the 1960s, Bass was asked by directors and producers not only to produce title sequences for their films, but also to create storyboards for key scenes.

However he is probably best known for his role in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, which has caused some controversy. Bass claimed that he participated in directing the highlight scene of Psycho, the tightly edited shower-murder sequence. The research of several film scholars on Hitchcock's production of Psycho validates the claim that Bass in his capacity as a graphic artist did indeed have a significant influence on the visual design and pacing of that famous scene. Hitchcock had asked Bass to produce storyboards for the shower-murder scene and for some other scenes in the film.

 Examples of his work

This opening title sequence is my favourite of all time. I believe it holds all the great components to a thriller movie. The first two minutes tell the story but also leave some clues to be found out. Whilst it would be hard to match such a high level in our opening sequence I would love to take some inspirations from this piece. For examples while the titles roll I think it's possible to have a similar style to this by using software on the Mac computers.



Inspiration

As mentioned before Saul Bass had a great talent in telling you in the story in the first two minutes. Not only was it sophisticated but it included all the credits looking seamless. I would also love for our opening sequence to have the same effortless effect to the audience. Forcing credits will take all the tension away from the film as a thriller. I you have a massive swipe in the middle of an argument then audience won’t feel anxious. It is important to evoke as much emotion from the viewer as we can. By using Motion software on the MAC's we won’t to design and opening with both video footage but also graphic images to create a nice balance.

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, 13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980 was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood.

Over a career spanning more than half a century, Hitchcock fashioned for himself a distinctive and recognisable directorial style. He pioneered the use of a camera made to move in a way that mimics a person's gaze, forcing viewers to engage in a form of voyeurism. He framed shots to maximise anxiety, fear, or empathy, and used innovative film editing.

Inspiration

This man is a cinematic genius. This video sums up how much influence he had on future film makers. From Hitchcock I would absolutely love to match his talent in revealing enough information to keep the audience anxious and interested. As a group we must decide the best way to do this. I believe that the camera angles we use will be the most important factor. What frame we use, speed of zoom and angle will all play a major part in the quality of our final piece.