Ideas for our film - what we will include

From my research into the thriller genre I think we will aim to make a psychological or horror thriller which will be rated a 15 certificate. This is because we will need to create tension and suspense which may be too scary for children under the age of 15 to watch. A psychological thriller will not need as many props as an espionage or action film would require, so it is more practical for us to make. Also I personally prefer psychological thrillers and I think it will be interesting to film the opening sequence of one as we can create enigmas and a dark, ominous mood which will make the audience feel tense, like they should in a thriller film. We should try to include dramatic irony and a red herring in the plot as these are typical of thriller films. Psychological thrillers do not usually include a femme fatale and I think it would be difficult to create one anyway so we won't have one in our film. As it is the opening sequence that we need to make we should use a score that will create suspense and tension, either through being contrapuntal so the audience feel on edge or by increasing the pace so tension builds during the sequence.

The butterfly effect (2004) is a psychological thriller which is based upon the idea that a man can travel back in time to spaces of his past and so things differently in an attempt to improve his situation in the present day. He had a troubled childhood with traumatic experiences such as being forced to make child pornography, accidentally killing a woman and her baby, his father trying to kill him and then being killed in
front of him, and then watching his dog be burnt alive. Each time he revisits these traumatic experiences and changes something it has a knock-on affect on someone close to him and so it seems he can never fix everything. This includes the thriller convention of the protagonist in a situation where escape seems impossible, although he is not physically trapped he will never be at peace until everyone is happening, but every choice he makes leaves someone suffering. It is rated a certificate 15 because of the themes included in the film.

Black swan (2010) is a psychological thriller which follows the story of a ballerina who's greatest desire is to play the swan in the ballet swan lake. However when she is not good enough to play both sides she is forced to explore her dark side and eventually loses herself in a battle between good and bad. She has an unhealthy relationship with her mother who has anger issues and resents her daughter as she had to give up her career when she became pregnant with her so she lives her dreams through her daughters life. Many of the scenes in the film are hallucinations and all just from the protagonists twisted mind but the audience does not know this until later in the film. It makes the audience wonder what is real and the film ends leaving many questions unanswered. This is also rated a certificate 15 as it contains disturbing images and themes as well as use of drugs, sexual activity and violence.

Both these films make the audience consider the deeper meaning of the themes and there is more than one way to interpret them. Both end in the death of the protagonist which is controversial as most films have a happy ending. By killing the protagonist at the end it is unexpected as the audience think the film is over so nothing dramatic can happen. Also it goes against the usual conventions of film plots so the audience are surprised and shocked, which is what the thriller genre aims to do.
From these examples I think our film should have an unexpected ending so it leaves the audience feeling tense and shocked. It should make the audience feel tense by exploring deeper meanings to the themes and we should withhold information until later on in the film to make it more complex and to surprise the audience.