Shooting Schedule for Thriller Opening (Emily)

Shooting Scheldue for our Thriller

Storyboard for Thriller Opening (Emily)

Storyboard for Thriller

Inter--textual reference: Hunger Games

1. Mirrored shot in 8

2. Same shot in 9

3. Same shot as 10

4. Representation of what shot 11 will look like

How Motifs are used in Thrillers

MOTIFS IN THRILLERS

A motif is a recurring image or idea in a film, and many directors rely on motifs to form a certain mood or create a certain feeling of nostalgia or knowing within the audience. Motifs are vastly important in many genres of film, however Thriller films can really elect a feeling of foreboding and unease when using one.

A motif used in the film Inception is a totem. A small spinning top that the character Dom Cobb, (Leonardo DiCaprio), places on a surface as to confirm whether or not he is immersed in a dream. If the spinning top eventually slows and stops spinning- he is awake, however, if the spinning top continues spinning it means he is in a dream. This motif is particularly powerful at the end of the film where Cobb is finally about to be reunited with his children, however prior to this he sets the spinning top on the table as to see whether it is just another lucid dream. After having set the spinning top spinning he does not wait for the outcome and instead opts to go and meet his children. The film then abruptly ends as the spinning top begins to wobble but not fall completely leaving the audience unaware as to whether he was awake or dreaming- the uncertainty leaves the audience wishing he is awake and therefore demonstrating the emotional attachment they have formed with the character and the now detailed understanding of the significance of the top.  

        

 Christopher Nolan, the director, spoke later in an interview about the ending of the film and the significance of Cabb leaving the spinning top to spin, having relied so heavily on it previously in the film to determine whether or not he was awake- 

"I put that cut there at the end, imposing an ambiguity from outside the film. That always felt the right ending to me – it always felt like the appropriate 'kick' to me... The real point of the scene—and this is what I tell people—is that Cobb isn't looking at the top. He's looking at his kids. He's left it behind. That's the emotional significance of the thing."

Another Leonardo DiCaprio film which evolves heavily around a motif is The Great Gatsby. In this film DiCaprio's character, Gatsby is seemingly fixated with a green light which comes a light in the evening from a dock the other side of a river Gatsby lives on. This green light illuminates from where Gatsby's love, Daisy, lives. The green light therefore represents Daisy and his desire and longing for her. The green of the light demonstrates the envy and jealously that Gatsby feels, perhaps toward her new husband, or perhaps toward the light itself being closer to his love than he is. The light is also used to reflect America in the 1920's and how many Americans strived to achieve the American Dream, Gatsby's American Dream being Daisy, who, despite reaching and longing for, he cannot reach. 

        The feeling I believe this motif elects from the audience is one of realisation, green, in our modern life, means go- if you relate it to traffic lights for example. The realisation the audience feels is one that if you want someone, you should go and get it, instead of wasting away simply longing. The use of motif in these two films has influenced me to perhaps use a particular colour as a recurring motif in our Thriller film opening, (as we don't have much time to establish a motif), to signify longing, or danger or something else. This colour could appear on props, on location or even costume. Either way, I have been very motivated to use a motif in our Thriller opening.