Inspirational Shots for Thriller

Whilst watching 'Layer Cake' (directed by Matthew Vaughn) i saw quite a few shots that look easy to execute but are still very effective, for example, when Daniel Craig is waiting on the bench for 'The Dragon' when it is just starting to get dark you can see the city landscape layed out before him with all the lights on which shows you the setting of the film, symbolising how important the male Protagonist played by Craig is to the story line showing him as larger than life above the city. This shot is taken from behind the back of the bench this shows the men as just black silhouettes against the lit up city scape indicating the darkness of the storyline and the deed you are about to see. it also keeps the mystery as throughout the entire film you never find out who 'The Dragon' is or what he looks like this shot shows how real he is but still keeps the intrigue into who he is.


Another shot that looked good but easy, was the scene in which Daniel Craig and the Dukes men are running away from the police, to get across the feeling of panic and desperation this scene has been shot using handheld camera running sometimes behind and sometimes infront of the characters, and in one particularly good bit Daniel Craig runs into a overhanging branch and it flicks back into the way of the camera this gives the audience a sense of worry and adrenaline. This type of shot would be relatively easy to perform, but there would need to be a degree of steady camera work as although effective this type of shot does not show any skill or ability with a camera which is the sort of thing we are trying to exhibit in our production.



I also took a lot of inspiration from the film 'Millers Crossing' (directed by Joel and Ethan Coen) because I really enjoyed this film and particuarly liked the scene in which the male protagonist Tom Reagan played by Gabriel Byrne is forced to go out and shoot Bernie, played by John Turturro, in the middle of a forest. This scene has some brilliant shots due to the location. A slow zooming shot shows the forest and the black tree trunks indicating the bleakness of the surroundings and the plot. In the middle of this shot in the middle of the forest clearing is Bernie crouching down whining for his life and Tom standing over him with a gun pointed down at his head. this scene is incredibly powerful as there is not noise except his begging for his life, this shows us the dispute that is going on inside Tom's head and highlights the characters weaknesses, this correlates with the flawed hero often found in thriller films.