Research

As a group, we researched various thriller films in order
 to give us a clearer perspective on the term "thriller", as well as giving us ideas on what to use and include in our own. We first looked at 'The Shining', orginally written by Steven King and later directed by Stanley Kubrick. It was from this film where we adapted the idea of an evil and spritual land which influences the behaviour and mind of humans. Also during the course of this film, there is a great deal of uncertainity, suspense, and tension; which were key elements in our opening sequence.

We also researched 'Misery', which was also written by Steven King and directed by William Goldman. From this, we adapted the idea of possession and the unnerving feelings a cold and sincere character can bring.  

We also looked into the film "The Gift" where a woman goes missing and a young woman with physic powers is called to help with finding her. this film is where we got in inspiration for the idea that there should be a physic connecting with the killer. We felt that this would capture audience attention as it explores the unknown. 

As well as 'The Gift' we also researched 'The Departed', where on on the pearl and dean website we looked at the statistics for comparable film 'Gangs Of New York':

Gangs Of New York age gender 4-6 0% male 64% 7-11 0% female 36% 12-14 0% class 15-24 28% AB 28% 25-34 38% C1 33% 35-44 11% C2 20% 45+  23% DE 19% source: CAVIAR

From the chart, you can see that 64% men prefer this particular type of thriller, whereas only 36% of women do. 

Most references to thriller films involve crime and tension, but like in 'The Shining' and 'Misery' we combined these two themes with a chilling and mysterious twist. Although we did look at the orginal and more traditional approach to thriller films (such as The Godfather, Pulp Fiction, Fight Club); we felt that many of the thriller films written by Steven King matched the ideas and themes we wanted to use in our opening sequence.