motifs in thrillers

Motifs in Thrillers

A motif is a reoccurring element which has symbolic significance to the film itself. Motifs help the audience to develop an understanding of the narrative and theme of the film, in the film inception (July 8th 2010 - directed by Christopher Nolan) I have found two motifs which we are reminded about throughout the film.

The first motif which reoccurs throughout the film is the totem (spinning top). The idea behind this totem is that it allows Leonardo DiCaprio to know whether he is in a dream world or a reality - if the totem falls he's in a reality, but if it never topples over he's in a dream world. This motif is constantly used to create suspense when Leonardo is trying to find out whether he's in a reality or not, due to the time consuming process of waiting for a totem to fall, this builds up tension for the audience to finally come to the conclusion of reality or dream world.

Another motif I found interesting which is used in inception is the use of safes (with secret combinations). Safes are used three times in inception with Saito's safe, the wife's safe and the millionaires safe, this constant reminder of secret combinations is a subliminal moral to the story. Specific combinations represent the exact steps which are necessary to succeed in their mission, even if they fail to get one digit correct they have to start the whole mission again.   

Example of totem and safe in Inception:

Independent study - men and women in film noir

Film Noir Indepndent Study by Marlin Cooper on Scribd

What's the purpose of a film's opening sequence?

Opening Sequences by Marlin Cooper on Scribd

Close textual analysis of a 2 minute clip

Press here for Sixth Sense clip

2 Min Clip Analysis by Marlin Cooper on Scribd

Sub-genres of Thriller

Preliminary Task

Explanation Of Planning Process 

During the planning process of our preliminary task we had to allocate roles to actors and film crew, we also had to consider the location and costumes in the film. We chose Gabriel Hayden to act as the boy who's not to be trusted, we came to this decision as he has an ability to pull mischievous facial expressions and is enthusiastic about acting, this is why we gave him the role. Matilda Goddard played the role of the confident girl who wants to go ahead with the plot to commit murder, we chose this actress as shes currently studying drama and is a confident actress, she also filmed some shots as shes part of our group to complete the preliminary task. Anna Dunbar mainly decided the types and angles of shots along side me who also did this, we came to this decision as we didn't need any more characters and we weren't confident with acting.

Tasks such as script writing and shooting schedule were decided as a group to see what was convenient with everyone involved in the production. Mattie was mainly in charge of the original script as we figured one person should draft it and everyone else would give feedback to work around it to make all possible improvements. all other elements of this production were decided by our group all together, such as costumes, props and lighting.


Acting Cast

In our preliminarty film we only chose to have two actors, Gabriel Hayden and Matilda Goddard.

Gabriel Hayden: Gabe had the role of the mischevious partner of the authorative figure who was plotting to kill someone. We chose gabe for this role as he had the personality we needed in order to pull off a convincing character, he also wanted to take part in the acting.

Matilda Goddard: Mattie played the more authoritarian character who needed a job done by someone she trusted in order for the plot to go ahead. We chose Mattie as she is already in  our group and is currntly studying A level drama this meant we had a more experienced actress involved in our film.


Evidence of Planning

Storyboard Planning



Script

Preliminary Task Script- Marlin Cooper, Anna Dunbar, Matilda Goddard

Actors: Gabriel Hayden and Matilda Goddard


MATTIE
Where have you been?
GABRIEL
is that it?
MATTIE
are you sure you can do this alone?
GABRIEL
yes I can.
MATTIE
I’m trusting you with this…
GABRIEL
I’ll text you when it’s done.

Preliminary Video Clip

I Live Here

I Live Here - press to view video