When preparing for writing a screenplay or just scribbling some ideas down on the piece of paper, music plays a big part in my creative process. When I was writing down the four ideas for my thriller opening sequence, music inspired me in a way it hasn't before. Just by listening to the song "Sail" by Awolnation, I knew how one of the opening sequences will look like and how it feel like for the audience. When listening to "Sail" I felt a very spooky and at the same time mysterious ambiance around that song. It felt simple and smooth but as I thought more about it, it felt deeper. Then I thought to myself that this is how my thriller opening sequence should feel like, how it should be mysterious but simple, deep but smooth. After watching Awonation's video clip I knew that like in their music video, my opening sequence should have the effect of mystery and forbidden knowledge. That is how I came up with an idea of main character's abduction that resulted to her knowing too my much about life and the meaning of life. Although I understood the risks of this plot not getting through to the audience, I believed that with the right camera work, edgy sound effects and very visual mise-en-scene this idea of mine could be achieved.
My premier idea for the opening sequence "Taped" was influenced a lot by one of my favorite films "Drive" under the leadership of Nicolas Winding Refn and cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel. When I first watched Drive, it was the opening sequence that I liked the most, I thought it captured the nature of the film perfectly and overall created a thick multi-layered flavor that left the audience wanting more. What triggered my mind this time when I re-watched Drive's opening sequence was its hard-edged neo-noir art house camerawork that I wanted to try and recreate in my AS project so badly! The Danish stylizing by Refn is so beautiful that I really wanted to portray it in "Taped". I thought that such stylizing would compliment the whole "taped evidence" plot and will give it the art-house edge it needs.
"The Mental" opening sequence was hugely influenced by Eminem's "3 A.M" music video. In "3 A.M" the lyrics are concerning a mental serial killer who cannot stop killing the victims. I thought that for a thriller/horror film this is a good theme because it's terrifying and it also allows you take that experience far unlike my other opening sequences where the plot has to be strict and precise. The mise-en-scene plays a big part in this opening sequence. Since it is a quiet mental hospital in a rural area with empty corridors (like in the 3 A.M music video), it already gives chills to the audience. It helps to build up the necessary tension.
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