I have always been fascinated by the mind and how it thinks and works which started my obsession with psychological thrillers and dramas. If you watch my YouTube channel you know that my favorite director is Alfred Hitchcock. And in 1964 his psychological drama/suspense film premiered called "Marnie" which stars Tippi Hedren. Though the film was criticized at the time of release it is now considered one of his many great works. Some people say it was his last masterpiece. "Marnie" is about a woman who is a compulsive thief, pathological liar, and has many strange fears. This lady goes from job to job stealing from her employers, but someone catches her and finds out about her past. In this film Alfred Hitchcock uses symbolism and German expressionism (conveys emotional and psychological states, rather than a realistic representation of the world. Identified by the use of distorting and exaggerated angles, intense color, and a sense of terror or foreboding) to tell his story.
For my next film I knew I wanted to make a psychological thriller, but I wanted it to have a message. So for my film I decided I wanted to show the affects of bullying on someone and what it can do to the mind. Most cliché psychological thrillers have a unsympathetic character who goes on a killing spree; however I wanted to make my character to be relatable to the audience. In order to do this I showed him as a normal person who has interests and friends and then is suddenly attacked by people and what this pressure does to him slowly. It started with depression, then nightmares, jealousy, hatred and then revenge.
I decided to try to experiment a little with this film and use German Expressionism by placing the color red in the dream sequences and throughout the film. In this film red represents anger and hatred. The film has several object that are red if you want to watch the it and look for them feel free. There's the red light in the kitchen, Stephen's red shirt, the red mask, red pencil, and the red title.
I'm very happy with how the film turned out considering the circumstances and the rushed schedule. And hope you get a chance to watch it by clicking the link below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7krw5g5mvw
