Mulholland Drive (2001)

The scene I am using from the neo-noir psychological thriller, Mulholland Drive (Written and directed by David Lynch, 2001) that I am using as an influence is the scene at Winkie's, a local diner, a man named Dan (Patrick Fischler) tells his companion Herb (Michael Cooke) about a recurring nightmare involving a shadowy person living behind the restaurant. When Herb encourages Dan to confront his fear by exploring the rear parking lot, he encounters a terrifying figure and collapses from fright.

The reason I have selected this scene is because it is able to blur the lines of reality and dreams from the audience. As Dan is talking to Herb in the diner, everything seems to be reality. Dan is explaining to Herb that in his dream, he sees this evil figure. After Dan describes his dream to Herb and they then confront it, only to discover that it is indeed true, there was a "monster" at the back of the restaurant.  The same is true for Diane (Naomi Watts) ; her extended fantasy gradually segues into horror before reality hits. We see this scary bum again near the film's end as he "unleashes" the elderly couple who preoceed to "attack" Diane.  The couple, representing innocence, are chasing a woman who has committed a vile act.  Her innocence has been lost, violently discharged within the evil dream (represented by the man behind Winkie's) that comprises most of the film.

Shutter Island ending parts 2 & 3

Shutter Island

I am using 'Shutter Island' (Dir. Martin Scorsese) as one of my influences for my film project, and I am especially taking a look at the end scene. The reason for why I am looking at this scene in particular, is because it follows one of the main conventions of the psychological thriller which is the 'twist' for the protagonist. In 'Shutter Island', US Marshall "Teddy" Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) is investigating the case of a missing person, Rachel Solando, on the Ashecliffe Hospital for the criminally insane on Shutter Island, he goes on to discover that he is in fact Andrew Laeddis and that he killed his wife after she drowned her children. Also that Edward Daniels is in fact an anagram of Andrew Laeddis, and that he is the most dangerous patient on the island and that they are trying to 'cure' him and this is the last attempt and doing so before they perform a lobotomy. The film ends were it seems that Laeddis has regressed back to the character of "Teddy" Daniels but before he is taken away for the lobotomy he says it would be worse to 'live as a monster, or die as a good man'.

Se7en (Dir. David Fincher) end scene

This scene from the film 'Se7en' (dir. David Fincher) has influenced my decision to create a psychological film short film. The reason why this scene has influenced me is because it shows that the protagonist may not be successful and that even they can be 'broken'. This scene from 'Se7en' shows Detective Mills (Brad Pitt) finding out that John Doe (Kevin Spacey) wants to embody the sins 'Envy' and 'Wrath'. Doe is envious of the normal life that Mills has and John Doe taunts Detective Mills that he has killed his wife and that she was pregnant, it gets to a point were Mills unloads his gun into Doe and kills him, and Mills has embodied the sin of 'Wrath'. This makes Doe successful in his quest to embody the Seven Deadly Sins and that Mills has 'lost'. 

Screenplay

Ext.  Forest of Brightfalls

RYAN is walking through forest quietly. He is looking nervous and has his notepad and pen to make notes for his new book.

                                                     RYAN

                                               (Internal monologue)

                                  What the hell has gone on in this town? Nothing that has happened makes sense.

 

RYAN is walking through the forest, the sound of sticks snapping and running can be heard relatively close to RYAN, and he suddenly looks up.

                                                RYAN

                                          Huh?

RYAN starts to quicken his walking pace; he’s starting to feel anxious.

RYAN, still has his pen and notepad in hand, starts to slow his pace down, but he hears the running footsteps, until they suddenly stop, Ryan Taylor keeps walking, but stones and sticks start being thrown at him.

RYAN turns around to his left.

                                                 RYAN

                                       What the fu-?

RYAN sees a flowing gown run away, RYAN drops his pen and notepad and begins to run deeper in to the forest.

RYAN keeps running for about 300 metre and comes to a stop.

                                                 RYAN

                                                (Heavy Breathing & Internal Monologue)

                                                What the fuck is going on in this place? What have I just seen? Nothing, nothing, it can’t be real; I’m losing my fucking mind.

RYAN lights up a cigarette to calm his nerves.

                                                 

                                                  RYAN

                                                  (Internal Monologue)

                                         I’ve got to be close to this house by now, how far into this place can it be?

RYAN eventually makes it to the house and walks up to the door and opens it, to reveal that the house is in dis-repair.

                                                  RYAN

                                         What happened here?

RYAN investigates around the house and heads upstairs to look around and enters what seems to be the master bedroom.

RYAN looks around the bedroom and discovers a picture of himself as a baby and someone is holding him, but he does not recognise the person.

                                                  RYAN

                                                  (Panicked)

                                        Who the hell is this? What has gone on?

RYAN hears creaking from downstairs and he runs to find the source of the sound.

                                                  RYAN

                                                  (Panicked)

                                        What is happening? What has happened?

RYAN looks around and he turns to the door, where he sees a shadowy figure standing looking towards him.

'Secret Window' Scene (continued)

00:00-00:10

'Secret Window'

10:10-10:30 (continues into part 2 00:00-00:10)
The reason I have selected this scene from 'Secret Window' (dir. David Koepp) is because in the scene, Mort Rainey (Johnny Depp) is reading the story John Shooter (John Turturro) in an internal monologue and I wanted to use this feature heavily in my selected sequence that I am filming. I will be using this feature in a different way to how it is used in 'Secret Window'. The way I will be using the internal monologue feature in my selected sequence is by my main protagonist will be saying what he is feeling at the time and when he writes on his notepad