Product Research: Wuthering Heights - Impact of light, set and sound

I finally got round to watching Andrea Arnold's take on the Emily Bronte classic: Wuthering Heights.

Although this obviously doesn't belong to any of the thriller genre's I was still able to take away some idea's from it and was actually really inspired.

First of all, the lighting in this film was amazing. It really showed me how much of a difference it can make. It were almost as if there was no lighting at all, fully immersed in the atmosphere of each scene it felt like we as the audience were with each character, rather than watching them.

The entire set was portrayed as really minimalistic. With two farm houses, and the great British countryside taking centre stage it proved to me, that with the perfect camera, lighting and sound, you don't need a big fancy set, unlimited resources and a big budget to make an inspiring, and really effective film.

Lastly, Wuthering Heights was a perfect example of how much of an impact sound can have. Although this film had a severe lack of dialogue, it hardly noticed as the audience became engrossed in the atmospheric noise of the country, or the crackling of the fire. This can even be seen in the trailer, as we hear the howling wind, representing Heathcliffe's wildness and the gentle singing of the birds to represent Cathy's innocence.

I loved this film, and although it wasn't a thriller, it still gave me some great ideas for our final piece and showed me that in some ways, less is more, and how effective we could really make our film.