INTERTEXTUALITY. Some examples.

Intertextuality is describe as the visual referencing between films. Basically films borrowing parts of a scene from each other, and also certain camera angles, aspects of mise en scene, snippets of sound or methods of editing in some films that you have seen in others.


An example of intertextuality is the film 'The stepfather'. When the man is running after the woman, and he tries to stab her. She stabs him first then he walks towards the bathtub and drags the curtains down. This part of the scene is borrowing from Psycho. As he pulls the curtains with him, you can see a close up shot of it ripping of. It shows more excitement and gives the audience the feeling of fright as the sound increases. The angle of the camera was also very affective as it was filmed from the side, it gives you a sense of shock.  I find the curtain scene very interesting because when Psycho done the same, it was also a close up shot and the minute the curtains got pulled of, both films,  the characters dropped dead straight after. It gives you an impression that this is the end of the film and it creates tension.  

Another intertextuality film that interested me was 'SUCCUBUS' which was made by a student.The film was very similar to Psycho in many parts of the scene. The first one is that they were both filmed while someone was showering. This creates tension because the audience will feel anxious to know what will happen next. They both have someone creeping up on them planning to kill someone. I find Succubus better because as she was in the shower room , there was non-digetic sound which made it more interesting and scary. The sound suggests something bad will happen to him and that she is about to hurt him. There was also close up shots of her holding a knife which would make the audience feel afraid and have a feeling of fear. The part where they both stab the person in the shower was also very similar as you can see blood on their body and also where the camera was going back and forward, not showing literally them stabbing the person but their face expressions. This created excitement towards the audience. I thought the stabbing scene was very powerful and enjoyable to watch as it got me on the edge of my seats. 

Overall I find intertextuality very effective because it gives the audience attention and some people realises that they have seen it somewhere else which shows that it is a good film therefore they remember it. I really enjoy watching some of these films as it gives me many good idea to make a film that also has to do with intertextuality.