The opening of my thriller is called "Catch it, Kill it", it is a two minute introduction to a thriller film which attempts to challenge common thriller conventions and stereotypes yet still lie within the genre. The primary location of our thriller is in a toilet cubicle, we got a great deal of inspiration for this from Peter Weir's "Witness". I I liked the ways a place filled corrupt crimes driven by money and power. We also used the toilet to reinforce ideas of isolation and claustrophobia within our film. The first way I think our media product challenges the thriller conventions is by involving homophobic issues. I feel that homophobic attacks within society are a major problem yet nothing is done about it, it's as if homosexuality is a 'Taboo' subject and this is why I have chosen to include it in the film. Before 1976 being homosexual was treated as a medical illness and even a criminal offence. Some Christians frown upon the topic of homosexuality, many believe that being gay is 'Wasting the seed' and 'If a man sleeps with a man like he would a woman both should be stoned to death'. Also in 2008 one in every five homosexual people were victims of hate crimes, this is why i want to make a film on the issue. I feel that homosexual people are being subjectified for there sexuality and not them as people which I think is wrong. With this in mind i feel that our thriller targets issues still around today meaning it is still very much relevant to today's audiences in a time filled with anti-social behaviour and hate crimes against those who are different.
Peter Weir's "Witness" has been extremely influential, the specific sequence where Sam Lapp, the Amish child witnesses the brutal killing of a police officer in the run down seedy toilets in 30th street station in Philadelphia. The great use of extreme close ups, claustrophobic spaces and non-ambient lighting very inspiring. The mise en scene in witness helps illuminate and describe the thriller genre effortlessly. Films like Kill Bill and Taxi Driver have been very influential with the intense use of claustrophobic spaces, for example the coffin in Kill Bill helps create suspense and an ongoing feel of isolation, we decided to use the cubicles because we found they looked very menacing. We decided on making our thriller very scummy and gritty, we feel just as in the Artctic Monkeys 'When the sun goes down' music video the gritty look gives a very British feel, which is what we want to achieve with our production.
From the scummy cubicles to the gritty lighting, the characters in in the "Witness" toilet scene are used to express Peter Weir's feelings about American culture, showing how it is a corrupt country driven by money and bloodshed. We attempted to achieve the same thing in our thriller, using the two characters to help represent the homophobic attitudes in contemporary Britain. I think that using a suburban area, which seems relatively busy as a murder scene will shock some people, also I think that the suburban area helps because it doesn't fix the film to one location, it could be anywhere around the country. In our thriller we seem to reinforce the idea of male dominance because the gay character shows attributes of a female character.
Strangely the killings in Quentin Tarantino's "Jackie Brown" were very influential, because the difference between Ordell and Louis is show by the location of there killing. Ordell is very controlled and takes his victim to a dark suburban plot, where as Louis kills Melanie in the middle of a car park in broad daylight. The locations say alot about character, Ordell is calm and collected whereas Louis is ruthless and doesn't care who knows. We used the idea of location to represent characteristics and views on homosexuality, the cubicles show how the topic is pushed to the side and ignored by society (shown by the run down toilets) and also how people like to keep there true feelings on gays locked up until they crack, just as the hooded characters did when he saw the opportunity to attack.
As a group we also wanted to highlight the idea of hoodies being associated with crime, and reinforcing the stereotype of anti-social behavior committed by them.
News story by Matt Drake...
This is just one of many articles which generate a stereotype of teenagers as " Hooded thugs", It is news story's like this which make the older public scared of the younger generation. In our thriller we are reinforcing the idea of hooded thugs through the killer wearing a hoodie to protect his face, casting a shadow which shows a darker side to his character.
Peter Weir's "Witness" has been extremely influential, the specific sequence where Sam Lapp, the Amish child witnesses the brutal killing of a police officer in the run down seedy toilets in 30th street station in Philadelphia. The great use of extreme close ups, claustrophobic spaces and non-ambient lighting very inspiring. The mise en scene in witness helps illuminate and describe the thriller genre effortlessly. Films like Kill Bill and Taxi Driver have been very influential with the intense use of claustrophobic spaces, for example the coffin in Kill Bill helps create suspense and an ongoing feel of isolation, we decided to use the cubicles because we found they looked very menacing. We decided on making our thriller very scummy and gritty, we feel just as in the Artctic Monkeys 'When the sun goes down' music video the gritty look gives a very British feel, which is what we want to achieve with our production.
From the scummy cubicles to the gritty lighting, the characters in in the "Witness" toilet scene are used to express Peter Weir's feelings about American culture, showing how it is a corrupt country driven by money and bloodshed. We attempted to achieve the same thing in our thriller, using the two characters to help represent the homophobic attitudes in contemporary Britain. I think that using a suburban area, which seems relatively busy as a murder scene will shock some people, also I think that the suburban area helps because it doesn't fix the film to one location, it could be anywhere around the country. In our thriller we seem to reinforce the idea of male dominance because the gay character shows attributes of a female character.
Strangely the killings in Quentin Tarantino's "Jackie Brown" were very influential, because the difference between Ordell and Louis is show by the location of there killing. Ordell is very controlled and takes his victim to a dark suburban plot, where as Louis kills Melanie in the middle of a car park in broad daylight. The locations say alot about character, Ordell is calm and collected whereas Louis is ruthless and doesn't care who knows. We used the idea of location to represent characteristics and views on homosexuality, the cubicles show how the topic is pushed to the side and ignored by society (shown by the run down toilets) and also how people like to keep there true feelings on gays locked up until they crack, just as the hooded characters did when he saw the opportunity to attack.
As a group we also wanted to highlight the idea of hoodies being associated with crime, and reinforcing the stereotype of anti-social behavior committed by them.
News story by Matt Drake...
Britain was mourning the latest innocent victims of violent crime last week after a spate of senseless murders.
"In every case, the killer’s sullen face was hidden beneath the disguise of feral society – the hooded top.
Across the country, violence, vandalism, theft and disorder are an everyday menace, created by faceless gangs of youths with little fear of ever being caught. Streets, trains, buses and shopping centres have become no-go zones for terrified citizens who have been intimidated by hoodies for too long. The latest victim, just 14, was set upon yards from his home on Thursday night and fatally stabbed in the throat by a baying mob of hooded thugs.Today the Sunday Express calls for a crackdown on this terrifying trend and demands that police officers get tough and order hoods to be removed in public places.Just as banks ban people from wearing crash helmets on their premises, we believe high streets and public transport would be safer if hoods were outlawed and exclusion zones imposed."
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