part two taxi driver :)

Taxi Driver

The first shot in taxi driver beautifully portrays the thriller genre with the extreme low close up on the car, giving it an eerie presence like the killer shark in jaws. Also the smoke screen with the non-ambient lighting gives a sense of isolation and distance from society. Also because of the background of Travis the main character and his involvement in the Vietnam War the smoke could represent the barrier he is facing attempting to engage with modern life.

The extreme close ups on Travis’s face cutting to the out of focus shots of blurred traffic from within the car also connotes his feelings of distantness after the Vietnam war and the car windscreen shows his internment and his solitary personality. The constant flashes of red and blue shows the environment around him is corrupt and governed crime.

The taxi is used effortlessly to help show Travis’s confinement, as if the cab is a barrier protecting him from the harsh nature on the outside world, this is similar to the use of a car in Essex Boys to represent confinement. New York in 1976 was filled with guns, crime, sex and the birth of the WTC. It is easy to see Travis’s frustration gradually build. The film is set out so the viewer engages with the ex-war veteran; this was beautifully done by adding narration addressing issues of the current time. Narration is commonly used in thrillers because it can produce a feeling of loneliness and isolation which is overwhelmingly effective in Taxi Driver. The sense of isolation and lack of communication throughout re-enforces the fact that Travis’s is struggling to cope with modern life,  this technique of isolation has been used by many directors like Carol Reed in a third man with the winding dark streets and also by Quentin Tarantino in pulp fiction where there is little communication with the outside world.

 

At 4:53 there is a panning shot which looms over the contents of Travis’s flat to reveal bare walls and the bare necessities needed for living. The use of dim non-ambient lighting also creates a feeling of claustrophobia within the room which is a common convention in thrillers.

This reinforced the idea of Travis's loneliness. Also another factor that is key in a thriller film in my opinion is 'main character narration'. This is a key convention which allows the audience to relate and even feel as if they are the main character within the film. This technique is used whilst Travis is writing home to his family telling them lies of a wonderful city life filled with joy and money, this engages the audience with his insecurity and feelings incompetence towards his family. Other examples when this technique is used is in Essex Boys which enables the audience to relate/engage with main character Billie. This is also used in the psychological thriller American Psycho, which entwined with the non-dietetic soundtrack helps the viewer enter the mechanics of Patrick Bateman which was purposefully done to help illustrate the complex workings of a murderer. Throughout    the film the ever darkening Mise en scene helps portray New York as a labyrinth  in which Travis is submerged.

Throughout the film there never seems to be a familiar location, which also gives the feeling of a dream like city. Director Martin Scorsese may `have done this because it resembles the maze like nature of noir thriller 'A Third Man' set in Vienna. In 'A Third Man' the use of foreign languages and no subtitles helps the audience feel asif they are in Holly Martins shoes, which helps viewers engage and truly understand the film.  

posible locations.

 

 This image challanges the concenpts of dim lighting and confindment, yet the lack of society also means it would be suitiable. The menacing alley ways will remind viewers of those alleys in " The Third Man " If there was ambient ligting reflecting off the cobble stone walls would look beautiful in a follow sequence. An example of this is in the third man, where the non-ambient lighting and the winding coblestoned alleys create a feeling of confusion and panic. The great use of 'tilt' shots in "The Third Man" gives a feeling of distortion and confusion.

The Third Man directed by Carol Reed is one of the most credited thrillers of all time. Carol Reed uses a variety of tilts shot and vanishing points to achieve feeling of a labyrinth (Maze). Carol Reed also uses thriller conventions like

• Wet floors
• Claustrophobic spaces
• Tilt shots
• extreme close ups
• vanishing points

Also in The Third Man there is a great use of non-diegetic lighting to personify characters personalities. An example of this is when Lime is first revealed to the audience. There is a low close up of a cat lurking around his legs which connotes his sly secretive personality. The next shot is of Harry Limes face illuminated while the rest of his body is engulfed by darkness, this mise en scene helps emphasise his mysterious character.

This toilet is perfect! it is gritty, isoloated and clostraphobic. the dim lighting also adds a feeling of mennace and uncertainty. Also the toilet is like that in "Witness" by Peter Weir. viewers will make the intertextual link between our opening and the murder scene in " Witness". In witness the toilets are used as a representation of America, filled with scum, corruption and murder. In Peter Weir’s ‘Witness’ with the use of extreme close ups the toilet comes across as a death trap in which the small child is enclosed in. within our thriller we will pay respects to the toilet scene by using extreme close ups to crese a sense of claustrophobia.

This shot location contains common thriller conventions which are inclkuded in many thrillers. The distant vanishing points which is similar to the one in Essex boys. The use of Pathetic fallacy in Terry Winsor’s ‘Essex Boys’ was effortlessly done to address the audience Jason’s personality. The extreme vanishing points fused with the mist of the Essex marsh helps show that Jason is ruthless and has no moral boundaries. The smoothness of his actions shows he is experienced in the life of crime, also his overly flamboyant clothing helps address to the audience his confident nature.

THE LOOK

THE LOOK

For our thriller we decided to go for a look which was modern with some of the up and coming trends. We were aiming for a costume not to dissimilar to the ones in Shane Meadows ‘This Is England’. This style is a cross between Punk/Mod/Skinhead. Despite being fashionable in the 1970’s we thought that it would bode well with the old gritty look we wanted for our film. It is obvious that the film ‘This Is England’ started of a trend which has now branched to mainstream brands such as Topman and River Island. We decided to use this style because it’s what the teens today are wearing, which means the audience will be able to relate to our main character. This look is currently very popular in the current trend and shows tribute to how Shane meadows has also carried out his mise en scene throughout all his films, especially 'This is England' which represents how a culture at that period of time can now have a knock on effect through the use of bringing it back through films and cinematography.

For the father the costume would be along the similar lines as the punk/mod/skinhead look but with a more modern twist incorporating the classy Harrington with the contemporary skinny jeans and tight checked

shirts. This classy look will show his wealth and status within society, this is like Ordell in Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Jackie Brown’, The difference is Ordells look is much more Americanized, whereas our look comes from the roots of London!

This costume design will help us achieve the modern yet gritty look we want for our final piece. Another example to help illustrate the look we are after is in the music video for ‘When the sun goes down’ by the renowned Arctic Monkeys.  The cinematography of the piece in cooperation with the mise en scene and costume adds to the overall mood of the piece, which is what we would like to achieve in our thriller.

story board and shot list.

Extreme close up on child’s eye-

Cuts to

Close up tilt shot focusing on father’s watch-

Cuts too

High close up of father touching child’s leg-

Cuts too

Close up on the front of the car/ with child exiting the car in- the background

Cuts too

Low close up of boy walking into toilet-

Cuts too

Follow tilt shot tracking child to toilet or high angled tilt shot of child entering the toilet-

Cuts too

Extreme close up on fathers watch-

Cuts too

Extreme close up of child’s phone-

Cuts too

Close up follow shot of father’s feet-

Cuts too

Close up of father pushing toilet doors open (repeats)-

Cuts too

P.O.V of father being stabbed ( killer’s point of view)-

Cuts too

low shot of father collapsing to the floor-

cuts too

P.O.V of child opening the door from fathers point of view (tilt) like in the third man-

Cuts too

Low close up of child crowding over father

Cuts too

~Fade out~

Enigma

Generic conventions of enigma

The use of an ‘enigma’ will be present in nearly every thriller film you watch. It is a common convention which is extremely effective in drawing in the audience’s attention and also great amounts of suspicion. The definition of ‘enigma’ is “One that is puzzling, ambiguous, or inexplicable.” There are two different forms of ‘enigma’.

1)    Personal- This is when someone’s face may be hidden, yet many other personal objects may be shown which create assumptions of a character. An example of this is in Kill Bill where Bills face is never in shot, yet the camera focuses on his large rings and egotistical napkin with his own name on it which shows Bill thinks a lot of himself.

1.5) Personal Enigma is also created in the Danish T.V thriller ‘The killing’. During the program you are always second guessing who the killer is. The director Patty Jenkins made sure that 20 day long series would keep the audience on there toes, and this was achieved by the subtle clues and red herrings which were left for the audience to decipher after each episode. Many characters were purposely portrayed as villains by creating ‘enigma’ where they were just a mask to cover the true villain.

2)    Objects- this is when an object causes assumptions of even suspicion. Common objects are white vans in Essex Boys (Terry Winsor), car boots used in Jackie Brown (Quentin Tarantino) and also the notorious brief case in Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino). Throughout pulp fiction there is always an element of suspicion of what is inside the black brief case, and this is built by the characters reactions on screen.   

The Importance Of Tension In Thrillers

(play this while you read)

Tension is an element of film which is greatly used in thrillers, but also many other genres like action and horror. Tension will help create a feeling of suspense and uncertainty within the audience whilst watching the film.

Tension can be built very easily, for example in the film ‘Witness’ by Peter Weir there is a murder scene consisting of a young boy and toilets. The child witnesses a murder and is struggling to lock the toilet door, this common fear helps the audience relate to the child’s situation. As the music builds so does the speed of the shot reverse shot from the child confined in the toilets to the murderer checking each toilet. The use of music helps build tension because as the music gets louder so does the panic level and adrenaline within the audience, this is like excitement and anticipation waiting for a crescendo.

Enigma

The use on an ‘enigma’ in film can be very effective in creating tension, this is because the audiences minds will wander and create the image of a character in their minds. A non-thriller example is in ‘Jaws’ where there is so much enigma and suspense created around the shark that when you finally see the shark it isn’t scary at all. Another example of an ‘enigmatic’ character is Bill from Quentin tarnation’s Kill Bill where simple props like rings and boots can create assumptions about a character before they are seen, and in Bills case… a bad one.