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~

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.

New Plan

After class discussion we realised our past idea had a too complex plot to fit into two minutes. We decided to completely change the idea which gave us the chance to use of new knowledge on concepts and conventions of thriller films.

Shots

1)    Close up of daughter sitting in the back of the car. Camera will be positioned just over the fathers shoulder.

2)    Extreme close up of fathers hand on the wheel, great focus on watch.

3)    ¬Black and white flash back¬ father covering his daughter’s mouth with his hand. Emphasis on the watch.

4)    Low medium/close up of girl exiting the car to go to the toilet.

5)    Close up of girl entering the toilet.

6)    Close up of the father looking at his watch, but not seeing his face keeping an enigma of his character.

7)    Extreme close up of girl sitting on the toilet.

8)    Close up of her phone with ‘999’ dialled.

9)    Low close up of the daughter’s feet under the toilet door- panning slowly to the father’s feet at the entrance of the toilets.

10)                      Close up of the father’s hand slowly opening the door.

11)                      Over the shoulder shot of the father holding the daughter down (smothering her)

12)                      Low close up of her feet shaking and then slowly becoming motionless.

Thriller shot list

Point of view tilt shot fading in and out of focus, this is done to emphasise the idea of disorientation and confusion. Also placing the audience the characters shoes, relating with the character.

low medium/close up on the girl surrounded by rags and covers. To help establish the situation.

There will then be a medium worms eye view shot looking up at the male. The generic conventions of a thriller will be challenged because we are shooting in the day in a wide open car park. The ambient light will cause the mans face to be very dark which creates an enigma and builds suspense.

There will be a low long shot to establish the surroundings. Inside the shot will be the two people opposite each other, the shot will slowly zoom in.

There will be a medium close shot reverse shot on the girl and the males Silhouette.  The shot will slowly zoom into the eyes of the girl until it is an extreme close up and the music is at its peak.

There will then be a low medium shot of the girl running.

Then an over the shoulder shot to help the audience feel the suspense and put the audience in the charecters position.

There will then be a point of view shot from the males point of view watching the girl enter the toilets.

Whilst inside the toilet we will attempt extreme close ups to exaggerate the feeling of claustrophobia, also confined spaces are a common thriller convention.

A point of view shot from the girl attempting to lock the door will refer to the murder scene in ‘Witness’. But also there will be cut shots from the males point of view running towards the toilets.

As the lock slams on the door then there will be a close up of the door as the man beats it. The tension will be at a high and then there will be a close up of the girls hands shaking slowly opening the lock to a point of view shot of the man standing in the door way looking very powerful and threatening.