Final Thriller Opening

This is my final edit for my Thriller opening, 'Thief'.

Evaluation Question 1

Q1) In what ways does your media product, use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products.

In the opening to my Thriller film, aspects of the genre are immediately introduced to the audience by the title ‘Thief’. This suggests that someone is targeting individuals to steal from them, which relates to the Crime Thriller ‘Snatch’ (2000, directed by Guy Ritchie). It reflects the content of the film, therefore reinforcing the Thriller convention. The locations that I have used were inspired by the urban, gritty locations of the film ‘Essex Boys’ (2000, directed by Terry Winsor). For example, at the beginning of ‘Essex Boys’ the characters ‘Billy Reynolds’ and ‘Jason Locke’ are in a rundown garage with cobwebs, which I recreated in the subway scene giving it a dystopian effect.



This is a screen shot from 'Essex Boys'



This is a screen shot from 'Thief'

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I have also used intertextual references from the film ‘The Third Man’ (1949, directed by Carol Reed) through the subway scene where Eve becomes confounded by where she should go, reflecting ‘The Third Man’s’ sewer scene where Harry Lime becomes trapped in a labyrinth of nightmares with no escape. Also, the confined space of the subway can be linked to the film ‘Kill Bill: Volume 2’ (2004, directed by Quentin Tarantino) where ‘The Bride’ is trapped in a coffin, emphasising the claustrophobic space and mirroring the low ceiling of the subway that I filmed in.


I have used specific lighting to create suspense and unease. For example the morose, grey lighting in ‘Essex Boys’ gives the film a sombre and dark undertone that has been reflected in the cashpoint scene in my Thriller ‘Thief’. The fact that ‘Jason’ severely beat up someone in broad daylight enforces fear onto the audience which I have used in the cashpoint scene where ‘Will Block’ blatantly stalks his victims. This makes the situation more frightening as identity theft and mugging is very common at present, making the Thriller ‘mood of moment’. The washed-out lighting also mirrors the blandness of the character ‘Eve’s’ personality and that her costume of a red scarf and gloves goes against the typical connotations that the colour red usually signifies. Normally this colour portrays that the character is dangerous, however I have used the aspects from ‘Sin City’ (2005, directed by Frank Miller) where the characters ‘Goldie’ and ‘The Customer’ both wear red dresses to give the effect of danger but are in fact victims. This indicates that not everything is as it seems subverting a traditional ideology, demonstrating an ambivalent attitude towards the character’s personality and whether they are good or evil. ‘Eve White’ can also be compared to the character ‘Eve’ from ‘Once Upon a Time in America’ (1984, directed by Sergio Leone) which is where we got the character’s name from. It signifies the evening (darkness) or a build up of something that is about to happen such as Christmas Eve. Even though ‘Eve’ is interrogated and threatened by the police she still doesn’t reveal any information, leading to her being murdered, which is like the subway scene where ‘Eve White’ tries to fight for her bag in ‘Thief’ but ends up with it being stolen. Also in ‘Once Upon a Time in America’, ‘Eve’ discovers an outline of bullets on her bed as a warning from the police and is a premonition that she will die there. In my Thriller ‘Thief’ there is an outline someone’s body in spray paint on the subway floor, indicating that something will happen to ‘Eve White’ which will end in her misery.

This is a screen shot from 'Once Upon a Time in America'

This is a screen shot from 'Thief'

However, this contrasts the character ‘Scarlet Fraser’ who is the second girl that ‘Will’ targets. ‘Scarlet’ is a femme fatale like ‘Lisbeth Salander’ in ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ because of her brooding demeanour and costume of a black leather jacket and hood. Also, her fringe is hiding her face like ‘Lisbeths’ and therefore hides her identity making her appear mysterious. She is a rebellion of the stereotypical femme fatale like ‘Gilda’ from the film with the same title (1946, directed by Charles Vidor) who is elegant unlike ‘Scarlet’ who is rough and edgy. Because the two girls in ‘Thief’ look so alike it gives an effect they are the same person and have a split personality. This compares to ‘Nina’ and ‘Lily’ from the Thriller ‘Black Swan’ (2010, directed by Darren Aronofsky), ‘Eve White’ being the ‘White Swan’ or good side whereas ‘Scarlet Fraser’ is the ‘Black Swan’ or bad side.



This is a trailer for the film which shows the battle that ‘Nina’ has with herself, and that ‘Lily’ is just a metaphor for her ‘bad side’.

Thriller mock exam: Psycho

Location Shots

These are a few photos that I took on my mobile of possible locations for our Thriller film.

This is a shot from the other end of the alleyway which emphasises the
 lack of light and clautrophobia of it. Also, it gives a sense of 'Harry's' perspective
and how he views things - he doesn't often see the light or goodness in people -
which is maybe why he acts the way he does and doesn't treat people with respect. 

These photos are of the alley way on St Stephens Street which were a main factor in our original Thriller idea.

This is a view from the front of the alleyway which is the way we
 filmed it for our original idea 'Double Identity'. We liked it because of the
narrowness and darkness which would have reflected the character
 'Harry Cooper's personality.



This is another shot of the alleyway from the back
 or 'Harry' and 'Scarlet's' perspective. The darkness again demonstrates their
dangerous personality and the lengths that they go to get what they desire.























These are some photos of the subway that we were originally going to film in. It was close to the alleyway but we found a better one at Grapes Hill which had lots of artistic graffiti all along the walls.

This is inside the subway where we were going to film Eve White getting mugged by
Will Block on his skateboard. We liked the use of the graffiti on the walls because it gives
 the effect of the youths of today and their culture. It represents artistic freedom
and rebellion from society which reflects Will's character as he goes after Eve to steal her
money for his own use, breaking out of the social norm and going against the law. 

This is another angle of the same subway to show where Eve White would stand when she
stopped running and looked around to see where Will would come from.
The dingy lighting and low ceiling creates the sense of claustrophobia and the use
 of multiple entrances gives it a labrynth feel like in the film 'The Third Man'. Harry Lime is in
the sewers trying to escape from Holly Martins and the police but is then surrounded with
no place left to hide. We thought this would be perfect for the mugging because Eve doesn't have
anywhere to hide and she is stuck there waiting for him to come, not knowing what he would do to her.



This is a picture of the entrance to the St Stephens subway
where we were originally going to film. The sloped path was perfect for the
stateboard to go down and the panelling would have made an eerie, menacing sound.





   



Double identity

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Plot Ideas

Characters:

* Emily King as “Eve White”
* Jenna Bolingbroke as “Scarlet Fraser”
* Tom Block as “Will”
* David Lovick as “Harry Cooper”

Plot:

* Eve uses ATM machine, close up of credit card and money, which she then puts in her handbag. A shot of the bag reveals a passport.
* Eve walks away, Will follows on skateboard. She walks past the alley way, where Harry and Scarlet wait in the darkness.
* Eve walks down the subway, Will skates after her down the ramp. Will steals her bag.
* Will skates off and Eve chases him, but isn’t fast enough and runs out of breath at the top of the subway.
* Will passes the stolen bag to Harry in the alleyway, who then passes the bag to Scarlet.
* Scarlet leaves the alleyway and walks in the direction of the subway.
* Eve is secretly watching Scarlet from around the corner.
* Eve lights a cigarette, the audience is aware that there will be a confrontation between Scarlet and Eve, but the opening ends.

Costumes:

* Eve – Red scarf and gloves. Black trousers and boots
* Scarlet – similar in looks to Eve. The red scarf and gloves.
* Will – hoody to hide his face. Vans trainers. Jeans.
* Harry – Trilby hat, dress shoes, black suit.

Props:

• Handbag
• Cigarettes
• Passport
• Credit card
• Skateboard

Sound:
Diegetic

• Skateboard wheels
• Lighter sparking
• Running footsteps
• Walking footsteps
• Dialog between Harry and Scarlet

Non Diegectic

• Piano music
• Violins
• Increase in tempo during chase/mugging
• Slower tempo, lower tone as Scarlet walks up the street

Audience Research for our Thriller opening

For our Thriller introduction we did a lot of research into our target audience's preferences. This was so we could use this information for our Thriller opening to make it as realistic and so our target audience would want to see it. We did a soundtrack questionnaire which was qualitative research along with a quantitive questionnaire that could give us their opinions in numerical data making it easier to see the preferences.

This is our soundtrack questionnaire that we tested on 10 media students in year 13 who were aged 17-18 which is roughly the age of our target audience. They listened to the soundtracks above and were asked to write which one they preferred to hear in a Crime Thriller film so that we could use a soundtrack that was similar to the one of the student’s choice.



This is the quantitive questionnaire we wrote so we could see what our target audience prefers to see in a Thriller film.

 1. What are your expectations of an independent thriller film?

[ ] Best selling story [ ] Not well known story [ ] Glamorous locations
[ ] Unglamorous locations [ ] Well-known actors [ ] Unknown actors
[ ] Special effects [ ] Soundtrack [ ] Award winning director
[ ] Unknown director [ ] Other (please state)………………………………........................................................................

2. Which genres of a thriller do you prefer? Please pick up to 3

[ ] Action [ ] Crime [ ] British Gangster [ ] Conspiracy
[ ] Crime [ ] Disaster [ ] Erotic [ ] Legal [ ] Mystery
[ ] Political [ ] Psychological [ ] Religious [ ] Supernatural
[ ] Other (please state)
……………………………….........................................................................

3. What are the connotations of these locations?

Cities – [ ] Dangerous [ ] Busy [ ] Isolated [ ] Lonely [ ] Intimidating
[ ] Other (Please state)
…………………………………………………………………………….................

Towns – [ ] secluded [ ] empty [ ] Lonely [ ] Gloomy [ ] Dark
[ ] Other (Please state)
……………………………………………………………………………….............

Countryside – [ ] Isolated [ ] Open space
[ ] Other (Please state)
………………………………………………………………………………….........

Housing estates – [ ] Crowded [ ] Friendly [ ] Hostile
[ ] Other (Please state)
…………………………………………………………………………………........

Car parks – [ ] Dark [ ] Enigmatic [ ] Claustrophobic [ ] Dangerous
[ ] Other (Please state)
…………………………………………………………………………………........


Prisons – [ ] Dangerous [ ] Scary [ ] Isolated
[ ] Other (Please state)
………………………………………………………………………………….......

4. In a thriller film, what kind of sound do you think is most effective?

[ ] Music [ ] Sound effects [ ] Both [ ] Other (please state)
……………………………….....................................................................

5. In a thriller film, what kind of sound do you notice the most?

[ ] Music [ ] Sound effects [ ] Other (please state)
………………………………......................................................................



 
Below is the qualitative questionnaire that the students filled out to see which soundtrack should influence us or we can use something similar to.

Write what the following soundtracks connote to you:


Psycho soundtrack:



Red Road soundtrack:

The Third Man soundtrack:


Witness soundtrack:


Once Upon a Time in America soundtrack:


The Good the Bad and the Ugly soundtrack:


Inception soundtrack:


Which one of these soundtracks would you prefer to hear in a Crime Thriller film?


Why have you chosen this soundtrack?



This is a piechart to show the favourite sound clips from the sound investigation amongst the students.

 

After asking the media students what the different music samples from the films connoted to them, we can conclude that:

·         The music from Psycho connoted fear, disturbance, terror, eeriness, tension and suspense amongst all of the students.

·         The music from Red Road caused anxiety amongst the students, as well as connoting disorientation, tension, loneliness and disconnection.

·         The music from The Third Man connotes hopefulness, satirical, comedy and irony. 

·         The music from Witness connoted the sense of adventure, progress, anticipation, peacefulness and tranquillity.

·         The music from Once Upon A Time in America was eerie and unwelcoming, creating a sense of isolation and loneliness.

·         The music from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly suggested a battle, pride and glory.

·         The music from Inception connoted suspense, tension, the idea of a fight, a nightmare, eeriness, action, and anxiety amongst the students.

We can use this information to build an idea of what our music will be like in our thriller opening. We can use the aspects of the music from different thrillers that work with our genre, themes and action.