Costume ideas

These jeans are very casual and can be worn on a day to day basis which is perfect for Jennifer as the thriller is based on a normal day. They are also very basic so they do not show much of jennifers personality which could reflect a lost/ hidden identity. We are using contempry fashion for our thriller to indicate the modern era.

This jumper is an example of casual knitwear worn in the winter. This kind of jumper is worn on a day-to-day basis which relfects the normality of the setting in our thriller as it is based on a normal day after Jennifer finishes 6th form.

These leggings are also a possibility for Jennifer's costume as they are casual yet they can reflect a vibrant personality suggesting she is a strong person. These leggings are animal print which suggests that she is good at surviving.

This coat is an example of a warm winter coat worn on a normal day, it is casual yet stylish which fits in with teenage fashion.It is plain and has no bold colours which can suggest a passive character.

The costume for the main character is strongly influenced by the clothing worn by most teenage girls of 15-17 years old. We decided to use this so the target audience (teenagers) can identify with the character which makes the thriller opening much more realistic. The film '4321' directed by Noel Clarke and Mike Davis was released in 2010, the film is modern and was released recently so we have based our costume ideas on Joanne played by Emma Roberts. 

Cast list

Cast:
Jennifer- Lucy Tyson
Directors- Kaya Maplestone (myself) and Kirsty Swift
Cinematographers- Kaya Maplestone (myself) and Kirsty Swift

Lucy is a friend of Kirsty and is very reliable, we chose lucy as she is a drama student and lives close by to Kirsty which makes filming the thriller easier, it also makes planning and contacting her more convinient.

Kirsty and I have decided to share the role of director as it will give us both the chance to develop our camera skills and will help us to work as a team which is an important skill to have. We have decided to share the filming equally between us so we both have the chance to compare ideas and this way we can both help eachother to improve.

Kill bill analysis- UNFINISHED

Kill bill is a Quentin Tarantino film released in 2003 starring Uma Thurman, David Carradine and Daryl Hannah. It had a budget of $55,000,000 and made £22,089,322 in the USA in 3102 screens. Kill bill was produced my Miramax films and is based in the USA.

The opening of Kill bill volume 1 starts with a sound bridge of a woman breathing heavily, this connotes suspense and panic, it also anticipates action to happen in the next sequence. This diagetic sound is used to create the atmosphere of a thriller which is a classic thriller convention.

This cuts to a close up of a woman covered in blood; the audience can see part of a veil behind her head which adds interest as they do not know what is going on in the mise-en-scene. This shot is in black and white which indicates a flashback or memory; it also conveys confusion and a lacked sense of reality. Black and white shot could be a tribute to the auteur directors of the 50’s. The sound in this mise-en-scene is all diagetic, the woman is breathing loudly showing fear and distress yet in the background there is the sound of slow yet persistent footsteps which adds enigma.

This cuts to a low angle tracking shot of someone’s shoes, the costume is very important in Kill bill as the face of bill is not shown in the opening which makes him an enigma figure and also makes him seem more intimidating. From his shoes we can tell that his costume is smart which suggests a powerful and perhaps self absorbed character as he is concerned about his appearence.

Cuts back to the woman’s face, she has become more frightened and distressed which makes the audience aware that Bill is the one who injured her. “do you find me sadistic?” This is the first line of dialogue, this is very fear inducing and it indicates the type of character Bill is which is extremely important as it is an introduction of Bill to the audience, it also shows that he does not take the situation very seriously and sees the woman as a joke. Bill does not seem to be worried that he has hurt the woman which suggests that he is in fact sadistic and enjoys the power he has over his victim.

Bill reaches out and wipes blood off the woman’s face with his own handkerchief which has his name embroidered onto the corner, this shows that the character is very self absorbed and important. We still do not see his face which could mean he has something to hide and there is more to him than meets the eye. The name on his handkerchief could suggest that the name comes up in the film more than the character does, foreshadowing later events. The bracelet on his wrist indicates wealth and importance which is stereotypical of a gangster or someone of that nature.

Animal Kingdom analysis

Animal kingdom is a crime/drama/thriller released in 2010, directed and written by David Michod. It had a low budget of $5,000,000 and is an independent film starring Guy Pearce, James Frecheville and Joel Edgerton.

There are many generic thriller conventions within this film, the use of lighting is particularly interesting as many thrillers use noir, chiaroscuro or dim lighting yet Animal Kingdom is filmed with non-ambient bright lighting as lots of the film is based within a house. The film also uses non-ambient lighting as there is lots of filming done in the day light, this lighting is used to help the consumer to relate with the settings and the characters.

The locations of the film are rather generic of the thriller genre; there are dimly lit streets which connote isolation and danger and wide open spaces which also convey isolation and not being able to hide, it gives a sense of insecurity and panic. The family home of the main characters is a location used throughout the film and this is not typical of the genre, it shows that corruption is everywhere even within a close family and you can trust no one. This location is used to help the audience relate to the characters as it something most people see on a daily basis (their home).

This film stands out from mainstream Hollywood films in many ways, interestingly the actors used are amateur and are not well known, this makes the acting more believable as the audience can relate to them. J did not use much dialogue as he expresses his emotions through his body language which is very effective. Also there are no extreme special effects or CGI which makes it more realistic, as if the audience were watching someone’s life rather than a film. Although this film is very visual, it has an amazing plot which has many twists and turns, it is a very unpredictable film whereas most Hollywood films I have viewed seem to be more visually based and have a very thin plot.

There were many amazingly thought out themes within the film like the extreme contrast between J’s  family and his girlfriend’s, it makes us think that J is very different to his family and that he would fit in with his girlfriend’s family a lot better than he would with his own. It also shows the audience that J’s family are criminals, the scenes in their family home slightly convince the audience that they are behaving in a normal way and that being a gangster is completely acceptable but seeing another families lifestyle makes the audience realise how wrong they are.

The role of the mother in this film is very interesting as there is no father figure in the boys’ life which could be a reason for them all turning out the way they have. They have no masculine guide which makes them respect their mother even more and she is seen as a kind of ‘ queen bee’. None of her sons will do anything to hurt her and they respect her completely, this is something J is not used to as she seems to be in complete control of everything.

There were some extremely brilliant scenes reflecting some generic conventions of the genre, J’s uncle became completely unhinged and ran into the middle of the outback, he was then shot. This shot signifies the wild nature of the sons and shows that they are like animals being hunted in the wild and only the strongest will survive. This is also a link to the title of the film.

Another interesting scene was at the end of the film where J shot pope, this shows that he has overthrown the most dangerous and predatory figure in the household which immediately puts him at the top, this relates to the ‘survival of the fittest’ and also to the name of the film as it shows that he has become one of ‘the pack’.

Layer cake- opening scene analysis (Matthew Vaughn 2004)

I found this thriller very interesting as it has many amazing shots which I could use in my thriller opening. Layer cake is about a drug dealer attempting to retrieve one million ecstasy pills from another group of drug dealers, this is an inspiring crime thriller as it has a very simple plot line yet is extremely cleverly made and there are many twists to the plot which make it very interesting.

The opening scene begins with an establishing shot of a black car door which turns into a medium close up,  the background used in this shot is plain black which connotes danger as the colour black is typically associated with violence and death, this foreshadows events which are shortly about to happen. There is a voiceover (non-diagetic sound) as the car doors are shown, this carries on throughout the opening of the film which makes the audience connect with the main character of the film revealing that the film will be completely focused upon him (Daniel Craig) right from the beginning and it will be from his point of view. This is an effective way to open a thriller as it keeps the audience completely on edge, the dialogue is very interesting and does not tell the viewers a lot about the content of the film but some of the things which are said foreshadow parts of the film as featured in 'Essex boys'.There is an explosion in the car which blows the doors open, yet you do not see the rest of the vehicle; this is shot in chiaroscuro lighting which can make an object look more threatening. The explosion is an extremely good way to begin a crime thriller film as it connotes corruption, power and violence; it also lets the audience know which genre it is going to be as soon as it starts. Just before the explosion the narrator says the phrase “cops and robbers” which completely sums up the films motive-corruption.

The explosion cuts to a very interesting flashback of an armed robbery outside a building, this scene uses very milky non-ambient lighting and is in slow motion so the audience knows it is a flashback, the milky lighting adds tension and mystery and it connotes fire and explosions suggesting the film will be full of suprises. This film has a circular narrative which keeps it very interesting. As the flash back begins the first thing we see is a man walking with a gun, this foreshadows events to come as guns are a very frequent prop within this thriller. There is a tracking shot of the street which turns into a medium close up of a woman’s face, this shot is very effective as it shows the fear in the face of an innocent victim. This is a very significant shot as women are frequently portrayed as insignificant victims in thriller films and are usually dominated by men, this attitude to women is shown clearly within this film as there are only two actresses who have lines and one of them is murdered.

There is an amazing transition shot from the woman’s head to a man’s head which leads to another flashback. This time there is bright, non-ambient lighting which suggests a happier time in someone’s life. The medium close up shows a group of hippies smoking drugs and lounging in someone’s living room, the drugs foreshadow the plot of the film. The tracking shot follows a girl (we only see her bare legs, this shows she is insignificant and is just a thing to be looked at) walking through a hallway, there is a transition shot from the woman walking, to a man walking in a very grey hallway holding a baton which is another signifier of corruption and men being dominant. I think this portrays men's generalised views of women very effectively as the woman is being shown as an object yet the man is shown in a prison holding a baton which shows she is defenceless yet he is very powerful and could be violent. The non-diagetic lighting in this shot makes the tone of the mise-en-scene change from happy to tense and angry. We see that this shot is filmed in a prison canteen, there is only non-diagetic sound (voiceover and soundtrack) and this makes the audience aware that it is still a flashback, this technique makes the audience feel as if the mise-en-scene is unreal as the lighting and the sound are both non-diagetic.

The next mise-en-scene features a tracking shot of a shelf in a shop holding bottles, these bottles are well known companies such as FCUK yet they are selling drugs such as cocaine and ecstasy. This is probably the most important and amazing mise-en-scene within the entire film as it reveals the plot of the film and the reason behind the plot too. The bottles represent a metaphor for the main characters view of the future, he believes that companies will eventually see the immense amount of money conducted in drug dealing and will want to be involved in this industry. This is an amazingly clear connotation of corruption in the modern day as the main character is talking about drug dealing as if it is perfectly fine to be doing it yet he seems to be justifying this by saying there is lots of money involved. Very interestingly, the bottles begin to turn back into modern day bottles letting the audience know this part of the mise-en-scene was a metaphor for the future. As the bottles turn back we notice that the main character is standing in a chemist (non-ambient) which completely contrasts with his view of how the world should be.

We never find out the main characters name which is extremely interesting as it gives the audience something to think about when the film has ended and is very enigmatic. This is a very interesting technique as it shows that even though we have been following the plot through the eyes of the main character, the audience do not know the character at all as they have been out smarted by him throughout the entire film.