font

For our thriller opening, we plan to use fonts effectively to establish tone in the scene. However, although our font choice is important, it mustn’t distract the audience from our, more important, filming on the screen. Therefore, the font should be suitable yet subtle.

Personally, I wanted to keep all of our fonts sans serif as I feel it creates a more modern atmosphere, in-keeping with the tone of our thriller which is modern day. A slab serif font could've provided a grunge tone to our title yet we decided the one below. We definitely avoided any cursive and script styles as they have a much more delicate tone which would be unsuited to our thriller. We also avoided display fonts as I feel they carry a more childlike, fun connotation unlike the tone we aim to establish in our thriller.

We've decided to name our film company "High Juice Productions". For this font, I wanted it to appear clean and slightly thinner and taller as, to me, it seems in-keeping with the word and isn't distracting.

 An idea for the name of our thriller is “Desaparecido” which is Spanish for “missing”, suitable for a kidnap style film. For the font, our ideas contained a bolder, more grungy style.

 

There are many thrillers that successfully use font in order to develop meaning and tone to the opening. Se7en and Layer Cake both have examples of this.

In this shot, the text isn’t central yet it’s not entirely kept to a corner, it’s visible yet doesn’t take away from the main focus, the actors on screen.  The font is rather simple which works well as it emphasises the clinical elements presented by the protagonist. The tone provided is professional and well organised and the font incorporates this.

Moving on to Se7en, the entire vision of this shot is done to make the audience uncomfortable and it succeeds. The scratches alone carry very dark violent connotations and when mixed with the scratched in “wrong”, it represents direct violence that’s intentional, perhaps a foreshadowing of the film. The font for the three names is kept small and all slanted and off balance presenting this uneasy feeling of disorientation.

storyboards and shots

Characters, costume and props

Characters- thriller planning

By Amber Mackenzie

Character 1- Eva

Mollae’s character Eva is the main feature in the thriller opening. Her personality is intended to be represented as shy and reserved in addition to anxious. Having the victim have characteristics such as these allows us to build upon these negative emotions displayed in scenes such as the kidnapping. We’re going to represent this through her fidgeting almost as a way of foreshadowing although the character will have no idea of the events about to take place.

In regards to costume, our goal is to establish comfort as she’s within her home. This provides the scene with realism. In order to do this she’s going to wear jeans, a top and a comfy hoodie. Whilst within her home before the kidnapping scene takes place, as oppose to getting ready to go out, she’s doing the opposite. She removes her makeup and takes down her hair. Doing this displays a sense of vulnerability as she will seem more exposed as a character further emphasising her lack of power, especially for the rest of the thriller opening. In regards to props, our idea was for her character to always have her phone with her so she can fidget with it to display nerves. In a way phones can represent security as we can contract others which can make her lack of security ironic.

Although our thriller is mainly influenced by “The Disappearance of Alice Creed”, the characters of Alice and Eva don’t have much in common. Alice’s typically dark features allow us to notice her maturity displaying her as a slightly stronger character. By contrast, our character is going to have lighter, softer features and no makeup displaying innocence and a softer natured character. This is intended to help the audience sympathise with her more due to her displayed lack of power.

In addition, throughout the film the audience learns Alice is a strong character, Eva is not and therefore her image and costume choices aren't going to be influenced by her as the rest of the opening shall be. 

The suitability of the character is in regards to how relatable she is. The basic outfit is something most people wear and her normality makes the audience feel bad for her. Due to the fact the character of Eva should then feel familiar, it provides a sense of realism to the film which would, ideally, make the audience more prone to emotion in the rest of the film. Due to the normality displayed by this character, the logistics are easy to create.

Character 2- the two kidnappers

The kidnappers provide an obvious dark element to the thriller opening creating drama in addition to intensity. Their emotions aren’t displayed yet they are replaced by their cold, dark expressions and clinical, accurate movement. The female kidnapper is going to be the more dominant of the two which we aim to establish through a shot of their shoes where she then leans over to double knot his laces displaying her need for specificity. In addition to this, she does most of the setting up. The male kidnapper most likely fears her.

Moving on to costume, both kidnappers are going to wear black bomber jackets with dark jeans and doc martins. The similarity of their costumes gives a sense of synchronicity as well as displaying them as professional which conveys to the audience that they are to be feared. The dark colours allow them to go by unnoticed as they’re most likely to blend into most crowded areas providing an ominous sense.

In addition, we intend for the kidnappers to wear black leather gloves as these are well known to be warn by dangerous characters by not leaving fingerprints adding to the fear of these characters. Furthermore, all the black provides the sense of metaphorical darkness.

In terms of logistics, the costume is easily achievable much like Eva's and accessible.

Essex boys

How does the extract from “Essex boys” use metaphorical space to foreshadow and represent morality?

By Amber Mackenzie

Essex boys is a very effective thriller in terms of establishing elements through using location, specifically metaphorical space.

In the shot above, there is light outside the car yet the inside is significantly darker. This may represent the darkness within the space he’s in. We get the image the darkness surrounding him may represent him at this point in time as a metaphorically dark character or may display his internal struggle and want to be in the light again as such. The cobwebs in the car create an unpleasant, unnerving atmosphere as they have connotations with the, commonly disliked and feared, spider. The cobwebs further entrap the character within the car. Furthermore, the cobwebs seem to dominate the steering wheel representing the characters lack of control due to disability to transport. On the contrast, they may display him being taken over by a more evil force, losing morality.

This shot is also effective in terms of establishment if morality through metaphorical space. The off-centre vanishing point disorientates the shot due to its peculiarity. It also makes the audience question where it leads as the character may which could represent his confusion within his life as he’s not sure where he’s going physically or metaphorically. The unpleasant colour palette is certainly displeasing to the eye, ugly and uncomfortable which displays morality. This is as it provides the shot with a bleak and hopeless sense. The fact the character is bent down implies a lack of power and control within his life making him seem smaller on camera displaying feelings of lacking importance. The shot is morally disorientating due to all of these features.

To conclude, the thriller “Essex boys” represents an unpleasant harsh reality of the morality within its characters. It does this through use of metaphorical spaces within its shots in addition to mise en scene above many more.

What do directors seek to establish in the openings of thrillers?

What do directors seek to establish in the openings of thrillers?

By Amber Mackenzie

The opening of a film is always there with the intention of establishing main factors regarding what’s to come, foreshadowing in a way. This is done through establishment of character, tone/ mood, location and many others.

“The Disappearance Of Alice Creed” is a great example of how character and mood/ tone are set and established. The character is greatly displayed through this single shot.

The symmetry between the two actors and their actions displays the organisation and methodical elements incorporated within the scene. It also gives the audience a sense that the characters have a lot of control. The element of teamwork also occurs here providing the sense they’ve known each other a long time giving synchronicity. In addition, the character on the rights curtain closes first which may hint towards a power balance displaying him as the more dominant of the duo. The fact this is used in addition to the technique using no dialogue and only non-diegetic music builds a cynical tone providing this dark atmosphere creating mystery as to what they’re doing. Furthermore, the characters are closing curtains which is literally removing the light from the shot. This may metaphorically foreshadow the non-literal dark themes that occur later on such as the kidnapping of Alice Creed. The characters are shown darker as they’re up against the light, this gives the audience the sense these characters are most likely evil and not to be trusted further setting this dark tone through mise en scene.

Character is also effectively set and established within this shot from the thriller “Se7en”. The line of items lets the audience know that the character is most likely a perfectionist due to the order displayed within the shot. However, this may seem so ordered as perhaps it’s the only element of his life he’s able to organise and this could in fact be the only way of which he can establish control and dominance that he may feel he requires. The items seem particularly violent which suggests maybe his job is also. It also draws attention to the odd item, the paper flower. The delicacy of this item in contrasts conveys there’s another side to this character, most likely more emotional and gentle. Furthermore, the dark background of the table within the shot may represent a metaphorically dark past for the character.

Essex boys is one of the most effective thrillers in terms of establishing the location early on, which is convenient due to its name. This shot has a mysterious vanishing point which makes the audience question where it leads as well as developing the element of mystery within a single shot. Furthermore, it leads to light yet the light seems to be trapped within the tunnel, light may display hope and positivity so this shot suggests such things are rather limited within this location. Moving along, there are many lights at the top of the tunnel yet many appear broken which emphasises the urban aspect of the location. By contrast the symmetry of the light we imagine before they broke suggests the city once had order and control yet it’s now, clearly, been lost. The shot is wide and narrow which almost traps the car within the shot forcing it to go through the tunnel further emphasising this lack of control in regards to location.

Furthermore, this shot is also effective in regards to established location.

The vertical bars across the screen give a sense of entrapment almost as prison bars would. This represents how the character is trapped within the scene by trapping him within the shot. In addition, the bars split him into sections which may represent his inner conflict and lack of clarity in regards to what he’s doing or even where he’s going. The bars also implying power imbalance between him and the person behind him displaying him as the more dominant.