Heavenly Creatures - Murder Scene

Title: Heavenly Creatures
Director: Peter Jackson
Year: 1994
Starring: Melanie Lynskey, Kate Winslet, Sarah Peirse

A key thriller convention is time. Often crimes revolve around time ehther it be how long befor the deed is done, or how long a punishment is etc. In this scene the camera pans and zooms in to the clock to highlight the time and to emphasise the nervousness and anxiety of the scene. It also uses the same effect later on  in the clip in a cafe, and the camera focuses on a watch later on also.

In some ways, this film challenges aspects of key thriller conventions. Usually we would associate crimes (murders) with a dark surrounding because this is, more commonly than not, the type of place that they occur. However, the setting in this film is much the opposite. There is brightness throughout the entire clip. This could be seen to highligh the ruthlesness of the crime and explains to us how psychologically damaged these girls must be in order to carry out this horrific ordeal in broad daylight. A similar technique is used by Quentin Tarantino in his film 'Jackie Brown'. The character Louis, murders a woman in a public car park, also in broad daylight, showing his ruthless attitude. This clip form 'Jackie Brown' can be seen on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYyolVOqi90

For a long period of time in this clip, the action is in slow motion. This could be seen to represent and connote a dream like feel. It allows us to see every specific element of this scene in more detail also. A clever use of cloe-ups in this slow motion phase, allows us to gain a greater understanding of the each characters feelings and emotions. In this case, we see the trauma and anxiety the two girls are going through because of the crime they are about to commit.
The slow motion come to an end which could be seen to symbolise reality. Soon after the murder is commited, perhaps showing that in reality, bad things just like this occur.

Preliminary Final - The Forgotten Birthday

The Forgotten Birthday

Starring: Georgia Irving, Billie Kemp.

Camera Work: Charlie Clarke.

Location: CNS school.



The Forgotten Birthday Script

(Numerous different shots of Georgia walking to her destination)

(Georgia opens door, walks into room and sits down opposite Billy)

Billy: Hey, you alright?

Georgia: Yep.

Billy: What’s the matter?

Georgia: Nothing.

Billy: Come on, I’m your best friend, you can tell me.

Georgia: Don’t you think a best-friend would remember something like… Oh I dunno’… a birthday?!

Billy: Who’s birthday?!

Georgia: Mine!

Billy: When?!

Georgia: Today!

(Georgia gets up and begins to walk away)

Billy: Georgia wait!

(Billy sings happy birthday but Georgia interrupts her)

Georgia: It’s too late for that Billy.

(Georgia walks out)

Witness - Toilet Scene

Title: Witness

Director: Peter Weir
Year: 1985

Starring: Harrison Ford, Kelly McGillis, Lukas Haas

The film 'Witness' by Peter Weir surrounds the story of a young amish boy and his traumatic encounter. He is intending to travel on a train with his mother for the first time. When using the toilet at the station, the young boy

The toilet scene in witness is the key scene in the film and has a huge impact on the audience when watching. Many different aspects of the scene give a severely intense feel to the film and create suspense throughout.

The scene begins with the boy walking towards the toilets. This is a very clever shot because it shows both the boy and the spacious area that surrounds him. He is in an isolated train station with nobody around him. The long shot puts in perspective the fact that he is a young, naive child and his innocence and inferiority are emphasised. The door of the toilet is visible in the distance and creates a vanishing point in the shot. It suggests to us that the child is going to enter what could seem like 'a whole new world'. We assume that he is about to encounter something that no boy of his age should.

The shot as the young boy walks into the toilet also proves powerful in several ways. There is a difference in lighting which emphasises the contrast between where he has come from to where he is now. The lighting is unusually bright for this type of scene. Peter Weir is challenging generic conventions from the thriller genre here, he purposely chooses the light in the bathroom to be considerably bright so that the crime that is going to be commited there seems more brutal and shocking. Many murders that take place in thrillers happen in dark, isolated places, so that nobody is around to see, however, in this case it is very different. It can be compared to the shooting of the Melanie by Louis in Jackie Brown. The murder is commited in broad daylight, which emphasises his brutality because he is not afraid to do this sort of thing, even in daylight.

The boy is dressed in all black and because of the way the light surrounds him in the mis-en-scene, it is difficult to make out any great detail on the boy. He almost looks like a silhouette or shadow. A shadow symbolises another presence which is exactly the role the boy plays in this scene. He is witness to a murder and see's every detail, although the villain is unaware of this. Shadows have been cleverly used in the past to portray another presence in many thriller films, perhaps best in Carol Reed's film 'The Third Man'.

Later on in the scene, after the boy has witnessed the murder, there is a very powerful shot which creates great impact amongst its audience. An extreme close up on only the boys eye almost forces us to show sympathy towards him which we do to an extent already. Any further sympathy allows us to relate to the boy and put ourselves in his shoes. We become increasingly nervous and tense as a result, something which all great thrillers include.

Question 1

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

Thriller films often use similar techniques, whether it be through use of camera angles, sound, locations, themes, costume etc. These are known as thriller conventions. In my short thriller opening I have chosen to use many of these so that a classic thriller feel is given to the film, and it is constantly injected with suspense and tension.

I would say that the main inspiration for the idea of my short thriller opening came from the bathroom scene in Peter Weir’s ‘Witness’. When watching this clip in class, a real impact was given. I felt that if I could achieve similar types of intensity and suspense, the project would be a success. I therefore took some conventions from this scene and developed them in order to make my thriller as successful as possible:

Contrast in lighting: Although this technique is not necessarily considered or listed as a thriller convention, I have seen it throughout many thriller films during my research such as 'Jackie Brown' and 'Taken'. I also felt that this technique is a primary contributor to the success of the toilet scene in 'Witness' and so should be identified and noted as a result. There is a strong and clear contrast between the dim lighting and very spacious surroundings of the airport, to the extremely bright, confined bathroom that the boy enters in the film by Peter Weir. We tried to show this obvious differentiation in our thriller by using the technique contrasting lighting. The juxtaposition of the two brightnesses in ambient lighting symbolises how the character entering the new location means that they are about to experience a drastic often dramatic change in action. In 'Witness', the boy plays witness to a murder, in our own thriller, the teenager who enters goes on to be attacked. The lighting is used to foreshadow events.

                          








Theme of claustrophobia: I also used the idea/theme of claustrophobic spaces in order to strike a similarity between 'Witness' and my own thriller. This technique is also used throughout many successful thriller films:

• In 'Essex Boys' by director Terry Winsor, a garage is used as a claustrophobic space as well as a white van later on in the film. Winsor's film mostly surrounds violence and this idea of placing a character within a small, confined space allows the audience to view him/her as trapped, linking with the theme of violence.

• In Quentin Tarantino's 'Jackie Brown', when Ordell meets with Beaumont outside his apartment, the small gap that Ordell leaves between him and Beaumont gives off the same, claustrophobic feel. Not coincidentally, Beaumont is murdered by Ordell shortly after this - meaning that the chlaustrophobic symbolism has been used to foreshadow something negative, in this case violence/murder.

• Tarantino uses this technique throughout several of his films - another notabale example and perhaps the most extreme use of this technique would be in 'Kill Bill Vol 2'. The Bride is buried alive in a coffin by Bud and his trailer trash friends towards the beginning of the film. There is no escape for The Bride.

• Perhaps most famously used in Alfred Hitchcock's 'Psycho' the confined/claustrophobic space is demonstrated with Marion Crane taking a shower - unaware of what is about to happen because of the curtain behind her and the diegetic sound of the water.

Drastic change in volume: A change in the volume of non-diegetic sound between each scene meant that the juxtaposition between the two different settings was emphasised. The music at first was quite slow, deep and quiet suggesting a gloomy feel, linking directly with the abnormally slow movement of the car at the beginning of my thriller. This is changed immediately once the boy in my thriller enters the bathroom, with an increase in the volume of the soundtrack as well as the diegetic sound of toilets, sinks and hand-driers; the drastic increase in overall volume created was obvious and so the intensity and anxiety felt as an audience is maximised.
This technique has been used many times across the history of the thriller genre, perhaps to best significance again in 'Psycho' by Hitchcock and the famous shower scene. The volume of the scene is filled almost entirely with the gushing water from the shower head. This is until the attacker begins his slaughter. The non-diegetic music comes into play with great effect. Piercing piano notes give the volume of the scene a dramatic increase and it is almost painful to listen to.
See the famous scene here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VP5jEAP3K4



Close Ups: An infamous camera shot used widely in the thriller genre is the close-up. I explored thriller films from some of the most successful directors of this genre in order to pin point, when, why, where and how this shot is explored. Below are a few examples of close-ups of both my favourite and the most successful directors of the thriller genre:

Quentin Tarantino - Kill Bill

Stanley Kubrick - A clockwork orange

Alfred Hitchcock - Psycho

Peter Weir - Witness

It is obvious that most truly successful close-ups shots are of a characters face. This is so that an association can be drawn up with this character. We chose to challenge this conventional aspect of the thriller genre by having close-ups of other aspects of mis-en-scene. For example, we have a close up shot of main character's 'Robbie's' hands when he is washing them in the bathroom sink. We felt that this symbolised the irony of how he is cleansing himself even though he is about to be brutally attacked. We also included a close-up shot of a wallet. We felt that this would allow the audience to distinguish the significance of this prop within the film as a whole - it has been used as a diversion by the attacker. Positive feedback towards these shots give me an understanding that I successfully used the 'close-up' to signify certain messages within my thriller and I did not need to use a character's face in order to do this. I have therefore successfully challenged thriller conventions.

My close ups:

Costume: I would again argue that I have challenged the conventions of the thriller genre with my choice of costume. With a vast majority of thriller films surrounding certain 'gangs' the costume described would be mainly for the male cast. A classic interpretation of a thriller costume would be a suit and trilby hat. Older films that fit this stereotype would be 'Once upon a time in America' by Sergio Leone and Carol Reed's 'The Third Man'. As the thriller genre has moved through time with society, films such as Essex Boys see a fairly plain and hard hitting mode of dress such as jeans and leather jacket - much like a thug of today's society.

My thriller fits neither of these examples. I could have chosen to adopt a 'film noir' feel to my thriller but I feel that this would hugely limit me to what I could do with the film. It is hard to pin point a thriller film that has the costume range I have selected. The mod inspired look I would describe my main character to dress like, originated in the 50's but was also hugely popular amongst certain subcultures right through to the late 80's. The look is more recently coming back into fashion with popular high street shops including 'Topman' stocking items much inspired by the 1950's culture. My explanation behind the decision was purely because I feel that the bulk of youths in todays society can relate to this culture and associate with the film as a result. I also felt that by challenging the conventions of the thriller genre, should my thriller prove successful, I will have gained a much greater sense of achievement than if I had played it safe and gone for a more traditional interpretation.


The process of utilising and challenging thriller conventions in my project was quite a complex one. After consuming numerous thriller films, I explored many different thriller conventions that I thought worked well on giving an edgy, tense feel to the film (the mood I intended to set in my opening) and tested them out in shooting to see if they would work in the project. If happy with the effect that the conventional techniques gave off to an audience, I incorporated these in my own thriller opening. I investigated thoroughly into many different types of thriller films in order to understand how techniques are used in a variety of ways. I have used similar techniques in order for our project to be successful and create the classic thriller feel amongst our audience. If feedback was successful, I would keep the shot/technique/theme and perhaps expand on it, otherwise it was back to the drawing board.

Costume

Costume is an important aspect of mis-en-scene, especially within the thriller genre. Many classic thriller film see a traditional suit uniform with a trilby hat. However, as our thriller is a modern interpretation we were forced to research more recent thriller products. We focused the research on films such as essex boys. We also looked into the film series 'This is England' by Shane Meadows - although not a typical thriller, we felt that the audience that this series is aimed at replicated the audience of our thriller.

It is important that the chosen audience are able to relate to the characters in the film. The classic punk/mod/skinhead look, originated in the 70/80's but has more recently come back to fashion amongst the teens of today with mainstream, highstreet shops stocking and selling clothes much alike the ones made popular in Meadows film. With our characters modelling a similar outfit, it will ensure that the thriller is relatable to our audience.
The 'mod' look is often associated with violence which fits perfectly with the representation of youths of today I intend to show; the violence within our film could be labelled as a key thriller convention as it is a topic that is often addressed in the thriller genre.
The main character, played by Charlie Soffe, will be wearing a baggy denim jacket over the top of a check Fred Perry shirt with skinny jeans; almost identical to the majority of costumes worn in Shane Meadow's series.

Murder of Marion Crane in 'Psycho'

Title: Psycho
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Year: 1960
Starring: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles

This famous shower scene comes from Alfred Hitchcock's psychological thriller, Psycho. It has become so well known and recognised since because of the powerful ora it gives off to an audience when consuming. Tension, suspense and horror are all emotions that flow through your body when watching this clip, as a result of the clever use of key thriller conventions.

Close ups: Close ups in this scene prove extremely important in presenting the mis-en-scene with relentless horror. They allow the audience to see and understand, more than any other shot, the emotions of what is on their screen. In this case, it is the shear distress of Marion Crane and the knife which is used as the murder weapon which is a key aspect in many thriller films. Arguably the close-up that stimulates the most impact on the audience is of Marion Crane's eye after she has been brutally murdered. This close-up reinforces and emphasises the fact that this femme fatale character has just had her life taken from her, which proved shocking at the time considering the murder occurs surprisingly close to the beginning of the film.

Location: The scene is set in a shower throughout. We instinctively assume that something important and of relevance to the movie is about to take place because we would not expect to just see a woman in a shower for an entire scene - it would be unnecessary. The confined space connotes chlaustrophobia which suggests that the character in the shower, Marion Crane, would not have the option of escape, should something bad occur. The ending to the scene is very ironic due to the location. We see Marion's blood run with the water, along the surface of the bath tub and eventually plunging down the drain. This could be seen to symbolise the life of Marion dissapearing from the world. This technique of using small, confined spaces for the mis-en-scene had previously been used by Carol Reed in her film, 'The Third Man' in 1949. The sewers created a claustrophobic feel to the scene, much like the shower in 'Psycho'. It was also later used by Peter Weir in a much more similar way. In his film, 'Witness' a young, amish boy enters a public bathroom and accidentally plays witness to a brutal murder scene.



Enigma: Many thriller films use an enigmatic object or character so that we do not know any characteristics of this figure or what is going to happen in terms of this. Suspense is therefore sustained throughout this enigmatic period. In psycho, the enigma comes with the silhouette of a figure who appears behind the shower curtain. Even after the climax has been reached, the face of who we now know to be a murderer, is still not revealed. This allows the story to continue with the audience still intrigued. This technique is used in many thriller films because of the dramatic effect it has on the audience. The best example would be in the opening of 'Kill Bill' by Quentin Tarantino. Main character Beatrix has been violently attacked by a man who stands above her although out of view of the camera.We only hear Bill's voice, his hand and a reaction to him, but not actually him in his whole being.

Sympathy: Several things occur in this scene which automatically allow us to put ourselves in the perspective of Marion Crane and thus sympathise with her. For example, the fact that she is undressing in front of our eyes as an audience, leads us to believe that she is ok with us joining her in this private experience and makes us think that we are close as a result. Soon we hear the diegetic sound of water gushing from the shower head. This drowns out any other noise previously heard, and because this sound is the sole noise we are consuming as an audience also, we do not know what else could be going on, much like Marion. We do however, see the shadow behind the curtain coming, and although we are not entirely sure what it is, we are more alert than the character. When the audience knows more than the character in the film, like the example stated, it is known as dramatic irony.

All in all, this scene is arguably the most successful of all time in creating suspense amongst the audience with a clever use of: close-ups, location and enigma. All these classic thriller techniques are used to perfecion by Hitchcock so that timing for the climax is just right, causing shock amongst any who watch.